Sorry to get out of the gate a bit late this month.  I thought we'd take
a look at recipes for preserving meat such as in the form of sausages,
pickles and salted. We'll start with a couple of sausage recipes. The
first is from Libro di cucina/ Libro per cuoco (14th/15th c.)  (Anonimo
Veneziano) from the translation by Helewyse de Birkestad, OL  (MKA
Louise Smithson) followed by some directions from Menagier de Paris as
translated by Janet Hinson.

  > CXXV To make smoked yellow sausage
  > Take twenty five pounds of pork, which is not that from the neck nor
from the leg, but is the meat from the meat from the ribs or the
shoulder, otherwise take twenty pounds of meat and five pounds of fat,
which is the same thing.  Take more or less dependent on how much you
want to serve.  Chop everything well with a knife, then have fifteen
ounces of white cheese and fifteen ounces of salt from Sardinia or two
pounds of salt from Chiogga, and six ounces of red pepper.  Make sure
that the salt and the cheese are finely chopped and mixed well into the
batter.  Stuff the intestines and let them rest for two days, more if
the weather is cold and clear, more is better. Then put them to smoke.
You can also add to the batter saffron and spices, as much as you feel
is appropriate.
  > *  The recommendation for meat types is based on the fat content of
the meat.  Essentially the cuts of shoulder and ribs are very fatty and
no extra fat is needed.  If the leaner cuts of leg, collar and loin are
used the recipe recommends that you take 20 pounds of these meats and 5
pounds of pork fat.
  >

Menagier de Paris
  > To Make Sausages. When you have killed your pig, take some chops,
first from the part they call the filet, and then take some chops from
the other side and some of the best fat, as much of the one as of the
other, enough to make as many sausages as you need; and have it finely
chopped and ground by a pastry-cook. Then grind fennel and a little fine
salt, and then take your ground fennel, and mix thoroughly with a
quart[129]  of powdered spices; then mix your meat, your spices and your
fennel thoroughly together, and then fill the guts, that is to say, the
small gut. (And know that the guts of an old porker are better for this
purpose than those of a young pig, because they are larger.) And after
this, smoke them for four days or more, and when you want to eat them,
put them in hot water and bring just to boiling, and then put on the grill

Good Cooking
Rycheza

How about a few pickled meats?    From Robert de Nola’s Libro del coch
(1520), as translated by Robin Carroll-Mann, we have pickled rabbits.
(This translation is available on Stefan's Florilegium) While it not a
dish designed to be kept long term it clearly states it can be kept for
many days.

148. PICKLED RABBITS
Robert de nola
ESCABECHE DE CONEJOS

Roast the rabbits, and cut them at the joints; and take in a frying-pan:
two parts of vinegar and one of water if the vinegar is weak; if [the
vinegar] is strong, equal parts [of vinegar and water]; and cast in salt
until you see that it has flavor; and cast in the salt in stages, not
all together, so that it does not become salty; and cast in oil which is
sweet, the quantity that seems [right] to you, because some wish a
little and others, a lot; and give it a boil without the rabbits; and
then cast everything together into a pot, and set it apart so that it
will cool; and cast in ginger, cloves, and saffron; and this escabeche
will last many days.

  From Inntalkochbuch,  An early 16th century recipe collection from
Bavaria translated by Giano Balestriere I have included this recipe for
pickled chickens although it does not seem to be meant to be stored but
served fresh.

Pickled chickens
Take raisins, onions, almonds, vinegar and wine, cut the chickens into
three parts, put them into the pickle, spice them and serve.

And from the cookbook of Sabina Welserin (1553) (Translation by Valoise
Armstrong)  we have a recipe for pickled tongue.

27 If you would make good pickled tongue. They are best made in January,
then they will keep the whole year
First take twenty five tongues or as many as you will and take them one
after the other and pound them back and front on a chopping block, then
they will be long. After that pound salt small and coat the tongues in
salt. Take then a good small tub and put salt in the bottom, after that
lay a layer of tongues as close together as possible, put more salt on
them so that it is entirely white from salt. In this manner always place
a layer of tongues, after that a layer of salt, until they are all laid
out. Then weigh them down well so that they are covered by the brine and
allow them to remain for fifty days, afterwards hang them for four days
in smoke. When they have smoked enough, hang them next in the air, then
you have good smoked tongue.

