Title: eggs-msg
Subject: Egg storage. Substitutions. Recipes.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: eggs, storage, substitution, recipes, medieval

eggs-msg – 10/19/13

Medieval eggs. Recipes. Substitutions for eggs in medieval recipes.

NOTE: See also the files: egg-whites-msg, egg-storage-msg, eggs-stuffed-msg, fowls-a-birds-msg, chicken-msg, birds-recipes-msg, breakfast-msg, frittours-msg, Scotch-Eggs-msg, caviar-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
************************************************************************

From: allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON)
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 15:03:41 EDT
Subject: SC - Re: Arme Ritter

The name comes from modern German cookbooks, but the practice was taught
me by my son's German in-laws.  The families became close--that's how the
kids met and married.  They are supportive of my desire to trace down the
history of some of the foods, and to find and translate receiptes.  They
use thick, handcut slices of good bread, and dip them into finely grated
crumbs before frying them.  They are served with fried apple slices, or
with the apfelmuss.  (That double s should be a German character)  They
are more likely to sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar before serving, I
frequently put nutmeg into the egg mixture, because that's the way I like
it.  The idea was that the poorest knights might be able to eat an
egg--stretched--but couldn't afford to kill the chicken!  I suppose, if
your were a poor knight out on campaign, you could find an egg, some
bread, and whatever the local orchard had on the tree.

It can also be found in _Wie man eyn teutsches Mannsbild bey Krafften
halt_.  by H. Jurgen Fahrenkamp.  This is a book that's probably
something like To A King's Taste--I forget.  It has modern redactions, in
German, by an author who has taken them from a variety of sources.  He
doesn't give the originals.  This dish he gives another name, saying it's
a fantasy name of something that was formerly known as  'Arme Ritter'.

8 Scheiben Weissbrot			8 slices white bread
1/4 l Milch				1 C. milk
3 Eier					3 eggs
Paniermehl				bread crumbs
Zimt					cinnamon
Zucker					sugar
50 g Schmalz				lard (or other frying
substance)

Dazu passt ein fruchtiger Obstsalat, (he calls for a 'fruit salad' rather
than the apple slices or apple sauce)

You could use a hot fruit compote, or any fruit that was in season.

Enjoy...
Allison

From: "Philip W. Troy" <troy at asan.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 22:02:43 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - Yolks vs whites

linneah at erols.com wrote:
> Pardon my ignorance, as you all have many times before, but what does an egg
> yolk do (other than fat and taste) that egg white doesn't?  I'm trying to keep the
> fat content down as much as possible and was wondering if substituting would
> effect anything seriously.  I know that the taste will be different, but what
> else?
> 
> Linneah

There are some dishes in which the substitution of egg whites for whole
eggs or yolks would make a big difference.

While the yolk contains virtually all of the fat of the egg, the white
contains most of the protein. Albumen in the white tends to curdle when
cooked, so it isn't as good for things like custards as yolks or whole
eggs would be. Also, without the fat, baked goods tend to be a bit
tougher. Conversely, egg yolks generally tenderize baked goods, since
they contribute some shortening fat.

I suspect the thing to do is to find some recipes that use egg whites,
so as eliminate at least some of the less effective experimentation. Off
the top of my head, I think I recall that there are various biscuit
recipes that call for egg whites (certainly things like the white bisket
bread found in Elinor Fettiplace, which is essentially meringue, and
quite period, no matter what you may have read). Ditto macaroons. Also the
cheesecake called sambucade in the Forme of Cury uses egg whites and a
curd cheese, which could easily be of the low-fat variety.

I'm sure there are several others, but would have to check into this a
bit deeper.

Happy hunting!
Adamantius

From: Uduido at aol.com
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 09:15:27 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SC - Yolks and Copyright

<< what does an egg yolk do (other than fat and taste) that egg white doesn't?  >>

Egg yolks tend to thicken the recipes they are used in while egg whites (e.g.
cakes, souffles ) add a "lightening" effect. Recipes which specifically call
for the use of yolks (e.g. sauces, soups) cannot (and , indeed, should not)
be substituted. 

Lord Ras (Uduido at aol.com)

From: Lasairina at aol.com
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 19:57:39 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Yolks vs whites

One thing it does is give the whites some body...if you have ever tried to
make an egg white omlete, or just scrambled egg whites, they come out a bit
like styrafoam.  Absolutely no body.  But adding just one yolk to 3 or 4
whites seems to work okay.  

Lassar Fhina

From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:52:48 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Yolks vs whites

  Pardon my ignorance, as you all have many times before, but what does
  an egg yolk do (other than fat and taste) that egg white doesn't?
  I'm trying to keep the fat content down as much as possible and was
  wondering if substituting would effect anything seriously.  I know
  that the taste will be different, but what else?

Welcome to my little hell.  (I follow the Ornish Heart Disease Reversal
diet, which is a fat free vegetarian diet...)

Eggs are fats, proteins and flavors, in a tidy package.  The fats (and many
of the nutritional components) live in the yolk only.

As you have guessed, two whites can be substituted for a whole egg in most
recipes, without a problem.  Many coronary diets will substitute a
tablespoon of poly-unsaturated fats, such as canola/rapeseed oil, for a yolk
in recipes where fats are required.

I have used many of the fat free egg substitutes in my cooking, and have
found that Egg Beaters brand tastes and cooks closest to an egg.  Unspiced
and scrambled, it is a little off... but with the merest hint of spices, it
feels just like a regular egg.  It is, primarily, egg whites with coloring
and some stabilizers.

	Tibor (or his modern counterpart)

From: Uduido at aol.com
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 08:55:50 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SC - eggs

<< What do you think this "draw them through a strainer" means? >>

IMO, this means exactly that. The reason being to strain out the less tasty
parts of the egg such as blood. In todays world of supermarket infertle eggs
we frequently forget or, in some case are not aware of the particularly less
desirable bits that are found floating about in fertilized eggs. Even tho' I
do not strain eggs per se, having lived on a farm for most of my life, I am
still in the habit of breaking eggs into a little dish to check for blood and
beginning embyos.

I would most certainly agree that a strained egg bears not the remotest
ressemblance to a "beaten" egg. IMHO, if we take the time to stand back and
think about the way things were before the technology of today, many
curiousities of the past become glaringly understandable.

Lord Ras

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 09:15:38 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - meringue

Mark Harris wrote:
> mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib declared today on June 14,
> 
> > we know that medieval people separated
> >eggs, we know that they beat eggs (sorta -- it's usually described as
> >"draw them through a strainer")
> 
> What do you think this "draw them through a strainer" means? If they
> meant to beat the egg, then it would seem much easier to beat it in
> a bowl and say so. I imagine someone pushing an egg through a strainer
> but that doesn't end up with a similar result as beating, unless I've
> got a mistaken idea of what beating an egg is supposed to do. So how
> do we get from "draw them through a strainer" to "beat the eggs"?
> 
> Stefan li Rous

Well, the acts of drawing the eggs through a strainer and beating them
are only similar inasmuch as they produce a similar effect. Both break
the egg "fibers" (Goo?) up into smaller pieces and mix them together,
until reaching the point where a homogeneous mass is produced. Taking it
still further, both processes introduce tiny air bubbles into the mass,
and when enough air bubbles are introduced, the characteristics of the
eggs change, generally getting lighter in color and going from what is
clearly a foam with visible bubbles, on to a sort of cream. This works
on egg whites, on yolks, and on whole eggs, although the phenomenon is
easiest to produce in whites in most cases.

Putting it another way, take apart your "balloon" wire egg whip. Weave
those wires into a sort of basket: you know, a strainer. Fix it so that
the basket passes through the eggs (or vice versa) repeatedly, and the
phenomenon described above will usually occur, barring certain variables
like high humidity, the presence of too much fat, the wrong pH, etc.
Let's just say for practical purposes it always happens.

Probably the easiest thing to do is to try it. It works. Ideally you
want a conical sieve (called, erroneously and shockingly non-PC in the
food service industry, a "China cap"). Pour in your eggs -- whites work
best for a simple demonstration -- and use some implement like a small
1-  or 2-ounce ladel like a plunger to pump the eggs through the
strainer, catching them in a bowl underneath. When the bowl is full and
the strainer empty, switch the eggs back into the strainer and repeat
the process. Depending on the variables mentioned previously, it usually
takes three or four passes to produce a meringue-like foam.

Adamantius

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 15:03:54 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - eggs

Mark Harris wrote:
> My question about how the recipe redactors get from "draw them through
> a strainer" to "beat the egg" is still unanswered. Is this a reasonable
> redaction? Why?

As I said earlier, it depends on which particular effect of "drawing the
eggs through a strainer" you are referring to. Straining them will A)
remove any bits of shell, fertilized embryos, and white stringy stuff
whose Greek-sounding name eludes me at the moment, B) aerate them to
some extent, and C) mix them to some extent. SO, effects B) and C) are
also accomplished by beating. A) generally is not. If effects B) and C)
appear to be what the original recipe's author is looking for -- if, for
instance, he says that the eggs should be drawn through a strainer til
they be chergeaunt, or stondyng, or whatever -- then it is pretty clear
that that can be accomplished with beating. Since several period recipes
specify drawing the eggs through a strainer to remove the "films" or
white threads, then I would just strain them. 

A great deal of the medieval cookery game seems to require discretion.
That's why I like it ;  ).

Adamantius
Lotsa discretion, no tact...

From: "Marisa Herzog" <marisa_herzog at macmail.ucsc.edu>
Date: 16 Jun 1997 12:04:14 -0700
Subject: Re: SC - eggs

<< What do you think this "draw them through a strainer" means? >>
>IMO, this means exactly that. The reason being to strain out the 
>less tasty parts of the egg such as blood.

While that might be part of it, I don't believe that this is really a
practicle take.  Yes, hens with a rooster produce developing eggs, but you
can't "strain" blood out- and I'll just leave that at that to not get nasty. 
Breaking eggs into a separate container from the rest of the mix to check them
for bits one wouldn't want to cook with, would I am sure be explained as just
that. 

Putting raw eggs through some sort of mesh would mix them together quickly
without the labor of beating,  and putting cooked (say hard boiled) eggs
through a mesh would make them into a nicely mixed crumbly substance easily
mixed into whatever else. 

From: Uduido at aol.com
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 23:06:02 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - eggs

<< My question about how the recipe redactors get from "draw them through 
 a strainer" to "beat the egg" is still unanswered. Is this a reasonable
 redaction? Why? >>

I do not feel that this is a reasonable redaction, personally, for the
reasons I stated before. However, by a stretch of the imagination , I suppose
one could get this impression from the resulting product of such straining.
IMHO, the straining was meant to be a practical method of removing extraneous
material, be it straw, manure, egg shell bits,or embryo, etc.

Lord Ras

Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 20:09:10 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - non-chicken eggs

Mark Harris wrote:
> Where would you get duck or goose eggs? Do some groceries carry them?

Yes. Probably the best place to get them is on a farm, but I've seen
them many times in Asian markets. 

> I've never had them. Are they bigger? richer? or what compared to
> chicken eggs?

Duck eggs are a bit larger than a standard jumbo hen's egg, and a goose
egg larger still, sometimes with a volume roughly equal to that of a
billiard ball. They are richer than hen's eggs, with a higher fat
content in the yolk.
 
> Any medieval recipes for things like turtle eggs? Or were there no
> big turtles in Europe?

There may have occasionally been some kind of sea turtles going ashore
on the Atlantic coasts, but I'm not aware of any period recipes for
them.

There IS a subtlety mentioned in one of the late-period or post-period
sources, which calls for making a giant artifical hard-boiled egg out of
a dozen hen's eggs. That's about the closest I can think of, offhand. If
I remember correctly, the eggs of reptiles have no albumen in them, so
there is no "white" to speak of. If you boil an alligator egg, I
understand that the yolk cooks as you might expect, but the clear liquid
remains just that.

Adamantius

Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 20:37:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - non-chicken eggs

Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 21-Aug-97 Re: SC -
non-chicken eggs by Philip & Susan Troy at asan 
> There IS a subtlety mentioned in one of the late-period or post-period
> sources, which calls for making a giant artifical hard-boiled egg out of
> a dozen hen's eggs. That's about the closest I can think of, offhand. If
> I remember correctly, the eggs of reptiles have no albumen in them, so
> there is no "white" to speak of. If you boil an alligator egg, I
> understand that the yolk cooks as you might expect, but the clear liquid
> remains just that.

I believe it's the Book of Good Spice (whose German Name I don't
remember at the moment), so end of the 15th C.

toodles, margaret 

Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 23:00:27 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - non-chicken eggs

Gretchen M Beck wrote:

> > There IS a subtlety mentioned in one of the late-period or post-period
> > sources, which calls for making a giant artifical hard-boiled egg out of
> > a dozen hen's eggs.

> I believe it's the Book of Good Spice (whose German Name I don't
> remember at the moment), so end of the 15th C.

That would be Das Buoch Von Guter Speiss you're thinking of, but I could
swear this was a late 16th- or early 17th-century English source. I'll
have to check on this. I think it's the Second Part of the Good
Housewife's Jewell.

Adamantius 

Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 05:59:14 EDT
From: tuckers323 at juno.com (Carla S. Tucker)
Subject: Re: SC - non-chicken eggs

On Thu, 21 Aug 1997 20:09:10 -0400 Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
writes:
>Mark Harris wrote:

>> I've never had them. Are they bigger? richer? or what compared to
>> chicken eggs?
>
>Duck eggs are a bit larger than a standard jumbo hen's egg, and a goose
>egg larger still, sometimes with a volume roughly equal to that of a
>billiard ball. They are richer than hen's eggs, with a higher fat
>content in the yolk.

	My grandmother who ate goose eggs frequently as a child on a farm
in Canada claims they are bitter and leave an unpleasant aftertaste. 
Could it be that whatever they fed the birds made their eggs taste bad?

Carla
tuckers323 at juno.com

From: yumitori at marsweb.com (Ron Martino Jr)
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 20:25:05 -0600
Subject: Re: SC - eggs

> << My question about how the recipe redactors get from "draw them through
>  a strainer" to "beat the egg" is still unanswered. Is this a reasonable
>  redaction? Why? >>
> 
> I do not feel that this is a reasonable redaction, personally, for the
> reasons I stated before. However, by a stretch of the imagination , I suppose
> one could get this impression from the resulting product of such straining.
> IMHO, the straining was meant to be a practical method of removing extraneous
> material, be it straw, manure, egg shell bits,or embryo, etc.
> 
> Lord Ras

	My (farm-raised) two cents - between washing the eggs and using a
separate bowl to crack them into, you can deal most every problem except
egg shells. That doesn't seem to be a sufficent reason for the common
directive to strain the eggs...

	Yumitori

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 22:49:19 -0800
From: charding at nwlink.com (Cathy Harding)
Subject: Re: SC - Small Feasts

>Maeve said:
>>The day of the contest, I cooked leeks in almond milk, a dish of beans and
>>peas( peas cooked in ale and caraway), hard boiled quails eggs, Hens of
>>greece, ruzzge cakes and a clever dish of plums.
>
>Where did you get quails eggs? Are these something that you find in your
>grocery store? I assume you hard boil them like chicken eggs. Do they
>taste different or are they just smaller or colored differently?

A friend found them in the food coop in Eugene on the way back from an
event in southern Oregon.  I just boiled them like chicken eggs.  they
taste very good, better than chicken eggs.  They are much smaller and the
shells are mottled. Inside they look much like chicken eggs.

>What are Hens of greece? recipe?

It is a recipe from ein guter spise.  I forget which one.  I took eggs
beaten up with spices (caraway and ginger come to mind) and put this in the
bottom of a greased springform pan.  Then I took bread (w/o crusts) and
dipped in milk and them eggs and them semmel (which I took to mean semolina
- - I used semolina flour) and fried them, them placed that in the egg
mixture, then chopped up chicken which had been roasted with bacon, then
apple rounds also fried and kept layering till the pan was full.  I put an
oven proof pie pan with pie weights on the top to weigh it down and then
baked till the egg was cooked.  Turn it out and serve with a wine ginger
sauce.  It was good.

>  Stefan li Rous

Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 12:01:01 -0700
From: kat <kat at kagan.com>
Subject: SC - re:  eggs

brid asks:
> along the lines of the versions of pickled eggs and tea eggs:
> Isn't there a recipe somewhere that calls for hardboiling eggs over a very low
> heat for a number of hours in a bath of onion broth or something of the like-
> for the flavor as well as the color?

	Yes!  It's a Jewish recipe; I helped Merrin (Na'Arah) make them for the Feast of Jewish Holidays.  (I think I'm STILL full from all that food... )

	You can do them on stovetop or in the oven; we used the oven at about 250*, overnight in a turkey roaster.  One hundred fifty eggs, the skin of a half dozen onions, cover with water, done the next morning.  Gorgeous things... 

		- kat

Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 23:25:53 -0400
From: Ceridwen <ceridwen at commnections.com>
Subject: Re: SC - eggs

> Do quail eggs really taste that much differnet from chicken eggs? If
> not, they sound like a lot more work. For that matter, do eggs from
> chickens, geese, quail, ducks etc taste different, if they are all
> farm raised? I have heard that there is a differance between farm-
> raised and free-range chickens but I'm asking about just farm-raised
> eggs since that is likely to be all I'm going to be able to get.
>
>   Stefan li Rous

Quail eggs are somewhat different than chicken eggs, being slightly
milder and creamier in texture. The difference would only be important
to me if the recipe featured the eggs as flavoring. They are a lot more
work, as there are about 8 quail eggs to 1 chicken egg.
    The first week that I got eggs from my quail, I made fried quail
eggs and silver dollar pancakes for Saturday brunch... about a dozen
each was a good serving size. They are just too cute!
    Free range chicken eggs are somewhat stronger flavored and have a
yellower yolk due to the variations in diet, but there is no discernible
difference in nutritional value. Duck and goose eggs are much different,
with their own flavors, not easily described..... I can remember their
tastes, even after 25 years, but simply can't put it into words.

Ceridwen

Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 09:11:53 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - eggs

Mark Harris wrote:
> Do quail eggs really taste that much differnet from chicken eggs? If
> not, they sound like a lot more work.

As I put on my Devil's advocate hat: my experience has been that they
taste almost identical to hen's eggs. They are also somewhat more work,
since their size affects the surface-area:mass ratio, meaning more
square inches of shell per ounce of egg. So, six ounces of quail eggs
will have more shell to remove than six ounces of hen's eggs. That being
said, they do have a major advantage for the type of thing we use them
for: their appearance and size. This isn't something I would ever say
lightly, but they do have major cute factor at work. Normally I don't
do cute food. I am more proud of a fine sauce than of any number of
subtleties I have made, so normally something like the cute factor of a
little egg wouldn't matter to me. But quail eggs are cool nonetheless. 

> For that matter, do eggs from
> chickens, geese, quail, ducks etc taste different, if they are all
> farm raised? I have heard that there is a differance between farm-
> raised and free-range chickens but I'm asking about just farm-raised
> eggs since that is likely to be all I'm going to be able to get.

Hen's eggs do, however, taste different from the eggs of ducks and
geese. Never tasted a turkey egg, so I wouldn't be able to address that
one, but duck and goose eggs, either just because they are different
birds from chickens, or perhaps because they are waterfowl, are much
richer than hen's eggs, with a slight tang of sulfur to the yolk, which
means it's a bad move to seriously overcook them, or to eat them when
they aren't fresh. Mrs. Beeton swears by them for custards,though, and a
couple of New York pastry chefs have been getting them in for that
purpose, as a matter of fact. See? You CAN learn something from old
cookbooks!  

Adamantius

Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 08:27:52 EDT
From: "Chanda Shaffer" <leanche at hotmail.com>
Subject: Pickled egg recipes

>RUBY EGGS
> Hard boil & peel about a dozen eggs. Open 2 cans of pickled, sliced
>beets. Heat liquid from beets with dill, garlic, peppercorns, bayleaf,

<snip>
>Angelique

Mi'lady Angelique,

Your pickeled eggs sound wonderful.  I have never tried them with dill 
and garlic. I will try it in the next batch I make.

     I make a similar recipe but I make my own pickling liquid.  I use 
equal amounts of regular canned sliced beets-pour in the juice, sugar 
and cider vinegar. heat in a saucepan with a sliced red onion and a 
handful of whole cloves and a cinnamon stick. In a gallon glass jar, 
layer the beets and peeled hard boiled eggs.  Pour the hot liquid over 
the eggs  and cover.  keep in the fridge for a few days to let the 
liquid seep into the eggs.

