[Sca-cooks] Period Japanese or other oriental soup recipes

[Elaine Koogler]

Dame Hauviette d'Anjou (Channon Mondoux) forwarded a couple of documents to
me that include references to soups made with sea weed in both the early
Irish and Viking cultures.  Included was the following information in one of
the documents, a feast at Carrick Fergus:

*Dulse Stew*

I was inspired by a recipe in *Traditional Irish Recipes*, written by John
Murphy and hand scribed by Margaret Batt. Although the book is laden with
recipes containing potatoes, I found it to be significant in true to form
early recipes (such as the one for Dulse Stew, see below) . Murphy notes
three early sources ; "The Complete confectioner, or the whole art of
confectionary made plain & easy" (H. Glasse, Dublin 1742), "The Lady's
Assistant for Regulating and Supplying her Table" (Charlotte Mason,
Dublin1778) and
J. Mc Waters, "Cheap Recipes & Hints on Cookery Collected for Distribution
Amongst the Irish Peasantry in 1847". Although not in period, these early
sources indicate some history for these recipes. I suspect the origin of
some of these recipes go back much further than the dates sited above.

 In a discussion on the SCA Cooks List, Master Adamantius, writes that the
soup known as brotchan foltchep is traditional Irish cooking and is
"apparently of much greater antiquity, having been mentioned and described
in the writings of St. Colmcille, c. 597 C.E. There's no telling how the
original differs from this, though. I am assuming that Colmcille's dish was
a bit more austere".

I found the same recipe in Traditional Irish Recipes, by John Murphy as
follows

*Brotchan Foltchep*

*parsley
2lb leeks
2 pints milk
knob of butter
2 oz oatmeal
salt & pepper*

*Boil the milk with oatmeal until cooked. Add the butter and mix in the
chopped leeks. Cool gently for one hour. Season to taste and garnish wiht
chopped parsley*

**In addition the same source provided the dulse recipe,

*Stewed  Dulse*

*dulce
butter
milk
salt & pepper*

*Cut the dulce from the rocks at low tide. Spread on shingle to dry in the
sun. Wash well to remove sand and grit. Place in a saucepan with milk,
butter, salt & pepper, and stew for three to four hours until tender. Serve
with oatcakes.*

The lack of quantities and the simplicity of instruction, leads me to
believe this is one of the recipes found in those early sources. Further
research is necessary to ascertain that as a fact. **

*Corccain's Dulse Stew*

*25 gm  dried dulce or 1/4 cup packed (available in most health food stores)
3 leeks chopped (including as much of the green as you can)
1 lb mushrooms sliced
3/4 cup salted butter
2 quarts whole milk
2 cups cream
2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp fresh ground black  pepper*

*Melt the butter in a dutch oven. Saute leeks and mushrooms till just
softening, let the butter brown.   Remove from heat and add the milk and
cream and return to heat. Reduce heat to low. *

*Rinse the dulce briefly in cold water, then chop. Add dulce to the pot.
Simmer for  30 to 40 minutes. Do not let the pot hard boil.  Season with
salt and pepper. Serve slightly less than hot.  Serves 12 large servings or
20 small.
*
I hope this helps....

Kiri

On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 10:50 PM, Sharon R. Saroff <sindara at pobox.com>wrote:

> My son is seeking to make a soup with seaweed but I am not sure if this is
> period.  Does anyone have any period recipes?
>
> Sindara
> Sharon R. Saroff, M.S.Ed.
> Special Education Consultant/Parent Advocate
> S.E.D.R.A., Inc.
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