Good Cooking
Rycheza

We’ll finish up October with a selection of German sausages from the
Cook Book of Sabina Welserin. Some of these may sound familiar.

23 If you would make a good sausage for a salad
Then take ten pounds of pork and five pounds of beef, always two parts
pork to one part of beef. That would be fifteen pounds. To that one
should take eight ounces of salt and two and one half ounces of pepper,
which should be coarsely ground, and when the meat is chopped, put into
it at first two pounds of bacon, diced. According to how fat the pork
is, one can use less or more, take the bacon from the back and not from
the belly. And the sausages should be firmly stuffed. The sooner they
are dried the better. Hang them in the parlor or in the kitchen, but not
in the smoke and not near the oven, so that the bacon does not melt.
This should be done during the crescent moon, and fill with the minced
meat well and firmly, then the sausages will remain good for a long
while. Each sausage should be tied above and below and also fasten a
ribbon on both ends with which they should be hung up, and every two
days they should be turned, upside down, and when they are fully dried
out, wrap them in a cloth and lay them in a box.

25 If you would make good bratwurst
Take four pounds of pork and four pounds of beef and chop it finely.
After that mix with it two pounds of bacon and chop it together and pour
approximately one quart of water on it. Also add salt and pepper
thereto, however you like to eat it, or if you would like to have some
good herbs, you could take some sage and some marjoram, then you have
good bratwurst.

26 If you would make good liverwurst
First take a quarter of a pig's liver, also a quarter of a pig's lungs,
chop them small, after that chop bacon into small cubes and put salt and
caraway seeds into it. The liver and lungs must first be cooked, before
they are chopped, and afterwards pour as much of this broth on the
chopped meat as you feel is enough. Then take the intestines from the
slaughterhouse and fill them full, then you have good sausage

Good Cooking
Rycheza

From experience, the bratwurst are really divine, though I do the herbs by sight
so not exactly the same each time. We like to finish them up with some smoke,
usually apple but not always

What I really want to try is the cured tongue... can't remember which German
cook-book off hand though

Mergriet

Why did the mushroom always get invited to the party?  Because he was
such a fungi!

Okay, bad jokes aside the mushroom has a long history in gastronomy.
Over 120,000  species of mushroom or fungi have been identified around
the world. Of these only a little over 1800 are considered safe to eat
and over 300 are now cultivated.  Already in classical times several
varieties of ‘shrooms were being cultivated, but some continue to resist
efforts of domestication and can still only be gathered wild.

Let’s start with some simple preparations for mushrooms.  The following
recipes can be interpreted as marinated mushrooms and made well ahead of
serving time. We’ll start with a pair from the Roman text de re
coquinaria as translated by Joseph Dommers Vehling in Apicius: Cookery
and dining in imperial Rome (1936) Reprinted by Dover

310  for Morels  in Fungis farneis
Pepper reduced wine, vinegar and oil.

311 Another way of cooking morels aliter fungi farni
   In salt water , with oil, pure wine, and serve with chopped coriander.

And follow up with a recipe from the other end of our time spectrum with
To dress mushrooms in the Italian Fashion  The Accomplisht Cook, Robert
May, 1685

Take mushrooms, peel & wash then, and boil them in a skillet with water
and salt, but first let the liquor boil with sweet herbs, Parsley, and a
crust of bread, being boil’d. drain them from the water, and fry them in
sweet sallet oil; being fried serve them in a dish with oil, vinegar,
pepper, and fried parsley, or fry them in clarified butter.

Good Cooking
Rycheza

Here in An Tir we are blessed with plenty of wild sources, but it is
always best to only gather wild mushrooms with a trained mycologist (or
get your ownself trained up.) as some highly toxic varieties are almost
identical to desirable and tasty species.  (I know there is a
Mycological Society in Kitsap County and I imagine there is one near you
as well. They often have shows and sponsor classes or at least you might
find a mushrooming buddy.)

