[Sca-cooks] medieval steaks

Wed Mar 15 23:46:09 PST 2006

Greetings, all 

  I'm a newbie here and to SCA - have been lurking on this list for a few weeks... and what a good time I'm having, indeed (happy sigh...)  Y'all are an inspiration... So to speak, as I'm not planning to fight for anybody anytime soon...  I'm a cook, not a fighter... (though I'm tempted by rapiers...)  Silliness aside, I feel very modest and humble in this company.  

  That said, grilling and pan-broiling steak are two of the first things I learned to do as a cook, low these many years ago, and pan-broiling remains a favorite strategy for converting raw meat to luscious treat... The technique and ingredients are medieval-esque, if not the real deal, and the results are REALLY YUMMY...  Method has the advantage over grilling of preserving juices in pan for deglazing and saucing...

  Re whether pan-cooking a steak was practical over hearth-fire: I have *very* limited knowledge on how this WAS done in period, but (author's name??) there's a great book on "traditional" (ie, pre-woodstove, let alone gas or electric burner) methods of cooking with fire that shows a lot of cooking - in pots or on grills - being done over coals pulled onto the hearth... the pan (works for a grill, too) sits above the coals on a tripod or between a couple of bricks.  The cook controls the heat by adding or removing coals...  Don't know if they DID cook meat this way in period, but they COULD have...

  Whether mundanely or in the current middle ages, I encourage you to try this...

  James Beard's method for pan broiling steak:  
  Trim the fat to a quarter inch or less and slash almost but not quite through it at one- to two-inch intervals (this prevents curling during cooking).  DO NOT season or marinate the meat - cook it bare... 

  Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat until very hot.  DO NOT add any oil or other fat!  Do sprinkle surface of hot pan liberally with salt, add your steak, which will make a lot of noise and spatter... DO NOT try to move the steak in the pan until it has cooked for at least a minute or two.  If you move it too soon, it will stick horribly, but if you wait, it will seal itself off and move easily.  Adjust coals, flame, or burner so that pan remains hot, hissing, and spitting, but doesn't actually catch fire or smoke too much... (might want to turn off the smoke alarm before you start!)

  There's a of formula (which I can't remember) for how long you cook it on each side, depending on the thickness of the steak... The objective is to sear the h*** out of the first side and get it warming toward the center, and then to turn and cook the other side until center is almost (will continue to cook after you take it off the heat source) as you want it - I like mine bloody but not blue and slimy... If your steak is thin, this process may be very brief on each side.  If you like your meat well done, it will take longer.  If steak is very thick, as with filet mignon (can ANYBODY afford those any more??), you can transfer the pan to a hot oven to finish cooking.  With experience, you can press the meat and tell by the decrease in resiliency how well it's done...  

  Okay.  Moving along, the steak is delicious as is, with a bit of salt and pepper, but for really scrumptious eating, reduce heat, transfer steak to cutting board to rest.  Deglaze the pan with a generous slosh of red wine (I used an Erath pinot noir the first time I did this, back in *gasp* 1974!!, and I still like the softness of it for this treatment).  Reduce the wine and pan juices till slightly syrupy.  Remove from heat and finish sauce with a tablespoon or so of butter.  

  Thin-slice the steak across the grain, lay prettily on plates and dress with pan sauce and a nice coarse grind of black pepper.  Pour a glass of the wine and enjoy... 

  mka Judith
  ska undecided  

Solveig Throndardottir <nostrand at acm.org> wrote:
  Noble Cousin!

Greetings from Solveig!
> Most of the medieval kitchens I saw didn't have a "stove" like we
> think of it. I think it would have been a lot more difficult to
> try to sear a steak in a pan over a fire than to put it on a grill
> to cook. In the convent kitchen I visited, there was a four by
> four area (give or take) in the corner that was set off by raised
> bricks that served for cooking. There were pullies and swing arms
> for getting the food over the fire. I imagined they would keep a
> fire going and scoop coals out to the edges to control the heat.
As I recall, when I was in Germany, I saw a mechanical spit. I really 
doubt this business about a mechanized grill. I also doubt that the 
establishment has been a restaurant for all of its 400 years. It may 
have been an Inn, a Post Station, or an Ale House. But, it is unlikely 
to have been a restaurant for 400 years.

Your Humble Servant
Solveig Throndardottir
Amateur Scholar

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Barbara Nostrand, Ph.D. | Solveig Throndardottir, CoM, CoS, Fleur |
| deMoivre Institute | Carolingia Statis Mentis Est |
| mailto:nostrand at acm.org | mailto:Solveig at deMoivre.org |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Note. Many popular "free" email services are automatically routed to |
| the trash by my email filters. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
_______________________________________________
Sca-cooks mailing list
Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks

---------------------------------
Relax. Yahoo! Mail virus scanning helps detect nasty viruses!