[Historical Culinary Reconstruction]
Name: Emilie Foyer and Marilyn Bowen
Date and Time:
2015.09.17, 01:30pm
Location: Harlem, NY - Marilyn's Kitchen
Subject: Fritters- Otherwayes in the Italian Fashion
The Presentation
The presentation provides an annotated explanation of our process.
Here is some extra information:
Purpose:
àTo understand the challenges involved in the execution of a faithful reconstruction.
To learn more about early modern recipes
Context:
Mid 17th Century. British.
From the Book “The Acomplisht Cook”
About the author, Robert May – extract from the book
“He was born in the year of our Lord 1588. His Father being one of the ablest Cooks in his time, and his first Tutor in the knowledge and practice of Cookery; under whom having attained to some perfection in this Art, the old Lady Dormer sent him over into France, where he continued five years, being in the Family of a noble Peer, and first President of Paris; where he gained not only the French Tongue but also bettered his Knowledge in his Cookery, and returning again intoEngland, was bound an Apprentice in London to Mr. Arthur Hollinsworth in Newgate Market, one of the ablest Work-men in London, Cook to the Grocers Hall and Star Chamber…”
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22790/22790-h/cook1.html
Recipe:
The recipe is found in Chapter Section VI: “To make all manner of Carbonadoes, either of Flesh or Fowl; as also all manner of fried Meats of Flesh, Collops and Eggs, with the most exquisite way of making Pancakes, Fritters, and Tansies.”
This is the recipe:
Otherways in the Italian Fashion.
Take a pound of rice and boil it in a pint of cream, being boil’d something thick, lay it abroad in a clean dish to cool, then stamp it in a stone mortar, with a pound of good fat cheese grated, some musk, and yolks of four or five hard eggs, sugar, and grated manchet or bisket bread; then make it into balls, the paste being stiff, and you may colour them with marigold flowers stamped, violets, blue bottles, carnations or pinks, and make them balls of two or three colours. If the paste be too tender, work more bread to them and flour, fry them, and serve them with scraping sugar and juyce of orange. Garnish these balls with stock fritters.
The Ingredients and our Equivalents
- In choosing the rice, we chose a medium grain, thinking that an average, non-aromatic variety (that is, not jasmine or basmati) would be the most neutral option.
- For the cream, we chose heavy cream, which might have affected the outcome of the rice. We also have no knowledge of how much cream was in Robert May’s “Pint” versus our standard pint of cream.
- In choosing the cheese we looked at the recipe above ours which called for a Holland cheese or parmesan. We decided to use parmesan in as the "good fat cheese" listed in our recipe.
- We researched either type of bread and discovered that manchet was a plain bread often considered a precursor to modern white bread, so we purchased two large rolls of white bread
- This is a recipe for stock fritters from the same book, which we did not have the equipment for and were only a garnish: To make Stock-Fritters or Fritters of Arms - Strain half a pint of fine flower, with as much water, and make the batter no thicker, than thin cream; then heat the brass moulds in clarified butter; being hot wipe them, dip the moulds half way in the batter and fry them, to garnish any boil’d fish meats or stewed oysters. View their forms.
Grating the bread
- The recipe calls for the bread to be grated and added to the mixture, but grating the fresh bread proved very difficult. To facilitate the process, we toasted the bread which provided a much more consistent product.
Boiling the rice in cream
- We put the pound of rice with the pint of cream in a small pot, covered it, brought it up to a boil, reduced the heat and let it sit.
- After opening the lid, we saw the cream had been absorbed, but that the rice was burnt at the edges and still undercooked.
- We added a bit of water and then a bit of milk and cooked the rice on a low heat, stirring continuously, until the rice was tender.
Adding the "good fat cheese"
- We used a mixture of half freshly grated parmesan and half pre-grated parmesan to total just under a pound of cheese.
- Upon adding this to the rice mixture, we noticed it was becoming increasingly difficult to combine. The mixture was very dry, crumbly and was not combining.
- Here we had to vary considerably from the recipe and added a bit of milk to make the mixture come together.
- We attributed this dryness to our rice. Perhaps if our rice had not been so dry the mixture might have had more liquid in it which would have aided in the combining process.
Adding the "musk," sugar and bread
- There were no quantities listed for any of these ingredients.
- We had to use our own taste as a guide and added about 1 tsp of nutmeg, 1 tbs of sugar and 1 tbs of breadcrumbs.
- The addition of these items did not vastly affect the flavor or outcome of the fritters, but provided an extra layer of nuance to the product.
Adding the egg
- The recipe called for the yolks of 4 or 5 "hard eggs."
- We chose to interpret this as hard-boiled, so we boiled, peeled and separated the yolks from 5 eggs.
- We added these yolks to the mixture and combined.
Constructing the Fritters
- The only information provided by the recipe was to form the mixture into a ball shape and fry them.
- We chose to make the fritters about the size of our palms, and to fry them in a shallow pan of vegetable oil.
- The recipe suggests that if the paste is too tender, one might add flour or the grated bread.
- We chose to utilize this suggestion by rolling the raw fritters in the breadcrumbs and/or the flour.
Things we could have done better:
If we had paid closer attention to the recipes surrounding this one, we would have seen that the frying in the recipes often involved clarified butter rather than oil.
Our Modern Translation:
Combine 1 lb. rice and 1 pt. heavy cream into pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let rest for 20 minutes. If rice is not cooked after this period, add more liquid and stir continuously over a low heat.
Meanwhile, boil 4-5 eggs. After approximately 7 minutes, remove the eggs and peel them, separating the white from the yolk.
Transfer the rice to a large bowl and mash.
Add to the rice about 1lb of grated parmesan cheese, 4-5 boiled egg yolks, a tablespoon of sugar, 3-4 teaspoons of nutmeg, and about 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs. Combine well. If the mixture seems too dry, add milk, about a tablespoon at a time, as needed.
If including edible flowers, fold them into the batter.
Form the batter into round balls. Coat in flour and/or bread crumbs, set aside.
Heat oil in a pan and, after the oil is hot, place the fritters into the hot oil. Cook them for about 3 minutes then turn them over to cook for another 3 minutes
Remove from oil and allow to rest on a covered surface until cool.
Meanwhile, combine the juice of 1 orange with about 2 teaspoons of sugar, stir well.
Drizzle the juice mixture over the fritters, or serve on the side.
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time:
2015.[Month].[Day], [hh]:[mm][am/pm]
Location:
Subject:
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time:
2015.[Month].[Day], [hh]:[mm][am/pm]
Location:
Subject:
ASPECTS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN MAKING FIELD NOTES
- note time
- note (changing) conditions in the room
- note temperature of ingredients to be processed (e.g. cold from fridge, room temperature etc.)
- document materials, equipment, and processes in writing and with photographs
- notes on ingredients and equipment (where did you get them? issues of authenticity)
- note precisely the scales and temperatures you used (please indicate how you interpreted imprecise recipe instruction)
- see also our informal template for recipe reconstructions