The Menagier de Paris (Translator Janet Hinson) gives us some advice on
picking mushrooms along with a few suggestions for cooking them.

MUSHROOMS of one night are the best, and are small and red inside,
closed above: and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and
parboil; if you wish to put them in pastry, add oil, cheese and powdered
spices.

Item, put them between two dishes over the coals, and add a little salt,
cheese and powdered spices. You can find them at the end of May a


Good Cooking
Rycheza

One often overlooked source for mushroom recipes in translation appears here.
It's not indexed in medievalcookery.com, but it deserves wider acclaim, so I'll
mention it:

http://home.earthlink.net/~al-tabbakhah/misc/23GermanMushroomRecipes.html

Twenty-three German Mushroom Recipes
Translated by Anahita
now known as Urtatim (err-tah-TEEM)

Johnnae

--- In Antir_culinary@yahoogroups.com, "The Henson's" <mhenson@...> wrote:
>
>
> Why did the mushroom always get invited to the party?  Because he was
> such a fungi!
>
> Okay, bad jokes aside the mushroom has a long history in gastronomy. snipped
> Good Cooking
> Rycheza
>

There are loads of great sources beyond medieval cookery, though the site is a
pretty darn good leaping point... and yeah, a lot of translating (mostly still
on groups I think?) was done on this book... by that I mean an incredible
amount!

Mandy
(SCA: Mergriet)


--- In Antir_culinary@yahoogroups.com, "johnnaellynlewis" <johnnae@...> wrote:
>
> One often overlooked source for mushroom recipes in translation appears here.
It's not indexed in medievalcookery.com, but it deserves wider acclaim, so I'll
mention it:
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~al-tabbakhah/misc/23GermanMushroomRecipes.html
>
> Twenty-three German Mushroom Recipes
> Translated by Anahita
> now known as Urtatim (err-tah-TEEM)
>
> Johnnae

Lady Ranvaig's project and list "Cooking Rumpolt." is on Yahoo! Groups and can be found at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cooking_rumpolt/>.

The now complete, copyrighted version of her English translation of Ein New Kochbuch is in the file section of that list. It's been done in parts, so it's not

Ranvaig/Sharon Palmer was the first to get at least a rough  translation done of the massive book. Took her four plus years. Mistress Gwencat managed to put up several sections on her website earlier and you can see her work here:  http://clem.mscd.edu/~grasse/GK_Rumpolt1.htm

Thank you for the detail... am amazing amount of work, followed it a bit a
goodly while back but then life happened and felt bad that I couldn't remember
enough details to drag up the group info

Mandy
(Mergriet)



>
> Lady Ranvaig's project and list "Cooking Rumpolt." is on Yahoo! Groups and can
be found at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cooking_rumpolt/>.
> The now complete, copyrighted version of her English translation of Ein New
Kochbuch is in the file section of that list. It's been done in parts, so it's
not
> in one complete file. Cooking Rumpolt not a public list, so you will need to
ask and be approved to join.
>
> Ranvaig/Sharon Palmer was the first to get at least a rough  translation done
of the massive book. Took her four plus years. Mistress Gwencat managed to put
up several sections on her website earlier and you can see her work here: 
http://clem.mscd.edu/~grasse/GK_Rumpolt1.htm
>
> Johnnae

I'd like to thank Johnnae for send us the that nice selection of German
Mushroom recipes.  That was a new resource for me and I'm sure there are
many more collections like it that are for some reason not commonly
available. I'd certainly like to see more of them.

For our recipes this week I've turned back to another out Vehling's
translation of de re cocquinaria I know we looked at a few earlier, but
I wanted to compare that to the second of our recipes this week which
comes from the much later, Anonimo Toscano.

314 another way of cooking mushrooms boletos aliter
Slice the mushroom stems and finish by covering them with eggs adding
pepper, lovage, a little honey, broth and oil to taste.