A gallon sized jar will hold about 1 1/2 doz. eggs and three cans of 
beets with pickling liquid.

BTW if the eggs aren't gone in about a week they get kind of rubbery but 
will still make wonderful deviled eggs

Ivy~

Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 10:30:52 -0400
From: Woeller D <angeliq1 at erols.com>
Subject: Re: SC - eggs

My favorite Oriental market didn't have fresh quail eggs.  The owner
suggested trying the canned variety that she said are commonly
available, even when fresh aren't.  There were about 30, hardboiled,
peeled eggs in a can, for $1.39. They come packed in either water or
'brine', tasting almost identical (like the very slight saltiness of the
brined ones better) but both were delicious.  I don't know how this cost
measures up to fresh, but I didn't have to cook or peel them, so they
definately fit my no-hassle prerequisite. I'm making ruby eggs with a
batch, and a can is going into the 'just in case basket', too.

Angelique

Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 11:19:23 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: SC - Re: eggs

Brid wrote:
(imagining somehow putting together all the various egg recipes and subtilties
>into one feast- tho' no one would probably ever want to see another egg
>eggain)

We have come across two different stuffed egg recipes: one Italian, one
Andalusian.  You hard-boil eggs, cut in half, take out the yolk and mix
with stuff, refill and fasten back together.  We haven't got a final
worked-up version for either but I can post the original recipes if anyone
is interested.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 12:25:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: eggs

Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 21-Oct-97 SC - Re: eggs david
friedman at best.com (804*)

> We have come across two different stuffed egg recipes: one Italian, one
> Andalusian.  You hard-boil eggs, cut in half, take out the yolk and mix
> with stuff, refill and fasten back together.  We haven't got a final
> worked-up version for either but I can post the original recipes if anyone
> is interested.

There is a like recipe in one of the Elizabethan Cookbooks--The Good
Huswifes Jewel, I think.  I served them at a feast and they were quite
well received.

toodles, margaret
Gretchen Beck
Computing Services
Carnegie Mellon University

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 15:49:32 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: SC - Re: eggs

The Making of Stuffed Eggs
Andalusian p. A-24

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
Platina book 9

Cook fresh eggs for a long time so that they are hard, then take the egg
from the shell and split it through the middle, so as not to lose any of
the white.  After you have taken out the yolk, grind up part of it with
good cheese, aged as well as fresh, and raisins; save the other part to
color the dish.  Likewise add a little finely chopped parsley, marjoram and
mint.  There are those who also put in two or more egg whites, along with
some spices.  With this mixture fill the whites of the eggs and when they
are stuffed, fry them over a gentle flame, in oil.  When they are fried,
make a sauce from the rest of the yolks and raisins ground together, and
when you have moistened them in verjuice and must, add ginger, clove, and
cinnamon and pour over the eggs and let them boil a little together.

The first is out of the anonymous 13th c. Andalusian cookbook (tr. Charles
Perry) in Cariadoc's cookbook collection v. 2, the second from Platina's
_De Honesta Voluptate_, 1475.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 21:23:05 -0800
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - quail eggs

Hi all from Anne-Marie
Meadhbh asks about late period uses for quail eggs.
My favorite type of egg involved fingerfood is from la Varenne, 1651,
French. Hardboiled eggs are stuffed with a mixture of their own yolks,
butter, vinegar and sauteed herbs. Deviled Eggs a la 17th century. There is
a similar recipe in Epilario including a dressing of vinegar, etc.

If you don't want to fuss (ie want to spend your energies on other things),
I've been known to slice them in half, and sprinkle with a good quality
dark balsamic vinegar. Looks good, tastes great. No documentation, alas,
but there you go.

The reconstruction for the Stuffed Eggs....oh and if you use my recipe,
please let me know. I'm sure to give permission, I just like the grins I
get from knowing my food is being eaten thousands of miles away! :) Sorry,
but my cut and paste doesn’t work so good, so the citation footnotes didn't
make it into this message. Let me know if you need them.

Enjoy!

STUFFED EGGS: This version tastes very similar to the familiar modern
deviled egg (sans paprika, of course). There is an earlier version in
Epilario , but la Varenne updates it by omitting the very medieval sauce of
vinegar and spices and using instead fresh herbs to flavor. These eggs
travel well and are an easy and elegant potluck or tourney dish. Prepare
the egg yolks and put into a zip lock bag, and put the halved egg whites
into another. When you're ready to serve, snip off one corner of the bag
with the yolk stuffing in it and fill the egg halves by squeezing the
plastic bag like a pastry bag.

1. Eggs farced [la Varenne #1 p294]
Take sorrell, alone if you will, or with other herbs, wash and swing them,
then mince them very small, and put between two dishes with fresh butter,
or passe them in the panne; after they are passed, soak and season them;
after your farce is sod, take some hard eggs, cut them into halfs, a
crosse, or in length, and take out the yolks, and mince them with your
farce, and after all is well mixed, stew them over the fire, and put to it
a little nutmeg, and serve garnished with the whites of your eggs which you
may make brown in the pan with brown butter.

Our version:
2T butter
1 T dill, minced
6 hardboiled eggs
2 green onions, minced
1 pinch salt
1 tsp fresh savory, minced
1 tsp fresh sorrell, minced
1 T balsamic vinegar
pinch nutmeg

Cut eggs in half longwise, and remove yolk. Sautee savory, sorell, green
onion and dill in 1 T of the butter. Add the vinegar, salt, nutmeg and rest
of the butter. Mix the egg yolks with the sauteed herb stuff, and stir over
low heat till smooth and thick. Fill the egg white halves and serve. If you
wish, you may fry the egg white halves in brown butter before filling, but
we found that this makes them rubbery.
Makes 12 filled egg halves, with some leftover stuffing goop. Oh darn.

Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 12:53:04 EST
From: DianaFiona at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Scrambled Eggs

<<
 I find it pretty hard to imagine that scrambled eggs were not period. Where
 did you run across this bit of info? Since scrambled eggs are my very favorite
 form of eggs and so basic in construction, I had automatically tho't them
 "period". OTOH, Both omelettes and French toast , which are more elaborite
 ways of serving eggs , are both documentably period.

 Would it be possible for anyone who has information either proving or
 disproving the use of scrambled eggs in the MA please post the information and
 source material to me? Thanks in advance.

 Ras
 ============================================================ >>
      For what it's worth, I just ran across a recipe in Cariadoc's Miscellany
that I marked to show to the breakfast cook for our next event that might be
interpeted as scrambled eggs or as an omlette, depending on your mood........
It doesn't seem to be in the on-line version, just the hard copy (7th edition)
that a friend picked up for me at Pennsic last year.

      SAWGEAT (Curye on Inglysch p. 135 [Form of Cury no. 169])

     Take sawge; grynde it and temper it vp with ayren. Take a sausege & kerf
hym to gobetes, cast it in a possynet, and do [th]erwi[th] grece & frye it.
Whan it is fryed ynowgh, cast  [th]erto  sawge with ayren; make it not hard.
Cast [th]erto powdour douce & messe it forth. If it be in ymbre day; take
sauge, buttur, & ayren, and lat stonde wel by [th]e sauge, and serue forth.

      I don't do eggy things often, and tend to preffer quiche when I do, but
this looked pretty good to my eyes. Of course, being a big fan of strong herbs
doesn't hurt--I'd probably put more sage in than anyone else could stand! ;-)
A question, though, for those who know more about period sausage than I do;
would they have been likely to have the soft, fresh sausages that we usually
cook for breakfast, or would this more likely have been a harder, smoked
sausage? (Which is what the "kerf hym to gobetes" suggested to me.)

     As to the original question, the recipe doesn't say how to cook the eggs
other than not to let them get too hard, so to my mind it could be dealt with
as an omlette or scrambled eggs as the cook chose. Not absolute documentation,
Ras, but at least not forbiding the practice, either........... ;-)

       Ldy Diana

Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 13:19:07 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - Scrambled Eggs

Hello!  I've got 2 recipes at hand - Meselade and Tansey (each listed in
both Harleian MS 279 and 4016):

Harleian MS. 279 - Leche Vyaundez
xliiij.  Meselade.  Take Eyroun, [th]e [3]olkys an [th]e whyte to-gedere, &
draw hem [th]orw a straynoure; & [th]an take a litil Botere, & caste in a
fayre frying panne; & whan [th]e boter is hot, take [th]e drawyn Eyroun, &
caste [th]er-to; [th]an take a Sawcere, an gadre [th]e Eyroun to-gedere in
[th]e panne, as it were [th]e brede of a pewter dysshe; & [th]an take fayre
pece[3] of Brede, [th]e mountance of a mosselle of Brede, vppe-on [th]e
Eyroun, & turne [th]an [thy]  brede downward in [th]e panne; [th]anne take
it of [th]e panne, & caste fayre whyte Sugre [th]er-to, & serue forth; an
to euery good meslade take a [th]owsand Eyroun or mo.

Harleian MS. 4016

92 Tansey.  Take faire Tansey, and grinde it in a morter; And take eyren,
yolkes and white, And drawe hem thorgh a streynour, and streyne also [th]e
Iuse of [th]e Tansey thorgh a streynour; and medle the egges and the Iuse
togidre; And take faire grece, and cast hit in a pan, and sette ouer [th]e
fyre til hit mylte; and caste [th]e stuffe thereon, and gader hit togidre
with a sawcer or a dissh, as [th]ou wilt haue hit more or lasse; And turne
hit in [th]e panne onys or twies, And so serue it forth hote, yleched.

Cindy/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net

Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 13:50:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Scrambled Eggs

There is also a recipe in the 2 15th century cookery books called
Hanony, which is a fairly standard recipe for an omelet.

toodles, margaret

Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 16:55:05 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: SC - Scrambled eggs not period?

> Would it be possible for anyone who has information either proving or
> disproving the use of scrambled eggs in the MA please post the information and
> source material to me? Thanks in advance.
>
> Ras

Sorry to write and run, but I couldn't pass this one up. See "Curye On
Inglysch" for recipes for hanoney and sawgeat, being scrambled eggs with
fried onions, and sage-flavored scrambled eggs with fried smoked
sausage, respectively. Two of my favorite simple period dishes.

Adamantius

Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 18:06:54 -0800
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Fw: [Mid] Is camping without a cooler out of period?

I remember from my misspent youth an article (in Mother Earth News? Can't
remember) where they did side by sides on eggs. Washed some, froze some,
chilled some, left some at room temp. The chilled, UNWASHED eggs lasted the
longest, the room temp unwashed eggs were second. Freezing eggs is nasty, I
guess (unless you dont care what they look like, ie mix 'em up first).

Eggs are by nature sterile (which is why in the old days we used them to
grow viral cultures, etc). Its the outside of the egg that isnt.

Coming out of the chicken, the egg is coated with a thin layer of protein
that renders the shell impermiable to air (dont think about it too hard,
its kinda nasty). Makes sense...after laying, the egg isn’t refrigerated and
yet doesn’t spoil, right? It stays fresh enough to grow a baby chicken, in
fact.

The down side of this is that unwashed eggs will often have
other......materials....on them, and these are rife with cooties,
especially in this day and age of antibiotic resistant nasty bacteria.

I think I'd go ahead and wash them, so as not to contaminate everything in
site with chicken feces, but realize that you might not be getting the
freshest eggs in town after a week or so. Please realize, too, that this
means only that your egg may be a bit dried out. That shell is pretty much
impervious to bacteria, so unless the integrity of the shell is breached in
some way (and believe me, you'll know it!!!) you should be fine.

- --AM, who wouldn’t refridgerate her eggs, except that the door has those
neat egg shaped holes in it...

Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 17:11:06 EDT
From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com>
Subject: SC - Egg peeling tip o' the day

CorwynWdwd at aol.com writes:
<< Peeling fresh eggs that have been hard boiled (The way we usually carry them 
to events) is an exercise in frustration. >>

To avoid pulling a hard boiled egg apart the following steps will help. First
pierce the large end of the egg with a needle. Place eggs in cold tap water.
Add 1 tblsp salt to water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and boil
for the appropriate length of time. IMMEDIATELY remove eggs from heat. Pour
off hot water. Slightly crack each egg with the round side of a spoon.
IMMEDIATELY cover with COLD water and leave until room temperature. Always
start peeling from the BIG end of the egg. The shell should literally slip off
easily with little or no clinging. This works with fresh or older eggs
although I would not generally use fresh eggs for hard boiling unless it were
absolutely necessary.

Ras

Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 10:47:01 -0400
From: Stephanie Rothgeb <onebyte at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Fw: [Mid] So you wanna peel hard boiled eggs

  Don't let them sit for a week before boiling them, boil them with a
lot of salt.  Trust me works great, the shells just peel away without
effort or small cracks.

Beileag

PS my daughter learned it in cooking school.

Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 12:51:58 -0700
From: cassie <cassie at sally.nas.nasa.gov>
Subject: e: SC -Gentle education, was Help thinking up a class...

<snip>
So here is my documentation on the Andalusian Stuffed Eggs:
- --
Cassandra Baldassano            cassie at nas.nasa.gov
Sterling Software               (650) 604-6007 or (800) 331-8737 x6007
Supporting:                     M/S 258-6
Systems Control                 NASA Ames Research Center
Database Administration         Moffett Field, CA 94305-1000
***********************************************************************

Stuffed Eggs

This recipe for stuffed Eggs comes from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the
Thirteenth Century, which has only the english translation of the recipes;.  They taste very similar to a deviled egg. I entered this recipe for the Silver Spoon, Spring Investiture A.S. XXXII. The amount of herbs and spices I use make this recipe mild, increase these ingredients according to your own taste.

Translation of Original Recipe:

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.

Redaction:

8 eggs
1/4 tsp. cilantro
2 tsp. onion juice
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. Murri and pinch of salt
   or 1/4 tsp. salt
2.5 Tbs. oil

Cook eggs, split and remove yolks. Combine yolks with remaining ingredients. Stuff egg white with yolk mixture. Place egg whites together, secure with toothpick, sprinkle with pepper.

Special Notes:

Although the original recipe give no number of eggs to cook, I choose to redact the recipe for 8 eggs because the measurements for the other ingredients are common.

Murri is a salty sauce that is brewed, not unlike soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce. From the recipes noted in the An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century, it appears that Murri is nearly as commonly used as soy sauce is in Chinese cuisine. A quick recipe for Murri can be found in A Miscelleny (6th edition), by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook. This recipe calls for quinces, which are sometimes difficult to find depending on the time of year. If you have a chance to make murri, you should have plenty of it for several other recipes.  However, if you are not able are inclined to make the murri, I recommend to substitute a 1/4 tsp. salt for the 1/4 tsp. Murri and pinch of salt. I don't
find the substitution detracts from the dish due to the strong flavors of the onion juice and cilantro.

Source: An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century, a translation by
Charles Perry found in A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Recipes, edited by David Friedman and Elisabeth Cook.

Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 22:44:40 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: e: SC -Gentle education, was Help thinking up a class...

At 12:51 PM -0700 5/6/98, cassie wrote:

>Stuffed Eggs
>
>This recipe for stuffed Eggs comes from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook
>of the
>Thirteenth Century, which has only the english translation of the
>recipes;.  They taste very
>similar to a deviled egg. I entered this recipe for the Silver Spoon,
>Spring Investiture A.S.
>XXXII. The amount of herbs and spices I use make this recipe mild,
>increase these
>ingredients according to your own taste.
>
>Translation of Original Recipe:
>
>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.
>
>Redaction:
>
>8 eggs
>1/4 tsp. cilantro
>2 tsp. onion juice
>1/8 tsp. pepper
>1/4 tsp. Murri and pinch of salt
>   or 1/4 tsp. salt
>2.5 Tbs. oil

I would take issue with your redaction on only one detail. The Andalusian
cookbook distinguishes between cilantro and coriander, apparently
representing the leaves and the ground seed of the coriander plant. This
recipes uses both. You only use one.

Comparing your worked out version to ours, I conclude that you are less
fond of cilantro than I am.

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/

Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 22:24:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Stephen Bloch <sbloch at adl15.adelphi.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Piperfarces - a query

> The question is - Cariadoc's version uses 8 egg yolks to 2 T flour, where
> Pleyn Delit uses 2 egg yolks to slightly more flour than Cariadoc ...
> Are there parallel period examples which suggest a high yolk content?

I haven't done the "pipefarces" recipe.  But on the subject of high yolk
content,....

Filled Muqawwara
from the 13th-century Arabo-Andalusian Manuscrito An—nimo, my translation

Sift a pound and a half of wheat flour in a good sifter, mix it with
the yolks of fifteen eggs and as much fresh milk as necessary.  Put in
a little leavening and the dough will be firmer, make a loaf like a
raguif [patty] of this, and leave it to ferment.  Then put sweet oil in
a frying pan and take it to the fire, and when it has heated, put in
the raguif, turn it little by little, and watch that it not stick.
Then turn it and when it has browned a little, take it out and put it
in a dish and cut it out like a muqawwara.  Take out all the crumbs
that are in it and crumble it by hand until it thickens a little.  Then
take sufficient peeled nuts and almonds and sugar, pound them well and
put a handful of this, then another of crumbs, into the muqawwara
until it is full; and scatter, again between the two hands, ground
sugar, and after this sprinkle it with rosewater.  Then boil sweet
butter and good honey, pour into the muqawwara and when it makes a
boiling sound, go back to putting the topping on top, and pour the rest
of the honey and butter over the topping, sprinkle with sugar, and
present it.

This recipe, with my redaction thereof, appeared in a T.I. article
entitled "Some Recipes of al-Andalus" about eight years ago; the article
has been Webbed by Greg Lindahl, and is on his cookery page.

                                        mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
                                                 Stephen Bloch

Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 08:10:55 -0700
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - deviled eggs info source

HI all from Anne-Marie

I know theres a version in Epilario, as well as one in la Varenne. Both are
very reminicent of devilled eggs.

- --AM

Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 17:27:25 -0400
From: dy018 at freenet.carleton.ca (Micaylah)
Subject: Re: SC - Pine nuts

Corwyn said...
>Okay... I'll bite... should I NOT put them in the door?
>
>(I do btw...)

I just found this out. This part of your fridge is the warmest part. Given
that you don't know how long your eggs were on the shelf at the store, (even
though eggs have a fairly long shelf life) they half their life by being
stored at this temperature. I would hate to eat an egg that was slightly
off. Can you say yuck? Anyway this is what the fridge sales person said when
we went shopping recently. I checked with AgCan and they agreed.

Micaylah

Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 06:08:00 -0700
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Pennsic Menu -- LONG

Might I recommend for breakfasts Herbolade?
mince an onion and clarify in good olive oil. Throw in a bag of that
irradiated pre-washed spinach. Let sweat down. Break and beat a dozen eggs.
Throw in and stir. Stir occasionally until the eggs are almost set. Sprinkle
with grated cheese of choice (we used pre-grated provolone and cheddar we
can get in bags). Cover and let burble till cheese melts.

there are several versions of this in the English/French corpus, some with
cheese some without. We've done it with spinache, and also with bags of
fancy salad greens.

In my experience, eggs transport just fine without a cooler, assuming you
buy them right before you leave and keep them in the shade under a wet
cloth, in the carton you bought them in to protect them.

have fun!
- --Anne-Marie, working on her own menu for Coronation...to be cooked

Date: Sun, 21 Jun 1998 19:53:47 -0700
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Herbolade

Hi all from Anne-Marie
Stephan asks about Herbolade:
"Was this dish mentioned in the period cookbooks as a breakfast dish? Or
do you just think it would make a good breakfast dish in the modern idea
of breakfast?"

It was most definately NOT mentioned as a breakfast dish, and in fact has
nothing to do with any of my reserach on appropriate breakfast foods. I was
feeding a campful of "but you gotta have sausage and eggs for breakfast!!!
(preferrably with a hashbrown thang)", and thught this would satisfy my
need for period cooking, plus make their little modnern palates happy. Me,
I do the medieval thing of breaking my fast on bread, small beer (when my
buddy makes it) and maybe some leftovers.

