[Sca-cooks] Pottages and Vegetarians and Carnivores, oh my

[Bill Fisher]

 It really depends on the grain you are using to make the pottage and 
what state it is in when you use it.  Lentils are very good for you and
tasty too, I think they are at least one third fiber to carb ration, so they
can make people break wind with terrific force and frequency.

Anything with a whole grain in it (except for rice) is pretty much on
the "low carb" list for people to eat, except maybe the Atkins crowd
who have to maintain the strict "grams of carbs per day."  Even lentils 
and moong dal are really good for these ('cept the unawares will stink
up the hall if they do not eat them on a semi-regular basis).  Moong
dal is an interesting indian split bean that has tons of iron, protein and is
hallf fiber to carb in its ratio.

In actuallity, if the dish offers, a whole grain, or moderately close grain,
with the fiber intact, with protein, good fats and some acids it almost the
perfect way to eat that grain.

You aren't going to be able to get the Atkins crowd to eat the pottage,
because it would push them a bit carb-wise and they get skittish when
that happens (I know, I used to be one).  But I have been studying the 
"South Beach" diet and pottages are pretty much on their menu so 
long as sugar isn't added as an ingredient.

Now that you have me rambling as you know I am given to rambiling
on occasion....I'm going to stray out of period.

I make this sometimes for my "breakfast" when I get home from work:

1.25 cups - steel cut oats
water
salt and pepper
1 egg.

I toast the oats in the pan I am going to cook with, till they are brown
on the edges, this keeps the oats from dissolving completely once
the water hits them, I don't like oat lava, I like oats for breakfast.

Add water and cook the oats till they are soft, add salt and pepper to
taste, take it
off the heat and crack in the egg and stir it through and let the heat
of the oats cook
the egg.

Eat in a bowl, or plate, you can add fruit if you want.

I also make various items with lentils and moong dal but I add some
asafoetida to it
for flavor and so I don't feel like I am going to fly away partway
through my day.

/ramble

Cadoc

On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 13:48:26 -0400, Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise
<jenne at fiedlerfamily.net> wrote:
> You know that part in nature films where the polar bear sticks her paw
> into the ice-hole, drags out the seal, and clubs it over the head?
> Jadwiga is now doing that to the topicness of the list.
> 
> In the interest of talking about SCA-period food and SCA feasts, can we
> talk about pottages? Can we talk about how accomodating vegetarians and
> carnivores (meat-only-eating) affects how we tend to present pottages in
> the SCA?
> 
> I notice that almost all recipes call for broth when cooking grain or
> making pottage of any sort, but we usually omit it or use veggie broth.
> We tend to see these pottages as vegetarian dishes, and often omit
> hearty pottages when considering meat dishes-- partly because some of us
> believe the carnivore types will complain if we dilute their dead
> animals, and we know the low-carb folks will complain if we mix carbs
> with protein. There must be a better way, though. Mustn't there?
> 
> When I was asked what was the best part about helping with the Norseland
> feast it was that people were very enthusiastic about the pottages,
> coming back for 2nds and 3rds, especially of the lentil pottage. But
> those pottages had meat in them.
> 
> --
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
> "I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining
> at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top." Frank Colby
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