[Sca-cooks] Armored Turnips, was OT: Frying Cheese
lilinah at earthlink.net
lilinah at earthlink.net
Fri Nov 11 10:15:49 PST 2005
Katira wrote:
>Armored turnips are a regular feature at the annual Boar Hunt and Feast in
>December here in the West and I love them! I make them at home too. So
>simple, so tasty and easy to make for 1!
I joined the SCA in 1999. The first feast i attended, at Spring
Collegium 1999, i had not planned to attend - but i didn't have a car
at the time and my ride left without me. So i was sitting off to the
side, waiting for the feast to end, when i would have a replacement
ride. I ended up helping to serve and clean (and being fed)...
I was intentionally a kitchen assistant at my second feast, the 1999
Boar Hunt. I've attended every Boar Hunt since, except 2002 and i
head cooked 2000 and 2001. 1999 was, to the best of my knowledge, the
last time Armored Turnips were served at a Boar Hunt. And the 1999
Armored Turnips were not very good... OK, they were pretty bad... OK,
they were *really* bad.
The turnips were not properly cooked - IIRC, the head cook didn't
bother to have the turnips precooked, just had them sliced and put
raw in the baking pans - they never cooked and were hard lumps. The
cheeses used were OOP and not period tasting or textured - Jack and
Cheddar - i grated the cheese in a Cuisinart. Because the cheeses the
cook bought were cheap and of low-quality, they were rubbery (not
much better than (shudder) "American cheese, a cheese food product").
And the dish was not properly spiced.
In fact, people came up to me when they heard i was head cooking the
next Boar Hunt and specifically asked that there be NO Armored
Turnips because they were so tired of them. I did serve turnips in
both the Boar Hunts i head cooked, since they're a very seasonal
vegetable - a mid-17th c. recipe with butter and mustard at my first
feast and a German root tart at my second Boar Hunt.
So why do people use Cheddar? I happen to be very fond of Cheddar,
especially a sharp well-aged one. But it is far from appropriate for
the Armored Turnip recipes i've read:
Platina in De Honesta Voluptate (1475)
>Rapum Armatum - Armored Turnips
>Book 8
>
>Cut up turnips that have been either boiled or cooked under the
>ashes. Likewise do the same with rich cheese, not too ripe. These
>should be smaller morsels than the turnips, though. In a pan greased
>with butter or liquamen, make a layer of cheese first, then a layer
>of turnips, and so on, all the while pouring in spice and some
>butter, from time to time. This dish is quickly cooked and should be
>eaten quickly, too.
OK - Platina calls for a rich, not-too-ripe cheese - so a fatty young cheese...
Ingredients: turnips either boiled or baked - rich cheese - butter -
spice (which spices?)
But Maestro Martino is more forthcoming...
>Rape Armate
>
>Cook the turnips in the hot cinders or boil them whole and uncut,
>and slice them as thickly as the blade of a knife, and have good
>moist cacio [type of cheese] cut in slices as big as the turnip
>slices, but thinner, and take sugar, pepper and sweet spices and mix
>these together, and arrange in a pan in this order starting at the
>bottom, slices of cheese to make a crust, and on top a layer of
>turnips with the said spices and much good fresh butter; and so on
>in this way arrange the turnip, and the cheese until the pan is
>full, and cook this for a quarter of an hour or more, like a tart.
>And this dish should be served after the others.
Martino calls for a moist cheese - i.e., not a dry cheese like most
aged Parmesans in the US - but something younger and softer
Ingredients: turnips baked or boiled - good moist cacio cheese -
butter - sugar, pepper, and sweet spices
The Anonymous Venetian has:
>LXV Armored turnips
>To make armored turnips, put the turnips to cook in the fire
>(embers) and when they are cooked peel them and cut into thin
>slices. Take sweet cheese and make thin slices. Between each slice
>of turnip put one (slice) of cheese and let them melt well together.
>If you want you can put them with a hot lid above and they will be
>done, then powder them with sugar, etc.
Since "douce" in French can mean "sweet", "mild", and "soft", i
wonder if the reference here is to a fresh cheese, which will be
soft, mild, and sweeter than aged cheese. (yes, i realize this was
written in Italian, but there are some close relationships between it
and French)
Ingredients: turnips baked - sweet [soft?] cheese - sugar, etc. [i
suppose this would include sweet spices]
-----
So, nothing like Cheddar or aged Parmesan is mentioned (unless one
uses a young Parmesan - and i don't know if we can get that here in
the US). Rather, soft, fatty, possibly young cheeses are called for.
I'm sure that if properly made, Armored Turnips can be delicious - if
the turnips are precooked and period-type cheeses are used. I guess
i'll have to experiment. I'd think a bit of Brie or such-like would
be good, along with some full-cream fresh cheese. And the spices can
be played with... since Martino calls for sweet spices, a little
cinnamon and ginger. Nutmeg sounds like it would be good here, too.
And I wonder how galangal would be in this...
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list