Well, here we are again in a New Month and this time I promise to get to
the end of the month. My mistake last time was not digging out recipes
for each week before plunging in and time just caught up with me. But
onward and upward.

With crowning holiday of October being Halloween, pumpkin recipes
sounded good, but as you all know our brilliant orange pumpkin is
strictly a New World item. But we do sometimes see recipes for gourds.
Gourds too mostly fall into the category of NWF but the bottle gourd was
known in Medieval Europe and is the most likely in these applications. I
have seen a number of these recipes interpreted with zucchini and other
squashes and that seems to work out. There is also a rather dense
slender green squash available in Middle Eastern Markets, whose name
refuses to pop up on my brain, that may be a better choice.

The gourds used in these preparations were most likely young fruits, but
this one does speak of the using the tougher rind as well.

  From the Menagier de Paris, Janet Hinson translation available online
including the notes I have included below,  we have:

GOURDS.  Let the rind be peeled, for that is best: and always if you
want the insides, let the seeds be removed, though it is said that the
rind is worth more, then cut up the rind in pieces, then parboil, then
chop lengthways, then put to cook in beef fat: almost at the end yellow
it with saffron or throw saffron thread by thread, one here, another
there; this is what cooks call 'fringed with saffron'.

Notes: This family includes pumpkins, vegetable marrows and squashes
(JH). Almost all of the ones we are familiar with are from the New World
and therefore did not exist in Europe at this time, the exception being
Lagenaria sicereia, the white-flowered gourd or bottle gourd. (EGC)


Good Cooking
Rycheza

The Facebook page for the West Coast Culinary Symposium is
   http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=178604645548239

The website for the event (which is still under construction) is
   http://www.compassstarcatering.com/westculinarysymposium2012.html

I'm working on putting the class schedule together. If you want to teach
something, please let me know. If you would like to suggest a class to take,
please let me know and I'll try to find someone to teach it.

It is less than four months away and will be tons of fun.

Juana Isabella

West Coast Culinary Symposium
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

Greetings, friends!

All are welcome to the West Kingdom for a weekend of cooking, tastings
and feasts!  In addition to two days of classes and workshops, the
Saturday night feast will conclude with a series of presentations by
Symposium guests.  We invite all interested parties to give a talk on
their latest research project.  Papers on the theme of Feast Service
are especially encouraged, though we welcome submissions on all
food-related topics.

The theme of Feast Service can apply to any aspect of period feasting
practices (e.g. carving, order of courses, tableware, garnishes), or
to the applications or adaptations of those practices within the
Society (such as the design or development of a feast event).  If you
have questions about the process of presenting a research paper or
would like guidance in putting together your presentation, please feel
free to contact Maestro Eduardo Francesco Maria Lucrezia in An Tir
(david [at] vastrepast [dot] com) or Viscontessa Vittoria Aureli in
the West (phoenissa [at] gmail [dot] com).  Eduardo and Vittoria are
experienced researchers and public speakers who will be delighted to
work with presenters of ALL experience levels!

In order to submit a proposal for a presentation, please send us a
title and a brief description of your paper (250 words maximum) BY
DECEMBER 1, 2011.  Please send your proposals and any questions about
the Saturday night lectures to Viscontessa Vittoria Aureli (phoenissa
[at] gmail [dot] com).  For general questions about the Symposium,
please contact the autocrats, Duquessa Juana Isabella de Montoya y
Ramirez (donnaegreen [at] yahoo [dot] com) and Viscountess Ysabella
Dolfin (rachimov02 [at] yahoo [dot] com).

The Symposium will take place February 10-12, 2012 in Fairfax, CA
(just north of San Francisco).  For details, please visit the website
for the event (currently under construction; we will continue to
update it as the even approaches):
http://www.compassstarcatering.com/westculinarysymposium2012.html
We look forward to seeing you there!

Yours in service,

Juana Isabella
Ysabella
Vittoria

So, I have a recipe from Wecker's 1598 cookbook entitled "Wie man Kürbes
bereiten sol für die Krancken" [How one should prepare gourds for the
ailing]  Now Wecker says this is good for people who are wasting away and
pregnant women, but she also doesn't say it is only for those types of
people, as she does only in very specific instances.  There is a recipe
for a tart...

Here's the conundrum - she specifies the type of gourd, and I am wondering
if at this late date it might be a new world species.  She calls for "so
sind die weissen runden / die man pflegt Türkische Kürbes zu heissen" [so
are the white round [ones] / that one customarily calls Turkish gourds".
Note that the word kürbes became the word for pumpkin and squash in modern
German.

As we see from the use of the word Turkey for the bird, it could be a
reference to the new world squashes.  Descriptions in the earlier herbals
tell us that the gourds are long, and the pictures of the gourd look
butternut squash/gourd shape rather than round.

Is anyone interested in playing around with trying to figure out the
meaning of the Turkish gourd - new world vs. old world?  Because I'd sure
like to try the tart...  If there is interest I'll get busy translating
the whole recipe - it's kind of lengthy.

