[Sca-cooks] Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 33, Issue 17

Fri Jan 9 04:30:47 PST 2009

Hi all!

>From what I can remember from when I lived in Ireland, people didn't cook dulse, they cooked with carageen (Irish moss), which has a much less pronounced flavour. Dulse would be washed off, dried (and sometimes lightly roasted), and then eaten sorta like crisps. It's a snack that takes a little getting used to, but it's *so* worth it- all salty and oceany-tasting, and a really neat texture; starts off slightly crispy, then gets soft and chewy as it rehydrates. mmmmm!

Dan 

> did you know ancient ireland had laws for who and how much
> dulse could be harvested?  much the same as with fishing
> areas.  i guess you can see i am getting edu-macated in my
> research for the upcoming class: Legends, Lawyers and
> Landfills, Documenting Early Irish Food.
> 
>   From what i have heard, perhaps dulse is best used as
> seasoning and not an ingredient!
> 
> cailte
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which
> sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
> W. B. Yeats
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Kathleen Roberts
> Coordinator of Freshman Admissions
> University of New Mexico
> Albuquerque, NM
> 505-277-2447
> FASTINFOrmation at your fingertips -
> http://fastinfo.unm.edu/
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:44:34 -0500
> From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] dulse?
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <46A906C6-1FE4-46DC-95FF-58FFC49FC5A0 at verizon.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
> 
> 
> On Jan 8, 2009, at 6:07 PM, Kathleen A Roberts wrote:
> 
> > From what i have heard, perhaps dulse is best used as seasoning 
> > and  not an ingredient!
> 
> As far as I know, it was used as a [main] ingredient. I suspect you
> need to work with the fresh stuff to get a sense of what the early
> Irish were doing; it might be a bit like tasting dried raisins and
> concluding grapes have a peculiar, very sweet, slightly oxidized
> flavor...
> 
> My go-to source for a recipe like this would be Malachi McCormick, who
> says, honestly, that he couldn't find any traditional written recipes
> for dulse, so he provides us with one he made up, also using dried
> dulse, reconstituted and mixed with watercress in a salad.
> 
> I could swear, though, that someplace I have a recipe that starts with
> the dulse-ey equivalent of, "First steal two chickens", as in, first
> collect some dulse off some rocks at the seashore, etc.
> 
> By the way, can anybody document that there actually is a printed
> recipe that begins that way (the stolen chicken reference), and that
> it isn't just some sort of xenophobic/racist urban legend promulgated
> by some culture other than the one being spoken of?
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:11:52 -0500
> From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] First Catch Your...dulse?
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <49669648.8070402 at mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
> 
> "First steal a chicken" shows up as a Hungarian joke.
> Google books indicates for
> Hungarian chicken fricassee or chicken paprikash.
> 
> It's suggested that it might be related to "don't catch your chickens
> before they are hatched."
> 
> This probably relates to the phrase "First Catch Your Hare"
> which The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs
>    relates as:
> 
> *FIRST catch your hare* Commonly thought to originate in the recipe for
> hare soup in Mrs Glasse's /Art of Cookery/ (1747) or in Mrs Beeton's
> /Book of Household Management/ (1851), but not found there (see quot.
> 1896). Similar in sentiment to *CATCHING'S before hanging
> 
> Cf. /c/ 1300 Bracton /De Legibus Angliae/ IV. xxi.
> 
> /vulgariter dicitur/, /quod primo opportet cervum capere/, /& postea cum
> captus fuerit illum excoriare/, it is commonly said that one must first
> catch the deer, and afterwards, when he has been caught, skin him.
> 
> 1801 /Spirit of Farmers' Museum/ 55 Search for ?Spirit of Farmers'
> Museum?
> How to dress a dolphin, first catch a dolphin.
> 
> 1855 Thackeray /Rose & Ring/ xiv.
> ?To seize wherever I should light upon him?? ?First catch your
> hare!?..exclaimed his Royal Highness.
> 
> 1896 /Daily News/ 20 July 8
> 
> The familiar words, ?First catch your hare,? were never to be found in
> Mrs. Glasse's famous volume. What she really said was, ?Take your hare
> when it is cased [skinned].?
> 
> 1984 ?C. Aird? /Harm's Way/ iii.
> 
> Sloan took his reply straight from the pages of an early cookery book.
> ..?First, catch your hare.?
> 
> Prospect Books when they reprinted Mrs. Glasse titled it as
> First Catch Your Hare: The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747)
> By Hannah Glasse, Jennifer Stead, Priscilla Bain
> Published by Prospect Books, 2004
> 
> Other sources indicate that it can be attributed to Dr. Kitchener.
> 
> The phrase turns up as titles in other books of cookery too.
> First Catch Your Hare: A History of the Recipe-makers
> By Mary Aylett, Olive Ordish
> Published by Macdonald, 1965
> 
> First Catch Your Hare
> By David Crystal
> Illustrated by Peter Hay
> Published by Two Rivers Press, 1999
> 
> Johnnae
> 
> 
> Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
> > By the way, can anybody document that there actually is a printed 
> > recipe that begins that way (the stolen chicken reference), and 
> > that it isn't just some sort of xenophobic/racist urban legend 
> > promulgated by some culture other than the one being spoken of?
> >
> > Adamantius
> >
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 6
> Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:27:49 -0500
> From: Gretchen Beck <grm at andrew.cmu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] dulse?
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <509E2E59680B64935E627F50 at Grump1.cmu.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> 
> 
> --On Thursday, January 08, 2009 6:44 PM -0500 "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus
> Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> >
> > On Jan 8, 2009, at 6:07 PM, Kathleen A Roberts wrote:
> >
> >
> > I could swear, though, that someplace I have a recipe that starts with
> > the dulse-ey equivalent of, "First steal two chickens", as in, first
