[Sca-cooks] Early Irish food

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jan 9, 2009, at 10:23 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Adamantius mentioned:
>
> > Syllabub/Hatted Kit, etc.
>
> Syllabub I remember seeing recipes for and we've had some  
> discussions on, but what is "Hatted Kit"? Is this just another name  
> for syllabub/caudles?

Closer to syllabub, but made with ale and milk instead of wine and  
milk... Caudles are a completely different animal, AFAIK; they're  
generally thickened with egg yolk.


> > Drisheen (a blood pudding made with milk)
>
> Recipe? Description? I assume this isn't kosher...

It is a pudding made with blood, but by no means synonymous with black  
pudding, nor with blood sausage.

I have a recipe someplace, but not handy. Basically it's milk and  
blood, fat and spices, maybe some flour or breadcrumbs, cooked slowly  
in a pan until it solidifies, and can be sliced. It's pretty similar  
to the medieval English malaches, except  when they use blood (there  
are white versions without it) it's all blood for the liquid, not half  
blood and half milk, like Drisheen. I gather Drisheen is a Northern  
Irish thing, and is also a place name.

> > Pottages made with milk, such as Brotchan Foltchep/Brotchan Roy  
> may or
> > may not count as separate foods.
>
> Are these the same as porridges?

Pottages are soups, essentially, that which can be poted or drunk. In  
classical culinary terms, a potage is a chunky soup, as opposed to a  
veloute or puree. So, for example, minestrone is a potage. while cream  
of celery (bleah) is a veloute or a creme. In this case, between two  
leek soups, Brotchan Foltchep is a potage while Vichyssoise is a creme  
or a veloute...

Porridges used to imply the presence of leeks (according to most  
dictionaries, from a French word for leek), but after centuries of  
containing both leeks and a grain, usually oatmeal, they have become a  
grain dish.

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