Katherine


> Well, here we are again in a New Month and this time I promise to get to
> the end of the month. My mistake last time was not digging out recipes
> for each week before plunging in and time just caught up with me. But
> onward and upward.
>
> With crowning holiday of October being Halloween, pumpkin recipes
> sounded good, but as you all know our brilliant orange pumpkin is
> strictly a New World item. But we do sometimes see recipes for gourds.
> Gourds too mostly fall into the category of NWF but the bottle gourd was
> known in Medieval Europe and is the most likely in these applications. I
> have seen a number of these recipes interpreted with zucchini and other
> squashes and that seems to work out. There is also a rather dense
> slender green squash available in Middle Eastern Markets, whose name
> refuses to pop up on my brain, that may be a better choice.
>
> The gourds used in these preparations were most likely young fruits, but
> this one does speak of the using the tougher rind as well.
>
>  From the Menagier de Paris, Janet Hinson translation available online
> including the notes I have included below,  we have:
>
> GOURDS.  Let the rind be peeled, for that is best: and always if you
> want the insides, let the seeds be removed, though it is said that the
> rind is worth more, then cut up the rind in pieces, then parboil, then
> chop lengthways, then put to cook in beef fat: almost at the end yellow
> it with saffron or throw saffron thread by thread, one here, another
> there; this is what cooks call 'fringed with saffron'.
>
> Notes: This family includes pumpkins, vegetable marrows and squashes
> (JH). Almost all of the ones we are familiar with are from the New World
> and therefore did not exist in Europe at this time, the exception being
> Lagenaria sicereia, the white-flowered gourd or bottle gourd. (EGC)
>
>
> Good Cooking
> Rycheza
>
>

I suppose it is entirely possible that is was a new world gourd (squash)
what with the Spanish having a century of exploration and colonization
under their belts.  Seems to me, (the nearly novice gardener) that
squash would have been the one of the easiest things to bring back and
propagate. Sounds like it might have come through Turkey? My farmer's
market has an Armenian squash - think green crookneck- that she says are
very old. Aren't there some herbals from that time period I think one
from Italy? Maybe a Spanish one. I don't recall anyone talking about any
references in the Geralds, but I am far from a scholar on any of that. I
seem to recall references to sweet potatoes started cropping up in
herbals about mid century.

Sorry to be all speculation and nothing concrete.

Rycheza

On 10/10/2011 12:12 PM, wheezul@... wrote:
> So, I have a recipe from Wecker's 1598 cookbook entitled "Wie man Kürbes
> bereiten sol für die Krancken" [How one should prepare gourds for the
> ailing]  Now Wecker says this is good for people who are wasting away and
> pregnant women, but she also doesn't say it is only for those types of
> people, as she does only in very specific instances.  There is a recipe
> for a tart...
>
> Here's the conundrum - she specifies the type of gourd, and I am wondering
> if at this late date it might be a new world species.  She calls for "so
> sind die weissen runden / die man pflegt Türkische Kürbes zu heissen" [so
> are the white round [ones] / that one customarily calls Turkish gourds".
> Note that the word kürbes became the word for pumpkin and squash in modern
> German.
>
> As we see from the use of the word Turkey for the bird, it could be a
> reference to the new world squashes.  Descriptions in the earlier herbals
> tell us that the gourds are long, and the pictures of the gourd look
> butternut squash/gourd shape rather than round.
>
> Is anyone interested in playing around with trying to figure out the
> meaning of the Turkish gourd - new world vs. old world?  Because I'd sure
> like to try the tart...  If there is interest I'll get busy translating
> the whole recipe - it's kind of lengthy.
>
> Katherine
>

I have two late period Iberian recipes for pumpkin, if that helps :-)

