[Sca-cooks] Need easy recipe that freezes well

[Colin MacNachtan]

On Tuesday 08 July 2008, euriol wrote:
> There are a number of savory pottages that would work well. One that comes
> to mind in particular is "Beef y-Stewed" out of Two Fifteenth Century
> Cookery books (page 6).
>
> Here is the my translation of the recipe:
> Take fair beef of the ribs of the fore quarters, and smite in fair pieces,
> and wash the beef into a fair pot; then take the water that the beef was
> soaked in, and strain it through a strainer, and set the same water and
> beef in a pot, and let them boil together; then take cinnamon, cloves,
> mace, grains of paradise, cubebs, and minced onions, parsley, and sage, and
> cast there-to, and let them boil together; and then take a loaf of bread,
> and steep it with broth and vinegar, and then draw it through a strainer,
> and let it be still; and whan it is near enough, cast the liquid there-to,
> but not too much, and then let boil once, and cast saffron there-to a
> quantity, then take salt and vinegar, and cast there-to, and look that it
> be poignant enough and serve forth.

I've made variations of this recipe a number of times using a crockpot, though 
I've never gone whole hog with the period spices.  It has a wonderful flavor.

My favorite variant is to use beef brisket and lots of leeks.  The brisket 
provides a strong beef flavor and the leeks top it off nicely.

I usually put it in mason jars and stick it in the cooler to take to events.  
It's good cold or it takes less than 5 minutes to reheat on my propane stove.

Colin MacNachtan