">mince an onion and clarify in good olive oil. Throw in a bag of that
>irradiated pre-washed spinach. Let sweat down. Break and beat a dozen eggs.
Clarified butter has been mentioned here before. How do you clarify olive
oil? I believe clarified butter has the solids removed. But olive oil
doesn’t have any solids that I’ve noted."

oops! I mean "mince an onion and sautee till clear in good olive oil".
What, you dont automatically understand my shorthand??? :)

"I’ve never seen irradiated spinach here in the U.S. What would you do to
use standard fresh spinach? Do you tear the leaves into small pieces or
use as whole leaves? What do you mean by “let sweat down”?"

Those yuppie salad in a bags that you get at the grocery stores around here
are often irradiated (egads! :)). Means they dont go all soggy and icky as
fast. If you were to use standard fresh spinach, wash well, and remove the
stems. Tear into pieces. "to sweat down" means (to me) to let cook gently
till the water is released and suddenly you have WAY less volume than you
did before. You know when this has happened cuz the greens arent raw
looking anymore.

re: references....

Here are two. There are more.
In one, its a simple mix of eggs, butter and herbs, baked in a shell. The
other is an omelet gizmo with cheese, with the addition of ginger. We chose
to omit the ginger (sometimes..its tasty too), and do it as a crustless pie
or egg bake thing, depending on your point of view. Considering our infant
level abilities with the fire we're attempting to learn to cook on, I think
we did pretty good :)

We have done it with a more complex mix of salad greens, fresh herbs, etc,
but you can’t beat the already bagged greens for ease of use and hygeine
when camping in primitive conditions. Please note that while neither
mentions onions, they  were classified as an herb in the garden lists and
like of the time. If it offends, you can certainly leave them out.

Herbolat: (Forme of Curye 180)
Take persel, myntes, saverey and sauge, tansey, vervayn, clarry, rewe,
ditayn, fenel, southernwode; hewe hem and grinde hem smale. Medle hem up
with aryen. Do buttur in a trap and do the fars thereto and bake it and
mess forth.

 One Herbolace Or Two of Eggs (Menagier de Paris, p. 274)

Take of dittany two leaves only, and of rue less than the half or naught,
for know that it is strong and bitter; of smallage, tansey, mint, and sage,
of each some four leaves or less, for each is strong; marjoram a little
more, fennel more, parsley more still, but of porray, beets, violet leaves,
spinach, lettuces and clary, as much of the one as of the others, until you
have two large handfuls.  Pick them over and wash them in cold water, then
dry them of all the water, and bray two heads of ginger, then put your
herbs into the mortar two or three times and bray them with the ginger. And

then have sixteen eggs well beaten together, yolks and whites, and bray
and mix them in the mortar with the things abovesaid, then divide it in two
and make two thick omelettes, which you shall fry as followeth.  First you
shall heat your frying pan very well with oil, butter or such other fat as
you will, and when it is very hot all over and especially towards the
handle, mingle and spread your eggs over the pan and turn them often over
and over with a flat palette, then cast good grated cheese on the top, and
know that it is so done, because if you grate cheese with the herbs and
eggs, when you come to fry your omelette, the cheese at the bottom will
stick to the pan, and thus it befals with an egg omelette if you mix the
eggs with the cheese.  Wherefore you should first put the eggs in the pan,
and put the cheese on the top, and then cover the edges with eggs, and
otherwise it will cling to the pan.  And when your herbs be cooked in the
pan, cut your herbolace into a round or square and eat it not too hot nor
too cold.

Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 02:55:03 -0500
From: allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON)
Subject: Re: SC - Herbolade/Leche lardys

Just read that recipe this afternoon, in An Ordinance of Pottage.  There,
it is called 'leche lardys', recipe #19.  The traditional way was,
apparently, to divide it and color it, serving slices of the different
colors in the same dish.

To make leche lardys of iii colors

Take clene cow mylke and put hit in iii pottys.  Breke to everych a
quantyte of eyron as thu seist best is to do.  Coloure one rede colour
with saundres & anothyr with saveryn, the iii with grene herbys.  Puit to
everych a porcyon of clene larde of fat of bacon well sodyn & pertyd in
iii pottys; put to salt.  Boyle hem all at ones; stere hem well for
brennyng yn the boyling.  Take hem downe.  Cast hem into a cloth, everych
above other, and wynd the cloth togedyr & presse out all the juse.  Than
take hem out all hole and make leches of hem, and do iii or iiii leches
in a dysch, and serve hem forth.

Constance Hiett's Redaction:

Milk and egg curd, with bacon

4 eggs                  for green colouring: a handful of parsley
and/or spinach, plus and other herbs 2 cups milk                 which
appeal, e.g. summer savory
4 slices bacon
1/2 tsp. salt           for yellow: a pinch of saffron

For green coloring, grind the herbs as finely as you can, or boil them
for a minute or so and grind with a spoonful of the cooking water, so
they will be reduced to juice.  For yellow, you can either steep the
saffron in a small amount of boiling water or grind it.
        Cover the bacon with cold water and bring to a boil; then drain
and cut the bacon into small pieces.  If you prefer bacon slightly crisp,
fry these lightly.
        Beat eggs and milk thoroughly, and stir in the bacon.  Colour as
desired.  Cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until the
milk is thickly curdled.  This is one 'custard' which should actually
curdle.
        When the mixture is very thick, pour it into a cloth and set this
in a colander to let the whey run out; then fold the cloth and press down
firmly to get out more whey and to press the curd together.  Place a
heavy weight on top for a few minutes while the curd cools enough to be
handled; then wring it again in its cloth, pressing it firmly together,
before laying it on a board and slicing it.

Hieatt, Constance B. AN ORDINANCE OF POTTAGE. Prospect Book. 1988.   p.
132.

I'm including her recipe so that some of our newer members can see how a
professional redacts a recipe.
This is the culinary section of a 15th C. manuscript, now owned by Yale
University.

Allison

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 16:12:23 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - A couple of questions

At 9:54 PM -0500 8/30/98, Diamond wrote:
>Does anyone know if deviled eggs are period ?

I suppose it depends how you define deviled eggs; here are two period
recipes for stuffed eggs:

The Making of Stuffed Eggs
Andalusian A-24 (13th century Islamic Spain)

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
Platina book 9 (15th c. Italian)

Cook fresh eggs for a long time so that they are hard, then take the egg
from the shell and split it through the middle, so as not to lose any of
the white.  After you have taken out the yolk, grind up part of it with
good cheese, aged as well as fresh, and raisins; save the other part to
color the dish.  Likewise add a little finely chopped parsley, marjoram and
mint.  There are those who also put in two or more egg whites, along with
some spices.  With this mixture fill the whites of the eggs and when they
are stuffed, fry them over a gentle flame, in oil.  When they are fried,
make a sauce from the rest of the yolks and raisins ground together, and
when you have moistened them in verjuice and must, add ginger, clove, and
cinnamon and pour over the eggs and let them boil a little together.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Wed,  5 May 1999 17:10:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - FW: Poaching Eggs

Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 5-May-99 SC - FW: Poaching
Eggs "Decker, Margaret" at Healt (474)

> Is the poaching method of preparing eggs Period? I would appreciate
> recipes. I couldn't find anything on this in the Floregium.

Yup.  I don't have any recipes at my fingertips, but remember seeing
several in the various cookery books.  I think there's a couple in the
two 15th century cookery books, for example.

toodles, margaret
Gretchen Beck

Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 15:09:58 -0700
From: lilinah at grin.net
Subject: Re: SC - FW: Poaching Eggs

Margarite asks:
> Is the poaching method of preparing eggs Period? I would appreciate
> recipes.

According to "The Medieval Kitchen" by Redon, Sabban, Serventi, poached
eggs are period, appearing in "Le Menagier de Paris" and "Le Viandier de
Taillevent". Two recipes call for poaching in oil, one for poaching in
water. I'm not including the redactions, although if anyone asks, i can
send them...

**p. 179 - Civet of Eggs (Civé d'oeufs, from "Le Menagier de Paris", recipe
174)

Poach some eggs in oil, then take onions, cut into circles and cooked, and
fry them in oil, then boil them in wine, verjus, and vinegar, and boil
everything together; then put three or four eggs in each bowl and pour the
brouet over; it should not be thick.

[The complete redaction considers the eggs to be fried sunnyside up and the
topping to be "ruby-red onion 'jam'"]

**p. 180 - Sippets in mustard (Soup en moustarde, from "Le Viandier de
Taillevent", Bibliotèque Nationale de France, ed. Scully, recipe 150)

Take eggs, poached whole in oil without their shells, then take some of
that oil, wine, water, and onions fried in oil, all boiled together; take
slices of bread browned on the grill, then cut them into square pieces and
put them to boil with the other ingredients; then remove the broth and dry
your sippets of bread, then put it on a platter; then add mustard to your
broth and boil; then put the sippets into your bowls and pour it over.

[what happens to the eggs isn't exactly clear from the above. The redaction
sets an egg fried sunnyside up on each slice of bread and tops with mustard
sauce]

**p. 182 - Thickened cow's milk (Lait de vache lyé, from "Le Menagier de
Paris", recipe 175)

Take best-quality milk...;bring it to the boil then remove from the fire;
then put through a sieve many egg yolks, their filaments removed, and then
crush a knob of ginger and some saffron and add them; and keep warm near
the fire; then take eggs poached in water and put two ro three poached eggs
in each bowl and pour the milk over them.
[i edited out a comment that referred the reader to another recipe for
comments on milk]

"The Medieval Kitchen" includes the original recipes in French - if anyone
wants, i can send them too.

Happy poaching,
Anahita Gaouri bint-Karim al-Fassi

Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 19:25:23 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - FW: Poaching Eggs

> Is the poaching method of preparing eggs Period? I would appreciate
> recipes. 

> Margarite

Yes.  There's a recipe for Potage de egges in Harleian Ms. 4016, #120:
"Take faire water and cast in a faire frying pan, or elle[3] in an o[th]er
vessell, til hit boyle, and skeme it well; And then breke faire rawe egges,
and caste hem in [th]e water, And lete [th]e water stonde stil ouer [th]e
fire, and lete the egges boyle harder or nessher as [th]ou wilt."

Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net

Date: Thu, 06 May 1999 00:50:11 -0500
From: Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net>
Subject: SC - FW: Poaching Eggs

This did make me curious so I looked eggs up in Waverly Root's "Food".
Not much there on cooking of eggs or info for our period I'm afraid.

However, he does mention:
"The first chickens in the West seem to have appeared in Central
Europe about 1500 BC. They probably reached the Mediterranean area
in Greece sometime between 1100 BC and 720 BC".

"During the Renaissance, eggs were the chief food (and in some places
almost the only one) eaten in addition to meat. [wonder what he bases
this on???]

"The historian Benedetto Varchi produced a treatise on boiled eggs
early in the sixteenth century." [Wonder if this would make a good
translation project for someone who knows Latin (or Italian?) ?]

"...and in the seventeenth the renowned French cook Pierre Francois
de la Varenne wrote a cookbook containing sixty different recipes
for eggs." [Maybe another interesting translation project, but
perhaps a bit late unless there is some proof that some of these
recipes might date from earlier times.]
- --
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net

Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 11:13:41 +0100
From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
Subject: SC - Poached eggs

Margarite enquired:
> Is the poaching method of preparing eggs Period? I would appreciate
> recipes. 

There is a rather nice poached egg in custard dish in the Menagier:

Le Menagier de Paris, Translated by Janet Hinson
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

Thickened Cow' Milk. Let the milk be carefully chosen, as is told above in
the chapter on thickened meat soups, and let it be boiled to a simmer, then
remove from the fire: then pour slowly into it through a sieve a great
quantity of egg yolks, and then grind a handful of ginger and saffron, and
put them in, and keep it hot by the fire; then have eggs poached in water
and put two or three poached eggs in each bowl, and the milk over them.

The "Medieval Kitchen" translation of this recipe is virtually the same.
There are also these two poached egg soup recipes from the Menagier. The
Green Broth is a popular dish at feasts:

Green Broth of Eggs and Cheese. Take parsley and a little cheese and sage
and a very small amount of saffron, moistened bread, and mix with water left
from cooking peas, or stock, grind and strain: and have ground ginger mixed
with wine, and put on to boil; then add cheese and eggs poached in water,
and let it be a bright green. Item, some do not add bread, but instead of
bread use bacon.

German Broth of Eggs Poached in Oil.[66] Then take almonds and peel them,
grind and sieve: slice up onions, and let them be cooked in water, then fry
in oil, and put all to boil; then grind ginger, cinnamon, clove and a little
saffron mixed with verjuice, and finally add your spices to the soup, and
boil till it bubbles, and let it be very thick and not too yellow.
[66]There is without a doubt missing here "poach eggs in oil". (JP)

Al Vostro e al Servizio del Sogno
Lucretzia

Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 11:22:43 +0100
From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
Subject: SC - RE: Poached eggs

Saluti!
Forgot to mention, the popular Green Broth is in Cariadoc's Miscelleny
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html
as follows:

"3 T parsley
1/2 (15 g) oz cheese, grated
3 small leaves fresh sage
5 threads saffron
2 thin slices = 1.5 oz white bread (or bacon)
2 c pea stock or dilute vegetable or chicken stock
1/8 t ginger
1 T white wine
1 3/4 oz cheese, grated
3 eggs
Soak bread in stock (either water left from cooking peas or 1/2 c canned
chicken broth + 1 1/2 c water). Grind parsley, sage, and saffron in a mortar
thoroughly; add 1/2 oz cheese and soaked bread and grind together. Strain
through a strainer; if necessary, put back in mortar what didn't go through,
grind again, and strain again. Mix wine and ginger, add to mixture, and
bring to a boil over moderate heat; be careful that it does not stick to the
bottom. Stir in the rest of the cheese; break eggs into soup, and continue
to simmer until eggs are poached.
Note: We have used both Gouda and cheddar cheese; both are good."

This is a good soup to make up to the "bring to a boil over moderate heat"
stage, then freeze. Defrost on the day before, then at the last minute stir
in the cheese, poach the eggs and serve.

Al Vostro e al Servizio del Sogno
Lucretzia
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia   |  mka Tina Nevin
Thamesreach Shire, The Isles, Drachenwald | London, UK

Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 11:19:04 -0700
From: lilinah at grin.net
Subject: SC - Poached eggs

Since i had some requests, here are the redactions that include "poached
eggs" from:
_The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy_
by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban, & Silvano Serventi
translated by Edward Schneider
copyright 1998
The University of Chicago Press

The original recipes were in Medieval French (see end of post)

I didn't include the redactions with my original post. I don't entirely
agree with them.

For example, having spent time using a lot of oil for Southeast Asian
cooking, i don't think the eggs have to be "fried sunny-side up" in a
frying pan - they can be slipped into somewhat hot, somewhat deep oil,
which would be more like poaching in oil (i'd use a wok, but that isn't
Medieval French). But i'd have to experiment to be sure.

Here they are, including some of the modern authors' comments:

p. 179: Civet of Eggs
(from Menagier de Paris 174)

2 medium onions
olive oil
2 cups good, light bodied red wine, such as a Beaujolais or other gamay
(1/2 liter)
3 tablespoons verjuice (or substitute the juice of 1/2 a lemon plus 2
tablespoons water)
1 tablespoon good red wine vinegar
salt
4 fresh large eggs

Peel onions and cut in 1/4 inch slices. Steam or poach them for 5 to 7
minutes. Drain well.

Over medium heat, warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a small saucepan; add
the cooked onion slices and saute' for about 10 minutes, or until lightly
golden.

Add wine, verjuice, and vinegar, bring to a boil, and cook at a gentle boil
until the mixture has reduced by 3/4 and the onions have formed a somewhat
loose "jam". Salt to taste.

When the onions are nearly done, fry the eggs in olive oil, sunny side up,
being careful not to break the yolks. Drain them well.

Place eggs on heated plates. Spoon the onion sauce over the eggs.

p. 180: Sippets in Mustard
(from Le Viandier de Taillevent 150)

There are several versions of this French recipe, but none of them
indicates whether the "eggs, poached whole in oil" are actually part of the
dish. We decided in our adaptation to set the eggs on top of the bread --
the soupes or sippets, grilled and then soaked in sauce -- even though we
are not explicitly instructed to do so. Otherwise, what are we supposed to
do with the eggs once we have used their cooking oil to make the sauce? It
is hard to imagine throwing them away and keeping only their oil as a sauce
base. But it also depends on whether this recipe is for a potage with bread
(as its title would suggest) or for an egg dish. After some indecision, we
decided that it would be more interesting amont the egg preparations, and
devised our version to yield relatively little sauce.

2 medium onions
olive oil
4 very fresh eggs
1 cup red wine (1/4 liter)
5 fluid ounces water (15 centiliters)
salt
2 slices dry country bread, toasted or grilled
1 tablespoon homemade mustard, or good Dijon or Meaux

Peel and slice onions, then saute until golden in a little olive oil. Reserve.

Fry the eggs, sunny-side up, in 3 generous tablespoons of olive oil;
reserve on a warm plate.

To the same pan, add the sauteed onions, the wine, the water, and a little
salt, and boil until the raw wine flavor has disappeared and the sauce is
somewhat reduced.

Dip both sides of the bread into this sauce; the bread should absorb some
of the liquid, but not become sodden. Place one slice of bread on each
plate.

Now stir the mustard into the sauce, bring to the boil, and remove from the
heat.

Set one fried egg on each slice of bread and top with some of the mustard
sauce.

[MY NOTE: Yes, there's a discrepancy between the number of cooked eggs and
slices of bread in the published redaction - one egg on each slice of bread
- - but there are 4 eggs and 2 slices of bread]

P. 182: Thickened Cow's Milk
(from Menagier de Paris 175)
(given in The Medieval Kitchen as: Poached Eggs in Custard Sauce)

Ingredients for Two Servings:
2 cups milk (1/2 liter)
salt
1/4-inch slice fresh ginger, peeled, or, if unavailable, 1 teaspoon ground
ginger
4 egg yolks
1 pinch saffron threads
4 very fresh eggs

Bring the milk just to the boil, and salt lightly.

Grate or puree the ginger.

Bring a pan of water to the simmer, for poaching the eggs.

Beat the four yolks and put them through a fine strainer into a bowl; salt
lightly. Whisk a little of the hot milk into the yolks, then pour the yolk
mixture into the saucepan with the remaining milk. Cook over very low heat,
stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes slightly thick. Overheating
will cause the sauce to curdle. Add the ginger and saffron, and check for
salt.

Poach the four remaining eggs in barely simmering water for about 4
minutes. Serve immediately, two per portion, in soup plates, with the sauce
poured over.

For those who can read it, here's the medieval French:

Civés d'oeufs
(Menagier de Paris 174)

Pochez oeufs a l'uille, puis aiez oignons par rouelles cuis, et les friolez
à l'uille, puis mettez bouilir en vin, vertjus et vinaigre, et faite boulir
tout ensemble; puis mettez en chascune escuelle trois ou quatre oeufs, et
gettez vostre brouet dessus, et soit non liant.

Soupe en moustarde
(Le Viandier de Taillevent, ed. Scully, Biblioteque Nationale de France, 150)

Prennés des oeufs pochiés en huille tous entiers sans esquaille, puis
prennés d'icelle huille, du vin, de l'eau, de oingnons fris en huille,
boullés tout ensemble; prennés lèches de pain halé sur le gril, puis en
faites morssiaux quarrés, et metés boulir aveques; puis hastés vostre
boullon, et ressuiés vostre soupe; puis la verssés en un plat; puis de la
moustarde dedans vostre boullon, et la boullir; puis metés vos souppes en
vos escuelles, et metés dessus.

Lait de vache lyé
(Menagier de Paris 175)
Soit pris le lait à eslite, comme dit est cy-devant ou chappitre des
potages, et soit bouly une onde, puis mis hors du feu: puis y filez par
l'estamine grant foison de moieux d'oeufs et ostez le germe, et puis broyez
une cloche de gingembre et saffren, et mettez dedans, et tenez chaudement
emprès le feu; puis ayez des oeufs pochés en eaue et mettez deux ou trois
oeufs pochés en l'escuelle, et le lait dessus.

Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 17:21:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - eggs?

