[Sca-cooks] Apple Pillows, Chicken Buns, Oil Choices, oh my.

[Ursel Stegerin]

We're off to Boars hunt and I'm prepping lunch for us to take with.
Tonights  dishes were Apple Pillows and Chicken Buns from  Sabina
Welserin and Dyuerse Bake Metis from Harleian MS 279.

Here is what I did.
For Chicken Buns
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html
(#97)
I took some leftover chicken drumsticks and pulled the chicken off.
Chopped it thin.  I  toasted some bread and grated it, then added it
to the chicken, and also added eggs until it resembled  almost a soft
meatloaf.
In the instructions it states to " let them fry very slowly and roast
them" So I turned the oven to 300,  heated some oil/butter ** in my
cast iron pan, planted small "meatballs"  in the pan, then baked util
they were cooked through, turning once as they got a delightful golden
color on the bottom .

They've been pronounced good. I thought they needed salt, and added
some to the second batch. (the cooked chicken was seasoned and I'm
afraid of oversalting.

** So the oil thing. I was at a loss of what to use to "fry/roast "
them in. Should it have been a dry fry? I fried in about 1/4 inch of
liquid. I went with butter for the flavor, and canloa oil for the
ability to take the heat.  So now, I'm wondering how do i get to a
closer choice  as to the appropriate oil. Trade documents to see what
was imported? Household records?

The Apple pillows were simple. Apple, cut in quarters dipped in batter
of  1/2 c flour (freshly milled wheat) 1/2 water, 2 eggs.  Then
dropped into oil to fry slowly till cooked. These were good, but I'll
admit that the lack of sugar surprised me, and my family appreciated
them more when i  "accidentally" tapped a little powdered sugar  over
the batch. Its clear that as a fried item these will not work for our
lunch tomorrow. I'll have to go with apple tarts instead.

I've got to get better about taking down measurements when i make
things. For example, the chicken that i used for the chicken buns was
the right amount. Why didnt i toss it on the scale to see how much
there was? I'm also going to go back to the manuscript and try to
translate for myself a little bit at least.

Lastly, with the Dyuerse Bake Metis, I used ground pork and decided
that with the leanness of todays pork I'd add extra fat. I realize now
that bacon was a bad choice because of the smoke flavor. Would lard
work?  Or am i  nuts to add extra fat ?

-- 
Ursel Stegerin
Barony of Madrone
An Tir
-----
mka Deborah Schumacher
Seattle, Wa