[Sca-cooks] Galangal

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

OK - I've passed along info on three related roots... Now, what are
the recipes?

As for which one to use, Andrew Dalby in "Dangerous Tastes" posits
that galangal (greater galangal/Alpinia galanga) was the one called
for in Medieval recipes, but that since supply was sporadic and not
entirely reliable, other similar rhizomes (such as Kaempferia galanga
(kencur/lesser galangal) or Boesenbergia pandurata (temu
kunci/fingerrot)) may have been substituted for galangal if it didn't
arrive in a shipment.

When I'm cooking Medieval recipes I always use galangal
(laos/lengkuas/kha) since that was apparently the most common and the
preferred root.

If I'm cooking Indonesian or Thai food, I use the actual form called
for in the original recipe, since they all taste different and only
the right one will yield the right flavor.
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita

One recipe, and it uses two galangals. It's a spice blend from a 14th
century Persian household encyclopedia, written in Chinese, that Paul Buell
translated- I'm working on the recipes now, but here's the spice blend that
made me ask the question:

Spices:

Most early Chinese cookbooks are vague about their spices, simply calling
for them without further indication of what spices are intended. With the
CCPYSI, we are on firmer ground since the text includes two different spice
combinations at the end of chuan 14 [40a-b] both showing Muslim influences
in their choice of spices.

General Spice Combination for a Large (or the Imperial) Kitchen (made by
powdering the following and forming it into pellets with caqmin dissolved in
water).

[Processed] Stinking Elm (Ulmus Macrocarpa) pulp
Lesser Galangal (Alpinia officinarum)
Long Pepper ( (Piper longum)
Greater galangal (Alpinia galanga)
Grains of Paradise (Amomum villosum and A. xanthiodes)
Szu-ch'uan pepper (Zanthoxylam simulans and Z. bungeanum)
Dried Ginger
Roasted cinnamon
Zhira: shih lo. Ar. "dill"
Fennel
Mandarin orange peel (peel of Citrus reticulata)
Apricot kernal

This is what I have- was wondering, why the two galangals, which is what
prompted the question.

 Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....


-----Original Message-----
From: sca-cooks-bounces+phlip=99main.com at ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces+phlip=99main.com at ansteorra.org]On Behalf Of
lilinah at earthlink.net
Sent: Tue, November 01, 2005 8:00 PM
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Galangal


Phlip wrote:
>Can someone tell me the difference between Greater and Lesser Galangal?
And,
>maybe, direct me someplace where I might obtain both varieties? It's
>becoming important in some recipes I'm looking over.

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