I have a recipe for farced (stuffed) eggs from one of the Good Huswife's
Jewel's.  It's available at:

http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~grm/wwwaway-feast.html

These were referred to by the kitchen crew as "Eggs in Bondage" because
we tied them up to reboil them once they were stuffed.

toodles, margaret

Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 20:50:33 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - eggs?

memorman at oldcolo.com writes:
<< I was wondering if anyone might have a recipe for stuffed eggs?  >>

The Making of Stuffed Eggs

'Take as many eggs as thou wilt and boil them whole in hot water, put them in
cold water and divide them in half with a thread. Take the yolks asise and
crush cilantro, put in onion juice, pepper, and coriander and beat all this
together with murri, oil, and salt and mash the yolks with this until it
becomes a paste. Then stuff the whites with this and fasten it together,
insert a small stick into each egg and sprinkle them with pepper, God willing.
Redaction by al-Sayyid A'aql ibn Rashid al-Zib, AoA, OSyc
Copyright c 1999 L. J. Spencer, Jr. Williamsport, PA

12 Eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
1 T Cilantro, mashed
1 tsp Onion juice
3/8 tsp Black pepper, ground
1/2 tsp Coriander seed, ground
1 tsp Byzantine murri naqi
1 T Olive oil (or more)
Salt to taste
12 round Toothpicks
Blackpepper, ground for garnish

Cut eggs in half, removing yolks which are placed in a seperate bowl.
Beat cilantro, onion juice, murri and olive oil together. Add salt to taste.
Add yolks, mashing mixture until it forms a smooth paste, adding more oil as
needed.Stuff yolk mixture into each egg half. Secure halves together with a
toothpick. Sprinkle lightly with pepper

Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 12:40:35 -0500 (CDT)
From: Jeff Heilveil <heilveil at uiuc.edu>
Subject: SC - stuffed eggs

Last night I tried the stuffed eggs recipe.  It was WONDERFUL.  My only
suggestion is that like the original says, cut the eggs with thread, as it
works better than any knife.

Bogdan
_______________________________________________________________________________
Jeffrey Heilveil                           Bogdan de la Brasov
Department of Entomology                MoAS, Barony of Wurm Wald
University of Illinois                    Bucatar-sef, Wurm Wald
heilveil at uiuc.edu                             Middle Kingdom

Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 02:25:46 EDT
From: Korrin S DaArdain <korrin.daardain at juno.com>
Subject: Re: SC - stuffed eggs

On Tue, 20 Jul 1999 12:40:35 -0500 (CDT) Jeff Heilveil 
<heilveil at uiuc.edu> writes:
>Last night I tried the stuffed eggs recipe.  It was WONDERFUL.  My only
>suggestion is that like the original says, cut the eggs with thread,
>as it works better than any knife.
>
>Bogdan

Or use one of those cheese slicers that uses the wire and is part of a
cutting board.

Korrin S. DaArdain
Kitchen Steward of Household Port Karr
Kingdom of An Tir in the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Korrin.DaArdain at Juno.com

Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 16:31:33 +1000
From: "Susan P Laing" <Susan.P.Laing at mainroads.qld.gov.au>
Subject: SC - Orange Omelette - Question re. serving

Just a question to the list regarding one of the recipes that was supposed to be
served at my last event but was shelved due to the cry of "too much food"

: ORANGE OMELETTE FOR HARLOTS AND RUFFIANS  (MEDIEVAL KITCHEN P185)

The recipe in Medival Kitchen (by Redon) calls for this to be "served hot"

So the questions are :
A)Has anyone made it for an event and if so - how did you manage to get it from
the kitchen to the food bowls without it going cold
B) Does it taste alright when cool

& C) - I've heard that it's not precisely an "omlette" (ie fairly solid when
cooked) but more of a runny type of pudding - is this correct??

(I'm planning on playing with it next weekend but am interested in how others
found it)

Mari de Paxford
St Florians

_________________________________________________________________
ORANGE OMELETTE FOR HARLOTS AND RUFFIANS  (MEDIEVAL KITCHEN P185)

6 Eggs
2 Oranges
1 Lemon
2 tbspns sugar
2 tbspns Olive Oil

1.   Juice the oranges and lemon
2.   Beat the eggs, add juice and sugar
3.   Cook Omelette - serve hot

Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 07:08:06 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Orange Omelette - Question re. serving

Susan P Laing wrote:
> So the questions are :
> A)Has anyone made it for an event and if so - how did you manage to get it
> from the kitchen to the food bowls without it going cold

Please understand my experience is with other omelettes, not this one,
but in case it helps anyway...

Get all your ingredients and several well-seasoned pans ready and turn
them out factory-style, with no more than two pans per cook working on
them. You can't turn out a decent omelette without two hands on each
omelette, but you can do the stirring thing in one pan and let it set a
bit while stirring the other.

Another possibility might be to make them like tortillas or frittatas,
scrambling the eggs, let them set just a bit, turning them over, and
putting them in the oven to finish. This would allow a little leeway.

> B) Does it taste alright when cool

Room temp, yes. Chilled, no. (shudder) With the exception of those sushi
omelettes, I suppose.

> & C) - I've heard that it's not precisely an "omlette" (ie fairly solid when
> cooked) but more of a runny type of pudding - is this correct??

The recipe doesn't say, unfortunately. The translation in TMK is pretty
good, I'd say. It calls the dish "fritatem", which isn't real helpful
unless there are amazing revelations in a medieval Latin dictionary. I
think this could be anywhere from a sauced fricassee (it's not
unprecedented to omit all reference to meat in pottage dishes that are,
in some cases, supposed to be meat-in-sauce dishes, like some of the
syrosye-type thingies in England) to a firmly cooked omelette. The best
I can say is that Platina, as I recall, says not to overcook eggs, and
he's _roughly_ contemporary to the cook who wrote this recipe (1470's
C.E. Rome instead of 1430's C.E. Rome). The recipe just says to take
beaten eggs and cook them. It may be a matter of taste.

Adamantius

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 17:40:49 +1000
From: "Susan P Laing" <Susan.P.Laing at mainroads.qld.gov.au>
Subject: SC - Orange Omelette - original recipe

Sic fac fritatem de pomeranciis

Recipe ova percussa, cum pomeranciis ad libitum tuum, et extrahe inde sucum, et
mitte ad illa ova cum zucaro; post reipe oleum olive, vel segimine, et fac
califieri in patella, et mitte illa ova intus.  Et erit pro ruffianis et
leccatricibus

Orange Omelette for Harlots and Ruffians (translated by Redon et al "The
Medieval Kitchen)

How to make an orange omelette - Take eggs and break them, with oranges, as many
as you like; squeeze their juice and add to it the eggs with sugar; then take
olive oil or fat, and heat it in the pan and add the eggs.  This was for
ruffians and braken harlots

Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 12:51:03 GMT
From: "Liam Fisher" <macdairi at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Whipped Cream

>It appears to have been largely true, but not without possible
>exception. While I'm not aware of any truly medieval whipped cream
>usage, I've seen some suspicious cases of egg whites being run through a
>strainer, and I think there's a reference to whites being run through a
>strainer till they're as thick as pap or some such. I could be wrong. It
>is a fact, though, that pumping egg whites through a strainer will
>aerate them as effectively as beating them, if you repeat the process
>enough times.

Different texture, but close.  The beaten ones are stiffer the sieved ones
are ribbony.  I was told about it once so I tried it.  It takes a while too.
In forcing the whites through the strainer they get some aeration, but not
as much as a good beating.

Cadoc

Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 00:05:35 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Egg Yolks

harper at idt.net writes:
<< I know that HG Cariadoc in the Miscellany estimates that medieval eggs
 were about half the size of modern large eggs.  Does the same
 conversion apply to yolks? >>

Small eggs available in any grocery store would be the equivalent in size to
the majority of medieval eggs.

Ras

Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 11:51:42 -0600
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Egg Yolks

At 12:07 AM -0700 11/11/99, Victoria Wilson wrote:
> > I know that HG Cariadoc in the Miscellany estimates that medieval eggs
> > were about half the size of modern large eggs.  Does the same
> > conversion apply to yolks?

As I hope I made clear in the _Miscellany_, that is merely a guess,
nothing more. I don't have the evidence to back it up--and hope
someone else will learn more.

One possibility is to look at paintings, although the ones most
likely to give accurate pictures of such things are probably late
period or post period. Someone, I think Marion of Edwinstowe, looked
at some such and concluded that egg sizes didn't seem that different
from ours, which suggests that I probably overestimated the
difference.

Somewhere out there there has to be a chicken history enthusiast who
could actually answer the question--anyone know where?

David Friedman

Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 23:34:06 EST
From: Elysant at aol.com
Subject: SC - Size of Eggs

>> harper at idt.net writes:
><< I know that HG Cariadoc in the Miscellany estimates that medieval eggs
 were about half the size of modern large eggs.  Does the same
 conversion apply to yolks? >>

Ras then wrote
>Small eggs available in any grocery store would be the equivalent in size to
>the majority of medieval eggs.

I have to share in support of this that usually, when I've used traditional
Welsh recipes (including Welshcakes) that have eggs as an ingredient, if I
don't use medium or small eggs, then the number of eggs called for in the
recipe gives me too much egg quantity for the amounts of the other ingredients in the dish.

If I don't have small eggs at home when I decide to make such a dish, I have
to compensate by whipping up the prescribed number of (larger) eggs I have to
hand and then add just enough beaten egg to give me the consistency I need to
achieve the proper results.

I think this helps confirm that in what appear to be older recipes (even if
Welsh recipes generally can't be documented as "period") the eggs used were
smaller.

Elysant

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 15:08:44 -0500
From: "Hupman, Laurie" <LHupman at kenyon.com>
Subject: SC - Conversations about Eggs (long)

I followed the recent thread about egg size, and the differences between
eggs in period and what's available in the grocery store, and then posed a
question to an apprentice in Indiana who is raising period poultry.  He
provided me with the following information:

> > I really can't give you specific documentation about egg sizes but, 
> > I have been researching and raising antique and period breeds of
> > chickens for 7 years now. I raise Sussex (a 14thcen English breed)
> > which lays a white Medium egg, Light Brahmas (known in period a Polo di
> > Poli) from Venice, they lay a Medium to Large Brown egg, Black Jersey
> > Giants(11th cen. Channel Isle) which is a huge bird and lays a Large
> > white egg.
> > The best bet for an Italian egg is the Light Brahma, known from the
> > 12thcen. on, though it later was reintroduced by English Traders with
> > it's modern name. There is also known in Italy, The Roman (now known as
> > the Roman Dorking, (they lay a Medium egg) it was the first breed of
> > domestic fowl introduced to the British Isles by the Romans. Before this
> > the natives had no domestic
> > fowl!?! It would also be a good bet to look for Arcuna and Palermo
> > birds, but good luck. I've still not found a state side breeder!
> >
> > Generally the Large eggs we now would have been their Extra Jumbo!
> > Standard egg size in most antique breeds remains Medium to Small. I'm
> > not saying that we can't use modern eggs, but we do have to bear the
> > differences in mind. 
> > Bear also in mind that the whites of the egg might also carry a flavor,
> > less than the yolk of course, from the diet of the hens. In late period
> > we were just re-introducing the planned diets of fowls for fattening,
> > but we were not yet planning for egg production and most hens foraged
> > for their feed or were fed a grain and refuse diet, fairly rich in 
> > protein for strong egg production.
> >
> > If you need more info or discuss points let me know, I loave to talk
> > about poultry and my birds!!
and:

Yes, most of that line is holding true to what we can see in the records.
However, we have to note that there were even then exceptions. While we do
not see a recording of our Extra Large and Jumbo eggs, we can see our
standard Large egg as being indeed a LARGE egg. The controversy isn't so
much as the chickens are bigger or larger but that they have been bred to
have ever larger eggs until now in many cases they are out of proportion
with the size of the bird laying them!! BTW, we have shell fragments from
middens and entire eggs from Pompeii, so we do have evidence to bear up
various findings! I think it is fine to use modern eggs and even the extra
large sizes, just bear the extra liquid in mind, and the fact that the
battery eggs DON'T taste the same at all!! Sorry, personal preferance!!
and,

Waitaminnit! You mean that the size difference isn't as, well,
different, as the taste? So what do period eggs taste like? Do the
chickens taste different as well?
 Rose :)

Ja Wohl,Madame the secret is the diet of the
birds and the amount of exercise they get!! like everything else what you
put in is what you get out!! Breeding gives you the egg and body size,
feeding gives you tha tasteand texture. Period and Free-range birds ate a
much more diverse and simplified diet. Those birds who are kept in cages are
fatter and fattier and have a much blander taste than those who eat what hey
choose and run around.Period eggs are richer in color and in taste, having a
slightly gamey taste, much more flesh-tasting, sort of hard to describe
though. If Modern birds are allowed a free-range lifestyle they will produce
a much more natural tasting egg, thoughthe size of said egg will still be a
good deal larger than in period.

So it seems to me that we'd be safe in using small to medium sized eggs to
approximate the appropriate level of liquid in each recipe, but in using
grocery store eggs, we're probably not coming too close to the right flavor.
However, if you wish, Brother Johann will sell both eggs and chickens to
interested parties, and is quite happy to talk "chicken."

Rose :)

Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 17:37:24 -0500
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: SC - More on egg sizes

I'm am very grateful to everyone who offered information, suggestions,
and speculations about egg sizes.  Today, I bought a carton of medium
eggs (I haven't seen any small ones in my local stores), intending to
use them sometime soon to redact some recipe or other.  I also took
someone's advice, and began to look at paintings.  In _The Heritage of
Spanish Cooking_, which is one of those heavily-illustrated coffeetable
cookbooks, I found a painting by Velazquez.  "Old Woman Cooking
Eggs" was painted circa 1618 (19 years after Granado's cookbook was
published).  It clearly shows an egg in the old woman's hand.  I can't be
certain, but as best I can judge the proportions, it's about the same as a
modern medium-sized egg.  There's an image of the painting at:
http://sunsite.auc.dk/cgfa/velazque/p-velazq39.htm

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 13:06:16 -0000
From: nanna at idunn.is (Nanna Rognvaldardottir)
Subject: Re: SC - egg sizes

ÚlfR wrote:
>A quick look revealed
>no indications of egg sizes, but he did find a note that bones from
>chickens from when they first entered Sweden (a couple of centuries BC)
>indicated that they were slightly smaller than moderns dwarf (bantam?)
>chickens.

I´ve been trying out several old cookie recipes over the weekend, all from
cookbooks printed 1906 or earlier, both Icelandic and foreign, and the only
recipe which worked as it was supposed to, without added flour, was a recipe
where you were supposed to weigh the eggs and use as much flour as they
weighed. The other cookies were quite good  too but I had to add as much as
25-30% extra flour or potato flour to be able to roll out the dough or form
it as the recipe said. To me this indicates that the eggs used in these 18th
and 19th century recipes were much smaller than medium sized eggs are these
days.

Nanna

Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 16:15:06 -0500 (EST)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com
Subject: SC - Re: Egg Sizes

Greetings!  Par answered:
>Got a response from my archaeology on the issue.  A quick look revealed
>no indications of egg sizes...

Diego Velazquez did two still lifes with eggs where you can see the approximate
size.  "Old Woman Poaching Eggs" (1610) was mentioned earlier by someone.  The
egg is cradled in the woman's hand and would seem to be about a "large" size,
although it might be as small as a "medium", but no smaller. He also did "Christ
in the House of Martha and Mary" (1618) where the eggs are in a shallow dish.
Martha's hands are not too far away and the egg looks like it would comfortably
fit in her fist, about the same size as in the previous still life.  Again, it
looks more like a "large".

Alys Katharine

Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 11:53:08 -0500
From: Angie Malone <alm4 at cornell.edu>
Subject: SC - Re: SC-Olives, and I've got a new book

Funny you should bring this up.  I just got a new book (new to me, it is a
used book) it is titled:
Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti trans. by Judith Spencer.  It is said
to be a facsimile of I think a 13 or 14th century manuscript.  It takes
about herbs, foods and other things and what they thought they did to you.
From the first perusal I did last night I remember that eggs yolks were
very good for you, and eggs whites especially if you ate them would make
you belch.  They said the best way to cook eggs was to poach them but said
you could also boil them, but recommended what sounded like soft boiled
eggs that hard boiled would also bother you somehow.

<snip of olives info - see olives-msg>

I was going to write to the list today and ask if anyone else had looked
over the book and what they thought about it.  I am, for now, treating it
as a source of information that needs verifying until I can determine it's
accuracy.

        Angeline

Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 22:22:42 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - yet another egg question uses

You can separate the eggs into whites and yolks and freeze them in ice cube trays with the equivalent of one eggs per slot and use them in future cooking also. 

Ras

Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 09:59:05 -0500
From: Kay Loidolt <mmkl at indy.net>
Subject: SC - yet another egg question

> From: Magdalena <magdlena at earthlink.net>
>     I have yet another egg question for y'all.  My SO is
> doing a repeatability study on the use of eggs as
> hydrometers in period brewing.  So far he has discovered
> that store bought eggs don't repeat results for love of god
> or money.  (I told him to use fresh eggs... ;> )  My
> question is:  Will eggs from a commercial setup where the
> chickens are fed all sorts of supplements have a different
> density than eggs from a free-range chicken, assuming that
> both are fresh that day?    Also, if Digby says eggs, is it
> safe to assume chicken eggs?  

Johann, poultrier, responds:

 Yes commercial eggs may vary as much as a 8 hours to 24 hours in age 
per carton. Usually they are within the 1-2 hour range, but by the time 
we get them in the market they are already at least 24 hour old.
 The refrigeration also changes their density, I think?? There is a 
slight change in density between non-fertilized eggs and fertile ones, 
and there 'might' be a 'slight' change between commercial feed and 
natural feed, I don't know, I'll check with the APA.

 If you want to use eggs as a hydrometer use VERY FRESH eggs (within the 
day of laying) You will have to find a home operation and buy directly 
from them. Contact your local Ag.Office or co-op. 

Kiriel?, Do you ever have enough to sell to others?  I do!! I sell about 
2-3 dozen eggs a week now, more in the summer!! I even have a few 
re-enactors as customers!!

   I am keeping a dozen hens and 4 cocks(4 breeding pairs) and my family 
and I can't keep up with even the winter laying.  I gather about 2 dz. 
eggs a week during the winter and expect that to double during the 
spring and summer. I hope to set about 4dz. per breed in the spring
(allowing for a good 60% hatch rate) I should have a goodly flock going 
with period cockerls to slaughter by, June or July. 

Johann, poultrier.

P.S. 
  It is correct to assume Chicken (Gallius,ie.chicken,or pheasant) Eggs 
in Digby unless stated otherwise. Waterfowl eggs were used, but were 
usually called for specifically.

Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 22:44:33 -0800
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - green onions and stuffed eggs questions

hey all from Anne-Marie

Stefan sez:
>I am using Anne-Marie's redaction for one of my dishes this coming weekend.
yum! its always a hit here :)

>> 1. Eggs farced [la Varenne #1 p294]
>> Take sorrell, alone if you will, or with other herbs, wash and swing them,
>> then mince them very small, and put between two dishes with fresh butter,
>> or passe them in the panne; after they are passed, soak and season them;
>> after your farce is sod, take some hard eggs, cut them into halfs, a
>> crosse, or in length, and take out the yolks, and mince them with your
>> farce, and after all is well mixed, stew them over the fire, and put to it
>> a little nutmeg, and serve garnished with the whites of your eggs which you
>> may make brown in the pan with brown butter.

>I have seen some recipes that call for only the white portion of green
>onions. When just the green onions are mention as here, does this mean
>the whole onion, green leaves and white bulb?

I tend to use pretty much just the white part with a bit of the green,
minced fairly finely. I find if I use too much green, its very woody, too
strong in flavor and doesnt work well. la varenne calls them "chibols", so
if you chose, you can use chives. Chives are pretty expensive, so I try to
cut costs by using the cheaper green onions, so I can afford the decent
balsamic vinegar and fresh sorrell.

>The directions say to add the egg yolks and stir until smooth. Mine still
>has little lumps of egg yolk. Is this normal? If not, what should I do next
>time?

It should be very smooth. Use a fork and you'll get all the lumps out.
Someone told me they did this in a food processor with great results, but I
havent tried it myself. yours is fine, lumpy doesnt really affect the taste.

>Anne-Marie, you serve these as stuffed-eggs. the phrase in the original
>message "and serve garnished with the whites of your eggs" makes me think
>more of chopping the whites up and sprinkling them on the yolk mixture.
>Is there a particular reason you chose to do these as stuffed eggs? This
>is what I am planning on doing since it then becomes the finger food I
>am wanting, but I'm curious.