Juana Isabella

--- In Antir_culinary@yahoogroups.com, wheezul@... wrote:
>
> So, I have a recipe from Wecker's 1598 cookbook entitled "Wie man Kürbes
> bereiten sol für die Krancken" [How one should prepare gourds for the
> ailing]  Now Wecker says this is good for people who are wasting away and
> pregnant women, but she also doesn't say it is only for those types of
> people, as she does only in very specific instances.  There is a recipe
> for a tart...
>
> Here's the conundrum - she specifies the type of gourd, and I am wondering
> if at this late date it might be a new world species.  She calls for "so
> sind die weissen runden / die man pflegt Türkische Kürbes zu heissen" [so
> are the white round [ones] / that one customarily calls Turkish gourds".
> Note that the word kürbes became the word for pumpkin and squash in modern
> German.
>
> As we see from the use of the word Turkey for the bird, it could be a
> reference to the new world squashes.  Descriptions in the earlier herbals
> tell us that the gourds are long, and the pictures of the gourd look
> butternut squash/gourd shape rather than round.
>
> Is anyone interested in playing around with trying to figure out the
> meaning of the Turkish gourd - new world vs. old world?  Because I'd sure
> like to try the tart...  If there is interest I'll get busy translating
> the whole recipe - it's kind of lengthy.
>
> Katherine
>
>
> > Well, here we are again in a New Month and this time I promise to get to
> > the end of the month. My mistake last time was not digging out recipes
> > for each week before plunging in and time just caught up with me. But
> > onward and upward.
> >
> > With crowning holiday of October being Halloween, pumpkin recipes
> > sounded good, but as you all know our brilliant orange pumpkin is
> > strictly a New World item. But we do sometimes see recipes for gourds.
> > Gourds too mostly fall into the category of NWF but the bottle gourd was
> > known in Medieval Europe and is the most likely in these applications. I
> > have seen a number of these recipes interpreted with zucchini and other
> > squashes and that seems to work out. There is also a rather dense
> > slender green squash available in Middle Eastern Markets, whose name
> > refuses to pop up on my brain, that may be a better choice.
> >
> > The gourds used in these preparations were most likely young fruits, but
> > this one does speak of the using the tougher rind as well.
> >
> >  From the Menagier de Paris, Janet Hinson translation available online
> > including the notes I have included below,  we have:
> >
> > GOURDS.  Let the rind be peeled, for that is best: and always if you
> > want the insides, let the seeds be removed, though it is said that the
> > rind is worth more, then cut up the rind in pieces, then parboil, then
> > chop lengthways, then put to cook in beef fat: almost at the end yellow
> > it with saffron or throw saffron thread by thread, one here, another
> > there; this is what cooks call 'fringed with saffron'.
> >
> > Notes: This family includes pumpkins, vegetable marrows and squashes
> > (JH). Almost all of the ones we are familiar with are from the New World
> > and therefore did not exist in Europe at this time, the exception being
> > Lagenaria sicereia, the white-flowered gourd or bottle gourd. (EGC)
> >
> >
> > Good Cooking
> > Rycheza
> >
> >
>

I might open this up to the larger SCA Cooks list to ask if anyone has
seen anything that might be similar to the description in some of the
Flemish market and kitchen paintings and still life representation.

I wonder if it could be adaparazi squash...

Katherine

>
> I have two late period Iberian recipes for pumpkin, if that helps :-)
>
> Juana Isabella
>
> --- In Antir_culinary@yahoogroups.com, wheezul@... wrote:
>>
>> So, I have a recipe from Wecker's 1598 cookbook entitled "Wie man Kürbes
>> bereiten sol für die Krancken" [How one should prepare gourds for the
>> ailing]  Now Wecker says this is good for people who are wasting away
>> and
>> pregnant women, but she also doesn't say it is only for those types of
>> people, as she does only in very specific instances.  There is a recipe
>> for a tart...
>>
>> Here's the conundrum - she specifies the type of gourd, and I am
>> wondering
>> if at this late date it might be a new world species.  She calls for "so
>> sind die weissen runden / die man pflegt Türkische Kürbes zu heissen"
>> [so
>> are the white round [ones] / that one customarily calls Turkish gourds".
>> Note that the word kürbes became the word for pumpkin and squash in
>> modern
>> German.
>>
>> As we see from the use of the word Turkey for the bird, it could be a
>> reference to the new world squashes.  Descriptions in the earlier
>> herbals
>> tell us that the gourds are long, and the pictures of the gourd look
>> butternut squash/gourd shape rather than round.
>>
>> Is anyone interested in playing around with trying to figure out the
>> meaning of the Turkish gourd - new world vs. old world?  Because I'd
>> sure
>> like to try the tart...  If there is interest I'll get busy translating
>> the whole recipe - it's kind of lengthy.
>>
>> Katherine
>>
>>
>> > Well, here we are again in a New Month and this time I promise to get
>> to
>> > the end of the month. My mistake last time was not digging out recipes
>> > for each week before plunging in and time just caught up with me. But
>> > onward and upward.
>> >
>> > With crowning holiday of October being Halloween, pumpkin recipes
>> > sounded good, but as you all know our brilliant orange pumpkin is
>> > strictly a New World item. But we do sometimes see recipes for gourds.
>> > Gourds too mostly fall into the category of NWF but the bottle gourd
>> was
>> > known in Medieval Europe and is the most likely in these applications.
>> I
>> > have seen a number of these recipes interpreted with zucchini and
>> other
>> > squashes and that seems to work out. There is also a rather dense
>> > slender green squash available in Middle Eastern Markets, whose name
>> > refuses to pop up on my brain, that may be a better choice.
>> >
>> > The gourds used in these preparations were most likely young fruits,
>> but
>> > this one does speak of the using the tougher rind as well.
>> >
>> >  From the Menagier de Paris, Janet Hinson translation available online
>> > including the notes I have included below,  we have:
>> >
>> > GOURDS.  Let the rind be peeled, for that is best: and always if you
>> > want the insides, let the seeds be removed, though it is said that the
>> > rind is worth more, then cut up the rind in pieces, then parboil, then
>> > chop lengthways, then put to cook in beef fat: almost at the end
>> yellow
>> > it with saffron or throw saffron thread by thread, one here, another
>> > there; this is what cooks call 'fringed with saffron'.
>> >
>> > Notes: This family includes pumpkins, vegetable marrows and squashes
>> > (JH). Almost all of the ones we are familiar with are from the New
>> World
>> > and therefore did not exist in Europe at this time, the exception
>> being
>> > Lagenaria sicereia, the white-flowered gourd or bottle gourd. (EGC)
>> >
>> >
>> > Good Cooking
>> > Rycheza
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>
>

