[MR] Period Chocolate Recipes

[David Chessler]

Thanks. I'll have to look into these. My initial researches just turned up
drinks, and food recipes were far out of period.



--

YIS

Davitt il Bigollo da Pisa
Erudit de l'Academie de Espee de Atlantia
Storvik (rapier)
Roxbury Mill (other things) 
 
 
 ------ Original Message ------
  Received: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:54:50 PM EDT
  From: "Karen Adams" <karmadancer123 at gmail.com>
  To: <atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>
  Subject: Re: [MR] Period Chocolate Recipes
 
 
 
 
    Greetings, Lord Davitt,
     
      You're right -- chocolate came to Spain in the 16th century. But from
most
      of the resources I have, it was used as a seasoning and not necessarily
a
      sweet until much later.
     
      Penelope Casas' book __The Foods and Wines of Spain__ (ISBN
#0-394-51348-7)
      is a classic and includes some redactions of Ruperto de Naldo's
recipes.
      (De Naldo was chef to King Fernando, Naples' Spanish ruler, during the
16th
      century.) She includes historical commentary with her recipes and it
can
      give you a pretty good foundation for finding the source documents. I
have
      tried most of her recipes -- especially those including chocolate in
entrees
      instead of desserts -- and they are **excellent.** In no way do they
taste
      like Hershey bars; remember, you're using bitter chocolate for this
instead
      of the sweet stuff. It adds a smoky, round flavor to meats, game, fowl
and
      even fish (believe it or not!) and suits the modern palate well.
     
      Here are a couple of dishes I would (highly!) recommend:
      * Perdiz con Chocolat (Partridge in Chocolate-Flavored Sauce) -- sounds
      funny but it's fabulous. If you're worried about spending the $$ for
      partridge use chicken instead.
      * Estofado a la Catalana (Catalan-Style Beef Stew) -- This recipe is
      excellent and very economical. Its main meat is beef chuck and although
it
      does call for the use of butifarra sausages, you can substitute sweet
      Italian-style sausages instead with no problem. Given the preparation
      methods, I wouldn't see any problem using venison instead of beef if
you've
      got it......?
     
      Once you get used to using chocolate like this you'll find yourself
adding
      it to lots of modern dishes as well. We add it to our prize-winning
venison
      chili -- and never would have thought of it without cruising Casas'
book
      first :) I hope you enjoy! If I can be of any help to you please don't
      hesitate to let me know :)
     
      In service,
      -- P. Magdalina Ilianova
     
     
     
     
     
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