[Sca-cooks] College Group foods

[Sydney Walker Freedman]

Greetings!

     I'm a college student and have been the head cook in my college's
small group for the last couple of years.  We've had gool luck with
homemade bread (but that's because my cohorts and I like to stay up
until 3:00 baking bread :) ), various tarts (I can dig up recipes;
I'm pretty sure they aren't in the Florilegium; we've done pear and
onion tarts recently), fruit and cheese, Digby's excelent small
cakes, gyngerbrede, homemade sausages (made by a friend from our
local barony), homemade pasta, and other things.  My philosophy on
food at our college events is to focus on making sure that the feast
(or lunch, which is usually what we do) is period, focussing on a few
good dishes that can be made in larger quantities easily, and making
sure there's enough food, of course.  Enlisting help from others is
also something that one should never forget.  At our event last year,
we found out a few weeks before it that we would have no kitchen
facilities.  So, I made a couple of things beforehand and delegated
othe dishes to volunteers from the barony (our college group has
about six people on average).  Ihope some of these tips help, and I
can post recipes if anyone wants them.  All right; back to final
exams...

Pax Christi,
Lady Cecilia de Cambrige

> While they are fun, bread bowls aren't period, save yourself the cost by
> using plain bowls.
>
> Here are a few recipes I've used successfully.  They've appeared here
> before
> and you can probably find them in the Florilegium.
>
> You might also look up and consider the recipe for a Brodo of Chickpeas in
> the Florilegium.  A little odd, but tasty.
>
>
>
> Bear
>
>
>
>
>
> Sweet Spinach Tart
>
> A Spinnage Tart. Take a good store of Spinage, and boyl it in
>
> a Pipkin, with White Wine, till it be soft as pap; then take it
>
> and strain it well into a pewter dish, not leaving any part
>
> unstrained; then put to it Rose-water, great store of Sugar and
>
> cinamon, and boyle it till it be thick as Marmalade. Then let it
>
> coole, and after fill your Coffin and adorn it...
>
> Gervase Markham
>
> The English Hous-wife, 1615
>
> 1 pound spinach (fresh or frozen) cleaned and chopped
>
> 1/2 cup white wine
>
> 1 cup water
>
> 1/3 cup sugar (or more)
>
> 1 teaspoon cinnamon
>
> Boil spinach in wine and 1/2 cup water until very soft.
>
> Press through a colander or run through a food processor to
>
> mince large pieces of spinach.
>
> Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a pan and bring to a boil.
>
> Stir in spinach and cinnamon.
>
> Reduce heat to medium and cook until almost dry.
>
> Put spinach into pie shell. Cool.
>
> After cooling the tart can be adorned with fruit, powdered
>
> sugar, crystal sugar, etc. One tester suggested sliced
>
> hardboiled eggs.
>
> Notes: One third cup of sugar sweetens the spinach without
>
> being cloying. A cup of sugar would make a thicker syrup and
>
> make the spinach closer to the marmalade of the original recipe.
>
> One teaspoon of fresh cinnamon provides a nice bite without
>
> being overpowering.
>
> Fresh spinach may require additional water or wine in the first
>
> boil. I used frozen spinach for availability and speed. I used
>
> Malavasia wine, which is fairly strong, and cut it with water for
>
> expedience. The spinach absorbed much of the liquid.
>
>
>
> Sweet Potatoes
>
> To butter Potato roots. Take the roots & bole them in water
>
> till they bee verie soft, then peele them and slice them, then
>
> put some rosewater to them & sugar & the pill of an orenge, &
>
> some of the iuice of the orenge, so let them boile a good
>
> while, then put some butter to them, & when the butter is
>
> melted serve them. This way you may bake them, but put
>
> them unboiled into the paste.
>
> Elynor Fettiplace
>
> The Receipt Book of Ladie Elynor Fettiplace, 1647
>
> Note: Elynor Fettiplace was an Elizabethan lady who began
>
> compiling her recipes in 1604 after many years in the kitchen.
>
> The book was passed to her niece in 1647.
>
> 2 lbs sweet potatoes
>
> 1/2 cup water
>
> juice of 1 orange (4-5 Tablespoons)
>
> 1 Tablespoon of sugar
>
> 1 teaspoon ground orange peel
>
> 1/2 cup butter
>
