Habas (o guisantes) frescas
con caldo de carne
(Broad beans or peas with meat broth – a green soup)
by
Martino da Como
recipe no. 89 from the "Libro de Arte Culinaria" ca. 1450-60
Note: Instructions in normal letters are pretty clear in the original.
My interpretations are in italics.
Take:
- fresh broad beans or peas or any other (period European) fresh legume,
taken out of their sheaths (optional)
- salted meat or a reasonable substitute, or broth
- a bunch of fresh parsley (of the broad-leaved southern european tasty variety
– not a garnish!), finely chopped
- a bunch of mint (I think this refers to sweeter spearmint rather than peppermint
but I could be wrong), finely chopped
To make it:
Cook the beans or peas or whatever either in broth or with some salted
meat. When they are done add the parsley and the mint. The soup should
be somewhat green to be pretty.
My experiences
I used frozen peas cooked in broth. I mashed the parsley a bit with a mortar
so that it would let out more green sap. I didn’t add any meat, but all
I could think of was some bits of serrano (similar to Parma) ham.
I later ask about suitable substitutes for the salted meat at the Rialto
(rec.org.sca) and got the following options:
- use Beardsley sliced Dried Beef ("like the Hormel stuff but much better"),
available in glass containers, apparently used to make Creamed Chipped
Beef on Toast and thus available all over the US – Can’t comment on this
for geographical reasons.
- get some thin-sliced plain roast beef, or similar. Then paint an oven rack
with oil, spread one layer thick, and dry on "warm", checking frequently.
Or just use a dehydrator.
I will be checking recipes for salted meat in an effort to come closer
to the real thing. If you have any ideas let me know.
Links on preserving meat by salting:
The Roman way: http://www.unc.edu/courses/rometech/public/content/survival/Lindsay_Mack/Food_Preservation.htm
The modern, almost-the-same, way:
http://waltonfeed.com/old/brine.html
Update
It seems that medieval soups were generally thick affairs, not as liquid as we take them now. I got this from either Scully's "Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages" or Barbara Santich's "The Original Mediterranean Cuisine
The result, for the time being
I find the taste is really nice and the texture is really light so you
can eat a lot without feeling heavy at all. The mixture of herbs is really
refreshing and it actually inspired me to add plenty of fresh herbs to
my usual cooking for quite a while.
Since I wrote this I have also tried it with fresh green peas and with fresh broad beans. both were delicious!
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