[Sca-cooks] Irish food

[Kathleen Roberts]

ah, it is nice to see someone else knows "The Vision of Mac Conglinne" (sp... don't have my paperwork here).
it gives a wonderful idea of the foods available, although it is again open to translation and rewriting.

speaking of cattle.... they had a purpose in the winter that made them better than meat.  the cattle could be carefully bled, and the blood used in puddings, thus giving a food that could 'keep on giving'.  not to mention the importance of milk for cheese, one of the very important staples of monastery and farm.

interesting monastic point... some monks at certain holidays could not eat cheese because the rennet came from the stomach of an animal.  interesting point, considering  how 'liberal interpretation' of food could actually get you meat on the table on fast days. ;)

i have chased period irish food for years, and finally found a fair amount of documentation on what people ate and how it was cooked from tales, monastic records and laws.  quite interesting stuff.

if you are interested in a really unique dish, try making a stirabout with oats (steel cut is good), broth, butter and onions (onions cooked before inclusion).   cook until done, and all a bit of fresh herb and cream.  really, really good.   quite impressed a number of people who sampled it at an Early Irish Food class i gave in the barony.

I still want to do a perfect period Irish feast one day... better hurry, ain't getting any younger. LOL!

Cailte

Kathleen Roberts

Supervisor, Student Records

Division of Enrollment Management

University of New Mexico

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."  W.B. Yeats



"The hand that rocks the ladle rules the world."  Nadia G.

________________________________________
From: sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org [sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] on behalf of JIMCHEVAL at aol.com [JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 11:04 PM
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Irish food