[Sca-cooks] Last Minute Genovese Feast

[David Friedman]

Would period Islamic be closer than Apicius? Southern Italy was under 
civilized occupation for a fair while, and I would expect a good deal of 
influence. Available sources would include the anonymous Andalusian 
cookbook, which is on my site, al-Baghdadi, al-Warraq, ...  . You can 
find a fair number of recipes, original and worked out version, in the 
/Miscellany/, which is available as a free pdf from my site.


On 10/28/12 9:38 PM, Karen Lyons-McGann wrote:
> Soooo, my baronial yule autocrat modified the theme so as to make my casual
> reading of Spanish and German sources over the course of the year unusable.
>     We aren't just an inn on the road to/from a pilgrammage destination, (im
> sure we could have found a Spanish or German Shrine to some saint or
> artifact.) No.  We are on the road returning from the 1st crusade.  He
> suggested since 'they went by boat from Italy' I could do an Italian Feast.
>   Except, they went overland, mostly from areas that are now France.  I
> already told the 12th Night cook i wouldnt do French.   (our barony is
> hosting, same guild is cooking)
>
> After a month of War, and family stuff (hello, I'm a grandma!) I finally
> started wrestling with it.     I considered Byzantine/ Greek but it just
> didn't seem Yule-ish.   I tried to make German work using Duke Godfrey of
> Lorraine.  (he didn't return so a feast celebrating returning, well.  It
> bothers me!).  I finally settled on traveling with Guglielmo Embracio
> (William the Drunk) back to Genoa.  (autocrat will get Italian afterall) He
> was a merchant who aided the Seige of Jerusalem by breaking up his ships to
> make Seige towers.  He returned to Genoa in December 1099 to get beg for
> some cash for the cause and then returned to the east.
>
> Genoa, December 1099
>
> I've begun with Apicius and Martino and the Neoolitan cookbook because
> that's what I have.  So that's one earlier than and two later than sources.
>   Not great.
>
> I've gotten some modern books that tell me that Genoa/Liguria traditionally
> uses more herbs than spices because the sailors and merchants, after asking
> with the strong smelling spices don't care to eat them. that they used
> chickpea and chestnut flours because the narrow bit of land between coast
> and mountains was no good for growing grain. Ditto few grazing animals, a
> preference for rabbits and chickens and not much cheese made locally.
>   I've noted the requisite plausibly period modern recipes that back
> documentation would be oh so pleasant to find. (chickpea crepes?  Walnut
> and ricotta pesto? Easy to make stamped pasta disks?  Fennel, raisin  and
> candied citron bread?).  I've confirmed what I thought I knew: basil pesto
> is 19thC.  Although herby blend of wild herbs and greens has been around.
> (and is currently used to stuff ravioli which is topped with mushroom
> sauce). Also: egg frittata with green herbs.
>
> So, I've got about a week to sort this out.   Then a week to test things
> out before presenting to the guild on Nov 13.  The feast is Dec 8 and will
> involve a lot of pre cooking as we can't afford to be on site as early as a
> cook would wish.  (this is the 4th or 5th year so farming out dishes in
> advance has been done.  ).
>
> I'm so very, very willing to take advice.   At the moment, it seems I may
> do Alician with a bit of later period and a bit of plausibly period.
>
> Oh, and there will be ham with mustard.  There always has been and so there
> always must be.  I'm OK with this.
>
> Bonne
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>

-- 
David Friedman
www.daviddfriedman.com
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/