[Sca-cooks] Introduction and a Request

[Elaine Koogler]

Irene leNoir wrote:
> Hiya,
>
> * As I'm not really experienced with working with period recipes or 
> cookbooks (or whatever they called them), if you make mention of a 
> particular manuscript, I'd much appreciate it if you could point me to 
> where I might find it online (if available).  Otherwise I'm not sure 
> when or how I'll have a chance to try to hunt it down.
Probably your best source for cookbooks that are online can be found at 
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html 
<http://www.pbm.com/%7Elindahl/food.html>.  I did a Mediterranean feast 
several years back, and found virtually nothing for southern France.  
Most of what I found was Italian, Anadalusian, Catalan and Spanish. 
>
> * A couple of people have mentioned fish dishes.  I appreciate you 
> thinking of them, but I think I'm going to have to pass on all fish.  
> (First, much as I love seafood, I'm just not sure how well it will fly 
> with my household of mostly fighter types.  Second, being from 
> practically the coast of Massachusetts, I'm not too keen on the idea 
> of what the quality of fish in oh-so-very landlocked Pennsylvania will 
> be like.)
Actually, Pennsylvania isn't that land-locked...and in this day of 
modern refrigeration, etc., you should be able to get quite a good 
assortment of fresh fish there.  Just find a store that specializes in 
seafood...a real fishmonger...and you should be fine if you want to try 
something with fish.  And there are fish that are reasonably priced that 
a lot of people like.  I served tuna with a simple orange sauce at a 
Mediterranean event a couple of years ago, and it was a howling success. 
This is the recipe I used...It's actually Spanish, but again, it's 
simple enough that something similar may have been done in southern 
France as well:
*/
Libro de Cozina/ of Master Ruperto de Nola*, translated by Vincent F. 
Cuenca

Grilled Tuna

Take a piece of tuna from the part near the belly and clean it; and 
baste it with oil, and brush also the grill and set it to roast over a 
few coals; and baste them from time to time with oil and then prepare 
its light sauce with water and salt and oil, and bitter orange juice and 
pepper and all the good herbs torn up or chopped fine:  and when they 
wish to eat place our fish on the plate and pour the sauce over it; and 
if you wish to make another sauce, like for arugula or another it should 
be as you wish.
10 # Tuna
Olive Oil
Salt
Bitter orange juice (thin oj with white wine vinegar or I managed to 
find a bitter orange marinade in the Spanish section of a local grocery 
store...)
Pepper
Tarragon, chopped fine
Cilantro, chopped fine

Brush tuna steaks with olive oil, then grill, basting from time to time 
with oil. 

Sauce:
Mix oil, water, salt, orange juice, white wine vinegar, pepper, tarragon 
and cilantro.  Serve on the side with tuna steaks.

>
> * Yes, if you have modern Provencale recipes you'd like to share, I'd 
> love to see them.  If you don't want to bother to type them in, I'd 
> also appreciate just a pointer to a cookbook title and author.  (Or if 
> you want to give the name and/or  brief description of a recipe first 
> before you type it, I can let you know whether it sounds like 
> something I could use.)
I actually have a whole cookbook with modern Provencale recipes in it, 
but most of them are quite complex.  However, I'll take a look through 
it as soon as I can (getting ready for a local event next weekend, so 
time is limited!)

Hope this helps...

Kiri