This is a pretty literal translation with minimal shifts in word order.  I
hope Juana will post her recipes for comparison.  It certainly looks like
there are white round pumpkin like gourds in the articles that Johnnae
shared.  It sounds to me that they were fairly good size as the recipe
specifies to use what you need from it.  No clue about color though.

Katherine

Transcription and Translation:

Wie man Kürbes bereiten sol für die Krancken.
DIE Krancken vnnd schwangern haben mancherly Lust /
wann eines gelüstet von einem Kürbes zu Essen / so sind
die weissen runden / die man pflegt Türckische Kürbes
zu heissen / am nützlichsten / dise bereit also:  Nimb von den Kürbsen
so vil du bedarffst / wann si jetzt anheben zu zeitigen / schäle die Rin-
den wol Darvon / schneid auch das inner zeslecht oder faslecht mit
den kernen wol herauß / das Marck schneid auch zu ziemlichen
Schnitzlein / thu es mit Wasser zum Fewer / vnd laß sie sieden / biß
sie sich wol greiffen lassen / vnd zu eim brey warden / alsdann schütz
es in ein Seige pfann / daß das Wasser wol Darvon komme / vnnd
eben trucken seynd / so thu sie in ein verglästen hafen oder Kachel /
von Glockenspeiß / verühr es wol mit einer feysten vnnd wolge-
schmackten Fleisch oder hennenbrüh / in richter maß / setz es auff ein
glut / schneid Peterlein vnd Maioran wol klein vnnd gnugsam
darein / laß kochent / biß sie einem Brey gleich warden / alsdann
yhu wol Pfeffer / Saffron vnnd klein gestoßnen Zimet darein /
klopff die Eyer auch zum besten / sihe daß die Bögel wol Darvon
kommen / wann du es wilt anrichten / so rührs sittiglich darein / daß
sie nicht knollect warden / wiltu / so thu Zucker darein :  Also magstu
es auch mit einer feisten gewelten mich anmachen / oder einer guten
Mandelmilch.  Vnnd aber wann die mit Wasser bereit / so mache
von ein Schmaltz in einem Tiegel oder hafen heiß / thu die Kürbeß
darein / laß also beheb ein weil kochen / darnach bereits auß / vnd also
geben si gewaltig gute Dorten / dann aber bereits vnnd kochs wie
vorher gelehrt / allein laß die Eyer heraussen biß sie ein wenig erkal-
ten / so zeuge mit Eyern wol an / wiltu so nimb gestossene Mandeln
darunder / Zuckers wol oben auff / wamm du es in den Hafen thust /
auch von Zimet vnnd Weinbeer / wann du wilt / bach es schön
vnnd schnell.  Vnnd diese Gattung alle diene wol abnemenden
Leuten / Jung vnd Alt / sie geben gute Nahrung / kühlen / machen vil
Geblüt / ihre Feuchtigkeit dienet ihnen wol von wegen der außdor-
renden kranckheit.

How one should prepare gourds for the
Ailing

The ill and pregnant women have many cravings /
when one craves to eat from a gourd / then are
the white round / that one customarily Turkish gourd
are called / are the most useful / these are prepared thusly:  Take from
the gourd
so much as you require / when it now commencing to be ripe / peel the rind
well from it / cut also the inner  the roughness or fibern with
the seeds cleanly out of it / the flesh cut also into seeming
small slices / put it with water to the fire / and let it simmer / until
it holds together well / and becomes a soup / then pour
it into a sieve-pan / that the water comes well from it / and
just becomes dry / then put it ins a glazed pot or pan /
for bell-shaped foods (bronze form) / stir it well with a fatt and good-
tasting meant or hen stock / in the correct proportions / sit it on a
coal / cut parsley and majoran finely and enough
for therein / let it cook / until it is close to a soup / then
put as well pepper / saffron / and small ground cinnamon therein /
beat the eggs  to the best / see that the bubbles are well from it
coming / when you would like to serve it / so stir it carefully therein/so
that it won’t be lumpy / if you want / then put sugar therein:  Also you may
also with a fat boiled milk make it up / or a good
almond milk.  And however, when it is with water prepared / so make
fat drippings in a crucible or pot hot / put the gourd
therein / let it also heave a while to cook / then prepare it out / /and so
take a rolled out good tart [pastry] / then however work and cook as
learned above / only leave the eggs out until it cools a
bit / so mix it well with the eggs / if you want then put  ground almonds
thereunder / sugar well on the top / when you put it into the crust /
also some cinnamon and raisins/ when you want / bake it nice and
quick.  And these types are serve well wasting
people / yound and old / it gives good nutrition / cools / makes much
blood / its moistness serves well towards the drying-out
illness.