   And from Anonimo Toscano, Libro della Cocina  The Cookery Book,  late
14th or early 15th c. Translated by Vittoria Aureli

Mushrooms.
[60] Take mountain mushrooms, boiled, and onions fried in lard, and set
them to boil with spices and other savory herbs, and beaten eggs; and serve.

And one more from the same source:
   [61] Another preparation. Take mountain mushrooms, and boil them; and
throw away the water, then fry them with finely minced onion, or with
the white part of a leek, spices and salt; and serve.

Good Cooking
Rycheza

Well, here we are at the end of the month.  Just a few more mushroom
recipes and then I'll be taking a hiatus from Recipe of the Week for the
holiday season. (Frankly, I get so behind on these that I end up missing
a lot of weeks this time of year. I though it best just to take the time
off instead of disappointing anyone.)

And what a lot of holidays there are!! And so many for foodies!

Some December Holidays:
   December 1st:  Eat A Red Apple Day and National Pie Day We could
combine them and make a red apple pie?
December 2nd: National Fritters Day
December 4th: National Cookie Day
December 7th: National Cotton Candy Day
December 8th:  National Brownie Day
December 11th: National Noodle Ring Day
December 13th: National Cocoa Day
December 16th: Boston Tea Party Anniversary Okay not really a party but
there was tea. sort of?   Plus we get National Chocolate Covered
Anything Day
December 17th:National Maple Syrup Day
December 19th:Oatmeal Muffin Day
December 23rd:Roots Day  Could that be root vegetables?
December 24th: National Egg Nog Day
December 25th:National Pumpkin Pie Day
December 28th: Chewing Gum Patented In 1869. Plus National Chocolate Day
December 29th:Pepper Pot Day

But back to mushrooms...

It is often unclear in most of our recipes whether the mushrooms were
fresh or dried but here are two that specify dried mushrooms.

First from the Translation of Libro di cucina/ Libro per cuoco
(14th/15th c.)  (Anonimo Veneziano) by Helewyse de Birkestad, OL  (MKA
Louise Smithson)

   XXV Mushrooms
If you want to make mushrooms, take dried mushrooms and put them to soak
in hot water and wash them well.  Then boil them a little and make them
cook how you want and prefer.  Then take onions and herbs and season
with strong and sweet spices, and then add the mushrooms and fry
everything together.  Take unpeeled almonds and grind them and then put
on top of the mushroom dish, alternatively you can add verjuice and it
needs to be served hot.

   From Anonimo Toscano, Libro della Cocina  The Cookery Book,  late 14th
or early 15th c. Translated by Vittoria Aureli

[62] Another preparation. Take dried mushrooms, and let them soften from
evening until morning; and throw the water away, slice them thin with a
knife, and a bit of the white part of a leek, or onion, and set them to
fry in oil or lard and spices and chestnuts and vinegar, and a bit of
water and salt. And then add mustard and cooked must, and pork, if it
pleases you.




We’ll finish up with a mushroom subtlety that includes absolutely no
mushrooms but rather makes an almond paste mushroom with the help of a
mold.

Cookbook of Sabina Welserin translator Valoise Armstrong.

51 Almond chanterelles
Pound the almonds, as you would to make marzipan, put sugar thereon, but
not too much, take after that the chanterelle mushroom mold, clean it
and take a small brush, dip it in almond oil and brush the mold with it,
also with a brush of rose water. And put the almond paste into the
mushroom mold and blow through the tube [so that the almond mushroom
falls] onto a sheet of paper, and let it bake in a tart pan and sprinkle
it with starch flour, then they will be white.

Thanks for everything and may you all have a happy and healthy holiday
season. Good cooking
Rycheza

A new year and a new subject. Did you think I forgot you?