I assume that they're stuffed based on the title in the original manuscript
"Eggs Farced". I would like to see the original french and see if that
phrase "garnished" could be interpreted differently...

>Lastly folks, how would you dice these greens? I mainly used kitchen shears
>to cut them into tiny pieces. I tried to use my chopper jar, but that didn't
>work all that well as it seemed to mush them more than chop them. Lots of
>moisture.

I use my super spiffo 15th century replica knife :). Alternatly a good
chefs knife and a bit of elbow grease. The herbs should be pretty fine. I
tried using a nut grinder, but it didnt work at all :(

>Perhaps the food processor which I will be getting in the near future with
>money my mother gifted me with for this purpose will work for this? I am
>finding the chopping and dicing of vegetables for all these dishes to be
>pretty tedious.

the eggs arent bad since the only thing you need to mince is the herbs. I
put them all together on the cutting board and whack away. Takes seconds
with my good knife. I do it while the eggs are hardboiling.

Another tip...you need to take the egg/herb stuff off the stove when you
add the last of the butter. if the butter is at room temp, you can use it
to make the mixture nice and smooth. Add vinegar to taste, and if its too
thick. Depending on the temp of the stove, etc, sometimes we need to fuss
with it a bit, adding more butter and/or balsamic vinegar to get it to the
right consistency and taste. Should be piquant, with a bit of herby
goodness :). the texture should be soft, but solid enough to pipe.

- --AM

Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 07:48:04 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Quail Eggs- Was Re: SC - Substitute for Lovage

Glenda Robinson wrote:
> (And to answer my own question about the quail eggs - from what I found
> somewhere obscure on the net, you can plunge them straight into boiling
> water for 3 minutes - that's the only one I've found as yet. Hope it works,
> as I scared up 2 doz. of them for a part of a Roman entree - I'll sacrifice
> one as an experiment first!)

3 minutes (maybe 4, depending on how well done you like them) makes a
fair amount of sense, I think. I was taught that for the
plunge-into-boiling-water method, eight minutes makes a perfectly
hard-boiled hen's egg, and it does seem pretty foolproof. I guess you
have to figure, based on diameter, a hair under half that, which is
three minutes. You could try one or two at three minutes and see if you
like them that way.

BTW, I found a demitasse spoon is great for peeling quail's eggs in
quantity. Crack and roll them gently, pull off the part of the shell
where the little air cavity usually is, then you can slip the wet spoon
between the shell and the white. It works with minimal tearing, but
seems somewhat faster than using the hands alone. 

Adamantius

Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 08:51:09 -0500
From: Kay Loidolt <mmkl at indy.net>
Subject: SC - Lovage and Quail Eggs

Johann von Metten writes:
As for quail eggs, you might contact your local poultry association and 
see if there are any breeders in your area, they may be able to help 
you. Also if that fails try free-range pullet or bantam eggs. Both of 
these are going to be quite small, maybe a little larger than quail, but 
not much!! Pullet eggs are the hens first attempt at laying, usually at 
4-5 months old, after that they increase to mature size. Bantam are not 
a breed really, but a size, like toy or minature dogs. They lay eggs 
propotionate to their size and so if they are also free-range, they 
would produce an egg similar to a natural quail. Of course if you take a 
quail and raise them in a battery house with battery feed, you still 
have battery eggs, just a small egg!! 

Johann, poultrier

Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 19:24:29 EST
From: Seton1355 at aol.com
Subject: SC - REC: BAID MASUS

Well this Trimaris thread has had one positive affect on me:  I've started 
looking through my recipes and cookbooks again.
For tonight's supper I made  **Baid Masus** from His Grace's Miscellany.  I 
had never made it before.  It was delicious!  A very straight forward recipe 
and easy to make.  I didn't have any *mastic* however.  (I hope everyone got 
my previous post on mastic - a liquorice flavored sap)  And instead of frying 
up the celery in oil, I used cooking spray.  Now here is the recipe:

Baid Masus
al-Baghdadi p. 202/11 
Take fresh sesame-oil, place in the saucepan, and boil: then put in celery. 
Add a little fine-brayed coriander, cummin and cinnamon, and some mastic; 
then pour in vinegar as required, and colour with a little saffron. When 
thoroughly boiling, break eggs, and drop in whole: when set, remove. 
2 T sesame oil
1/2 lb celery
1/2 T coriander
1 t cumin
1/2 t cinnamon
1/16 t mastic (measured ground)
1 1/2 T vinegar
12 threads saffron
6 eggs 
Trim celery and cut into 1/4" bits. Heat oil. Saute celery in oil over 
moderate heat for 7 minutes, adding spices just after putting in the celery. 
Stir vigorously. Crush saffron into vinegar; pour vinegar into pan with 
celery. Immediately crack in whole eggs and let cook, covered, until egg 
white is set. 
 YIS,
Phillipa Seton

Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 22:58:23 -0600
From: "Morgan Cain" <morgancain at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: SC - It's not just for breakfast......

> > Mustard eggs are a GREAT breakfast!)
> Recipe, please?

Sodde Eggs:  Seethe your Egges almost harde, then peele them and cut them in
quarters, then take a little Butter in a frying panne and melt it a little
browne, then put to it in to the panne, a little Vinegar, Mustarde, Pepper
and Salte, and then put it into a platter upon your Egges.
    [J. Partridge, "The Widowes treasure," London 1585 - Leeds University,
Preston collection P/K1 1585.]

---= Morgan

Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 08:41:55 -0500
From: "Jeff Gedney" <JGedney at dictaphone.com>
Subject: Re: RE: SC - what to do with extra egg yolks

> Another Idea you might consider is Meringe Powder, which is available 
> wherever you buy cake supplies ( it is used for making some Icings )
> It is essentially dehydrated egg whites, keeps forever, and with the 
> addition of a little water reconstitutes perfectly well to make any 
> recipe calling for beaten egg whites.

If you have no cake supply places near you, try this link:
http://www.sweetc.com/ingrednt.htm#m

Note that a one pound can make 90 whites, so you will only need 16 
dollars or so for 152 whites...
That is not much more expensive than whole eggs, and there is no 
mess, broken yolks mixed in, pieces of shell, time spent separating.
Think about it.

brandu

Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 16:22:28 -0500
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: egg yolks and sanity

I was not in on the beginning of this string, but now that I know where it came
from, I offer a couple of suggestions that go beyond using whites in pies and
yolks in sauces.  I have run across a couple of later period recipes that use
hard-boiled eggs in a fashion that, depending on the number of people at your
feast, would use up all that you have.

One comes from Epulario, The Italian Feast, published by Falconwood Press.  It's
called "To dresse and fill Egges".  It is a kind of stuffed egg affair where you
mix up the center as you would for deviled eggs, put the two halves of the egg
together, then fry them and serve with a sauce made of egg yolks, wine, vinegar,
sugar cloves and cinnamon, with a final addition of currants.  It is absolutely
delightful and serves as a protein for vegetarians!

Another is from A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain.  It's Eggs
with Mustard and is simply hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters and served with a
mustard sauce.  It is from the "Tudor Britain" section of the book, and was
found originally in The Widow's Treasure by J. Partridge.  I plan to serve this
as part of an appetizer course at an upcoming Elizabethan feast.

Kiri

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 10:34:59 +0100
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: SC - Re: egg yolks and sanity

You could use them in your bread dough to enrich the bread.  I used up
about 2 quarts of yolks that way for a feast in which we made creme
bastarde with the whites.

Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
cindy at thousandeggs.com

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 11:32:28 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Welcome back, Gunthar! Was, Re: SC - what to do with extra egg yolks

"Michael F. Gunter" wrote:
> Start thinking up a solteltie.  If you can slide the yolks into simmering
> water and hard cook them, could you do a tower of of them?  Like a
> croquembusch?  Not sure that's spelled right.  Serve with one of the
> sauces P. recommends for eggs.

Ooh! Ooh! You reminded me! The Proper Newe Boke of Cookery has a recipe
mentioned frequently in several earlier texts, menus and such, but the
only actual recipe I've seen for Eggs in Moonshine involves poached egg
yolks (whole) served in a rosewater and sugar syrup. It is, as I say,
probably earlier than the 16th-century English source, but by default it
seems a little off-theme for the rest of the yolky feast.
 
Adamantius

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 08:30:15 -0700
From: Ronda Del Boccio <serian at uswest.net>
Subject: Re: SC -  omelette for Ruffians & Harlots

I tried a new recipe yesterday from _The Medieval Kitchen_. It's a recipe titled as above.  It comes out rather creamy,somewhere between the consistency of an omelette andcustard, and is most aromatic while cooking.  Sort of like having eggs and orange juice all at once, and actually quite tasty.   I followed the suggestion of the authors and usedlemon and orange.

Serian

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 09:13:50 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - strained eggs

Seton1355 at aol.com wrote:
> I've been sorting through my recipes.  I note that several recipes talk about
> straining beaten eggs.  Why is this?

It depends on the recipe. Are the eggs to be beaten, or do the recipes
just say to pass them through a strainer?

One obvious reason that comes to mind is that it will remove bits of
shell, chelezae (I _think_ that's what those stringy white shock
absorbers are called), possibly even embryos. Not to mention the odd bit
of feather or feces which could have found its way into the egg bowl via
the outer surface.

Some recipes also _may_ use the technique as a form of aeration. If you
push eggs (especially whites) through a strainer, they accumulate air
bubbles as the egg wraps itself around and through the little holes. Do
it enough times and you'll have an egg foam or sponge. On the other
hand, I'm not aware of any recipes that say to pass the eggs through a
strainer a specific number of times, so this is speculation. I'm just
making an observation, which may or may not be connected to the instruction.
 
As I say, it depends on the recipe.

Adamantius

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 10:12:41 -0700 (MST)
From: "Jamey R. Lathrop" <jlathrop at unm.edu>
Subject: SC - strained eggs

> I've been sorting through my recipes.  I note that several recipes talk about 
> straining beaten eggs.  Why is this?
> Phillipa Seton

I'd often wondered about this too-- then, when looking at some modern
custard recipes in _The All New Joy of Cooking_ for comparison one night,
I came upon this:  

	"Warming the milk speeds the setting of the custard and
	also dissolves the yolks and sugar, thereby liquefying the
	custard and allowing it to be strained, so that the chalazes-- the
	tough bands that anchor the yolks-- can be removed."

Since then, I've seen through experimentation, that even without the added
liquids-- if you put beaten eggs through a strainer, there is some last
little visible slimy bit that won't go through.

Allegra Beati
Outlands

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 13:31:00 EST
From: Mbatmantis at aol.com
Subject: SC - Re: egg straining

  Eggs today are sold in grades. The lower the grade, the lower the clarity 
of the whites. ( the grade is determined by the size and if the white has 
those little stringies in them ) Since they would have no such system in 
period, my guess is the reason is to separate the stringies.

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 14:44:48 -0500
From: "Nicholas Sasso" <njsasso at msplaw.com>
Subject: SC - Re: egg straining

>>  Eggs today are sold in grades. The lower the grade, the lower the 
clarity of the whites. ( the grade is determined by the size and if the white 
has those little stringies in them ) Since they would have no such system 
in period, my guess is the reason is to separate the stringies.<<

What I learned on Good Eats with Alton Brown is that grading is done by 
computer mostly today, and is based on the consistancy of the albumin (the 
whites).  They showed a really cool shot of a man grading eggs be hand by 
spinning the egg and holding it up to a light to see if the yolk keeps 
rolling around or stops fairly quickly.  The longer the yolk sloshes 
around, the less viscous the white, the less fresh and the lower the 
grade. 

The difference in the grades is usually age.  The USDA guy recommended 
that lower grade eggs are quite edible as long as handled safely, but low 
grade eggs may best be used in baking rather than frying since they will 
run all over the place eventually.

niccolo difrancesco

Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 10:41:21 EST
From: Mbatmantis at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Re: egg straining

USDA egg quality is determined by :
the shell (is it clean, unbroken and of normal shape), 
Air cell (generally the smaller the air cell in the egg, the fresher the 
   egg-have you ever heard that you can test the freshness of an egg by 
   floating it in water?  But since the air cell of an egg may be effected by  
   the humidity that the egg is stored in, this isn't an absolute way to judge 
   the age of an egg)
the white (the are judged on the clarity and firmness)
the yolk (looking for  a yolk that is of uniform shape, only slightly 
   defined from the white -indicator of whites quality- and centered in the 
   shell)

The inside is seen by candling- the same process used to determine 
fertilization.

I was wrong about the size determining the grade of the egg; that is it's 
own separate category and is determined by weight.

                      R.

Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 22:14:02 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Bukkenade and those darn eggs

Chris.Adler at westgroup.com writes:
<< Oh, drat. The "thicken with egg yolk" technique. I confess, I cannot get 
 this to work. I end up with broth enlivened with strands of scrambled 
 egg: rather like that soup you get in Chinese restaurants >>

You remove a bit of the hot liquid from the pot, add it to the eggs whisking 
vigorously. You then slowly pour the egg yolks into the main dish stirring it 
in vigorously. Immediately remove from heat and serve.

Ras

Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 19:51:30 -0400
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>
Subject: Re: SC - period egg sizes

Can't answer all of your questions, but I served a wonderful, VERY simple egg
dish at my event this past weekend...Sodde Egges (Eggs in a Mustard Sauce).  And, as I know someone will ask, here is the recipe:

4 eggs
1 oz. Butter
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. vinegar (I used white wine)
pinch of salt
pepper to taste

Boil eggs for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, lightly brown the butter in a saucepan and
allow it to cool a little before quickly stirring in the remaining ingredients.
Peel the eggs, quarter them and arrange them on a warm dish.  Reheat the sauce
and pour it over the eggs immediately before serving.

Kiri

Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 11:09:22 +0100
From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
Subject: Re: SC - period egg sizes

Perry, obviously not having tooooo bad a day, asked:
> And finally, to help keep the topic period, what is everyone's favorite or 
> most successful period dish where eggs are a primary ingredient?

I like this one from Forme of Cury:

Brewet of Ayren  FoC.93  
Take water and butter and seeth hem yfere with safroun and gobettes of
chese; wryng ayren thurgh a straynour. Whan the water hath soden a while,
take thenne the ayren and swyng hem with verious, and cast therto; set it
ouere the fire, and lat it not boile, and serue it forth.

For 4 people:
500 ml/17 fl oz Water  
30 gm/1 oz Butter  
aprx 8 strands Saffron, or to taste 
200 gm/6.4 oz Cheese  (Edam is good)
6 Eggs
Verjuice, or substitute a 1/2&1/2 lemon/water or vinegar/water mix

Redaction: Soak saffron in a tablespoon or so of luke warm water for half an
hour. Cut cheese into 'gobbets' (I suggest 1 inch cubes). Simmer together
water, butter, saffron and chunks of cheese. Put eggs through a strainer,
add the verjuice and then add to the water. Make sure the soup does not boil
or you will have scrambled eggs. You only want to lightly cook the eggs. The
verjuice will bring out the flavour of the cheese, so make certain you add
enough.

This is really easy to make, and always gets rave reviews, especially with
the cheese fanatics...

Al Servizio Vostro, e del Sogno
Lucrezia
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia   |  mka Tina Nevin
Thamesreach Shire, The Isles, Drachenwald | London, UK

Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 19:17:12 EDT
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - period egg sizes

Morses3 at aol.com writes:
<< And finally, to help keep the topic period, what is everyone's favorite or 
 most successful period dish where eggs are a primary ingredient? >>

The one I've been making all my life without knowing it was period:

>From the manuscript Harleian MS. 279, (circa 1430):
xlix. Hanoney. Take an draw ?e Whyte & ?e ?olkys of ?e Eyroun ?orw a 
straynoure; ?an take Oynonys, & schrede hem smal; ?an take fayre Boter or 
grece, & vnne?e kyuer ?e panne ?er-with, an frye ?e Onyonys, & ?an caste ?e 
Eyroun in ?e panne, & breke ?e Eyrouns & ?e Oynonys to-gederys; an ?an lat 
hem frye togederys a litel whyle; ?an take hem vp, an serue forth all 
to-broke to-gederys on a fayre dyssche.

49. Hanoney. Take and draw the White & the yolks of the Eggs through a 
strainer; then take Onions, & shred them small; then take fair Butter or 
grease, & scarcely cover the pan therewith, and fry the Onions, & then cast 
the Eggs in the pan, & break the Eggs & the Onions together; and then let 
them fry together a little while; then take them up, and serve forth all 
broken together on a fair dish.  
(This is Cindy Renfrow's translation to modern English, from Take a Thousand 
Eggs or More.)

Basically, fry onions in a little butter, then pour beaten eggs on top and 
scramble them together.

Brangwayna Morgan

Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 08:16:58 -0400
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Unhistoric things we serve WAS:Shepherds Pie

And it came to pass on 11 May 00,, that Nick Sasso wrote:
> Around 10 recipes for scrambled eggs can be found in _The Neapolitan
> Recipe Collection_ very interesting varieties.
> 
> niccolo

And Granado has recipes for fried eggs (sunny side up or over) and 
poached eggs.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 12:00:38 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Re: European/USA terminology

allilyn at juno.com writes:
<< The Europeans tend to stir things with an over and under motion, rather
 than the American round and round.  This does get confusing when
 translating: German recipes will tell you to stir under, or over and
 under.  Just stir as you normally do. >>

For what its worth, with eggs the act of stirring over and under instead of 
round and round tends to incorporate air into the mixture which makes the 
resulting product lighter and fluffier when cooked.

Ras

Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 08:27:38 -0500
From: "Mary Lawson" <maryl at SaintMail.net>
Subject: SC - Recipe calling for use of pig's bladder

Giant Egg

A German recipe from a Basel manuscript (15th century).
A dish made of 30 to 40 eggs

     For to make a dish of 30 eggs or 40 into one (big) egg, you must 
take two pig's bladders, such that one of them is smaller than the 
other.  Wash them out carefully inside.  Then take the eggs, remove the 
shell, and separate the white from the yolk.  Take the small pig's 
bladder, mix the yolks and put them into the smaller bladder, so that 
the bladder is full.  Tie the bladder up carefully and give it into  a 
pot.  Let boil, until the yolks get firm.  Them put of the bladder from 
the yolks. 

     Take the bigger bladder and cut the little hole in it, so that one 
can put in the big yolk.  Then you must sew up this hole of the bigger 
bladder with the (big) yolk within.  Then you have to mix up the white 
of the eggs.  Take a funnel, put it into the opening hole of the bigger 
bladder and put the white of the eggs upon the yolk within the bigger 
bladder, so that the bigger bladder gets full.  Tie it up, put it into 
the pot and let boil once more.  The white of the eggs will boil around 
the yolk, and there will be one big egg.  You can serve it with a sauce 
of vinegar.

Mary

Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 03:41:27 +0200
From: Thomas Gloning <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: SC - Recipe calling for use of pig's bladder

Mary,
this version of the giant egg recipe -- where ever you have it from --
is an earlier translation I made. A slightly revised version together
with the 15th century German text and a few comments are at:

   http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~gloning/erez-01.htm

Thomas

Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2000 19:16:02 -0400
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: Re: SC - a game for cooks...

And it came to pass on 1 Aug 00,, that Jeff Heilveil wrote:
> Platina (and before him martino) talks of eggs on a spit.  I heard that
> someone tried it and it was messy.

I have not tried this, but in looking at the Platina recipe, I see that he 
say to "pierce the eggs lengthwise with a well-heated spit".  
Presumably the hot metal would coagulate the egg near the holes, so 
that very little would be lost.  I would be inclined to use something thin, 
such as the metal skewers that are used for shish kebab.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 12:16:42 -0400
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: SC - Fresh Eggs

I was just reading through the School of Salerno publication, and came
across this reference to the healthy qualities of fresh eggs.
Christianna

81.
     Eggs newly laid, are nutritive to eat,
     And roasted rare are easy to digest.
     Fresh Gascoigne wine is good to drink with meat,
     Broth strengthens nature above all the rest.
     But broth prepared with flour of finest wheat,
     Well boiled, and full of fat for such are best.
     The Priest's rule is (a Priest's rule should be true):
     Those Eggs are best, are long, and white and new.
     Remember eating new laid Eggs and soft,
     For every Egg you eat you drink as oft.

Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 16:34:09 -0500
From: Kay Loidolt <mmkl at indy.net>
Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #2552

From: Par Leijonhufvud <parlei at algonet.se>
> Just heard that "fresh eggs are unhealty, they need to rest for a week
> or two before you eat them". No trace of this in any books I have looked
> in, anyone here know the truth?