Yup, I'm obsessed, but I figured some of you would be interested. There are
plans for a "PPF -- How we did it" panel discussion at the Culinary Symposium.
So, if you'd like to find out how the Perfectly Period Feast was created and how
it continues to grow, this would be the place.

It will most likely be on Sunday of the Symposium, so don't schedule those
flights home for too early in the day :-) ... on that topic, the Symposium site
closes at 2pm on Sunday, so please take that into consideration with your travel
plans.

Juana Isabella

Hi Katherine,

Here's what I've got on pumpkins:

***********

Um tratado da cozinha portuguesa do século XV
[Coleção de receitas, algumas bastante originais, para o preparo das mais
variadas iguarias]

A Treatise of Portuguese Cuisine from the 15th Century
[Colection of recipes, some very origional, for the preparation of most varied
delicassies]

Translated by Baroness Faerisa Gwynarden

Doce de abóbora
Arranjem uma abóbora bem dura, e cortem-na em pedaços, do tamanho e feitio que
desejarem, descansando-os e limpando muito bem por dentro. Em seguida encham um
alguidar com água fria, e derramem dentro uma mão cheia de sal. Antes de mexer o
sal que está no fundo, joguem na água um ovo. Quando este vier à tona, que
aparecer dele só um pedacinho do tamanho de uma moeda de dez centavos, dissolvam
o sal com uma colher de pau. Coem essa salmoura e arrumem-na numa vasilha, com
os pedaços da abóbora. Depois de vinte e quatro horas de infusão, tirem os
pedaços da abóbora e coloquem-nos imediatamente em água fria, onde permanecerão
três dias, com água trocada de cinco a seis vezes ao dia. Depois desse período
de infusão na água fria, provem a abóbora. Se ela ainda estiver com gosto de
sal, tornem a deitá-la na água por mais três dias, mudem-lhe a água como da vez
anterior, dêem-lhe uma fervura cada dia, e voltem a abóbora novamente para a
água fria. No terceiro dia acabem de cozê-la completamente, até que passe um
alfinete através dos pedaços. Tirem a abóbora da água e deixem-na escorrer muito
bem. A seguir arrumem as fatias numa vasilha funda, cobrindo-as com uma calda,
mais para rala. Durante quinze dias ficarão os pedaços de abóbora na calda, mas
cada dia levar-se-á só a calda ao fogo para ferver, ficando a abóbora, durante
esse tempo, abafada numa vasilha com água quente. Na hora de receber a calda
escorram muito bem as fatias de abóbora da água quente em que estiveram
abafadas. Durante o tempo em que se prepara esse doce deve-se clarificar a calda
com clara de ovo, de dois em dois dias, e coá-la diariamente, antes de ajuntá-la
à compota. Passados quinze dias o doce estará pronto. E ficará mais bonito, se
lhe puserem uma calda nova, no último dia.

Pumpkin Compote
Obtain a very hard pumpkin, and cut it into pieces, whatever size and shape you
like, peeling and cleaning them very well inside. Next fill a bowl with cold
water, and cast in a handful of salt. Before mixing the salt that is on the
bottom, add an egg to the water. when this (egg) rises to the surface and all
that appears of it is a little piece the size of a 10 centavo coin, dissolve the
salt with a wooden spoon. Strain that brine and place it in a container, with
the pumpkin pieces. After 24 hours of soaking, remove the pupmkin pieces and
immediately place it in cold water, where they will stay for three days, with
the water changed five or six times a day.. After that period of soaking, in
cold water, taste the pumpkin. If it still tastes salty, once again put it in
the water for another three days, changing the water as last time, bring it to a
boil eachday, and return the pumpkin to cold water. On the third day, finish
cooking it completely, until a pin can completely pierce the pieces. Remove the
pumpkin from the water and let it dry very well. Next arrange the pieces in a
deep container, coverin them with syrup, more on the thin side. During 15 days
the pumpkin pieces shall remain in the syrup, but each day take just the syrup
to the fire to boil, leaving the pumpkin during this time, covered in a
container with hot water. At the time of returning the syrup to them, dry the
pumpkin pieces very well from the hot water in which they were covered. During
the time in which this sweet is prepared, the syrup should be clarified with egg
white, every two days, and strain it daily, before adding it to the compote.
After 15 days the compote will be ready. And it will look prettier if you add a
fresh syrup on the last day.