> In a pan, cover the sweet potatoes with water and boil
>
> them until very soft, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
>
> Remove the sweet potatoes from the pan. Cool slightly.
>
> Peel and slice.
>
> Mix the water, orange juice, sugar and orange peel in a pan
>
> and heat stirring.
>
> After the sugar dissolves, add the sweet potato to the
>
> syrup, seperating the slices.
>
> Stir the mixture gently to prevent burning, turning the
>
> sweet potato to coat the slices with the syrup. Add water
>
> if necessary.
>
> When the syrup has cooked down, remove the pan from
>
> the heat and add the butter. Stir gently until the butter is
>
> melted and blended into the sweet potatoes.
>
> Put the sweet potatoes into a serving dish and present to
>
> the table.
>
> Note: Two pounds of sweet potato will fill an 8" or 9" pie
>
> pan.
>
>
>
> Roast Beef
>
> The best bastings for meats. Then to know the best
>
> bastings for meat, which is sweet butter, sweet oil,
>
> barrelled butter, or fine rendered up seam, with cinnamon,
>
> cloves and mace. There be some that will baste only with
>
> water, and salt, and with nothing else; yet it is but opinion,
>
> and that must be the world's master always.
>
> To know when meat is enough. Lastly to know when meat
>
> is roasted enough; for as too much rareness is
>
> unwholesome, so too much dryness is not nourishing.
>
> Therefore to know when it is the perfect height, and is
>
> neither too moist nor too dry, you shall observe these
>
> signs first in your large joints of meat; when the steam or
>
> smoke of the meat ascendeth, either upright or else goeth
>
> from the fire, when it beginneth a little to shrink from the
>
> spit, or when the gravy which drppeth from it is clear
>
> without bloodiness, then is the meat enough . . .
>
> Gervase Markham
>
> The English Hous-wife, 1615
>
> Take a beef roast.
>
> Baste with melted butter. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and
>
> crushed rosemary.
>
> Place in a roasting pan fat-side up. Roast 30-35 minutes
>
> per pound at 325 degree F. Baste every half hour with
>
> melted butter.
>
>
>
> Roasted Onion Salad
>
> Of onion salad. Take onions; cook them in the embers, then peel them and
> cut
> them across into longish, thin
>
> slices; add a little vinegar, salt, oil, and spices, and serve.
>
> Libro della cucina del secolo XIV
>
> 2 lbs of sweet onions
>
> olive oil
>
> wine vinegar
>
> salt
>
> pepper
>
> 1/8 teaspoon cloves
>
> 1/8 teaspoon ginger
>
> 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
>
> For ease of preparation and clean up, wrap the onions individually in
> aluminum foil.
>
> Roast the onions for about 1 hour in coals or a 500 degree F oven. Remove
> and cool.
>
> The onion skins should be blackened and carmelized
>
> Trim the top from the onion and pull the outer layer to the root end to
> provide a hand grip.
>
> Cut the onion longitudinally from near the root to the top.
>
> Sever the onion strips near the root end and place in a bowl.
>
> Sprinkle with salt, pepper and spices.
>
> Add a small amount of oil and vinegar to taste.
>
> Toss and serve. Serves eight.
>
> For large scale serving, make a vinegarette to taste of the oil, vinegar,
> salt, pepper and spices.
>
>
>
> Zanzarelli
>
> To make zanzarelli. To make ten platefuls, take eight eggs, half a libra
> of
> grated cheese, and breadcrumbs, and mix these things together. Then take a
> pot of meat broth colored yellow with saffron and put it on the fire; and
> when it begins to boil put in this mixture and stir with a spoon. And when
> it seems to have thickened, then remove the pot from the fire and serve
> up,
> then sprinkle with spices.
>
> Martino, Maestro, Libro de arte coquinaria
>
> 20 ounces of broth or stock
>
> 2 eggs
>
> 1 Tablespoon of grated or shredded romano or parmesan cheese
>
> 1 Tablespoon fine breadcrumbs
>
> 1/4 teaspoon each of black pepper, cinnamon and ginger, blended
>
> 2 threads of saffron (if desired)
>
> Whisk the eggs in a bowl
>
> Add the cheese and the breadcrumbs and whisk until evenly dispersed and
> the
> mixture thickens.
>
> Put the broth in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
>
> Add the saffron, remove from the heat and let stand for a few minutes to
