[Sca-cooks] pantry - garum

Mon Aug 6 22:02:11 PDT 2007

Terry Decker wrote:
> There are references to "fish murri" in the Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook, 
> but I don't think there is a recipe available.  Fish murri is often 
> considered to be garum or liquamen by assuming that it is a fermented fish 
> sauce as murri is a fermented barley sauce.
>    
>   
That is correct.
As per Carlos Azcoytia in his article "History and Mythical Evolution of 
Garum" http://www.historiacocina.com/historia/articulos/garum.htm
garum was consumed in Spain until the middle of the 15th Century at 
least. Abu Bakr Abd al Aziz Arbulo wrote a treaty in Almeria titled 
"Murri al hut" between 1414 and 1425.
Azcoytia has found that is was consumed in a region called Bitinia, 
today in Turkey until 1917 at least.
He says that he does not believe that what is sold today as "garum" is 
like the original product. He explains that it was very costly as the 
process is so complicated that only the affluent could afford it. 
Further, Azcoytia points out that original recipes would be practically 
impossible to make garum today for the requirements of fermentation, 
ventilation and the hours that the mixture must be exposed to the sun. 
Finally he notes that probably we wouldn't like it.
Antonio Gazquez refutes this in his article 'Garum: the sauce of Roman 
Empire' saying that it is still being made in a town formally called 
Baelo Claudia (Bolonia today) near Tarifa in the province of Cadiz, 
Spain: http://www.afuegolento.com/noticias/80/firmas/agazquez/3073/ That 
must be sold locally as I cannot find it for sale on internet.
My references continue up to the end of the 18^th C. Then bread garums 
were made in the shape of a tablet. Grain based garums continue to be 
made. These are the result of the 13 C Afro-Andalusian creation of 
innumerable wheat based mixtures which today are called by the Swiss: 
Cenovis, the English: Marmite or the Spanish: /Bovil/ and bouillons or 
bullion cubes (which originated from recycling fermented brewer’s 
yeast). Translators of Arab manuscripts, however, currently advise the 
use of nuoc-man,/ /soy sauce or Worchestershire sauce to substitute fish 
garum in medieval recipes.
I have checked with el Corte Ingles a major supermarket chain in Spain 
to see if I can buy garum but apparently what I tried was only sold as a 
promotion on Leonese food a few years ago when a friend found it and and 
made me try it (sorry not Barcelona as I previously stated)! Their garum 
basically is a black olive and anchovy spread also sold in other regions 
of Spain today.
By the way garum originated in Greece. The word comes from garos, a fish 
that was extinct before the Romans made conquests in Iberia. After garum 
spread to Italy, the Romans established major garum factories in Spain 
between Cartagena and Huelva. In Spain it was made with tuna and other 
fish (and their entrails) found in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. 
They did begin to die out with the fall of the Roman Empire but not 
entirely as seen above.
Suey


> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 11:00:16 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
> From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Sca-cooks] OOP ? Anthony Bourdain at an SCA feast?
> To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> Message-ID:
> 	<20310717.1186412417201.JavaMail.root at elwamui-royal.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
> 	
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" and of his work in general. 
>
> So of course I had this really strange dream last night in which Mr. Bourdain makes his way across the Known Worlde sampling the food and culture at various SCA events. Like in all dreams, the details are fuzzy, but I think he really liked the armored turnips and the roast pork in cameline sauce.
>
> But I really do wonder what he would think of the feasts created by the dedicated SCA cooks.
>
> Gianotta
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:11:56 -0600
> From: "Kathleen A Roberts" <karobert at unm.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OOP ? Anthony Bourdain at an SCA feast?
> To: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>,	Cooks within the SCA
> 	<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <web-16653706 at sabik.unm.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format="flowed"
>
> On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 11:00:16 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
>   Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>   
>> But I really do wonder what he would think of the feasts 
>> created by the dedicated SCA cooks.
>>     
>
> i wonder what he would think of a group of wandering 
> minstrels coming into the midwinter kitchen to entertain 
> the cooks with carols, or the large viking gent sitting in 
> a chair in the corner playing his recorder? 8)
>
> cailte
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which 
> sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
> W. B. Yeats
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Kathleen Roberts
> Coordinator of Freshman Admissions
> University of New Mexico
> Albuquerque, NM
> 505-277-2447
> FASTINFOrmation at your fingertips - 
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 09:32:12 -0700
> From: "Ian Kusz" <sprucebranch at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] [Sca-Cooks] Wikipedia article on Medieval
> 	Cuisine
> To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<8c121ad50708060932o3a42ac3en75ec36c27946db7b at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Good golly, Miss Molly; I tried editing it, a little, and after HOURS, I
> only scratched the surface.  I'm tired.
>
> I had to add a few pages for cross-reference....I hope I didn't screw them
> up, I was so tired writing them.  Feel free to fix anything.
>
> I at least included a link to Le Menagier.
>
>
> On 8/1/07, Breila Lyman <lady_breila at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   
>> Yep, that's about right... eras are very fluid and really depend on the
>> historian labeling them and the reason they need to be labeled.  Happens on
>> the other end, too, with Late Medieval and Early Modern.  Just as long as
>> you don't insist on using "Dark Ages".... scholars get really tetchy about
>> that one!  The whole Feudal model used to define Medieval is also up for
>> grabs... but that's another discusssion for another mailing list.
>>
>> In the meantime, as I am a novice cook, I'll sit back and enjoy the
>> discussion about oil going "kaboom"...  :-)
>>
>> ATB,
>> Breila
>>
>>
>> Terry Decker <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>> As I understand the chronologic terminology, there is an overlap between
>> Late Antiquity (300-600 CE) and Early Middle Ages (500-900 CE), the two
>> terms being used to describe the continuation of classic ideas and society
>> and the disruption of classic ideas and society respectively (dates
>> dependent on source). Either term could be applied to the period from 476
>> CE to 751 CE, depending upon where and what is being considered. (Two
>> schools of historic thought, perchance?)
>>
>> The High Middle Ages, IIRC, is usually measured from roughly the end of
>> the
>> Carolingians to the Fall of Acre and the end of Outremer.
>>
>> Of course, the definition of each of these terms depends on which scholar
>> you are dealing with at the moment.
>>
>> Bear
>>
>>     
>>> Most scholars refer to that period as Late Antiquity, with the early
>>> Middle Ages being roughly corresponding to the rise of the Carolingians.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Breila
>>>
>>>
>>> Terry Decker wrote:
>>> In the minds of the scholars who choose to use Early Middle Ages to
>>> describe
>>> the period between the fall of the Western Empire and the rise of the
>>> Carolingians, rather than refer to the period as the Dark Ages.
>>>
>>> Bear
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> Where was it the Middle Ages already in the fifth?
>>>
>>> Giano
>>>       
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