Johann von Metten, poultrier, responds:
 I have been studying poultry, eggs and such for almost 10years, I've 
never heard this before the last year.  In nearly every period 
cookbook I've come across there is the greatest emphasis laid 
on the freshest eggs possible!! The only exceptions are for 
some pickled egg recipes, and some oriental recipes asking for 
embreyonic eggs.
 
Supposedly some NUTS think that fertilized eggs are healthy/immoral/ 
etc... because they might contain embreyos!! Nonsense!! Even in ferile 
eggs, nature has evolved so that an embreyo will not even form unless 
the egg has been held at 100degrees F for 24 to 36 hours. This is what 
gives the hen the ability to lay a large clutch and still have them 
hatch all together.

In my book, Fresh is Best!! From my own birds, the best of all!!

Johann, poultrier

Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 17:03:07 -0500
From: Kay Loidolt <mmkl at indy.net>
Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #2616/ Period Eggs

Johann von Metten writes:
First,I remember trying to answer and address much of this question 
before, and while I am not the all answer guy in regards to this 
question (or anything else aside from my own opinion) I will try again.

EGGS COME FROM CHICKENS
  When discussing eggs we must take the breed of chicken into 
consideration first and then it's age and it's quality of feed!!!

 I raise period breeds(5 kinds, including Jungle Fowl(the original genus 
and species) of chickens and geese(1 breed so far, Old Embdens)
 I feed them period grains and foods in the attempt and aim to produce 
period eggs and flesh. I have tried very hard to research and use such 
period sources as I can find and reproduce. 

I have found that the strains of chickens which have survived to the 
present day are limited, but seem to be reletively pure coming from 
isolated communities where there was not a lot of 'improvement' in their 
breeding. 
 The size of the eggs is directly linked to the size of the chicken that 
laid it, so a small bird lays a small egg, a medium bird a medium egg 
and a large bird a large egg. 

Generally speaking from bone evidence from York and other buried cities, 
such as Pompeii and others, bantam breeds which lay those small 'pee-wee 
eggs, were not extensively developed until the late 1600's in the 
lowlands. Looking at Dorking chicken bones from York and Pompeii, we see 
a bird which is not at all distinguished from the rare bird known today.
So too the Scots Dumpy and the Persian Brahma as well as the Egyptian 
Phayoumis(the smallest of the list) all are known birds from period, all 
are sometimes rare, but exrent breeds today. All lay medium to large 
eggs today and always have.
 Granted, with the modern breeding of such birds as the Modern Leghorn 
and RhodeIslandRed and their crosses, we can have much bigger eggs than 
'normal' in period. That does not mean that they didn't have them, just 
that they were not common.
 
In the past I have used the formula that as Jumbos would have been rare 
I would make the Large, Jumbo, and the Mediums, Large and so forth.
I believe this is still the most realistic way to scale, but would still 
acknowledge that Jumbos are possible from at least 4 breeds in period, 
the Langshans and the Jersey Giants, as well as possibly Turkens and the 
Cochin.

Again, when discussing eggs we must take the breed of chicken into 
consideration first and then it's age and it's quality of feed. 
 
Johann von Metten, medieval poultrier
Sternfeld

Marcus Loidolt
Indpls,IN
317-545-5704

Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 15:51:57 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Omlette question

I don't think the "big sheet" method is particularly workable.  Instead, I
would use a ladle to pour a standard amount of the egg mix onto the griddle,
similar to pouring out pancakes.  Put in whatever filling and fold it over
at the appropriate moment.  You should be able to do twelve at a time on a
six burner food service grill.

Bear

> Anyway, is there a way to do these en masse if you have a food service
> type griddle to work with? Can you do a big 'sheet' on the griddle and
> slice it up into smaller portions? Or no?
>  
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      

Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 13:55:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris Stanifer <jugglethis at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Omlette question

- --- Jenne Heise <jenne at mail.browser.net> wrote:
> The original recipe says (according to _the Medieval Kitchen_):
> Take eggs and break them, with oranges, as many as
> you like. (snip for brevity)
> 
> Anyway, is there a way to do these en masse if you have a food service
> type griddle to work with? Can you do a big 'sheet' on the griddle and
> slice it up into smaller portions? Or no?

Absolutely.  Omellettes can be made in quantity, and
then cut into portions at service time.  Another
advantage is that omellettes hold fairly well on a
steam table (not so well under a heat lamp).  I have
even seen them made on full sheet pans, and finished
entirely in the oven.  

Balthazar of Blackmoor

Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 16:17:17 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Omlette question

I'd still splash them on the grill individually, but the big pan method
would work.  As Balthazar reminded me, it can be baked if necessary like a
fritatta (SIC?).

Bear

> Hm. The only thing I was thinking of was that this recipe  doesn't have a
> filling (neither of the omlettes in _Medieval Kitchen_ do), and it doesn't
> call for folding...
> -- 
> Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      

Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 13:14:06 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #2702/Ducks

Susan Fox-Davis wrote:
> Olwen the Odd wrote:
> > >Johann von Metten writes, medieval poultrier, writes:
> >
> > >It is interesting to note that duck eggs were preferred by many cultures
> > >for plain eating, they are more flavorful. Chicken eggs are blander,
> > >thus making better ingredients than duck eggs. Also ducks are seasonal
> > >layers, who while there are breeds who do produce well, still lay only
> > >during the spring and summer.
> >
> > I must say I agree with Johann here.  Duck and geese eggs are so much richer
> > and better tasteing.  Since I have moved from the country I have had little
> > opportunity to have any lately.  I suppose it's time to visit friends...
> >
> > Olwen
> 
> Duck eggs rock!  The whites have some amazing protein quality greater than those
> of hen's eggs, which will rocket your meringues and angel cakes up to levels
> unknown.  Try it some time!

Mrs. Beeton specifically mentione duck eggs as a resource for better
custards than you can make with hen's eggs.

Adamantius

Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 20:47:33 -0500
From: harper at idt.net
Subject: Re: Thanks and Breakfast question, was Re:SC - What would you do?

As I said before, Granado has a number of egg recipes which might 
be of interest to you.  I do not have reason to think that they were 
served for breakfast in period.  I don't have any of them translated, 
but here's a summary:

soft-boiled eggs

baked eggs (not beaten or scrambled) served with salt, sugar, 
cinnamon, sour orange juice

eggs fried in butter, sunnyside up (or over, if you want them hard), 
served with orange juice and sugar

eggs fried in lard with sprigs of rosemary, served with sugar and 
orange juice (may substitute olive oil for the lard).  Optional 
addition: eyes, such as ox eyes.

Boil eggs until firm.  Put in cold water, then remove shells.  Coat 
eggs with flour, fry them in lard or oil, and serve with sugar and 
orange juice, or with garlic sauce or other sauces.

Layered omlettes.  Make 10 1-egg omlettes, and stack them on a 
plate.  In between each layer, sprinkle: cinnamon, sugar, orange 
juice, raisins cooked in wine, slices of new cheese or grated 
buttery cheese, mint, and marjoram.  Top the stack with melted 
butter, sugar, and rosewater.  When making the omlettes, you can 
beat the eggs with clear water or with the milk of goats or cows.

omelettes with mint, marjoram, pinenuts, and roasted truffles, 
served with sugar, sour orange juice, and cinnamon

eggs scrambled in butter with verjuice, orange juice, and sugar.  
Serve with rosewater and sugar on top.

Salviata: beat eggs with the "juice" of sage and spinach, and strain 
through a cloth.  Add a little salt, sugar, and cinnamon.  Fry it in 
lard.  When half-cooked, add a little verjuice.  Serve hot with sugar 
and cinnamon on top.  You can also cook it like the scrambled egg 
recipe above.

eggs with herbs:  prepare a broth of lard, salt, water, pepper, 
cinnamon, and saffron.  Add chopped spinach, chard, mint, and 
marjoram.  Boil the herbs for a little while, then add beaten eggs, 
grated bread, cheese.  Stir with a spoon, and when the eggs come 
to the surface, they are done.

Brighid, who would rather look up recipes than contemplate the 
18+ inches of white stuff in her very long driveway

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 17:29:46 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: SC - Green eggs and what? (was: Painful food related item)

Back in early December, Brighid wrote:

[most of Dr. Suess parody omitted]

>So if you're a Jewish Dr. Seuss fan,
>But troubled by green eggs and ham.
>Let your friends in on the scoop:
>Green eggs taste best with chicken soup!
>
>- - -
>
>Turning this back to period food, I believe there are some medieval 
>recipes for
>herb omelettes and such that would fit the description of "green eggs".
>
>Brighid

How about:

Green Bruet of Eggs and Cheese
Menagier p. M-22

Take parsley and a little cheese and sage and a very small amount of 
saffron, moistened bread, and mix with water left from cooking peas, 
or stock, grind and strain: And have ground ginger mixed with wine, 
and put on to boil; then add cheese and eggs poached in water, and 
let it be a bright green. Item, some do not add bread, but instead of 
bread use bacon.

3 T parsley
1/2 oz cheese, grated
3 small leaves fresh sage
5 threads saffron
2 thin slices = 1.5 oz white bread
2 c pea stock or dilute chicken stock
1/8 t ginger
1 T white wine
1 3/4 oz cheese, grated
3 eggs

Soak bread in stock (either water left from cooking peas or 1/2 c 
canned chicken broth + 1 1/2 c water). Grind parsley, sage, and 
saffron in a mortar thoroughly; add 1/2 oz cheese and soaked bread 
and grind together. Strain through a strainer; if necessary, put back 
in mortar what didn't go through, grind again, and strain again. Mix 
wine and ginger, add to mixture, and bring to a boil over moderate 
heat; be careful that it does not stick to the bottom. Stir in the 
rest of the cheese; break eggs into soup, and continue to simmer 
until eggs are poached.
- -----------
It's really quite good, but it looks a bit odd: poached eggs in a 
thick green soup.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2001 07:20:28 -0800
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: medieval foods as breakfast was Re: SC - Sawgeat

hey all from Anne-Marie

on medieval foods that modern people would see as breakfast....
dont forget pain perdue (french toast). There's a french version in Taillevent
as well as a version in Apicius.
also, we're all paritial to one of the many sweet rice glops in the morning
(mmm...stir in dried fruit....)

Finally, one of my households favorites.....herbolade. you can do it over a
fire if you layer the greens in the cast iron, let them wilt, then put in the
eggs. Let cook until almost set then add the cheese on top, put on the lid and
take it off the fire to finish setting the eggs and melt the cheese.

all rights reserved, no publication without permission, etc etc etc :)

enjoy!
- --AM

Herbolade:
One Herbolace Or Two of Eggs (Menagier a Paris)
Take of dittany two leaves only, and of rue less than the half or naught, for
know that it is strong and bitter; of smallage, tansey, mint, and sage, of each
some four leaves or less, for each is strong; marjoram a little more, fennel
more, parsley more still, but of porray, beets, violet leaves, spinach,
lettuces and clary, as much of the one as of the others, until you have two
large handfuls.  Pick them over and wash them in cold water, then dry them of
all the water, and bray two heads of ginger, then put your
herbs into the mortar two or three times and bray them with the ginger. And 
then have sixteen eggs well beaten together, yolks and whites, and bray and mix
them in the mortar with the things abovesaid, then divide it in two and make
two thick omelettes, which you shall fry as followeth.  First you shall heat
your frying pan very well with oil, butter or such other fat as you will, and
when it is very hot all over and especially towards the handle, mingle and
spread your eggs over the pan and turn them often over and over with a flat
palette, then cast good grated cheese on the top, and know that it is so done,
because if you grate cheese with the herbs and eggs, when you come to fry your
omelette, the cheese at the bottom will stick to the pan, and thus it befals
with an egg omelette if you mix the eggs with the cheese.  Wherefore you should
first put the eggs in the pan, and put the cheese on the top, and then cover
the edges with eggs, and otherwise it will cling to the pan.  And when your
herbs be cooked in the pan, cut your herbolace into a round or square and eat
it not too hot nor too cold.

Erbolat (Forme of Curye)
Take persel, myntes, saverey and sauge, tansey, verveyn, clarry, rewe, ditayn,
fenel, southrenwode; hewe hem and grince hem slale. Medle hem up with aryen. Do
buttur in a trap, and do the fars therto, and bake it and messe forth.

Our version:
1 lb bag irradiated, mixed interesting salad greens (spinach, arugula, etc)
minced fresh parsley, sage, savory, marjoram, a touch of mint, fennel, or
whatever fresh herbs you can find. About one handfuls worth when its all in a
pile (go easy on the mint).
1 small slice fresh ginger
2 T butter or olive oil
16 eggs, beaten 
2 cups shredded cheese 
optional modern addition: a bit of minced garlic or onion

In a large bowl, pound the ginger till the juice gets out. Fish out the stringy
bits if desired. Add the greens  and herbs and pound until slightly wilted. 
Melt the butter in a large deep pot with the garlic if you wished it. Add the
greens, then the beaten eggs. Stir till blended. When the eggs are about set,
add the cheese. Donít stir, but cover and let cook until the cheese is
melted. 
Serves 8.

Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 15:56:48 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Sawgeat

A while back, Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Could you please post the sawgeat recipe? This sounds good. I already
> know I like migas, which are similar but include some other stuff.

and Adamantius replied:

>From The Forme of Cury...
>
>169. SAWGEAT. Take sawge; grynde it and temper it vp with ayren. Take a
>sausege & kerf hym to gobetes, and cast it in a possynet, and do
>(th)erwi(th) grece and frye it. Whan it is fryed ynow(gh), cast (th)erto
>sawge with ayren; make it not to harde. Cast (th)erto powdour douce &
>messe it forth. If it be in ymbre day, take sauge, buttur, & ayren, and
>lat it stonde wel by (th)e sauge, & serue it forth.

and here is how we do it:

3 t fresh sage
4 eggs
1/2 lb mild pork sausage
1 1/2 T butter ("grease": could also use lard)
1/2 t powder douce

Chop sage and grind it. Mix egg and sage. Cut up sausage and cook it 
medium slow in the butter until done. Add the egg mixture and stir it 
slightly. Then let it set up until it is reasonably solid, flip it in 
sections, turn off the heat. Sprinkle on the poudre douce (which was 
mixed up as 4 sugar: 2 cinnamon: 1 ginger). We have also tried it 
using 2 t sage, 1T butter; also good, especially for those not very 
fond of sage (who shouldn't be eating this dish anyway).

Elizabeth/Betty Cook

Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 11:49:38 +0200
From: Volker Bach <bachv at paganet.de>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A question about eggs

Sarah Fiedler schrieb:
> A friend and I were discussing a possible arts exhibition entry in a food
> category and the topic turned to the color of natural eggs.  Does anyone
> know what makes a hen lay a brown egg vs. a white egg (or vice versa)?

The color of eggs is determined by the breed of
the chicken. AFAIK the 'original' wild chicken
breed laid brown-speckled eggs, but that's an
assertion I could not back up with quotations,
just some factiod I recall from my archeology
classes. White eggs used to be more popular for a
long time, but it seems these days the belief has
taken ground that brown eggs are healthier.

> Are white eggs "less period" than brown eggs?

Illustrations in various sources depict eggs as
'white' (often enough as in 'not colored', see the
Sachsenspiegel manuscripts among others). I also
recall at least one reference in Latin poetry
(don't recall where exactly) to eggs as 'white'.
So I guess white eggs would be period, though
perhaps (in fact, probably, given the massive
impact scientific breeding has had on all kinds of
animals in the 19th) not as brilliantly white as
much of what we see today. A local museum trying
to reconstruct 17th century farming (not period,
but closer than modern supermarkets) has
off-white, cream colored and slightly speckled
eggs, but that may well reflect the expectations
of visitors rather than a period selection of
breed.

Giano

Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 09:47:11 -0400
From: "Philip W. Troy & Susan Troy" <troy at asan.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] coddling an egg

Marion MacGregor wrote:
> What does the term "to
> coddle an egg" truly mean and what is the importance of it
> in cooking?  BTW this is from a recipe to make a dressing
> for a salad

Coddled egg yolks appear frequently in connection with Caesar Salad
recipes. Coddling usually means a very gentle poaching, or sometimes a
very gentle cooking in a device or pan which suspends the egg over
nearly boiling water -- kinda like a double boiler with indentations in
the bottom for holding individual eggs.

Your friend can just as easily soft-boil an egg and use the yolk, to get
a similar effect, unless for some reason the recipe calls for the white,
too. Basically, the idea is that the warmed, but not fully-cooked, egg
yolk is used to emulsify the salad dressing, just as you might warm egg
yolks while beating them for something like hollandaise sauce.

Adamantius

Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 18:41:18 -0500
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sodde Egges

There's another one, I think, in the English version of Maestro Martino's
recipes, "Epulario".  I did it for a feast several years ago...It isn't
Sodde Egges, but a little different...and VERY tasty:

Recipe By Epulario, or The Italian Banquet,1568
Servings  104
Categories Eggs

8 2/3   dozen Eggs
2 1/4   pounds Currants
3 1/4   tablespoons Parsley
3 1/4   tablespoons Marjoram
3 1/4   tablespoons Mint
2 1/8   tablespoons salt
1 1/8   tablespoons pepper
 3/4   teaspoon Saffron
2 1/2   quarts white wine
1 5/8   cups white wine vinegar
 3/8   cup sugar
 1/2   cup Cinnamon
 1/4   cup cloves

1. Hardboil eggs, peel them and cut them in half lengthwise.
2. Remove the yolks, reserving 26 yolks.
3. Mix the yolks with half the currants, parsley, marjoram, mint, salt and
pepper.
4. Chop 26 of the whites very finely and blend with yolk mixture.
5. Add saffron and blend.
6. Stuff the mixture back into the remaining egg whites and fry in olive oil
until lightly browned.

Sauce:
1. Blend remaining egg yolks, wine and vinegar together, and place in a pan.
2. Add sugar, cloves, and cinnamon and bring to a low boil. Add a little
water if it gets too thick.
3. Add remaining currants and serve over eggs.

Original:

Seeth new Egs in water untill they be hard, then peele them and cut them in the middle, and take out the yolks, and doe not breake the white, and stampe some part of those yolks with a few Currans, Parsely, Margerum and Mint, chopped very small, with two or three whites of Egs, with what spice you thinke good. And when they are mixed together colour it with Saffron, and fill the Egges therewish, and frie them in oyle; and with a few of those yolkes which remain unstamped with a few Currans, and stampe them well together, and thereto Sugar, Cloues, and good store of Sinamon, let this sauce boyle a little, and when you will send the Egges to the Table, put this sauce upon them.

Sorry...the expanded version for the feast is the only version I have at the
moment, but thought you might enjoy seeing it, even in this state!

Kiri

From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
To: "SCA-Cooks (E-mail)" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 10:22:23 -0000
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Imaginary list

>Maybe we should think about the things we ought to have more of...
>More egg dishes that aren't custard... <snip>
>oil-poached eggs on toast with an oniony mustard
>sauce made from the frying oil. And the list goes
>on and on.

Three years ago I did the Stuffed Eggs recipe from Liber de Couina,
basically hardboiled eggs stuffed with cheese, spices, yolk and fried. They
were immensely popular and none of them survived to make it back to the
kitchen. Here's the recipe:

stuffed_eggs Stuffed Eggs - Liber de Couina  (Medieval Kitchen #118)
Eggs: to prepare for stuffing. To make stuffed eggs, cut each one in half
when it has been well cooked and [is] thus hard. Then remove the yolk and
take marjoram, saffron, and cloves and mix with the yolks of those eggs; and
mash it thoroughly, adding a little cheese. For each eight eggs, add one raw
egg. This done, fill the egg whites with this mixture. And fry in good pork
fat, and eat with verjuice.