Which came first? The Chicken or the Egg?  Well, this year it’s the egg.
   Eggs are integral ingredients in practically every cuisine.
The Tacuinum Sanitatis contains entries on chicken, goose, and ostrich
eggs.  The eggs of duck and other domestic foul such as, guineas and
peacock would certainly have been available.  The eggs of wild birds
were also collected.
Eggs were used as binders, leavening agents, to color and glaze, to thin
and thicken, as stuffing and garnish in Medieval cookery.  This month
we’ll be looking at recipes featuring eggs in a starring role.
3rd
This week we’ll look at some variations on stuffed eggs.  These recipes
show up in a variety of cultures. They share the basic plan of a hard
boiled egg. sliced in two, the yolk scooped out and combined with herbs,
spices, sometimes cheese, raw eggs, and other seasonings. But first you
have to boil the eggs.
Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson Translation, available on line)
offers this familiar advice on boiling eggs:
A Note on the Nature of Eggs. Put them on to cook in boiling water and
the yolk will not be hard, so long as you have not first put them in
cold water: but if you put them in cold water and then incontinently
into boiling water, they will surely harden. Item, if you put them in
boiling water and leave them on the fire, they will always get hard.
Item, hard or soft, if as soon as they are cooked, you put them in cold
water, they will be easier to peel.
And once your eggs are boiled you can stuff them.  Most of you are
probably familiar with farced eggs or split nuns but you might not have
seen these from southern Europe.
  From Italy both the Toscano and the Venezianna offer versions.
  From the Toscana Note that the author references other methods of
cooking eggs so well known that nothing need be said of them.
Stuffed eggs.
[140] Take eggs, boil them and peel them, and cut each one in half, and
take out the yolk; and taking marjoram, saffron and cloves, mix them
with said egg yolks, and pound them well, adding grated cheese: and for
every eight eggs dilute with one raw egg; and when this is done, from
this sauce fill the gaps in the eggs and fry them in good lard; and eat,
adding to it the sauce called French verjuice. Fried, roasted, and
beaten [scrambled?] eggs are so well known that nothing need be said
about them.
And from Veneziano
XLVII Stuffed eggs
If you want to make stuffed eggs.  Take the eggs and put them to boil
and make sure that they are hard cooked.  When they are cooked pull them
out (of the hot water) and put them in cold water.  Peel and slice (the
eggs) in half and remove the yolk (reserve).  Take the fattest sweetest
cheese that you have.  Take the best herbs that you have, peel them
(from the stalk) wash and grind them together in a mortar.  When they
(the herbs) are well ground take the egg yolks, the cheese and spices
and put them in the mortar with the good herbs.  Grind all these things
together to make a fine paste and temper (mix) with raw eggs until it is
good (has the right consistency).  Meanwhile put a frying pan over the
fire.  Take the egg halves and stuff with the paste (of egg yolks and
cheese) and put them to cook (in the frying pan).  When they are cooked
remove from the pan and powder them with sugar before serving them hot
to the table.  And if you want to serve them savory take them (without
sugaring them), etc.
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century(Charles Perry
Translation as available on line) offers these two variations.  Note the
technique of slicing the eggs with a thread and refastening the halves
together with a stick.
The Making of Stuffed Eggs
Take as many eggs as you like, and boil them whole in hot water; put
them in cold water and split them in half with a thread. Take the yolks
aside and pound cilantro and put in onion juice, pepper and coriander,
and beat all this together with murri, oil and salt and knead the yolks
with this until it forms a dough. Then stuff the whites with this and
fasten it together, insert a small stick into each egg, and sprinkle
them with pepper, God willing.
Stuffed Eggs
Cook eggs, remove the shells and cut them in half. Remove the yolks, put
together in a platter and throw on them cilantro, onion juice, spices
and cinnamon; and it will become a paste with which you will stuff the
eggs. Tie them with thread and hold them with a small stick. Dissolve
some egg white and grease them with it along with a little saffron, and
dust with fine flour and fry with fresh oil on an even fire, and when
finished, sprinkle with chopped rue and serve. Make a sauce with the
filling and sprinkle with spikenard and cinnamon, God willing.[94]

And on a final note;  I recently tuned into an episode of Jacques Pepin,
and there he was cooking up a recipe his mother had taught him that he
called Eggs Jeanette.  Hard boiled eggs, filled with a mixture of cooked
yolk, fresh herbs and fried in butter.   Hmm, where I have I seen that
before?

