[Sca-cooks] medieval caviar

[Nick Sasso]

-----Original Message-----
< < < < A couple of translations from Martino:

How to Make Lenten Pottage

Take some good caviar, making sure it is not rancid, and remove the outside
part; the crush well in a mortar, and when it has been well crushed, to make
eight servings, take half of the caviar and then crush it in a mortar with
twenty-five almonds that have been well blanched and an ounce of bread
white; < < < SNIP > > >

How to Prepare Sturgeon Roe Caviar and Cook It As Well
< < < STIP > > >
To make the caviar, take some sturgeon roe, during the season and period
when sturgeon are best, remove from the roe all the nerves inside, and wash
with some good white vinegar or with good white wine.  Place on a table and
allow it to dry; then put it in a pot, adding salt to taste; stir well with
your hands, but carefully so as to crush as little as possible.  And once
this has been done, take a white sack made of rather loose canvas, and toss
in the caviar for a day and a night so that the water it purges will be
strained out.  Once this has been done, put the caviar back in a pot, well
pressed and thick, in other words by pressing it down with your hands.
Three or four small holes at the bottom of the pot will allow moisture to
escape in case the caviar was not properly strained.  Keep the pot well
covered and you can eat the caviar as you wish. > > > > >


I started thiking about terminology in our period and our current times, as
well as in between.  How are people thinking about language drift in terms
of caviar as the little eggs themselves versus the entire 'egg sack' of a
fish?  I am finding it hard to grasp removing and outside part of hundreds
of little dots of coor to make a dish.  Same with the removal of nerves from
them.

Am I the last one to the party in figuring this out?  I checked wikipedia
and found a reference to several Mediterranean nations drying and curing the
roe pouch of various fish, then sliced and used like sardines.  Are we
possibly looking at two or more different products being translated into
English as "caviar" or "roe".  Just checking because I've deleted the
previous messages in this thread.  I automatically think little fishy egg
granuales . . . while the original could refer to the little tiny eggs, the
egg pouch or the entire thing together.


pacem et bonum
niccolo difrancesco
(I know the egg pouch has a 'real' name)