Lucrezia

From: "Phlip" <phlip at 99main.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Serving Hard Cooked Eggs
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 17:55:04 -0400

> Second Question:
> If i make hard cooked eggs, would it be terrible to serve them in the
> shell and make the diners shell them? Or should we shell them before
> serving?
>
> Anahita

Well, if the first is true, then it would follow that you have a choice  as to whether to serve the eggs shell on or off. I would tend to want to  serve them shell-less, simply because in period, as a general rule, you  indicated your wealth and power by having servants available to do such "menial" chores. However, I'm also aware, that in the mania which accompanies a  bunch of amateurs attempting to feed a couple hundred of their closest friends ;-), that time might be at a premium- shelling eggs is not something  you can speed up with your food processor ;-)

Whichever you choose to do, serve them shelled or whole, you will be  best off to carefully cook them so that they're easier to shell. It's a  fairly simple process. Try to start with eggs that are a couple of days old-  once some of the internal moisture has evaporated, they come loose more  easily, although you don't want them so old that they have dents in them when they're boiled. Place the eggs (gently) in a large pot or pan filled  with lightly salted water, preferably at the same temperature as the eggs  (both of which are best starting out at room temperature, but that's not  always possible.) Bring them gently to a good simmer, and start your timing  when they reach it. At the end of your time, drain all of the water off, and replace it with cold water, running it from the tap, if possible.  Putting the eggs into an icewater bath is good, too- whatever you can do to get  them as cold as possible, as fast as possible.

This method has two benefits. First, the shock of the cold water  inclines the "flesh" of the whites to shrink away from the shell, making the egg easier to peel. Secondly, the method helps reduce the amount the yolk  turns grey, particularly if you're using a stainless steel pot.

If you do shell them, you can maintain them nicely in a pot of ice 
water.
Not only does the water reduce their weight (boyancy) so the ones on the
bottom are less likely to be crushed, but the cold water will help keep
their "just-cooked" flavor, even if you have to serve them hours, or 
even a day after you cook them.

Phlip

Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 21:56:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] adventures in doing things with Spanish food
	preparation sources
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

So, tonight I tried 2 dishes that I want on my feast: stuffed eggs and  
The dish of chard and onions

_______________________________

The Making of Stuffed Eggs (al-Andalus)

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.

What I did:
Hardboiled 5 eggs
Peeled and split them in half
Removed the yolks
Took a small handful of cilantro and half a small onion, and ran it
through the food processor. Also added some oil.
Added the egg yolks and processed until thick.
Added coriander, pepper, oil, salt and soy sauce (as a substitute for
murri) and kneaded together.
took the resulting greeny-yellowy stuff and stuffed the egg whites, then
stuck them back together.

(Quantities: dash coriander, dash soy sauce, sprinkle pepper, 1/4 tsp
salt, about a teaspoon olive oil)

So, what did they taste like? Stuffed eggs. Ok, stuffed eggs with
cilantro.

They were good.

However, I would use more pepper next time, and less oil, and grind the
cilantro in a mortar and pestle, and grind up more onion so I could just
use the juice.

This is a good recipe and will make the feast.

________________________________________
The other was the Jewish dish of chard and onions cited in _A Drizzle of
Honey_

<snip – See vegetables-msg>

-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net

Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 11:35:02 -0400
From: "Generys ferch Ednuyed" <generys at blazemail.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] adventures in doing things with Spanish food
	preparation sources
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

<snip recipe>
>>>>>>
So, what did they taste like? Stuffed eggs. Ok, stuffed eggs with
cilantro.

They were good.

However, I would use more pepper next time, and less oil, and grind the
cilantro in a mortar and pestle, and grind up more onion so I could just
use the juice.

This is a good recipe and will make the feast.
<<<<<<

Having made this recipe both ways, I highly recommend making a batch of the
"fake murri" in the Miscellany and use that instead of the soy sauce -  it's
a *really* interesting, hard to describe flavor, that people REALLY liked
when I served it at feast.

Generys

Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 18:46:56 -0500
From: Daniel Myers <edouard at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Good recipes for fresh eggs?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

On Tuesday, January 6, 2004, at 06:37  PM, Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote:
> Friends of mine have been sent home with a multitude of fresh (laid this
> week) brown eggs - 30 egg flats worth!  Any suggestions on period 
> things best done
> with fresh eggs, that I could take to a potluck on Saturday?

If you also have apples you could make Riquemanger (Yum - even my kids 
like it!)
[ http://www.medievalcookery.com/recipes/riquemanger.html ]

- Doc
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.medievalcookery.com/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 17:07:19 -0700
From: "caointiarn" <caointiarn1 at juno.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Got Recipes? was eggs?
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> Friends of mine have been sent home with a multitude of fresh (laid this
week) brown eggs - 30 egg flats worth!  Any suggestions on period things
best done  with fresh eggs, that I could take to a potluck on Saturday?
>
> Brangwayna

    Oooh!  That recipe of scrambled eggs/omelet with orange juice for
harlots & ruffians
and since we're on the subject of asking for ideas:  something to do with
Portobello mushrooms?   Any ideas for a marinade/  blended oil basting
thingy?    **I**   think butter & sauting, or broiling with olive oil, thyme
& minced garlic is enough, but a co-worker has many, or wants more ideas.

    Caointiarn

Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 11:10:49 -0600 (CST)
From: "Pixel, Goddess and Queen" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Good recipes for fresh eggs?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

If you're wanting eggy things, how about some variety of custard? Digby's
cheesecakes? Darioles? Is it an SCA or a mundane potluck?

Margaret

On Tue, 6 Jan 2004 Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote:

> Friends of mine have been sent home with a multitude of fresh (laid this
> week) brown eggs - 30 egg flats worth!  Any suggestions on period things best done
> with fresh eggs, that I could take to a potluck on Saturday?
>
> Brangwayna

Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 00:34:20 -0500
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Good recipes for fresh eggs?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

On 7 Jan 2004, at 19:41, Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamant wrote:
> Brighid, is there anything like a tortilla di 
> papas/tortilla espanola in Granado?
> 
> Adamantius

No.  There are tortillas with such ingredients as bacon, cheese, onions, and 
truffles, but none with potatoes.  The only potato recipes in Granado are for 
preserves (and these are probably sweet potatoes).

The 1758 "Nuevo Arte de Cozina" has a recipe for an omelette made with 
"calabaza" (some kind of pumpkin or squash), onion, tomato, and parsley.  
The only other omelette recipe it contains is made with fish.  The recipe 
specifies that the the fish should be cut up, just as if one were making an 
omelette with bacon.  There is no recipe given in that cookbook for a bacon 
omelette.

It may be hard to document when the potato omelette first showed up, 
because omelettes are such simple simple dishes, and variations are easy 
to devise.

Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net

Date: 19 May 2004 08:22:49 -0000
From: "Volker Bach" <bachv at paganet.de>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Meringues?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

On Tue, 18 May 2004 12:43:49 -0700 (PDT), Huette von Ahrens
<ahrenshav at yahoo.com> wrote :
> According to the Oxford Companion to Food,
> "It sees to have been only in the 16th century
> that European cooks discovered that beating egg
> whites, e.g. with a whisk of birch twigs (in the
> absence of any better implement), produced an
> attractive foam.

I would dispute that statement, though 'rediscovered' might apply.  Anthimus
'de observation ciborum', entry 34, describes a dish called 'afrutum',
apparently of greek origin or at least connections. he clearly states that
egg whites albumen de ovo) should be used to make it 'foamy' (quomodo
spuma) and that the result should be piled up in a dsh. THe dish looks
like a souffle, and I'd read it as clearly using beaten egg whites.

Giano

Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 13:12:59 -0400
From: "Sharon Gordon" <gordonse at one.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Is it an Egg or a Goose
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

In Iasmin's wonderful description of the siege cookery dishes, I noticed
that they broke the goose eggs to check for embryo development.

If you want to know if an egg is still an egg without breaking the shell,
you can hold it up to a light, called candling it.  Here's a website that
shows some of the different things you might see.
http://www.homestead.com/shilala/candling.html

Sharon

Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 11:51:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Marcus Loidolt <mjloidolt at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Candling Eggs
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Pliny the Elder and Columella both speak of candling
eggs to determine whether there was life inside.
As to the middle ages, I haven't gotten much in docs
for the later periods.
I use a candle on my setting eggs on the thirteenth
day and the eighteenth days on chicken eggs. I include
the twenty-fifth day for geese.

Johann

Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 13:21:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: R J <chaingangorg at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cibreo (about the eggs)
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

I have used "whole chooks", which come with "all the
goodies" in the past, and wanted to talk about the
eggs.

  Unlain eggs are most similar to the half-cooked yolk
of a small egg.  ( hard boil or poach an egg til half
done, separate whites and make a garnish for
something,  use yolk )
  Quail eggs are a functional substitute, they are
petite and rich.

  There are usually 4 or 5 egglets in a chicken when it
comes to the cook, so a half dozen bantams or three
large eggyolks would likely work.

  The eggslets are present in old hens which have
recently stopped laying, usually within the previous
few days, thus the bounty in a "spent" bird.

  My mom loves to make her chicken liver with the
egglets, she said it was the best ever.
  She would fry an onion in the fat, and mash pretty
much everything useful from inside the chicken into
the onion, then fry and eat. Not heart healthy,
but....

AEsa

.............
.............

> Ingredients
> Coarse-grained salt
> 1/12 pound chicken breasts
> 1/12 pound wattles
> 1/12 pound unlaid eggs
> 1/2 small red onion, cleaned
> 5 or 6 sprigs Italian parsley, leaves only
> 3 tablespoons (1-1/2 ounces) sweet butter
> 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
> 3/4 pound chicken livers (including some cut up veal
> kidneys, optional)
> 1 cup dry white wine
> 1/2 cup meat or chicken broth, preferably homemade
> 1 extra-large egg yolk
>  Salt
>  Freshly ground black pepper to taste
>
> Preparation
>
> Heat 2 cups of salted water in a saucepan. When the
> water reaches the boiling point, put in the crests
> and wattles (setting aside the unlaid eggs) and cook
> them for about 5 minutes. Drain the crests and
> wattles and cool them under running water.
>
> Chop the onion and parsley finely.
>
> Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and
> when it is hot, mix in the flour with wooden spoon
> and sauté for 1 minute. Then add chopped onion and
> parsley and sauté, stirring constantly for 3 or 4
> minutes more. Add the whole chicken livers and the
> boiled crests and wattles, and then, after 3 or 4
> minutes, the wine. Lower the heat and allow the wine
> to evaporate very slowly (about 5 or 6 minutes).
>
> While the wine is evaporating, heat the broth in a
> second saucepan. When lukewarm (and no warmer),
> remove the broth from the flame and mix in the egg
> yolk.
>
> When the wine has evaporated, taste for salt and
> pepper. Add the broth with the egg yolk and the
> unlaid eggs and stir very well. Let simmer for 2 to
> 3 minutes more, until the chicken livers, crests,
> and wattles are soft.
>
> Remove the saucepan from the flame and serve very
> hot.
>
> Note: The sauce is used both for fresh pasta
> (tagliatelle con cibreo, ) or for a main dish
> (ciambella con cibreo, ).
=====
Thanks,
     RJ

Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:12:50 +0200
From: Volker Bach <carlton_bach at yahoo.de>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] An embarrassment of riches...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Meister Eberhard

Wiltu machen ein meyschen kuchenn.
So nym auff zehen eyer vnd zuslach sie wol vnd
nym darzu peterlein vnd rurr es vndereinander
vnd nym einen morserr vnd secz auff ein kolenn
vnd thue dar ein einen löffel vol schmalcz
vnd laß es heyß werdenn vnd geuß die eyerr darein
vnd laß es kul pachen vnd thu es also gancz
auff ein schussel. Versalcz es nit.

If you want to make a May cake.
Take ten eggs and beat them well. Add parsley and stir it in, then take a
mortar and place it on the coals and put into it a spoonful of lard and let
it get hot. Pour in the egg and let it bake at a gentle heat, then turn it
out onto a bowl in one piece. Do not oversalt it.

Redaction:

10-12 eggs
1 small bunch fresh parsley (or 3 tsp dried)
1 tsp lard or butter
salt and pepper to taste

Place lard in a metal or ceramic bowl. Put into in an oven heated to c. 150°C
(350°F) until the lard has melted and the bowl is hot. Meanwehile, beat the
eggs with the parsley. When the bowl is ready, open the oven door and our the
egg batter into the hot bowl quickly. Return to the oven immediately and bake
20-35 minutes (test doneness by inserting a stick or knifeblade).  Remove from
oven, cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and turn out onto a plate.  Serve
sliced for breakfast.

This is also a good way of providing pseudo-scrambled eggs for more people
than you have pans or time to make.

Item wiltu machen ein essen in dem meyen, das
heyßt ein gespöt.
So nym einen fliessendenn keß vnd schneid den
in vil schnittenn, die dünn sein, vnd nym darzu
sechs eyer vnd slach die auff den keß vnd nym
meichßige putternn in ein pfannen vnd thue den
keß mit den eyernn vber das fewrr vnd zeuch es
ey dar mit auff, das es slecht werr, vnd richte
es an vnd versalcz es nicht.

If you want to make a dish in May that is called /gespöt/
Take flowing cheese and cut it into many thin slices, and take six eggs and
break them over the cheese. Melt May butter in a pan and place the cheese
with the eggs over the fire and cook it gently so that it is smooth, and
serve it forth and do not oversalt it.

Wiltu machen gut kuchenn vonn eyerrn.
So nym eyer, wie vil du wilt, vnd zu slach die
wol vnd schneid semel funf lot dar vnter vnd
thue dar ein weinperr vnd schmalcz in ein pfannen,
des genug sej, vnd geuß die eyer dar ein
vnd laß es packenn ynnenn vnd aussenn. Do mit
slach es auff ein panck vnd hack dar vnter gut
wurcz vnd schneid es zu scheubenn vnd richt es
an.

If you want to make a good cake out of eggs.
Take eggs, as many as you want, beat them well and cut into it five / lot/ [a
unit of weight differing widely by region] of fine white bread. Put raisins
into the batter. Heat lard in a pan, so that it is enough, and pour the egg
into that and let it bake inside and out. With that lay it on a board and
chop some spices onto it, cut it into slices and serve it.

Redaction:

2-3 eggs
4-6 slices fresh white bread or toast
2-3 tblsp raisins or currants
butter
sugar, cinnamon and orther spices to taste

Beat the eggs. Remove the crust from the bread and grind or process it into
fine breadcrumbs. Stir into the egg batter until it is thick. Add the
raisins. Pour the batter into a hot buttered pan and fry until done (do not
stir). Turn the thick flan out onto a plate or board and sprinkle it with
sugar and spices to taste while hot. Serve sliced.

Königsberg MS

[[10]] Willthu weiß machen gebrottenn Huner:
so nym das weiß von Eirenn und ein wenig Melles darunter und darmitt
solst dus begissenn und thus dornoch wider zu dem Feuere.

If you want to make roast chickens white
Mix egg whites and a little flour and pour it over the chickens, then place
them back by the fire.

[[11]] Zu grunnen Hünerenn:
nim Petterlein, den stos dann inn einem Morsser und ein wennig
Mells und Eyr und bedreff die Huner damitt und legs
denn wider zu dem Feir.

To make chickens green
Take parsley, pound it in a mortar, add eggs and a little flour and drip it on
the chicken, then place them back by the fire

[[12]] Zu swarczenn Huner:
nim Leckcochenn und bron denn (bis) er swarz wer, alls ein Pfefferbrott
und stoß dem clein in einem Morsser und schlag Eir darein und
dreib eß mytt durch ein Thuch und begeuß die Hiner damütt und wan
sie gebrotten sein so soll man sie spickenn mitt Neglenn.

To make black chickens
Take gingerbread (/Lebkuchen/, a German variant) and brown it until it is
black as /Pfefferbrot/, grind it finely in a mortar and add eggs.  Pass it through a cloth and pour it over the chickens. When they are roasted  
they should be cloven (have cloves stuck in them).

[[13]] Wilthu machen Kungßhuner:
so nim gebrottenn Huner und hacke die zu cleime Stücklenn und nim
frisch Eir und misch die mitt gestossem Imgber, geweß daß
in einem veißenn Morsser, der heiß sey, und thu darzu Saffrann und
salcz ein wenig un(d) thuu eß zu dem Fewer und loß sie backenn.

If you want to make /Kungßhuner/
Take fried chickens and chop them finely. Take fresh eggs and mix them with
ground ginger. Pour this into a white mortar that must be hot and add a
little saffron and salt. Place it by the fire and let it bake.

Redaction:

450 grammes cooked chicken
4-6 eggs
ginger, saffron, salt
lard or butter

Cut or tear the chicken into small pieces. Beat the eggs. Add salt, ginger,
and a small pinch of saffron. Place an ovenproof bowl in the oven and heat to
175°C (c. 375°F). Place a small piece of lard or butter in it and let it
melt. Spoon the chicken pieces into the bowl, push down with a spoon, then
pour the egg batter over it. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the egg has
solidified. Serve not or cold.
(This goes better with something added to freshen the taste, like chopped
spring onions. Alternatively, serve it along with pickled gherkins or
cucumbers. It doesn't feel as heavy as it is and makes a decent  
summer lunch)

[20]] Wylthu machen gudtt Morsserkuchenn:
so schneidt Semell gewurfflett und kloppff Eyr clein und thu die Semell
dar unter und schneidt dar unter Musckatt oder Musckattblüde und
mach es gell und schneidt dar under geprottenn Huner ader magst nemen
Lebern und Meglen und Ffusslenn und setz es uff ein Glutt und geuß
dan die Ffull dorein und loß es packenn und gibß hin.

If you want to make a good mortar cake
Cut white bread into dice, break eggs into pieces and put the bread into it.
Cut nutmeg and mace into it and make it yellow (with saffron). Cut fried
chicken into it, though you may also use livers or stomachs or feet.  Place it
on the embers, pour the filling into it, let it bake and serve it forth.

Redaction:

200 grammes cooked chicken, torn
300 grammes white bread, cubed
4 eggs
salt, nutmeg, mace
lard or butter

Mix the cubed bread and chicken pieces in a bowl. Beat the eggs together and
pour over it. Toss. Salt and season with nutmeg and mace to taste.  Place an
ovenproof bowl in the 180°C (375°F) oven with a a spoonful of lard or butter
in it. When it is hot, fill the mixture into it. Bake at 180°C for 30-45
minutes (egg must have become solid throughout). It is a good way of getting
rid of leftover chicken and makes a delicious, though high-caloric and rich,
winter meal. To modernise the taste, add chopped spring onions, parsley, and
a dash of lemon juice.

[[21]] Wilthu machenn Morsserkochenn:
so reib Semel clein und schlag Eyer doruntter und mach es gell und
wurtz es woll und schneid Musckatten clein dorunder ader Mußkattenblude
und thu ein Smalcz in einenn Morsser und secz in uff ein Gludt
und geuß eß darein und wen es gebeckett, so schneidts zu Scheiben.

If you want to make mortar cake
Grind white bread finely, beat eggs into it, make it yellow (with saffron),
season it well and cut nutmeg and mace into it. Put lard in a mortar, put it
in the embers and pour it in there. When it is baked, cut it in slices.

Redaction:

300 grammes white bread
3-5 eggs
mace, nutmeg, salt, saffron
lard or butter

Process the bread in a food processor or blender until you have fine crumbs.
Add the eggs, one by one, until a thick paste results. Season with salt,
nutmeg, mace, and saffron. Place an ovenproof bowl in the oven and heat to
175° C (c 375°F). Place a small piece of lard or butter in it and let it
melt. Pour the paste into the bowl, smooth the top and bake for 45-60
minutes. Serve hot. It tastes not unlike corn bread, but gets thick and heavy
when cold.

Inntal MS

Ain gemachcz awtter gepraten von milich,
wie man das beraitten sol
Nim milich vnd aier geleich vnd klopfs vasst
vnder einander vnd tue saffran daran vnd
tues in ein hafen vnd stoss in ein syedentz
wasser in ainem kessel, also das das wasser
nit in das häferl gee, vnd lass dar inn sieden
vncz das es gestok. Darnach schüt es auf
ein weiss tuch vnd wintt es vmb in dem tuch
und swär es nider, das das wasser dauon seich,
so wirt es herrt als ein chäs. Darnach zersneids
als ein awtter vns stoss an einen spis vnd
prats auf ainem rost. Tue gewurtz daran vnd
begewss mit smalcz vnd gibs ze essen.

A made (ie artificial) fried udder out of milk, how to make it

Take equal amounts of milk and eggs, beat it vigorously toghether and add
saffron. Pour into a pot and plunge that into boiling water in another
kettle, taking care not to let the water enter the pot. Let it boil until it
sets. Then turn out onto a white cloth, wind tzhe cloth around it and press
it, so that the water comes out and it becomes hard as cheese. Then cut it
into udder-shape, spit it and fry it on a griddle. Add spices and baste it
with lard, and serve it.

