[Sca-cooks] Torta a la Genovesa . . . solids and/or liquids

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 7, 2006, at 4:56 PM, grizly wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> < < < < < < 127. Torta a la Genovesa
> Genovese Tart
>
> A pound of almonds well-peeled, and another of pine nuts, and another
> of toasted hazelnuts, and grind them all together in a mortar and
> after grinding, set them aside. And take a pot with water, and salt,
> and oil. And this shall be on a flesh day, and taste [to see] if it
> is well-salted; and take a half pound of raisins without seeds, and
> three ounces of peeled dates cut into quarters, and three or four
> apples which are sweet-sour or sweet, and quarter them and remove the
> core and seeds, and cast them in the pot to cook. And when it is
> well-boiled, the apples will be cooked. And then remove them from the
> water, and grind them with the dates, and raisins, and almonds, and
> with the hazelnuts, and pine nuts. And after they are well-ground,
> blend it all with the said broth; and if it is a flesh day, you may
> cast into the mortar a dozen eggs ground up with the aforementioned
> things. And then strain it through a sieve, and having done this take
> good dough which is well-kneaded, and make a trencher as large as if
> it were the bottom of the frying pan which you have, and make its
> edges like a empanada without a top; however, let it be the size of
> the frying pan neither more no less, and put it in the frying pan;
> and when it is inside, cast in a little oil underneath so that the
> dough does not stick to the frying pan; and then cast all that sauce
> or foodstuff in the pie, <<SNIP>>>>>>>>>
>
> It has been itching at me, so I re-read the recipe.  Are we making a
> complicated, fruited, almond/pinenut/hazelnut milk with extracted  
> pectin for
> the torta here?  We cook all the fruits (extracting pectin??); add  
> cooked
> fruits to gound nuts, then blending it with the cooking broth again  
> (adding
> eggs here if desired).

I think we're grinding the nuts, reserving them, stewing fruit in  
salted water [with oil if it is a flesh day], grinding the fruit with  
the ground nuts, then using the cooking liquor [along with some eggs  
if it is a flesh day] to thin the puree down so it can all be pushed  
through a sieve to get a nice, smooth, homogeneous product.

This is then put into something akin to a deep-dish pizza and baked  
under a cloche. I think...
>
> Instructions then say to strain it through a sieve, and then later  
> says ". .
> . cast all that sauce or foodstuff in the pie . . ."  Granted, we  
> have a
> language change here, but it almost seems as if it could be making  
> a pectin
> set liquor or one set with both pectin and eggs.

I doubt pectin is involved, frankly. To me this reads more like  
pumpkin pie filling; I think it is set with eggs on a flesh day, and  
on a non-flesh day you might use less of the cooking liquor to get a  
thicker puree to start off, and the nut puree will do the rest.  
Y'ever add ground almonds to a curry and note the effect? As for  
whether it's a sauce or a foodstuff, it's probably best not to read  
too much into it; the author may be noting that there may not be a  
really good term to use (German recipes would call it a filling or,  
more simply, a food). I believe the term he is instinctively grasping  
for is "schtuff."

>   Nothing specific is said
> about whether we use what is left in the sieve, the liquids, or if  
> we are
> fine-grinding/mashing the goodies through the sieve mesh.

Since no reference is made to separating phases with the sieve, and  
which phase is used, I'm assuming everything is pushed through the  
sieve, or as much as possible.

> I would want to have all the goodies AND the liquid in my pie, but  
> that
> doesn't seem to be specified here in our text.  More grist for  
> discussions?

As for the well-kneaded dough, note how it is then lifted out of the  
pan after baking. That, and the fact that it has a slightly liquid  
filling (at least before baking), makes me suspect you don't want a  
delicate, flaky crust. You know how they say mealy doughs are best  
for damp pie fillings? This may take that concept a step further. You  
may still want it to be edible, though. I think there are some  
Italian torta doughs which are made with flour and oil, water and/or  
egg, but kneaded smooth like a pasta. The end result is moderately  
strong, crisp on the bottom after baking, and tender and sort of  
fluffy on the inside, like the dough for the timpano in "Big Night".  
Isn't it, after all, a torta Genovese from a time when parts of Spain  
and parts of Italy were part of the same kingdom?

I suspect the bit about making the edges of the dough like an  
empanada may mean the edges are raised, and possibly fluted. We may  
think today of empanadas as turnovers, but this may not be the  
standard form in period.

Adamantius



"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04