Cameline Sauce and Salmon

Cameline Sauce


I read in a few medieval/renaissance cookbooks that salmon and cameline sauce go well together. So what is cameline sauce?

For the salmon and for the trout, the cameline: to give understanding to the sauce-maker who will make it, take his white bread according to the quantity of it which he is making and let him put it to roast on the grill, and let him have good claret wine of the best which he can have in which he should put his bread to soak and vinegar in good measure; and let him take his spices, that is cinnamon, ginger, grains of paradise, cloves, a little pepper, mace, nutmeg and a little sugar, and this is mixed with is bread and a little salt; and then dress it as you will. Du fait de cuisine
(France, 1420 - Elizabeth Cook, trans)

I had everything on hand. Bread crumbs, red wine, vinegar, and even the grains of paradise. Thank you, Auntie Arwen's at Pennsic!


I took maybe a little less than a half a cup of bread crumbs - it wasn't a lot. I added a full 60ml (1/4 cup) of Fig vinegar. I added the same amount of the red wine I had in the fridge. I let the bread crumbs soak while I used the mortar and pestle to grind up a few grains of paradise. That stuff smells heavenly. Seriously. Anyway, once the bread crumbs were pretty well soaked, I added the spices based on what I like. A little salt, a little pepper, a good tablespoon at least of sugar, the same amount in cinnamon, ect. I only used a pinch of the grains of paradise.

It actually tastes, on it's own, pretty decent. I probably could have cut the amount of mace in half (again. I always put too much in) but it's a decent garnish.


It compliments the salmon quite well. I cooked the salmon with just some olive oil for about 20 min at 390f. It might be slightly over cooked but it didn't look done at 15 min so... It tastes fine however and the two flavors together are quite delicious.

The sauce, using the 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, makes enough for about four fillets of salmon.

Lenten Biscuits!!!

Because I made a lot of dough for the Lenten Pancakes, I figured I'd turn what I had left into small rolls/biscuits/bread/whatever you want to call them.  I just added a bit more flour, kneed the dough, and threw them in the oven.   As biscuits/rolls/ect they are pretty decent.  Put some jam or honey on them and they work well as small loaves of bread. 

Now, I have biscuits for the next few days. 

Lenten Pancakes

To make lenten pancakes. Take fine flour which you shall beat up with yeast. Then make dough from it. Then, from the same dough, one shall take a small lump and make it square [and] very thin, in any case as thin as it is possible to make, until small holes appear. Then fry them well in rape oil. Some, who wish to, fry raisins therein and they stick them one here and there and also small pieces of apple.

Taken from Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen (Netherlands, ca. 1510


My redaction:

• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 1/4 cup of almond milk
• pinch of salt
• 1 packet of yeast
• 1/8 cup of sugar

So...it's bread.  Thin bread, but bread.   I added the salt and sugar because, otherwise, it would be tasteless bread (and it's how you make dough anyway...).  I used the almond milk for much the same reason although I'm sure water would work.

I fried it up in olive oil rather than canola oil (which is what it's calling for) because it's what I had on hand.  Because it's bread, it tastes great with honey.

EDIT:

I put the dough in a container and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Of course, due to the yeast, it rose. I made the pancakes again for dinner and really, wait for the dough to rise the next day. They are SO Much better. I'm thinking still a lot more sugar is needed in the pancake and I should have added the raisins to the dough but, over all, not bad.

18th Century Caraco

This was a UFO project.  I started this jacket last year as a button front.   It ended up way too big so I threw it into the UFO pile where it languished for the past few months.   However, once Williamsburg got closer, I knew it had to be taken out and given another chance.

This was after I ripped off the front panels.  It's still way too big and I had to figure out how to take it all in.

This was part of the problem.  I have no idea why I extended the side into the neckline like that.  I really don't.  But that inch and a half on either side needed to go.

So I folded it to create a line (yeah, I know it's wrinkled.  It will get better, I swear!) and then chopped the upper front sides off.

The back gape.  It still gapes but not quite this badly.  I know what I did wrong and it's more trouble than it's work to fix it completely.

I took the entire thing apart, repleated the back, folded the center back insides over to take another inch off there, turned the front panels into a stomacher and then....

I'm on the left.  The photo was taken by Gloria of In the Long Run.  Once it was repleated, the back came out really well.  There is still a slight gape at the back because, as you can see in this photo, the back neckline is curved rather than straight.  I really just can't correct that without making an entirely new back lining - which isn't fun with 18th Century outfits.

I know, I need to iron it.  I swear I did before I left for Williamsburg!  It just ended up in the big purple body bag and...got squished.

I also didn't finish the sleeves until the day off.  Rather, I didn't finish sewing the sleeves on until the day off.  The sleeves were done.

The fabric is a chintz I picked up at Fort Fred a couple of years ago.  Although it doesn't have any orange in it, the bright orange quilted petticoat really went well with the fabric tones.   The bodice is lined in that glue stiffened fabric I can never remember the name of even though I should and cotton.  

Slight Change

I've recently switched the All the Pretty Dresses blog over to http://www.extantgowns.com. Although, if you type in http://extantgowns.blogspot.com and all your pins will redirect, the readers will NOT pick up on this new feed. Click the Eiffel Tower if you have bloglovin - it will automatically add the new feed to your reader.

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Second Day of Lent

I decided this year to keep tabs on everything I eat during Lent. Sorry for those that don't like the cooking stuff. I swear I'll have sewing stuff this weekend.

Anyway:


Breakfast: Oatmeal with Almond Milk
Lunch: The red beans and rice leftovers
Snack: Raisins and olives.  Not at the same time, of course.   I've just been snacking on one or the other throughout the day
Dinner: Oatmeal with Almond Milk and then Salmon


This weekend will be a bit difficult since I'll be traveling.  I did buy crackers (not exactly period but definitely in the spirit of the medieval lent) and raisins for snacks.  As in previous years, I won't be as strict when I'm traveling because it's simply not doable.  I'll stick to the no meat whatsoever and no eggs (except Sundays!) but that will be about it.  Lots of fish & chips this weekend for me!

Oatmeal!!!

Before Lent, I bought Nature's Path Organic Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal.  It's this stuff.  The ingredients are simple: Rolled oats, cane sugar, dried apple, cinnamon, and sea salt.

I know they had all these ingredients in the middle ages/Renaissance, but did they have oatmeal as we know it.  Yes.  Yes, the did.

1520's Spain  Oatmeal Gruel
1390's England  Grewel of Almounds
1420's France Oatmeal

There are actually quite a few different recipes but almost all have the basic oats in almond milk (or regular milk) with salt and sometimes sugar.  They'd add all sorts of things really beyond that so apple and cinnamon?  Not exactly out there for the middle ages.


Luckily for me, this means I get to have oatmeal for breakfast on non-fasting days!   And without soaking the oats for days or any of the other work that sounds way too hard for just making a bowl of oatmeal.