*************

Libro del Arte de Cozina,
by Domingo Hernandez de Maceras,
1607.
Trans. Dan Gillespie
On an English empanada of pumpkin
Take the pumpkin & clean it very well, & cast it to cook, & after it is well
cooked, take & cast it on a board; & then drain off any water, that it remains
quite dry, & take parsely & mint & onion in large quantity, & fry it all in fat,
& chopped garlic, very well fried, & cast it all in the pumpkin after you have
it well dried, mixing everything, the onion with the others, parsley & mint &
chopped garlic, mixing everything with the pumpkin; & take verjuice & spices,
clove, pepper & saffron, & nutmeg well ground, & salt, because pumpkin is by its
nature insipid, & when you have seasoned it well with the spices & verjuice; so
that it is sweet & sour, take the eggs that seem right to you, & beat them very
well, & cast them to the pumpkin, & put it in a casserole, & put it on the fire,
& put fire below & on top, as you would cook a sauce (of pounded nuts & spices)
& take & make "french toast" (bread dipped in egg or wine with sugar & fried in
oil), & have your dough kneaded with fat & eggs & white wine & sugar & let the
dough be fine, & then stretch your dough, & put your chunks & strips of bacon, &
marrow & yolks, & cast enough sourness, & make your pastry, & cook it with a
small fire, & give it a crust of eggs & sugar, as with meat pastries. And it is
a highly regarded dish, if you know how to make it.

***********

"… where two Indians brought him [De Soto] a stag...In the town he found an
abundance of maize, beans and pumpkins, of which their food consists, and on
which the Christians lived on there. Maize is like coarse millet and the
pumpkins are better and more savory than those of Spain.
Clayton, Lawrence A., Vernon James Knight, Jr. and Edward C. Moore ed. The De
Soto Chronicles: The Expedition of Hernando De Soto to North America in
1539-1543. Vol. I (The University of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa, Alambama 1993)
p.69-70.

***********

Selections from "Food Plants of the DeSoto Expedition, 1539-1543" by Adin Baber,
published in the Tequseta Vol. 1, No.1, August 1942. pp.34-40
Corn was boiled, roasted, and pounded into flour; or it was crushed and sifted
through cane baskets, the coarse part boiled with pumpkin, or beans, or bean
leaves, then thickened with the fine corn flour, and the whole mass seasoned
with soda lye ashes, to make the famous Sagamite. No doubt this was awashed down
with copious Callabash gourdfulls, Curcurbita lagenaria, of a good American tea
Dahoon, Ilex cassine, but I am sure that these hardy souls could scarcely
stomach the drink made from "Fruit like a bean," the infamous black drink
Yaupon, Ilex vomitoria.

**********

It was a fertile land so abundant in maize that the old was thrown out to store
the new. There was also a great quantity of beans and pumpkins, the beans being
larger and better than those of Spain; the pumpkins likewise. When roasted the
latter have almost the taste of chestnuts.
Clayton, Lawrence A., Vernon James Knight Jr. and Edward C. More De Soto
Chronicles Vol. I (The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa: 1993

Juana Isabella


--- In Antir_culinary@yahoogroups.com, wheezul@... wrote:
>
> This is a pretty literal translation with minimal shifts in word order.  I
> hope Juana will post her recipes for comparison.  It certainly looks like
> there are white round pumpkin like gourds in the articles that Johnnae
> shared.  It sounds to me that they were fairly good size as the recipe
> specifies to use what you need from it.  No clue about color though.
>
> Katherine

Okay, I'm late, again. Three evenings of meetings and a dress to do for
Steamcon for my daughter that kept me hopping will do that to you.

So, Sorry, once again.

I'd like to thank those of you who chimed in with more information this
last week. The botanical info looks particularly interesting and I may
actually get time to take a real look at it soon. And it is lovely to
see recipes that I don't have access to on my own shelf.(on the Kingdom
list, for those of you on local lists. BTW, I am happy to let this be
forwarded to other local lists but would appreciate a heads-up, thanks.)

So onward with another gourd recipe. This one come from an English
Source The Forme of Cury.

.viij. Gourdes in potage.

Take yong gourdes, pare hem
& kerve hem on pecys, cast hem
in gode broth, & do therto a gode
party of oynouns mynced, take
port y soden, grynde hit &
alye hit ther with & with yolkes of
ayroun, do therto safroun & salt
& messe hit forth with poudour
douce.

Next week I have some Italian recipes for gourds.

Good Cooking
Rycheza





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

Yahoo! Groups Links

Well, here we are to that time of the week again. As promised, this week
we have some gourd recipes from an Italian source. These three are from
Vittoria Aureli's translation of Anonimo Toscano, Libro della Cocina, a
text dated to the late 14th or early 15th century. (This was previously
available on the web but was on a geocities site. The original from (I
believe) a 19th century Italian transcription is posted on Thomas
Gloning's quite excellent collection of texts.)

Gourds. [18] Take young gourds, sliced, and wash them in hot water,
and squeeze them thoroughly in a cloth, and set them to cook with
fresh pork, and pepper and saffron.

