[Sca-cooks] Armored Turnips, was OT: Frying Cheese

[Elaine Koogler]

lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:

> 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...

Not sure if Fontina is period (though I suspect it would be), but that 
is a fairly sweet soft cheese that would melt and do the job quite 
nicely...I may have to try AT with that.  I definitely agree about using 
cheddar, though I've seen it used frequently.  Galangal would be quite 
interesting as well.  I usually use a little nutmeg, sugar and a dash of 
salt to bring up the flavors.  I peel, slice then cook (parboil) the 
turnips.  The one thing that Bish made VERY clear and I understood why 
the first time I prepared the dish...make sure that you've gotten the 
turnips as dry as possible after cooking.  Otherwise your dish can end 
up quite watery. 

But I've found that most folks who are willing to try the dish even if 
they don't like turnips, usually wind up liking it.

Kiri