Zu chrumpen krapfen als ross eisen
Reib guten chäs vnd nim darczu halb so vil
melbs vnd slach aier daran, das es sich wöllen
lass und puluern, walg es auf ainer pankch,
das es werd als ein wurst. Das mach dann
chrump vnd pachs in smalcz.

Fritters, bent like horseshoes

Grate good [hard, trsl.] cheese and take half the amount of flour, break eggs
into it enough for the dough to be soft enough to be rolled out, and add
spices. Roll it out on a board into a sausage-shape. Bend that and fry it in
lard.

<<6>>
Zu haidnischen kuchen
Mach ainen taig mit eiteln aiern, so du aller
hertist mügst, värb den taig, walg in, das ein
platten daraus werd als ein pfanzelten vnd
pach das in smalcz. Nim guten wein, halb so
vil honig, erwell das vndereinander vnd zeuch
das pachen dardurch, so dus wild anrichten.

Pagan cakes

Make a dough with plenty of eggs, as hard as you can make it, colour it, roll
it out to make a flat cake like a pancake and fry it in lard. Take good wine
and half the amount of honey, boil it together and dip the cakes in it when
you wish to serve them.

<<7>>
Zu ainem pachen in ainer schüssel
Nim geriben chäs vnd mel geleich vnd slach
daran aier vnd gewurcz es wol vnd chnit es
durcheinander vnd walg es auf
ainem pret vnd mach struczel daraus vnd
pachs in einer pfann in smalcz. Darnach
sneids in ainer schüssel.

For fritters in a bowl

Take grated cheese anmd flour in equal amounts, break eggs into it and season
it well, knead it and roll it out on a board. Cut the dough into strips, fry
them in a pan with lard and then cut them into a bowl.

Pachen weichsel
Zeuch einen taig ab mit IIII aiern in wasser
vnd mach den taig mit gewürcz ab in haissem
smalcz vnd tunk dy weichsel albeg in den
taig vnd pachs in haissem smalcz.

Fried tart cherries

Make a batter with 4 eggs in water, season it with spices in hot lard
(misplaced here?) and dip the cherries into the dough one after the other and
fry them in hot lard.

Wolfenbüttel MS (my current obsession - be patient, it will be finished one
day)

20. Wyltu van velen eygeren eyn eyg maken, so sammele de dodor
sunderliken unde dat wytte ock. Nym roseyn edder vyghen, ghesneden cleyne,
edder grone erweten edder petercylien, wes des jares tydich is. So bring
eynerleyghe manck de vere darmange. Make dat roet myt saffrane unde thu
dat yn eyne swynesblasen. Bynde dat harde tho. Lat dat hart seden. Nym den
de doder dar wedder uth unde nym eyne groter, de noch eyns so grot is. Legge
den doder daryn. Nym dat wytte gut. Du dat daryn up den doder unde bynt
harde tho unde lat dat gar seden. So heyt dat eyn grot ey. Snyt dat yn
vere dele. Make darover eyn ghel so:et. So giff dat hen.

If you want to make one egg out of many, collect the yolks and whites
separately. Take raisins or figs cut up small, or green egg yolks, or
parsley, depending on the time of the year. Mix one of the four with the
yolks. Color it red with saffron and and put it into a pig's bladder.  Tie it
shut well and boil it hard. Take out the yolks again and take a larger one,
twice as big. Place the yolk in there. Take the whites, put them in  there
with the yolk and tie it shut well, and boil it hard. This is called a large
egg. Cut it in four parts and serve it with yellow sauce poured over it.

Nobody for eggs like your period Germans

Giano

Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:06:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: Marcus Loidolt <mjloidolt at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 11, Issue 69/ Fertile
	Eggs...
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Fertilized eggs...
   Well my guess is that unless one paid close attention to your own  
hens/ yard activity, you might not KNOW which eggs were fertile or  
not...so the wine might be a precaution or a 'what if' you break the  
egg and find a beginning embryo...it might make for a slightly richer flavor as the proteins began forming the chick....???
   My bet is a way out for a sloppy housewife, or one who buys her  
eggs at the market instead of minding her owh
   hens like she should....UMPH!! lol.....

   Johann, who has two broodies and an incubator going...one of my  
apprentices is trying out Cato and
   Columella's Egyptian wood fired incubator....using a modern  
thermometer, he is going to try to keep it at
   exactly 100F and 90% humidity using his hand and a feather duster  
dipped in water several times a day...
   GOOD LUCK!! I'm having him use Leghorn and Rock eggs....no great  
loss IF(when) they fail to hatch.... but
   wow...if he gets anything the first time OOOBAH!!!,  we will  
candle the eggs open once a day to monitor progress
   we may sacrifice an egg or two along the way to crack open and see  
progress as well...

=======
<<< On Tue, 13 Mar 2007, Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise wrote:

Rosettes. There's a recipe in Welserin for them:

88 A molded and fried pastry

Take eight eggs and beat them well and pour them in a sieve and strain
them, put a little wine in with it, so that it goes through easily, the
chicken embryo remaining behind. Afterwards stir flour into it, until you
think that it is right. Do not make the batter too thick. Dip the mold in
with proper skill and let them fry, then it is well done. Salt the eggs
[13]. >>>

<snip>

I'm also not sure how to take this description of straining out the
chicken embryos. Basically yuck, I think. And wasteful. Does using
fertilized chicken eggs affect the consistency or the taste of the
white/yolk that remains?

I was also, at first, wondering why they were using fertilized
chicken eggs at all. Today you avoid that by simply not having
roosters around. Perhaps this is evidence that the hens were not
penned but were allowed to run around free, with the roosters, and
finding what they could to eat.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas
=====

Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:33:28 -0500
From: Ysabeau <lady.ysabeau at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sugar Waffles and fertilized chicken eggs
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Hmmm... I would think that straining it out would prevent a "clump" or
something. I've never really worried about it when I've found one but it
isn't a big deal. The embryo isn't really recognizable - at least in the
cases I've come across. It is more like the white of an egg after it has
been cooked and has typically been very small. I seem to remember finding it
more when I was little and using the eggs from my grandmother's chicken coop
than now...now that I think about it. I remember my mom telling me it was
okay to leave it in or I could pick it out.

Ysabeau

Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:45:38 +0000
From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Feast Menu for Atlantian Coronation
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

> Greetings Dame Olwen,

> Now, about the Atlantian Coronation menu, everything sounds just
> wonderful!!!  I am intrigued by 'boiled fried eggs' .  Have you a
> recipe?

> Phillipa

In any case, here is the recipe and source of the egg recipe:

Baid Mutajjan
See al-Baghdadi’s Kitab al-Tabikh with an Introductory Note by Charles Perry
as published in Medieval Arab Cookery. Published by Prospect Books 2006.

Boil eggs, shell and then fry in sesame oil, and sprinkle with fine brayed
coriander, cinnamon and cumin. Take out of the frying pan and put in old
murri, adding seasonings. If murri is not available, take the eggs out of
the pan; put into it little water, salt and cinnamon, boil and pour over the
eggs.

Another version: Fry the eggs without first boiling them, then throw  
in the seasonings, and spray with murri.
________________________________________________
The recipe had no quantities. we boiled a case of eggs and used equal parts
coriander, cinnamon and cumin. I would estimate that one teaspoon of each
would be more than enough for four dozen eggs. Brayed is translated in
Perry’s notes as "pounded".

Charles Perry suggests using soy sauce instead of the cinnamon and salt
boiled in water in his translation. This seems somewhat more appropriate
since soy sauce includes rotted soy beans and murri contains rotted barley.
Additionally, Charles Perry recreated murri in his kitchen and found that
it’s chemical composition and taste are much like soy sauce.

At the Coronation Feast these seemed to be very well received and none came
back.  I was asked for the recipe from some of the guests as well.  We
boiled the eggs the night before and peeled them mid-day.  The cooking time
for a case of eggs for the frying part came to probably half an hour as we
only seemed to have two large skillets.  I did not do this part of the
cooking so could ask for sure if anyone wanted to know for sure.

Olwen

Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 18:33:37 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sorrel
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Here's another sorrel recipe that I just came across.
Note the title:

This is an excerpt from *Ouverture de Cuisine*
(France, 1604 - Daniel Myers, trans.)
The original source can be found at MedievalCookery.com 
<http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/ouverture.shtm>

To make May eggs. Take eggs, & put them to boil that they will be soft: 
then make an hole in the egg at both sides with a point or skewer of 
wood, that the hole is for putting a pea therein: then blow the yolks 
out, & chop parsley very finely, & mix it with the egg yolks, a little 
salt & pepper therein, & put again an egg yolk or two, or more, & refill 
the eggs with the point of a knife thereon, that it will be layered 
thereon with a little white bread, that it does not run at all: then 
have a cauldron of boiling water, & cast the eggs therein, & let them 
boil hard, afterwards take them out & peel, & cut them in half, & put 
thereon melted butter & juice of sorrel.

Johnnae

Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 06:34:08 -0700
From: edoard at medievalcookery.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sorrel
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

-------- Original Message --------
From: Johnna Holloway

<<< Here's another sorrel recipe that I just came across.
Note the title:

To make May eggs. Take eggs, & put them to boil that they will be soft: 
then make an hole in the egg at both sides with a point or skewer of 
wood, that the hole is for putting a pea therein: then blow the yolks 
out, & chop parsley very finely, & mix it with the egg yolks, a little 
salt & pepper therein, & put again an egg yolk or two, or more, & refill 
the eggs with the point of a knife thereon, that it will be layered 
thereon with a little white bread, that it does not run at all: then 
have a cauldron of boiling water, & cast the eggs therein, & let them 
boil hard, afterwards take them out & peel, & cut them in half, & put 
thereon melted butter & juice of sorrel. >>>

Shoot, and I've even made that one!  I always end up leaving out the
sorrel because I can't find any around here.

Note that this recipe - taking half-boiled eggs, removing the yolks,
adding stuff, putting the yolks back in, and continuing to boil them -
is potentially very very messy.  The end result is really cool though.

- Doc

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:48:55 -0700
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Pickled Egg Questions

I recently noticed a recipe for pickled eggs in 1373 CE Mamluk-period 
Egyptian Book of the Description of Familiar Foods (Kitab Wasf 
al-At'ima al-Mu'tada). This book includes all of al-Baghdadi, a 
confectioner's manual, a chapter cribbed from some other book on food 
for invalids and those celebrating Lent, and heaps more recipes. The 
recipe has peeled hard-cooked eggs rubbed with salt, cinnamon, and 
ground coriander seed, then covered in pure wine vinegar.

I have heard talk on this list about pickled eggs, but have never 
made them myself. So I have some questions.

First, how long should the hard cooked eggs sit in the vinegar before 
they are sufficiently pickled? I realize this can vary based on what 
else is in the vinegar/how strong the vinegar is. But what I am 
getting at is, are they likely to be sufficiently sour after... 3 
days? a week? 10 days? whatever?

Second, how long are they likely to keep? I realize this can vary 
based on what is in the vinegar/how strong the vinegar is and the 
temperature at which they are kept. But what I am getting at is: in a 
camping situation, should they only be kept in the cooler?; can they 
survive not in a cooler (yes, depends on heat and humidity of locale, 
but...); at home in the refrigerator how long are they likely to 
remain safe to eat?

Third, how strong was their vinegar likely to be? Based on a number 
of pickling recipes that call for putting the main ingredient in pure 
vinegar, and on a number of meat recipes that call for cooking the 
meat (along with some spices) in pure vinegar, either they really 
liked things intensely acidic, or their vinegar might not have been 
quite as strong as ours. For example, one recipe called for putting 
fresh rose petals in pure vinegar with no other ingredients; i would 
think they would taste only of vinegar, unless the vinegar is not too 
strong. Also, i cooked a savory recipe and diluted the vinegar (1/2 
wine vinegar, 1/2 water), and people still complained it was too 
vinegary.

Fourth, should the eggs, having been kept in pure wine vinegar, be 
rinsed before eating?; merely blotted off; lustily consumed dripping 
with vinegar?

Just curious before I end up wasting eggs and wine vinegar...

Also, I have read this book many times, but i guess i skimmed the 
pickle section, because i hadn't noticed it before, although i did 
take note of some of the other pickle recipes. Has anyone else 
noticed pickled egg recipes in other SCA period Arabic language 
cookbooks? SCA period European cookbooks?
-- 
Urtatim [that's err-tah-TEEM]
the persona formerly known as Anahita

Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:56:54 -0500
From: Fields Family Farm <fields at texas.net>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] crepes

I use fertilized eggs all of the time.  All of the eggs we eat in my house
come from my 30 chickens (or 12 ducks), and the 4 roosters do their best to
make sure every chicken egg is fertilized.  :)

You can't tell a fertilized egg from a non-fertilized egg with the naked
eye, until the chicken sits on it for a while.  The difference is
microscopic initially.

Hrethric

On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 9:42 AM, Sharon Palmer <ranvaig at columbus.rr.com>wrote:
Stefan quoted and wrote:
The one from Le Menagier de Paris says:
<<< CREPES. Take flour and mix with eggs both yolks and whites, but >throw
out the germ... >>>

What does the "throw out the germ" mean here?

Since I get the digest, someone's probably answered, but I think it's the
little firm, whitish bit that you find in the egg white. It doesn't melt or
go away and would make a small lumpy bit in an otherwise flat crepe.

And consider they probably used fertilized eggs, not the unfertilized ones
that are usual now.  This is the bit that will grow into a chick.

Ranvaig

From: Lord Magnus Thunderson <magnusfl at gmail.com>
Date: January 2, 2011 9:31:27 PM CST
To: The Triskele Tavern <the-triskele-tavern at googlegroups.com>
Subject: {TheTriskeleTavern} Re: omlet station at chalice

omelets are period as they refrenced in the Le Menagier De Paris
1393.

To: gleannabhann at yahoogroups.com
From: ladyanne at cox.net
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 09:32:55 -0500
Subject: RE: [Gleann Abhann] Re: PC chickens? (and gooses)

I have worked with goose eggs in the past and they are 2 to 3 times as thick shelled as chicken eggs.

Anne

Date: Mon, 07 May 2012 08:05:26 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Cc: west-cooks <west-cooks at yahoogroups.com>, mk-cooks at midrealm.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Digby and Eggs

On May 5, 2012, at 6:55 AM, Elise Fleming wrote:

<<< Greetings!  For those who aren't regular readers of SCAtoday.net, here's a new posting about Sir Kenelm Digby and his use of eggs:
http://phys.org/news/2012-04-egg-cetera-eggs-fifteen-whites.html
I have a hunch that Digby isn't the only cookery book author that records recipes with oodles of eggs.  (There's that infamous one that starts "Take a thousand eggs or more".)  But, you might find the professor's comments interesting.

Alys K. >>>

Published in the decade before Digby and buried in the subtitle to "Mounsieur Marnette's" The Perfect Cook of 1656 is a reference to eggs. The full title of that book is:
The perfect cook : being the most exact directions for the making all kind of pastes, with the perfect way of teaching how to raise, season, and make all sorts of pies, pasties, tarts, and florentines, &c., now practised by the most famous and expert cooks, both French and English : as also The perfect English cook, or, right method of the whole art of cookery, with the true ordering of French, Spanish, and Italian kickshaws, with alamode varieties for persons of honour : to which is added, the way of dressing all manner of flesh, fowl, and fish, and making admirable sauces, after the most refined way of French and English ... : with fifty five ways of dressing of eggs.

{This volume is based in part on La Varenne's The French Pastry Cook.}
You can see a scan of the title page and initial engraving here:
http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~308588~124415:-Patissier-fran%C3%A7ois--English--The-p

Also see http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2007/04/eggs-17th-c-style.html
and http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2007/12/sixth-day-of-christmas.html where the Old Foodie discusses Marnette's recipes for eggs.

Johnnae

From: Michael DeStefano <gwydionmaurmatauc at YAHOO.COM>
Subject: [CALONTIR] Boiling Eggs
Date: February 4, 2013 11:36:15 PM CST
To: CALONTIR at listserv.unl.edu

In case you didn't know:

Add a tablespoon* of Baking Soda to your water when boiling a dozen eggs.
Even after cooling them off with cold water for easy handling, the shells come off real easy for perfect hard boiled or deviled eggs.

(*May work with less but it's what we use)

And even though I do nearly all of the cooking, I have to give it up to my wonderful wife for finding this tip {in one of my magazines}!

-Gwydion

Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:01:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] poudre fort

<<< What is "Quatre' Espice"? Is that a modern or medieval spice mix?

I like these ideas of adding a medieval spice mix to even modern food
items. I'll have to consider it. What medieval spice mix would folks
recommend for scrambled eggs? >>>

Sounds pretty late medieval actually:
"Quatre  ?pices is a spice mix used mainly in France but also found in 
Middle Eastern  kitchens. The name literally means "four spices"; the spice mix 
contains ground  pepper (white, black, or both), cloves, nutmeg and ginger. 
Some variations of  the mix use allspice instead of pepper or cinnamon in 
place of  ginger."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatre_%C3%A9pices

Not that I'd use it in eggs, myself. If you want to go medieval there, try 
early medieval  - when cumin and pepper were the two top imported spices. 
Sounds pretty good for eggs to me. (They liked honey and vinegar, also black 
mustard, on a lot of stuff too, for what that's worth.)

Otherwise, here's what Le Grand says in his chapter on eggs, etc:

"Eggs, which according to one of our kitchen sayings we can prepare today 
in a hundred and one different ways, only had twenty, in Platina's time 
[1421 - 1481]. Further these twenty, for the most part, differed from ours. 
Scrambled eggs, for example, were made with butter, water, cheese and 
aromatic herbs; then they were made green with the juice of borage or parsley; 
because this color was greatly prized in stews. Poached eggs, which our Cooks 
serve with a little meat gravy, and upon which they sprinkle a little 
pepper, were served with orange juice and sweet  spices."

Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:54:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Scrambled eggs

There seem to have been a wealth of methods unknown to us today:

"Without even mentioning other dishes, can one say in how many ways eggs  
are transformed and tormented; what passion is put into turning them over,  
denaturing them, liquefying them, hardening them and reducing them? They are  
served fried, roasted, stuffed, scrambled; care is taken to give food an  
agreeable appearance, in order to please the view as much as taste; and  
curiosity is not yet satisfied when the stomach vigorously signals that it is  
full."
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

If you take the meat out of the Enseignemenz' recipe for Faux Grenon ("Fake 
Mustache"), you have something very scrambled-eggish:

"Fake grenon
If you want to make fake grenon, take the liver and the gizzards, slice 
them up  fine; crush up bread and mix it with bouillon and set it to boil; and 
after put  in beaten egg yolks, and saffron mixed with wine, and then 
simmer and add milk, and chop the meat up in fat; and boil it, stirring 
constantly, and then put in  the eggs and the saffron. And set out in bowls, and put powdered cinnamon, ginger, and clove on it."

Taillevent's mustard soup recipe could be adapted as well:

"To Make Mustard Soup

For a fish day, fry eggs in oil or butter, and then use pure mustard,  
cinnamon, ginger, assorted spices such as cloves and seed, and sweeten  
moderately. Strain it all together and boil in a pot, and infuse it with  verjuice. Salt to taste, and put the broth apart."

Or instead of spitting these eggs, you could scramble them with the same  
flavorings:

"Eggs Roasted On The Spit

To roast stuffed eggs on the spit, make a small hole in the end of each  
egg, and take out what is inside. Then take sage, marjoram, pennyroyal, mint 
and  all other good herbs, and chop them up finely. Fry in butter, and the 
eggs, and  put on a plank and chop them up finely. Add in ginger, saffron and 
sugar. Then  put the stuffing in the egg shells. Take small, very fine 
skewers. Put a dozen  eggs on each skewer, and set on the grill over a low fire."

This sauce is said to be good on fried eggs; it would probably work with  
scrambled as well:

"Sauce With Must

To make sauce with must, remove grapes from the bunch and crush up in a  
frying pan, and boil on the fire seven or eight minutes. Put in a very little  
red Burgundy wine, with enough grapes, and strain it all through cloth. For 
four  servings, take two ounces of true cinnamon, two ounces of sugar, a 
half ounce of  ginger, and strain it all through the cloth, except the  sugar."

Personally, I'd still go for pepper and cumin. With, maybe, a  little Asian 
fish sauce, since the Franks still used garum.

Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	eggs-msg	Page  of