[Sca-cooks] Pre-1600 recipes for "anchient grains"

[Terry Decker]

What do they mean by "ancient grains?"  Other than triticale and a few 
modern hybrids, all of the grains we use today were being used in the 
Neolithic.  Any grain can be prepared by grinding it to meal and then adding 
the meal to boiling water or broth in a ratio of 1 part meal to 2 to 3 parts 
liquid and cooking until thickened.  Wheat berries can be boiled in water to 
soften them then slow cooked in cream (or milk) with sugar and spices to 
make a form of frumenty.  Breads of all stripes have been around for 
millenia.  If I were looking for grain recipes, I'd hit the Florilegium and 
look for bread, polenta, frumenty, porridge and grains.  You should even 
find my recipe for millet polenta out there.

I'm a little pressed for time at the moment, but I'll be happy to pull out 
some grain recipes over the next day or two.

Bear

> Greetings,
>   For this month's culinary guild meeting (this Wednesday) I was planning 
> on doing a simple lesson how to redact/ recreate a recipe. However, I just 
> got a request from a barony member who's whole family is interested in 
> dishes using the "ancient grains".
>   I've got an Italian recipe for Millet polenta, and I'm sure there are 
> others out there, but I seem to be drawing a blank at the moment. Any 
> ideas for good and simple recipes that would relate to this?
>
> In joyous service,
> Raffaella