> permit the saffron to color the broth.
>
> Return the broth to the heat and bring to a second boil.
>
> Add the egg mixture and whisk until the ingredients are blended into the
> broth. Remove from heat.
>
> Add the spice blend 1/4 teaspoon at a time, whisking them into the broth,
> until the desired taste is reached.
>
> Makes 3 cups of soup.
>
>
>
> Limonia
>
> Limonia. To make limonia, fry chickens with fat and onions. And crush some
> skinned almonds moistened with meat broth, and strain. Cook with the
> chickens and spices. If you have no almonds, thicken the broth with egg
> yolks. When the time to serve nears, add the juice of lemons, limes or
> bitter oranges.
>
> Liber de coquina
>
> 1 chicken cut into pieces or pieces of chicken for all at the table
>
> 1 cup almonds or two egg yolks
>
> 2 cups chicken broth
>
> 2 small onions sliced thin
>
> 3 Tablespoons olive oil or 2 ounces of salt pork
>
> salt to taste
>
> 1/4 teaspoon pepper
>
> 1/4 teaspoon of cloves
>
> 1/4 teaspoon of ginger
>
> 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
>
> juice of 1 lemon
>
> Crush the almonds to a mealy consistence, adding hot broth to form a thick
> liquid.
>
> Strain the almond liquor through a fine cloth (muslin kitchen towel, three
> or four layers of fine cheesecloth, etc.
>
> Squeeze out as much of the almond milk as possible.
>
> To thicken with egg yolks, ignore the process for almond milk and whisk
> the
> yolks into the cold broth before heating.
>
> Heat a skillet and render the salt pork or use olive oil.
>
> Remove the rendered fat.
>
> Brown the onions and the chicken together.
>
> Salt to taste and sprinkle with spices.
>
> Add the almond milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30
> to 40 minutes.
>
> Add the lemon juice.
>
> Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and serve.
>
> Serves four to eight.
>
>
>
> Kidney beans
>
> Cook the kidney beans in pure water or good broth, when they are cooked,
> get
> finely sliced onions and fry them in a pan with good oil and put these
> fried
> onions on top along with pepper, cinnamon and saffron; then let this sit a
> while on the hot coals; dish it up with good spices on top.
>
> Cuoco Napoletano
>
> 10 oz dried blackeyed peas
>
> olive oil
>
> 1 small onion thinly sliced
>
> 1 teaspoon salt
>
> 1/4 teaspoon pepper
>
> 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
>
> 2 or 3 threads of saffron (if desired)
>
> Wash the blackeyed peas thorougly and let soak for several hours or
> overnight.
>
> Drain.
>
> Place the beans in a pot and cover with water. Add the salt.
>
> Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until tender.
>
> Add the pepper, cinnamon and saffron.
>
> In a skillet brown the onion.
>
> Garnish the top of the blackeyed peas with the onion. Let simmer for 10 to
> 15 minutes longer.
>
> Spice to taste and serve.
>
> Serves eight.
>
>
>
> In the context of a 15th Century Italian recipe, the legume in question is
> the black-eyed pea rather than a modern kidney bean.
>
>
>
> Baked Cheese Bread
>
> Get bread, remove the crust, slice it thin and toast it on the fire to
> color
> it, then coat the slices with fresh butter and put sugar and cinnamon on
> top, then get slices of creamy cheese and put them on the toast with sugar
> and cinnamon on top; then put the slices into a torte pan and put this on
> the coals with the lid on and coals on top; when the cheese has melted,
> serve it quickly.
>
> 8 slices of white sandwich bread
>
> 2 Tablespoons sugar
>
> 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
>
> Whipped butter or margarine
>
> Slices of cheese to cover the bread
>
> Mix cinnamon and sugar in a clean salt or pepper shaker.
>
> Toast the slices of bread and trim the crust.
>
> Butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture.
>
> Place the slices of bread on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.
>
> Top the buttered bread with the slices of cheese.
>
> Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
>
> Place the pan in a 300 degree F oven until the cheese begins to melt.
>
> Remove and serve.
>
> Serves eight.
>
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Pax Christi,
Sydney