[Sca-cooks] Cream sauces

[Terry Decker]

I am assuming that Raviolis de Courge is what is first recorded in the 13th 
Century.

While I am certain butternut squash ravioli is delightful, it is most 
definitely not a 13th Century French dish.  The butternut squash (Cucurbita 
moschata) is a New World vegetable.  The raviolis de courge of the 13th 
Century would have been made with some type of bottle gourd (Lagenaria 
siceraria).  Also, the modern butternut squash was hybridized in the 18th 
Century by Auguste Parmentier (IIRC).

That being said, there is quite a bit of confusion about whether squash or 
gourds are being called for in the 16th and 17th Centuries, so the dish may 
have been made with squash before 1600.

Bear


> I am serving Butternut Squash ravioli for a feast on the 28th.
>
> The dish: Raviolis de Courge - Is a traditional french mountain-village 
> dish is squash ravioli with walnut sauce.
> (Castrum de Guillermo.  Guillaumes was founded in the 10th century by 
> Guillaume II, Count of Provence.  Remains of Neolithic habitation were 
> discovered in a grotto in the Vallon de Cantet, 3 km southwest. There are 
> other various signs of Gallo-Roman and barbarian occupation. First written 
> record, 13th century.)
>
> Vitha