Good Cooking
Rycheza

Happy Twelfth Night!  Since we are so busy just now we will keep things
short . Last week we looked at some recipes starting with hard boiled
eggs.  This week I have a trio of recipes that also cook the egg in the
shell but  open the shell at some point during the process and may add
other ingredients during cooking.

The first comes from the egg chapter in Le Menagier de Paris (Janet
Hinson Translation, available on line):

HELMET EGGS. Break open the end of the shell and empty out the white,
leaving the yolk inside, set this shell on a tile, the hole upwards.

The next two come from German sources; the first from  Ein Kochbuch aus
dem Archiv des Deutschen Ordens, A 15th century cookbook from East
Prussia translated by Giano Balestriere (Also on on-line_

[[32]] Wilthu machenn groþ Eyer:
so seudt die Eirtotter weig und mach dann inn ein iglichs Ey ein
scheiblichs Lochelein ine die Spizenn und thu denn Totter herauþ und
hack Ppetersilienn und reib die Dotter darann und wermþ eþ inn
Schmalcz und mach es nytt zu hertt und full es wider in die Schalenn
und seudt sye wider und schel sy dann schˆnn und machs ein guete Prue.

If you wish to make large eggs
Boil the egg yolks soft, cut off the tip of each egg and pour out the
yolk. Chop parsley, mix it with the yolks, throw it in lard and do not
cook it too hard. Fill this back into the shells and boil them well,
then shell them and make a good broth (to serve with it).

And one more from the cookbook of Sabina Welserin as translated by
Valoise Armstrong ( available on line)

52 To make turned out eggs
Open the egg on the tip and mix the yolk and the white, also a little
salt, together. If you would like, you can stir some ginger into it.
Next pour it in fat, so that everything falls out and the shell remains
intact.

Well, I need to go pack my bag for Portland so that’s all for this week.
Good Cooking
Rycheza

They say you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.  This week we
have a few variations on the omelet.

First off we find the French don’t let us down. Here are a couple of
versions from Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson Translation, available
on line):

OMELETTE FRIED WITH SUGAR. Take out all the whites and beat the yolks,
then put some sugar in a frying-pan and let it melt, and then fry your
yolks in it, then put on a plate, with sugar on them.

TO MAKE A FINE OMELETTE WITH EGGS. Take seven eggs and remove the whites
from two and put those in a bowl, and break all the others and beat with
the two extra yolks, and fry; and it will be yellow.
Or, take six or twelve eggs and remove the whites and beat the yolks,
and fry in oil, and let it be well spread out over the skillet, and cut
in lozenges, and each lozenge should be turned over with the flipper,
then put on the plate half an omelette fried in the ordinary way and
four lozenges of these yolks, and some of the sugar sort fried in the
ordinary way.

Maestro Martino also contributes a few:

Eggs on the Grill
Beat two fresh eggs together and heat an empty pan until very hot; and
drop the beaten eggs into the pan, allowing them to spread all over the
pan, in the same manner as for a frittata as thin as paper. When they
appear to be done, fold into four quarters so that it is square just
like a little box.  Placeit on the grill, breaking over it as many fresh
eggs as you think it is able to hol on top, and apply moderate hear from
below and above like a torte, topping with sugar and cinnamon; and when
it appears to you that the eggs have taken, remove from the grill and
serve together with their square beneath them.

Eggs in a Pan
Put some good butter into small pans or copper pans and heat slightly;
and take some previously prepared fresh egg yolks, separated from the
whites., if you prefer, and cook them in the pan, topping with some
sugar and cinnamon,; apply moderate heat from below and above, making
sure that they do not overcook. Then top with a little orange juice or
rose water.

Next week we’ll look at some egg and herb dishes.
Good Cooking
Rycheza

Eggs and herbs were a natural combination to our Medieval forebears and
examples are easy to find.

