AVES WITH 13TH C RECIPE FOR ROAST PARTRIDGE

Dining on the Oceanfront
Photo by: Lord-Williams

OCast. aues, OCat hocels, valatarias Cat ocells, Eng. fowl, especially chicken, was basic in Al-Andalus cookery and the preferred meat in medieval Iberia. Villena lists 29 different species. The largest proportion of existing medieval recipes is for fowl. It was considered the noble man’s food. Several species were especially served in banquets including peacock. The consumption of fowl was considered indispensable and represented the greatest benefit for health especially for convalescents. 

Chicken was available year round. It offered a variety of dishes and was accessible for ordinary people. It was presented for all tastes, in fried dishes, baked, chopped, in casseroles, in pastries, cakes and omelets, with almonds, pine kernels, pistachios, etc., with sauces and garums. Normally, however, it was served with bitter or sour flavoring topped with spices. Al-Andalus cookery includes various stuffings. Breadcrumbs were of capital importance in this area where spices, dried fruit fruits and honeys put to test the mixture of flavors that characterize Andalusian tastes. This was based on the fundamentals of good health. See aves de coral, serenar, and volatiles. [Anón/Grewe. 1982:CXXXVIII:158; Benavides-Barajas. Nueva-Clásica. 1995:198; Castro. Alimentación. 1996:267; Nola/Iranzo. 1982:167; and Villena/Calero. 2002:22b-23a:24b-28b]

ROAST PARTRIDGE ADAPTED FROM HUICI’S TRANSLATION OF
ANÓN AL-ANDALUS #107 PLATO DE PERDIZ ASADA, p 74

Roasted Partridge

Photo by: EssG

Ingredients

1 partridge with entrails, average weight 1-2 lbs

2 eggs

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cassia

2 tbsp ground lavender

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp *murri

grease, melted butter or oil for basting

3 ½ oz or a bed of  fresh rue on a platter

1 tsp pepper

Preparation

Clean a partridge. Grind entrails. Beat two eggs and mix them with the entrails, pepper, 1 tsp cinnamon, cassia, lavender, oil. and murri.  Grease the cavities of the bird and fill them with them stuffing. Sow them tightly shut. Put the bird on a spit and roast it over moderate heat and at a distance from it. Grease the outside continuously letting it absorb the grease and until it is lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Carve it on a bed of rue and sprinkle it with pepper and 1 tsp cinnamon and present it, God willing.

*See Almori with Byzantine Murri Recipe, published August 25, 2011.