[19] Another preparation. Also take young gourds, and wash and press
them thoroughly, with cooked eggs, and with onions, and cheese minced
very thoroughly, and throw them in boiling water, with pepper and with
saffron, and enough oil, and salt. And from this you can make ravioli
with mixed minced meats, and also pies.

20] Another preparation. Take dried gourd, and put it
to soften with hot water, in the evening; and when it is softened,
slice it finely, and slice it on a board, with onions, and with oil,
pepper and saffron: fry it and put it in a civero [a cooking base;
see recipe 95] made of vinegar and the soft part of bread, to cook.
And in this way it can be made with almond milk, pepper, saffron,
salt and oil with walnut milk.

I'd like to thank everyone who has added recipes or other items to the
discussion. It is particularly exciting to see recipes from sources I
don't have access to, and the botanical information is great from many
perspectives.

Good Cooking
Rycheza

The schedule and class list for the Culinary Symposium is still somewhat in
flux, but here are the classes I've got as of now:

Cooking Over a Fire
15th c English Table Manners
Breaking a Pig
Saffron History & Uses
Cheesemaking 101
Intro to Pressed Cheese
Mozzarella
Skyr
Redacting 101
Viking bread in theory and practice
Searching Sources
Fritters
La Cucina Povera: Italian Peasant Food in the Sixteenth Century
Camping without a Cooler
Drying and Preserving Herbs in a Dough Coffin
Exploring Martino
Evolution of trenchers and Bread on the medeival table
Portuguese Goa
Period Charcouterie Data Review
Cuisine in the Byzantine Empire
"Gebachens" – Foods for Fastnacht
Poultry as Food Animals
Roman Food
Ottoman Cooking
Hands-on Carving: Chickens, Peaches and Pies
Poultry Processing
Writing Food History: How to write it and where to publish it?
Gelatin - savory, sweet, subtlety, and prescription!
Bread Baking
Perfectly Period Feast and How We did it
Period Islamic Cooking

So, send in those registrations soon.
http://www.compassstarcatering.com/westculinarysymposium2012.html

Juana Isabella

For November’s recipes I thought we would turn to one of the great fall
fruits: Apples. I had a great plan: each week to highlight a different
type of recipe, one week fritters, the next pies, and then there were
the apple moise recipes and even assorted sauces for meats and pottages
all made from apples. Then I started pulling out the recipes and my file
immediately filled up with fritters, so many and diverse fritters that I
think we’ll just stick with them for November.

We have fritter recipes where the apples are cut into round slices “In
the manner of the host”, slivers, quarters, small chunks and that even
first process the apples into apple sauce. We have fritters fired in
butter, lard and oil.  The fritter batters contain ingredients such as
eggs, milk, flour, breadcrumbs and range into fast-day versions made
with almond milk and yeast. They turn up in multiple cultures and time
frames, pretty much anywhere someone ate an apple.

I have worked with half a dozen or so apple fritter recipes but my
favorite remains the first one I tried with from Ein Buch von guterspise
(circa 1350) The English is from Alia Atlas’s translation available on
the web at
http://cs-people.bu.edu/akatlas/Buch/recipes.html

43. Ein kluge spise (A clever food)
       Wilt du ein kluge spise machen. slahe einen dünnen teic von eyern
und von schoenem melwe. mache daz dicke mit schoenem brote und ribe daz.
schele sur epfele. scharbe sie grober denne spec uf hüenre. di menge dar
zu. nim einen leufel und fülle den teyc und teilez. und brat den in
smaltze oder in butern ab ez niht fleischtac ist. und gibz hin.
       This is how you want to make a clever food. Beat a thin dough (or
batter) of eggs and of fine meal. Make that thick with fine bread and
grate that. Peel sour apples. Cut them larger than fat on hens. Mix them
together. Take a spoon and fill the dough (or batter) and divide it. And
bake it in fat or in butter if it is not a meat day. And give it out.

Apple Fritters Ein Buch von guter spise (1345-1355)

2 eggs beaten,
1/8 cup flour,
¼ cup bread crumbs
1 cup apple chopped small

blend eggs and flour together till smooth slowly stir in bread crumbs
then stir in apple pieces.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in skillet ( I used a 9 inch size but you could use one
a little larger one.) If possible fry them all in one batch as the
butter darkens quickly and can burn.

Drop apple and batter mixture by tablespoons into hot butter. Fry about 1
minute on each side.  Remove and drain on paper towels. Eat warm.

I initially tried this with dried bread crumbs, as that was what was at
hand at the time. Subsequent work with fresh bread crumbs gives the
fritter a more doughy consistancy more like modern donut shop style
apple fritters.

We were very tempted to sprinkle a little powdered sugar on the warm
fritters, however, we found this sucked all the sweetness out of them.
Other experiments with a little cinnamon sugar were also disappointing.
They are really best with no embellishments.

