[Sca-cooks] Gourd Recipe in the Transylvanian Cookbook

[Terry]

Another Transylvanian recipe which has attracted my attention is the 
following:


“*The next are dishes made from gourds and cucumber376. *


(663) Cook the tree-climbing squash (or gourds) this way.


Pare off the outer skin nice and thinly, if the seeds have not matured, 
slice it seeds and all, and if the seeds have matured, slice only the 
outer part, cook that in clean water; when it has cooked, pour it on a 
sieve or strainer, let the water drip out of it. Put it on the table, 
make a cutting knife from a shingle, cut it up on the table, chop yellow 
onion as well, fry it in butter for the flavor, put it in a fitting pot, 
and strain sweet milk onto it as is customary; when you want to serve 
it, make a large omelet from eggs, when you serve it in the dish, put a 
bridge, put the whole omelet on that, butter the squash in the dish also.



376 The words used appear to refer to the family of Cucurbitae, which 
include watermelons, some squash, gourds, and even watermelon. 
Re-creators here should be as careful as possible to use Old-World 
species. “



As written, the recipe is for bottle gourds (genus Lagenaria). Several 
editions of the Tacunium Sanitatis depicts harvesting bottle gourds with 
one of the illuminations distinctly showing an arbor fulfilling the 
“tree-climbing” description. I have encountered both elongated and round 
bottle gourds being grown arboreally. All members of the Lageneria 
originate in the Old World, although there are Old World gourds that 
have been introduced into the New World apparently without human agency.


Genus Curcubita are the New World squashes which only appear in the Old 
World after 1492 and were among the early adopted foodstuffs. One of the 
linguistic problems is that most European languages use some derivation 
of the Latin “cucurbita” to reference gourds. General usage applied the 
words to both gourds and squashes during the transition in foodstuffs, 
so differentiating between the two genera between 1500 and 1700 can get 
tricky. Using Curcubita as the genus name for the New World squashes 
just adds to the confusion.


While there are over 90 genera in the Cucurbitaceae, the other primary 
ones of interest to us are Cucumis (cucumbers and melons), Citrullus 
(watermelons), Benincasa (winter melons), and Luffa (luffas aka loofahs).


A case can be made for using New World squash with the recipe. Leon 
Fuchs Herbal (1542) describes New World cucurbits found in the Ottoman 
Empire (along with maize and peppers). There was a major encroachment by 
the Ottomans into Hungary in 1541 with Transylvania being ruled by 
Hungarian kings and under Ottoman suzerainty until 1602. It was during 
the period of Ottoman control that a number of the new foodstuffs found 
their way into Central Europe.


The recipe boils the gourd, outer skin removed and the meat of the fruit 
sliced or cored and sliced depending on the maturity of the gourd. This 
will soften the gourd and remove some bitterness, but I am uncertain as 
to how long it should be boiled. If a squash is used, I would suggest 
parboiling the meat for two or three minutes.


Drain the cucurbit and chop it coarsely on a cutting board. I would 
suggest using a bench knife rather than a shingle (wood or slate? How 
sharp an edge?)


Coarsely dice a yellow (sweet?) onion. I recommend using a sweet onion 
if available as some of the ordinary yellow onions available have a 
harsh flavor that might distract from the dish. Saute the onion in 
butter until at least translucent or possibly caramelized.


The recipe is unclear as to whether the gourd is also sauteed, but I'm 
going to hold to not sauteing.



The onion and gourd are then placed in a pot with milk. I suspect that 
this was then set near the fire to stay warm.


To serve the squash, make an omelet, place a bridge in the serving dish, 
place the omelet on the bridge, serve the squash on the omelet with 
butter. What is a bridge? I'm not certain, but as a (archaic) culinary 
term, a bridge is a device to hold a sieve in a dairy or brewery. In 
this case, I think it is being used to raise the omelet and permit the 
squash to drain into the dish.


I doubt I will use this recipe in a feast, but it is interesting and if 
I can get my hands on some gourds, I'll give it a try,


Bear