[Sca-cooks] Sweating meat

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

Bear in mind that these are reconstructions; the pots and pans are set  
dressing (not that they weren't used sometimes). Envision the surfaces without  
all that. I imagine that the meat was placed (for Anthimus' purposes) not 
on the  grill, but on one of the bare areas beside it (probably on a 
platter), maybe  about a foot away. That way, even if the grill was being used to 
cook something  else, the meat would still have cooked as he described.

And yes, the  Romans did grill meat. Aspicius (260):
"Trim the [pork liver?] marinate in  broth, with pepper, lovage, two laurel 
berries, wrap in cauls, grill on the  gridiron and serve."

Anthimus offers a recipe where, strangely, the meat  (again pork liver) is 
CUT on the grill, but then cooked under the coals; does he  mean to precook 
it while cutting it?
"cut it well on an iron grill with broad  slats, rub it with oil or fat, 
and so carefully roast it on the coals so that it  is a little raw, and eat it 
warm with oil and salt and a little coriander  sprinkled on it."
 
Looking at the Roman setup is a reminder how versatile a grill can be: you  
could grill meat on it, use it to heat pots, use the coals to cook on 
directly,  etc. I ate at a tiny Indian restaurant in Paris once where the woman 
did all the  cooking on a grill and managed to quite smoothly prepare a full 
meal with  it.
 
Grills are still mentioned in the late medieval period in France, but the  
only mention of their use is to toast bread. Probably this is because the 
spit  (which was used by the Germans, but not I think by the Romans) was the 
preferred  way to roast meat. Not only did it cook it on all sides, it 
allowed for  theatrical effects, as when Charlemagne's hunters brought in his 
roasts on  spits.


Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

A History of Coffee  and Other Refreshments in Early Modern France 
by Pierre Le Grand d'Aussy  

In a message dated 4/12/2013 12:25:43 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
galefridus at optimum.net writes:
But looking at these images, they appear to  show the grille being used to 
support pots and pans over coals, not to cook  meat, poultry, or fish over 
coals. It certainly possible that the Romans did so,  but I can't tell from 
these images. Regardless, if the rectangular grilles shown  are typical, they 
would hold the meat too close to the coals to get the  slow-cook effect.