[Sca-cooks] OOP: Frozen sauces

[tom.vincent at yahoo.com]

Well, as the subject indicates, it was an OOP discussion.
 
However, the period strawberry sauce I did was from 'Take a Thousand Eggs'.
 
Here a brief portion of my docs from many years ago:
 
 
Strawberry Sauce
Take Strawberries, & wash them in time of year in good red wine; then strain though a cloth, & put them in a pot with good Almond milk, mix it with White flour or with the flour of Rice, to make it thick and let it boil, and put therein Raisins of Corinth, Saffron, Pepper, Sugar great plenty, powdered Ginger, Cinnamon, Galingale; point it with Vinegar, & a little white grease put thereto; color it with Alkanet, & drop it about, plant it with the grains of pomegranate, & then serve it forth. < 1 > 
-  Harleian MS. 279
  (published approx. 1420)
The original recipe, shown above, has no measurements and no timing.  The medieval chef was assumed to know the proper quantities and cooking times.  My adaptation is as follows:
Ingredients
1 lb. frozen strawberries
1 cup red wine
1 cup strained almond milk (1/2 cup blanched almonds, 1 cup water, 1 T date sugar)
2 T rice flour
1/2 cup currants
dash white pepper
1/2 cup sugar
2 t ginger powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t galingale
4 T red wine vinegar
1 T butter
pinch saffron
pomegranate seeds
Instructions
The almond milk was made according to a medieval recipe < 2 > .
The strawberries, red wine, and almond milk were blended together using a blender.  The mixture was brought to a boil in a saucepan, then the rice flour was added to thicken. 
The currants, red wine vinegar, butter, and spices were added and cooked for about 5 minutes.
I decided to serve it over roast chicken in order to show the sauce in use.
Summary of Ingredients
The almonds, white pepper, galingale, ginger, cinnamon, saffron and sugar were quite expensive during the time period.  Each of these items came from either a very far distance away (white pepper, galingale, ginger, cinnamon, and almonds) or were time-consuming in acquiring (saffron and sugar).  
Although the original recipe calls for Alkanet, I decided to not add it, as it is merely used to give even more of a red color to the sauce, and because it can be toxic.
Historical Reference
This recipe came from a collection of recipes written about 1420 in England.  As the only written recipes from that time period were those of royalty or nobility, this collection is thought to have been from the chef or chefs of some great family of the time.
Strawberries were mentioned as having been served at a feast in three courses in a manuscript dated 1450. < 3 > 
Who it was made by
At such a prestigious event as a feast, the chef of the host (normally a nobleman, priest, or royalty) would be in charge of the preparation.   The mere existence of this recipe, from a 1420 manuscript, points to the nobility of the dish.
 
1)
Take A Thousand Eggs Or More, Renfrow, pp. 206-207
2)
Take A Thousand Eggs Or More, Renfrow, pp. 222-223
3)
Take A Thousand Eggs Or More, Renfrow, pg. 341
4)
Unless otherwise notes, ingredients descriptions are taken from Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia CD-ROM
5)
Take A Thousand Eggs Or More, Renfrow, pg. 228
6)
Spices and Natural Flavorings, Mulherin, Pg. 78

 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* 
Tom Vincent
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
US Marines: Murdering toddlers to protect us from Saudi terrorists. 


----- Original Message ----
From: grizly <grizly at mindspring.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 1, 2006 2:20:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OOP: Frozen sauces


I was hoping for an earlier than 2001 ersion of the sauce, actually.  The
earlier the better as it would help bolster my historical sauces file.
Either the apricots or Strawberry would be great.  I tend to go to the
original source when possible and see where the recipe started, then see
where it can go.  Part of the fun and challenge for me.

If this is just a modern sauce pulled from the web, then I can certainly
scope that out myself.


niccolo difrancesco


-----Original Message-----
From: sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org]On Behalf Of Tom Vincent
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 9:09 AM
To: Cooks within the SCA
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OOP: Frozen sauces


There's a gazillion web references to pork with
cilantro/ginger/pineapple and chicken with cilantro/ginger/mango, for
example.  Ginger, cilantro and a fruit are a common sauce/marinade blend.

Or are you looking for period references for the strawberry sauce for
chicken?

Duriel

grizly wrote:
> That sounds really good for roasted pork . . . shoulder or ham.  What's
the
> reference for this one?
>
> niccolo difrancesco
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
>
> I'd go with apricots, cilantro & ginger with lamb or pork.
>
> I did a period strawberry, red wine & ginger sauce for capon for an arts
> tourney once and it was a winner.
>
> Duriel
>
>
>
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> Sca-cooks mailing list
> Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
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>
>

--
***********
Tom Vincent
***********
The new Tom Hanks film is based on a book full of lies, deceit & corruption.
It's also based on Dan Brown's "The daVinci Code"

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