[Sca-cooks] Silly Siense Season...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jul 29, 2008, at 10:23 AM, Susan Fox wrote:

> Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
>>
>> "and all kinds of fish, for best results, should be fried without  
>> grease in the manner here described; take an egg yolk or two and  
>> rub the (hot) pan until it appears to sweat; the pan should be  
>> quite black and wiped thoroughly with a cloth, and it should be  
>> carefully watched lest it become too hot or too cold; sprinkle a  
>> little salt or sugar on (the surface of) the pan; [fry the fishes]  
>> as you would serve them on a plate, putting in one after the other  
>> without letting them each other"
>>
>> In Hieatt's notes on this recipe, she says, among other things,  
>> that "It is not the egg yolk which gives the appearance of  
>> 'sweating,' but the cholesterol left behind when the coating of  
>> yolk is wiped from the pan with a cloth."
>>
>> I just thought that was really cool. Doesn't it look a lot like  
>> instructions for seasoning an iron pan and pan-broiling a steak  
>> without any fat?
>>
>> Adamantius (as previously noted, easily amused)
>
> That is really interesting.  I did not know you could do that with  
> eggs.  Raw egg yolks?  I'll have to try this.
>
> I cleaned out my storage unit yesterday and found All My Cast Iron  
> Cookware.  Amongst other stuff. Lord help us.  I'll figure out where  
> to put it all Very Soon Now.  But it may be time for a session of  
> Calafia Dutch Oven Cookery Gang at a remote location, viz. Altavia  
> [call it, three baronies away in SCA terms].


If I had to speculate (and of course, Laurels never do that ;-)  ),  
I'd say to warm the pan without actually cooking the yolks to any  
great extent, which should enable them to actually be removed with a  
cloth and not too much elbow grease. I'd also think about (with no  
particular conclusion in mind, of course) whether something like free- 
range eggs might make a difference in re fat content in the yolks.

I also wonder whether this is some interpretation of fish-day or  
Lenten dietary rules; I've always had a tenuous grasp on those since  
they rarely seem to me to have any consistency. But I believe the same  
recipe calls for onions fried in grease, so perhaps this is a fried  
(or pan-broiled) red herring...

Adamantius




"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter