Hannibal Lecter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sharp_man) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2019-10-11 09:19 am
sharp_man) wrote in fandomhigh2019-10-11 09:19 am
Entry tags:
Cooking Through History, Period 2
"Welcome back," Hannibal said. He was back being male again, and he hadn't even had a chance to wear all the clothing he'd bought in Paris! He was in a suit once more instead, and the Danger Shop had given them a large mud-brick house with stone ovens and bronze pots.
"Earlier, we worked with one Babylonian recipe; today, we will be completing another. The earliest known cookbook is from Babylon, and not strictly speaking a book, but a clay tablet dating to around four thousand years ago. It contains forty recipes, most of which are simple in ingredients but complex in instructions, which include only the order in which to add them, not measures or times. In this time and place, few could read and write; these recipes were likely an attempt to document haute cuisine rather than as instructions for daily cooking.
"Many meats are included in these recipes, most of which are still eaten today - beef, pork, fowl, and fish appear to have been popular. A number of grains, vegetables, and fruits are also important, along with herbs, dairy, and oils.
"Today, we will be making a wildfowl pie. The recipe reads:
"As you can see, there are a number of things missing: do you initially cook the birds in water or in fat? What sort of birds are used? And there are also questions of translation. Fortunately, somebody has translated this into a modern recipe." He handed out tablets with the recipe on them.
"So, cook your foods, and as usual, please let me know if you have any questions."
"Earlier, we worked with one Babylonian recipe; today, we will be completing another. The earliest known cookbook is from Babylon, and not strictly speaking a book, but a clay tablet dating to around four thousand years ago. It contains forty recipes, most of which are simple in ingredients but complex in instructions, which include only the order in which to add them, not measures or times. In this time and place, few could read and write; these recipes were likely an attempt to document haute cuisine rather than as instructions for daily cooking.
"Many meats are included in these recipes, most of which are still eaten today - beef, pork, fowl, and fish appear to have been popular. A number of grains, vegetables, and fruits are also important, along with herbs, dairy, and oils.
"Today, we will be making a wildfowl pie. The recipe reads:
Remove the head and feet. Open the body and clean the birds, reserving the gizzards and the pluck. Split the gizzards and clean them. Next rinse the birds and flatten them. Prepare a pot and put birds, gizzards and pluck into it before placing it on the fire.
Put the pot back on the fire. Rinse out a pot with fresh water. Place beaten milk into it and place it on the fire. Take the pot (containing the birds) and drain it. Cut off the inedible parts, then salt the rest, and add them to the vessel with the milk, to which you must add some fat. Also add some rue, which has already been stripped and cleaned. When it has come to a boil, add minced leek, garlic, samidu, and onion (but not too much onion).
Rinse crushed grain, then soften it in milk and add to it, as you knead it, salt, samidu, leeks, and garlic along with enough milk and oil so that a soft dough will result which you will expose to the heat of the fire for a moment. Then cut it into two pieces. Take a platter large enough to hold the birds. Place the prepared dough on the bottom of the plate. Be careful that it hangs over the rim of the platter only a little. Place it on top of the oven to cook it. On the dough which has already been seasoned, place the pieces of the birds as well as the gizzards and pluck. Cover it with the bread lid [which has meanwhile been baked] and send it to the table.
"As you can see, there are a number of things missing: do you initially cook the birds in water or in fat? What sort of birds are used? And there are also questions of translation. Fortunately, somebody has translated this into a modern recipe." He handed out tablets with the recipe on them.
"So, cook your foods, and as usual, please let me know if you have any questions."
Re: Cook your food/eat Hannibal's!