[Sca-cooks] tarts vs. pies, a bit of help

[Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise]

> >2.  a regular sort of pie, open-faced like a quiche 
> This is a strong possibility, but then again...

The text of Le Menagier doesn't always indicated whether a top crust is 
in order, but he is pretty good about it telling you when he wants a 
covered tart.

> Without looking at the French text, it's hard to tell whether option 
> 2 or 3 is indicated, but 2 is certainly simpler and would not be too 
> far off in either case. One thing about this recipe that might be 
> helpful in envisioning the final form it'll take is the fact that it 
> mentions roughly how much of the filling herbs you're using. After 
> the eggs, cheese, etc., are added, I suspect you might get more 
> filling than a 9-inch shell will hold.

Actually, no. 
The recipe we're looking at is, I think:
O MAKE A TART, take four handfuls of beet-leaves, two handfuls of 
parsley, one handful of chervil, a bit of turnip-top and two handfuls of 
spinach, and clean them and wash them in cold water, then chop very 
small: then grate two kinds of cheese, that is one mild and one medium, 
and then put eggs with it, yolk and white, and grate them in with the 
cheese; then put the herbs in the mortar and grind them up together, and 
also add to that some powdered spices. Or in place of this have first 
ground up in the mortar two pieces of ginger, and over this grate your 
cheeses, eggs and herbs, and then throw in some grated old pressed 
cheese or some other such on to the herbs, and carry to the oven, and 
then make it into a tart and eat it hot.

Once you have ground all this down and put it in a pie shell, it will be 
around enough for a 9" pie. Every time such pies are made in the SCA, I 
see cooks looking at all those handfuls and going too small on their 
quanitities-- which leads to inch-high tart filling at best once it's 
cooked. 

I prefer to use the full amount and chop it small in a food processor. 
Then the pies are full and somewhat raised and very good.

-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 
"Information wants to be a Socialist... not a Communist or a 
Republican." - Karen Schneider