> > collect some dulse off some rocks at the seashore, etc.
> >
> > By the way, can anybody document that there actually is a printed recipe
> > that begins that way (the stolen chicken reference), and that it isn't
> > just some sort of xenophobic/racist urban legend promulgated by some
> > culture other than the one being spoken of?
> 
> This is the closest I could find. From An Historical Account of Peterhead,
> from the Earliest Period to the Present Time: Comprehending an Account of
> Its Trade, Shipping, Commerce, and Manufactures, Mineral Wells, Baths, &c.
> with an Appendix, Containing a Copy of the Original Charter of Erection,
> Together with All the Bye-laws and ...
> By James Arbuthnot
> Published by Printed by D. Chalmers, 1815
> 
> p 37
> Dulse, or Dilse
> 
> This fucus is found in considerable quantities all along our coast and of
> different colours, and sizes, in the leaf. The short purple-leaved dilse is
> esteemed the best; the large gillard, or green-leaved dilse, appear to
> contain fully as much saccharine matter as the other, but they are not so
> tender...The best short dilse comes from Boddom and Longhaven: the less
> they are exposed to the rays of the sun, they taste the better. They are
> generally eaten here fresh: some people roast them, and they eat tollerably
> well. The plan used in roasting dilse is as follows:--They are put into a
> plate, and the lower ends of a pair of tongs are heated in the fire until
> they assume a red appearance; they are then squeezed with this until they
> are properly done, which is known by their assuming a dark olive green
> appearance.
> 
> The New and Complete American Encyclopedia: Or, Universal Dictionary of
> Arts and Sciences; on an Improved Plan: in which the Respective Sciences
> are Arranged Into Complete Systems, and the Arts Digested Into Distinct
> Treatises; Also the Detached Parts of Knowledge Alphabetically Arranged and
> ...
> Published by John Low, 1807, notes
> 
> The palmatus, the palmated or sweet fucus, commonly called dulse or dilse,
> groaws plentifully on the sea coasts...The inhabitants, both of Scotland
> and England take pleasure in eating this plant; and women of weak habits
> often recover an appetite by eating it raw...They sometimes eat it raw, but
> esteem it most when added to ragouts, oglios, etc, to which it gives a red
> colour; and, dissolving, renders them thick and gelatinous. Th the Isle of
> Skye, it is sometimes used in fevers to promote a sweat, being boiled in
> water with butter...the dried leaves infused in water exhale the scent of
> violets.
> 
> The pinnatifidus, the jagged fucus, or pepper dilse, is frequest on sea
> rocks which are covered by the tides..This species has a hot taste in the
> mouth, and is therefore called pepper ilse, in Britian. It is often eaten
> as a salad, like the preceeding
> 
> Columbian Cyclopedia
> Published by Garretson, Cox & Company, 1897, notes
> 
> ...It is eaten raw or roasted, and with vinegar. IN Iceland, it is
> sometimes boiled in milk. It is an important plant to the Icelanders, and
> after being washed and dried, is stored in casks, to be eaten with
> fish...The name Dulse is given in the sw of England to another sea-weed,
> Iridaea edulis,...whih has an undivided obovate or wedge shaped, flat,
> expanded frond, very succulent, tapering to a short stalk and of a dull
> purple color. It is eaten either raw or pinched between hot irons -- Pepper
> Dulse...another of ...has a pungent taste, and is used as a condiment when
> other sea weeds are eaten.
> 
> toodles, margaret
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 7
> Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:58:56 -0500
> From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] First Catch Your...dulse?
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <0C1121D3-CB88-41E0-9646-A1D5FB25B238 at verizon.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
> 
> 
> On Jan 8, 2009, at 7:11 PM, Johnna Holloway wrote:
> 
> > "First steal a chicken" shows up as a Hungarian joke.
> > Google books indicates for
> > Hungarian chicken fricassee or chicken paprikash.
> 
> I believe the common joke (I doubt it's anything more) is this is
> traditionally supposed to be the text of an old gypsy recipe. But I
> have trouble buying into the idea that the Rom folk, living among
> other people, with few written texts, no real literary tradition and
> no publishing industry, are writing culturally-specific recipes in
> such an organized manner that they always begin with this phrase, or,
> for that matter, that a culture who always steals chickens (it being
> difficult to raise them on the road, presumably), needs to be reminded
> of this.
> 
> Consequently, I'm sort of assuming it's made up by someone else as a
> poke at the group in question...
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 8
> Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:16:06 -0500
> From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] dulse?
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <4966A556.2080704 at mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> Alan Davidson has recipes and a full description
> in his book North Atlantic Seafood. see page 254.
> Eating it fresh is described as 'chewing on a salted  rubber band.'
> If you search Google books under Irish Dulse recipes, you can look at
> the page.
> 
> Johnnae
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 9
> Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:25:13 -0800
> From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] dulse?
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <4966A779.8010709 at jeffnet.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> Johnna Holloway wrote:
> > Alan Davidson has recipes and a full description
> > in his book North Atlantic Seafood. see page 254.
> > Eating it fresh is described as 'chewing on a salted  rubber band.'
> Gee- that's how I feel about calamari...
> 
> 'Lainie
> 
> --
> "It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more 
> than our abilities."  -Albus Dumbledore
> 
> ~~~Follow my Queenly perambulations at: http://slugcrossings.blogspot.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
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> 
> End of Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 33, Issue 17
> *****************************************

>