[Sca-cooks] Swan recipes

[Alexander Clark]

Not only were swans often included in the cookbooks, they also
appeared on many menus. In the menus that someone thought were worth
preserving, as many as I've seen of them, swans are among the most
frequently appearing items, approximately tied with partridges and
pheasants.

In most sources there is just one place for swans, which is in the
first course. (Other dishes that also tend to be specific to the first
course are viand bruse, boars' heads, great flesh, capons, and pike.)

-- 
Henry/Alex

On Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:56:38 -0500, Johnna Holloway wrote:
> For the Concordance of English Recipes Thirteenth Through Fifteenth Centuries
> we identified and listed 15 recipes. Constance Hieatt then located another 5 for her volumes
> A Gathering of Medieval English Recipes and Cocatrice and Lampray Hay.
> There's a considerable number considering the bird received royal status in as early as
> the 12th century, making it out of bounds for most people.
> Or maybe all noble collections needed at least one swan recipe. Or maybe
> they kept trying to make it taste better.
>
> Johnnae
>
> On Jan 21, 2013, at 3:46 PM, Elise Fleming wrote:
>
> Not recipes per se, but there was an interesting article in Petits Propos Culinaires (PPC), Issue 24, November 1986, by Joop Witteveen, entitled "On Swans, Cranes and Herons: Part 1. Swans".
>
> Witteveen examines the sources listing swans as food as to preparation and service for England, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Germany during the Middle Ages.  There are some 45+ footnotes that should give someone a bit of reading!
>
> Back issues of PPC are available from http://acanthus-books.stores.yahoo.net/ .
>
> Alys K.