[Sca-cooks] Slap me in the face

[Suey]

On 11/3/10 8:19 PM, sca-cooks-request at lists.ansteorra.org wrote:
> Then I'm afraid there is little any of us can do to help you.  The reason
> you are getting criticisms about whether your statements are valid and can
> be documented is because it is perceived that you are not citing your
> sources.  Just saying that you worked in such and such a library for some
> number of years is not sufficient.  It would be comparable to my saying that
> I believe that the Japanese sailed to the New World and taught the native
> Americans how to make pottery based on the fact that I once took an
> archaeology course as part of my Masters degree in Far Eastern Art History!
>   For good or ill, that's the way it works.
>
> Kiri
I think that is a big dig. You are telling me that 17 years of honest 
work are worth nothing and that my footnotes are invalid which happen to 
include the leading dictionaries and encyclopedias, Cervantes, 
Shakespeare, la Celestina, Juan Ruiz, Hieatt, Lucie Bolens, Nola, Sent 
Sovi, Fadalat etc, etc, etc. I find that criticism unacceptable.
All you do is look at hoopoe. I have bent over backwards thanking you 
and trying to correct it but we can't look at second base in my blog. 
Alcega is my second entry. Would anyone like to criticize that:

OCast açelga, Ar. silqa; L. Beta vulgaris, Ar. al-sulqa, silga, Fr. 
chardon (thistle), Eng Swiss chard, wild chard, a beet with white leaf 
stalks, “spinach beet” or “silver beet”. It is a fat fleshy legume with 
the appearance of a thick pale green carrot growing from 1.5 to 2m high. 
Although the root is inedible, it is like beets with large leaves and 
thick stalks. Greek and Byzantine documents confirm that it was 
cultivated and consumed as food by 600 B.C. As a native to the 
Mediterranean, it is thought to have originated in Sicily. In medieval 
times, Arab cooks claimed they brought it from northern Africa and 
introduced it to Al-Andalus. Until the end of the 13 C. chard around 
Cordova was not popular. Then it became a specialty for a minority, as 
it was an appreciated food item among Muslims and Jews. For Christians, 
it was monastical and poor man’s food. Slowly, however, chard made its 
way to noble tables as it adapted to the flavor desired and it was 
consumed in a great variety of ways. There are two types green, which 
are prepared like spinach or added to salads. They can be used as a 
substitute for asparagus. Both types are added frequently to stews and 
soups. The Muslims used the thick stalks separated from the leaves. From 
this came expressions like ‘beet fingers,’ which were actually chard 
stalks not beets. Further, Arabs boiled chard with chickpeas, 
pomegranate or sumac juice. The stalks too could be fried, baked, 
marinated or simply eaten with a little garum and salt and pepper. 
Villena’s chard is marinated, probably in verjuice, salt and pepper. By 
boiling milk and throwing the flowers on it, the milk curdled faster. 
Chard always has been recommended for vegetarian diets and thought 
important in the diets of the elderly for its high vitamin C, vitamin A 
and calcium content. Medieval Spaniards said, “edible chard is chard 
from the vegetable garden.” Gradually eggplant and artichoke dishes in 
Andalusia replaced chard but peasants continued to eat the stems. 
Medically, the plant is very important. To purge the head, the juice, 
with honey, it was put in the nostrils. It is good for earaches too. As 
remedy from dandruff and lice, the hair is washed with water in which 
chard leaves and the roots have been boiled. Further, this relieves 
itching. Raw leaves are rubbed on leprosy sores for the nitrous content 
and then the leaves are left on affected areas. This method also is used 
for ringworm and other sores on the skin. After boiling chard, it is 
applied to scabs caused by St. Anthony’s fire (see fuego de San Antón) 
and burns. Like beets, chard contains a high level of sugar and water 
out of which syrups, vegetable juices and medicinal infusions were made. 
To clean the intestines, people in the Middle Ages ate the roots and 
drank infusions. Also see cardo corredo, cardo silvestre and remolacha. 
[Capuano. 1988:90; Chirino/Herrera. 1973:238; Espasa. 
1988:11:CANAL.866-867; Bolens. Cuisine. 1990:29; Gázquez. 
2002:114:116:117; Nola/Iranzo. 1982:168; Villena/Calero. 2002:64; and 
Villena/Navarro. 1879:44]
Suey