reworked redactions

[madbaker]

Not this week's Resolution Recipes, but reworks of a couple recent ones: Allos Quesos and Rice Fritters.

I'm happy with the second try on both these recipes - I think they're finished. The Garlic Cheese will make its way to events (when I can go to them again); it would be dynamite with lamb. The Rice Fritters are also something easy to do ahead of time and pipe from a plastic bag for breakfast. We had them with house-cured boar bacon. Mmmm, bacon.

If you want to make garlic cheese, take dry white cheese and grind it together with garlic. When it is well ground, put in a little oil or mix it with lukewarm water that has not boiled. If you put in four or five egg yolks, it will be even better, especially if it is served with meat. (Sent Sovi, late 14th century)

4 ounces aged pecorino cheese
4-6 medium cloves peeled garlic (about 3/4 ounce)
4-5 tsp olive oil
2 egg yolks

Grate the cheese finely and crush the garlic; mix the two together. Beat in oil and egg yolks if using. Serve as sauce with roast meat.

I used an aged pecorino cheese at the suggestion of Mistress Eibhlín níc Raghailligh, because it's a dry sheep's milk cheese recipe that has stayed relatively unchanged since the Middle Ages. Catalonia has many more sheep and goats than cows due to its rugged terrain, so this seemed a reasonable choice.

Other sauce recipes in this collection call for beating in uncooked egg yolks to thicken them.

Santanach, Joan ed. Vogelzang, Robin trans. The Book of Sent Sovi: Medieval recipes from Catalonia. Barcelona: Boydell & Brewer, 2008. ISBN 978-185566164-6.

Make rice cooked in milk into fritters in the same way as above, with only cheese and milk left out.
[Add a little meal, some egg whites, some milk, and a little more sugar to ground cheese... and grind together in the same mortar. Put this preparation in a pan, either by hand or with a spoon or some other utensil, and cook where the best fat and butter or oil is already boiling. It is necessary that these fritters be eaten hot.]

12 ounces cooked rice, cooked in milk (I used leftover Ryse of Fische Daye)
1/4 cup blanched almonds, ground finely to meal
3 egg whites
2-3 Tbsp turbinado sugar
lard, butter, or rapeseed oil (I used rendered lard from house-cured bacon)

Grind together cold cooked rice, ground almonds, egg whites, and sugar. Heat ¼” of lard, butter, or oil in a skillet over medium-high heat to 275 degrees. Drop spoonfuls (approximately 2 tablespoons) of the rice mixture into the grease and fry for 1-2 minutes, flip, and repeat. Drain and serve hot.

All these types of fat are used in Platina for frying. Rapeseed oil (marketed as Canola) is the easiest to heat without smoking, but lard or butter produce a tastier fritter.

I used ground almonds for the meal; they provide a nice bulk and flavor.

Milham, Mary Ella. Platina: On Right Pleasure and Good Health. Tempe: Medieval & Renaissance Texts, 1998. ISBN 0-86698-208-6.

Comments

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

What is turbiando sugar?

These rice fritters look tasty. I think I want to give them a whirl.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

A whirl! You made a funny!
Turbinado sugar is cane sugar that is not quite as processed. It's not as good as using the Mexican cone sugar, but it's better than J. Random white sugar.

Flavor-wise, there's not much difference but it makes me feel better.