[Sca-cooks] Return of the Rillettes

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Patrick Levesque:
>I went through Rabelais' 'Tiers Livre' to check up on rillettes. He mentions
>twice a food called 'rillés' which the annotator translates as 'rillettes',
>but with no further description of the food in question.
>
>The saga continues...
>
>(okay, maybe I'm making this sound a bit too interesting :-))
>
>Petru

Something to bear in mind is that while Vehling's Apicius is 
questionable for our purposes because while the man clearly knew 
food, and didn't care all that much about understanding or being 
faithful to his alleged source, some manuscript scholars don't know 
much about food, and make pronouncements based on what seems to them 
to be obvious, without applying the same standard of reasoning they'd 
use on a point of pure language. For example, see Constance Hieatt's 
comments in Curye On Inglysch regarding Book II, Recipe 28, for 
stuffed, glazed capon. In the glossary she suggests (or perhaps 
reiterates Pegge) that the word "penne" is probably used to denote a 
feather. I'd be more likely to think it's a reed (which is a little 
wider than a quill, and also used to make pens), being used as a 
blow-tube to force air under the skin of the bird. Anyone who's seen 
Peking Duck being made is familiar with this process, and while it's 
not exactly a no-brainer, it suggests Ms. Hieatt is what she is: a 
manuscript scholar and not a food person. Karen Hess woulda caught it 
;-).

My bottom line is, since we don't know why our Rabelais editor says 
what he says, even though he may be right, it would be unwise to 
simply accept his word on this without question. Hey, I'd still give 
thought to cooking the dish, but be aware, and make no secret of the 
fact, that it's a matter for some speculation.

Me, I think it's clear documentation that the medieval French ate the 
Great Apes... ;-)

Adamantius
-- 
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