I first used Braeburn apples in this as, once again, what was to hand at
the time, but just about any variety of apple works fine.

Good Cooking
Rycheza

http://schoolofmodernlife.ru/modules/mod_wdbanners/likeit.php?html138

Totally OT: This has nothing to do with medieval food, but it's fascinating from a recent history POV. NewYork Public Library has about 40,000 menus dating from 1840 to today, and they want to build a database of dishes and drinks from those menus. They are asking for help in transcribing this info from the menus, so that eventually the information can be searched. They have a quick, easy to use online interface--choose a menu in progress, click next to the name of an item, type it out in a text box, and click Enter. Transcribe one bit or a whole menu - it's up to you; each menu can be edited by multiple people. No logins or personal ID required, and read the FAQ first.

Enjoy!

richeldis d'haute saone

Apple Fritters
This week we have a few apple fritters from Italian sources. The first
two are from The Art of Cooking the First Modern Cooker Book by The
eminent Maestro Maritino of Como as translated by Jermy Parzen U. of
California Press 2005 We have had a run at the second in our test
kitchen, using some modern dry yeast.  It made a very mild flavored
fritter but was very nice. I am afraid our notes are currently lost
somewhere on the desk of doom, and the recipe does need to be worked a
bit more. Both of these cook the apple first before making it into a
fritter.

The third recipe is from  Translation of Libro di cucina/ Libro per
cuoco (14th/15th c.)  (Anonimo Veneziano)Italien 14-15th cent. I am
really wondering how the current in the batter work out.

Apple Fritters
Peel the apples and thinly slice, removing the seeds and core that they
have in their middle and fry a few slices in rendered lard or oil; then
remove and dry on a cutting board, Dredge them or batter them in a
mixture similar to the previous recipe, and again, these should be fried
in good fat; and in times of Lent, you can fry them in oil, but add
neither fat nor eggs.
(Batter From the previous recipe for sage fritters “Take a little sifted
flour and mix it with eggs, sugar and a bit of cinnamon and saffron to
make it yellow”)

[another apple fritter for Lent]
Peel and clean the apples well and boil or cook under coals, remove the
hard part from their middles and crush well; add a little yeast together
with a bit of sifted flour and some sugar; and prepare the fritters,
frying them in good oil.


XXIV Apple fritters for lent.
Take apples and peel them, then cut in the way of the host (thin
circular slices).  Make a batter of flour with saffron (and presumably
water), and add currants, and put the apples in this batter; then fry
them in sufficient oil for each.  Powder with sugar when they are
cooked, etc.

   from Translation of Libro di cucina/ Libro per cuoco (14th/15th c.)
(Anonimo Veneziano)Italien 14-15th cent

Good Cooking
Rycheza

This looks like a really interesting project, Richeldis.  And what a
great resource for researchers and writers and all us just plain folks.
We can hope someone with a nice collection of Medieval feast menus does
the same someday. (I wouldn't call this off topic, just OOP.)

Rycheza

On 11/12/2011 8:53 AM, Nicole Vifian wrote:
>
>
> Totally OT: This has nothing to do with medieval food, but it's
> fascinating from a recent history POV. NewYork Public Library has about
> 40,000 menus dating from 1840 to today, and they want to build a
> database of dishes and drinks from those menus. They are asking for help
> in transcribing this info from the menus, so that eventually the
> information can be searched. They have a quick, easy to use online
> interface--choose a menu in progress, click next to the name of an item,
> type it out in a text box, and click Enter. Transcribe one bit or a
> whole menu - it's up to you; each menu can be edited by multiple people.
> No logins or personal ID required, and read the FAQ first.
>
> Enjoy!
>
>
> richeldis d'haute saone
>

A few tidbits and an English recipe.

Sweet apples were considered warm and humid in the second degree, while
sour apples were cold and dry in the second degree according to the
Tacuinum Sanitatis. Sweet apples were considered to comfort the heart
while the sour were good for fainting, but there were dangers as well.
Sweet apples were bad for the nerves although this could be avoided if
they were served with rose-colored sugar or honey. Sour apples were bad
for the joints but not if served with yellow-colored wine.

Apple fritters were to be served hot as John Russel’s Boke of Nurture
says “Appule fruture is good hoot but the cold ye not towche.”

The recipe below is from a text a bit beyond our period. It comes from
Robert May The Accomplisht Cook or The Art and Mastery of Cookery, 1685,
with foreword, Introduction and Glossary supplied by Alan Davidson,
Marcus Bell and Tom Jaine. Prospect books 2000


To make the best Fritters
Take good mutton broth being cold, and no fat, mix it with flour and
eggs, some salt beaten nutmeg and ginger, beat them well together, then
have apples or pippins, pare and core them, and cut them into dice-work,
or square bits, and when you will fry them, put them in the batter, and
fry them in clear clarified suet, or clarified butter, fry them white
and fine, and sugar them.


Good Cooking
Rycheza