  From Ein Kochbuch aus dem Archiv des Deutschen Ordens is A 15th century
cookbook from East Prussia. English translated by Giano Balestriere. We
have:

If you want to make a good /weyschen/ cake
(paralleled in Meister Eberhard as /meyschen/ (May) cake)
take up to ten eggs, break them well, add parsley and stir it all
together. Take a mortar, place it on the embers, and put a spoonful of
lard in it to heat. Pour the eggs into it and bake it cooly (gently) and
serve it, not oversalted.

The Le Menagier de Paris provides several types:

TANSY EGGS. Grind a little ginger and some tansy, and moisten with
vinegar, strain and put in a dish of whole, peeled hard-cooked eggs.

(Recipes for Tansies appear in several cookbooks. Tansy was long grown
for medicinal purposes but also used as a flavoring in a variety of
applications besides eggs. Today it is considered to have some toxicity
especially for the liver and can be quite dangerous when ingested by
animals.  It was once used as an abortificant.
It has yellow button-like flowers and grows wild along roadsides
locally, one of several yellow wildflowers you see and is listed as a
noxious weed in Washington.  .  Always use caution in using any herb or
other ingredient that is no longer in common usage.  Often there is a
very good reason no one uses them anymore. And the listing of any
ingredient here is not to be construed as an endorsement of that
ingredient as safe.  I have not done any research on Tansy other than a
cursory search.)

A far more interesting recipe is this one also from the Menagier.  I
keep thinking I’ll take a whack at this one but never quite get to it at
Junefaire.

HERB DISH IN PASTRY COOKED IN THE SKILLET. Beat, grind and mix together
your eggs and herbs and a piece of ginger as said before, then have some
pastry kneaded as though for the bottom of a pie, and heat your skillet
with oil or other grease: then put your kneaded pastry in the bottom of
the skillet, then put in your pie filling along with a sufficient amount
of grated cheese. And since the underside, that is the pastry which
forms the bottom of the tart, will be cooked before the top side is
barely heated, you should have another skillet the bottom of which has
been heated, wiped and cleaned, and let this skillet be filled with hot
coals, and put it inside the first skillet, on and touching the filling,
so that it may be heated and cooked till dry till both filling and
pastry are done.

Good Cooking
Rycheza

There is an opportunity to have a table for our little herd of cats at
Kingdom A&S.  I had put off addressing the subject due to some personal
business that may keep me away from the event.
Do we want to do something?  Is there someone who would like to
co-ordinate that?

Rycheza

Here we are at the end of the month and what else but a pie and  a
little something special for Lent.

The Cookbook of Sabina Welserin has a number of recipes designated as
egg tarts. Most combine the eggs with milk or cream to make a custard,
But here’s one that features almonds and rice.

129 An egg tart with beaten eggs
Take eight eggs for a repast and beat them well and prepare them as for
an egg dish. Take a half handful of blanched almonds, pound them small
and put rose water therein, take a half handful of rice and let it cook
a little, pour it on a cloth, so that it drains, and pound it with the
almonds, take the beaten eggs and mix them also into it. Put cinnamon
therein, pour it on a small pastry shell, let it bake nicely, so that it
becomes brown, and when you will bring it to the table, then sprinkle it
with cinnamon.

This Lenten version of fried eggs comes from Inntalkochbuch  A late 15th
or early 16th century recipe collection from Bavaria. Translated by
Giano Balestriere, it is available on line in Stefan's Florilegium.

Fried eggs during Lent
Take blanched almonds, grind them up and pass through a cloth with
water. Boil in a pan like a /mus/ until it thickens. Take fat /Hausen/
[a freshwater fish of the sturgeon variety, now almost unobtainable],
vut it into cubes and fry it in a pan like fat bacon, remove the fried
bits and put the almond puree into the fat. Spread it out with a spoon
and colour spots (lit. 'eyes') on it like yolks. Press the fried bits of
fish into the white part between the yolks, sprinkle it with sugar, and
keep it warm until you serve it.

Next Month we will be looking at recipe featuring members of the onion
famiily. Til then, Good Cooking  Rycheza