[Sca-cooks] Best types of dried fish

[Stefan li Rous]

Selene mentioned:
<<<
> Hmmm, most Bacalhau dishes of Portugal and Brasil include potatoes,
peppers and/or tomatoes these days, that will be a tough one to track
down.  But I have some sources at home, my aunt was involved with
Portugal's travel publicity for many years and I inherited some
interesting cook books.  None of them pre-1600, alas, but they still may
have some citations we can use. >>>

There are a number of recipes for dried fish, and some of them are  
even said to be period, although I don't remember his sources in Mark  
Kurlansky's "Cod: A Biography of the FishThat Changed the World". I  
enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it. More review  
excerpts below.

<<< I keep contemplating a "fish feast" for Lent, some year.   
Interested? >>>

See these files in the FEASTS section of the Florilegium:

feasts-fish-msg   (30K)  6/26/06    Serving fish at SCA feasts.
fish-feast-art     (6K)  3/29/00    Details and recipes for a mid-Lent
                                        "fish feast" by Rudd Rayfield.

Reviews of the book:
"Amazon.com
You probably enjoy eating codfish, but reading about them? Mark  
Kurlansky has written a fabulous book--well worth your time--about a  
fish that probably has mattered more in human history than any other.  
The cod helped inspire the discovery and exploration of North  
America. It had a profound impact upon the economic development of  
New England and eastern Canada from the earliest times. Today,  
however, overfishing is a constant threat. Kurlansky sprinkles his  
well-written and occasionally humorous history with interesting  
asides on the possible origin of the word codpiece and dozens of fish  
recipes. Sometimes a book on an offbeat or neglected subject really  
makes the grade. This is one of them. --This text refers to the   
Hardcover edition.

 From Library Journal
In this engaging history of a "1000-year fishing spree," Kurlansky (A  
Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny, LJ 1/92)  
traces the relationship of cod fishery to such historical eras and  
events as medieval Christianity and Christian observances;  
international conflicts between England and Germany over Icelandic  
cod; slavery, the molasses trade, and the dismantling of the British  
Empire; and, the evolution of a sophisticated fishing industry in New  
England. Kurlansky relates... read more --This text refers to the   
Hardcover edition.

Book Description
A delightful romp through history with all its economic forces laid  
bare, Cod is the biography of a single species of fish, but it may as  
well be a world history with this humble fish as its recurring main  
character. Cod, it turns out, is the reason Europeans set sail across  
the Atlantic, and it is the only reason they could. What did the  
Vikings eat in icy Greenland and on the five expeditions to America  
recorded in the Icelandic sagas? Cod--frozen and dried in the frosty  
air, then broken into pieces and eaten like hardtack. What was the  
staple of the medieval diet? Cod again, sold salted by the Basques,  
an enigmatic people with a mysterious, unlimited supply of cod. As we  
make our way through the centuries of cod history, we also find a  
delicious legacy of recipes, and the tragic story of environmental  
failure, of depleted fishing stocks where once their numbers were te  
fate of the universe. Here--for scientist and layperson alike, for  
philosopher, science-fiction reader, biologist, and computer expert-- 
is a startlingly complete and rational synthesis of disciplines, and  
a new, optimistic message about existence."

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****