[Sca-cooks] Looking for Recipes and Documentation

[Daniel Myers]

On Dec 12, 2006, at 3:08 PM, Elise Fleming wrote:

> Greetings!  I'm acting as the middleman between your tremendous  
> combined
> knowledge and one of the cooks in our barony.  I was given this  
> message:
>
> "... looking for any period documentation, preferably for German or  
> French,
> of meat-stuffed bread. We've found reasonable documentation for  
> stuffed
> cakes using a hot water crust (German, Sabina Welser) and baked or an
> egg/flour paste (English, Curye on Inglysch) either fried or baked  
> in a
> couple of different formats. But the original idea was a yeast- 
> raised bread
> stuffed with meat and of that, I've found no hint. So that's what  
> we'd want
> to ask about.

Searching on "yeast", I found the following recipe for apple fritters:

For freture. With egges and floure in batere thou make, Put berme  
ther to, I undertake. Coloure hit with safrone er thou more do. Take  
powder of peper and cast ther to, Kerve appuls overtwert and cast  
therin, Frye hom in grece, no more ne mynne.  [Liber cure cocorum]

Not meat, but it still involves yeast.  Also there's the following  
recipe from "Libellus De Arte Coquinaria" for pastry-wrapped  
chicken.  It's a whole chicken - but it's not clear whether the dough  
used is leavened or not.  I've tried it out both ways and it does  
work (of course, with wildly different results).

Recipe XXX. Quomodo condiatur pullus in pastello. Man skal et unct  
hons i tu skaerae oc swepae thaer um helae salviae blath, oc skaer i  
spaek oc salt, oc hyli thaet ho maeth degh; oc latae bakae i en hogn  
swa sum broth. Swa mughae man gorae allae handae fiskae pastel, oc  
fughlae oc annaet kot.

Recipe XXX. How to prepare a chicken pasty. One should cut a young  
chicken in two and cover it with whole leaves of sage, and add diced  
bacon and salt. And wrap this chicken with dough and bake it in an  
oven like bread. In the same way one can make all kinds of pasties:  
of fish, of fowl, and of other meats.
[Libellus De Arte Coquinaria, Rudolf Grewe, Constance B. Hieatt (eds.)]


> "She's also looking at doing a bean soup, but I think the 'Green  
> Fava beans
> in Meat Broth' from Mastro Martino's is a reasonably close match  
> for what
> she's trying to create, so that should be sufficient. I couldn't find
> anything that was a close German match, but we did find a French  
> pea or
> bean soup that could work out of Goodman in Paris."

Lots of bean recipes out there.

31. Ein spise von bonen (A food of beans). Siude grüene bonen, biz  
daz sie weich werden. so nim denne schoen brot und ein wenic  
pfeffers. dristunt als vil kümels mit ezzige und mit biere. mal daz  
zu sammene und tu dar zu saffran. und seige abe daz sode. und giuz  
dar uf daz gemalne. und saltz ez zu mazzen. und laz ez erwallen in  
dem condiment und gibz hin.

Boil green beans (This probably refers to something like fava beans.  
These are not string beans. String beans are a New World food.) until  
they become soft. So take then fine bread and a little pepper. (Take)  
three times as much caraway with vinegar and with beer. Grind that  
together and add saffron thereto. And strain the broth and pour the  
color thereon and salt it to mass and let it boil in the condiment  
and give out.
[Ein Buch von guter spise]


For To Make Drawen Benes. II. Take benes and seeþ hem and grynde hem  
in a morter and drawe hem up with gode broth an do Oynouns in the  
broth grete mynced an do þerto and colour it with Safroun and serve  
it forth.  [Forme of Cury]

Makke. XX.III. XIIII. Take drawen benes and seeþ hem wel. take hem up  
of the water and cast hem in a morter grynde hem al to doust til þei  
be white as eny mylk, chawf a litell rede wyne, cast þeramong in þe  
gryndyng, do þerto salt, leshe it in disshes. þanne take Oynouns and  
mynce hem smale and seeþ hem in oile til þey be al broun. and  
florissh the disshes therwith. and serue it forth.  [Forme of Cury]

XXII - For To Make A Potage Feneboiles. Tak wite benes and seth hem  
in water and bray the benys in a morter al to nozt and lat them sethe  
in almande mylk and do ther'in wyn and hony and seth reysons in wyn  
and do ther'to and after dresse yt forth.  [Forme of Cury]


NEW BEANS. Boil till they split, then take plenty of parsley and a  
little sage and hyssop, and grind very fine; and after this grind up  
some bread, and a handful of these same beans which should be peeled  
and ground with the bread for thickening, then put through a sieve:  
then fry the rest of your beans in bacon fat, if this is a meat day,  
or in oil or butter, if this is a fish day; then put your beans in  
meat stock, if this is a meat day, or in the water from the beans, if  
this is a fish day.  [Le Menagier de Paris]


Viandier mentions using beans (among other things) to make a "small  
pottage", but then he goes on to say that he's not including the  
recipe because, "one knows well how they should be eaten."

I hope that was of some help.

- Doc


-- 
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  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  Pasciunt, mugiunt, confidiunt.
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