COCIMIENTO WITH 13TH C ORANGE PASTE RECIPE

Blood Oranges
Photo by: Lord-Williams

1. boiling in water, baking in the oven cooking. 2. boiling with herbs or other medical substances for therapeutic use. The 13^th C Anonymous Al-Andalus contains some 48 recipes for medicinal use.  [Gázquez. Cocina. 2002:118]

ORANGE PASTE ADAPTED FROM ANÓN AL–ANDALUS #529. PASTA DE NARANJA, p 287

Ingredients

6 oz blood orange rind (about 6 oranges depending on size)

Boiling Zest in Honey
Photo by: Lord-Williams

12 oz honey boiled and skimmed

Preparation

Peel red oranges. Soak the rinds in water overnight. Cut them in the shape of fingers.[1]

Clarify the honey. Add the orange rind and boil, stirring constantly, until it becomes a paste. Take care not to burn it. Remove from heat and drop spoonfuls on wax paper. Shape them like nuts if possible.  Serve these with meals to improve digestion, to dissolve the phlegm, to increase urination and to cure colds.[2]  It is an admirable medicine. 

Blood Orange Paste
Photo by: Lord-Williams

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[1] As the zest is very acid thin stripes are recommended.

[2] Huici’s translation is ‘cold noses.’ 

COCIDO MARAGATO WITH MARAGATO CHICKPEA STEW RECIPE

Kale or Cow Cabbage is prized in the Maragato Region
Photo by: Lord-Willliams

Maragato chickpea stew. It is the most traditional dish in the Maragato Region in León. It dates back to the pre-Roman period in Asturias and León and still is made from recipes carried down for hundreds of years.

Cocido maragato containing boiled game is the prototype and the most popular, varying little, although the meat is substantially increased for wedding and feast day cocidos. It is prepared during the hunting season from the Immaculate Conception (December 8^th) to January 6^th (King’s Day), and on raw, freezing winter days for this it is a heavy dish rich in fats and high calories.

Game and livestock are killed in the morning. The entails are extracted and preparation for consumption of the meat commences. Generally, cocido maragato contains pork including blood, shoulder meat, an ear, the snout, the belly, choizo, chicken, jerky and young bull meat. It does not include 10 different meats as some authors claim. Further, it does not include leeks or carrots as in Madrid but kale or cow cabbage (commonly called berza)[1] or a vegetable in season with fried garlic. Each ingredient is served separately on a platter, except the chickpeas which are served in another dish. In Castile, the broth from the cocido is served as a first course but the Maragatos say that if something is leftover be the broth. They, therefore, serve it after the solids are eaten.   See cerrona, comida del pastor, garbanzos, larguero, puchero and ración. [Alonso, L.M. 1994: 197; Ares. “Comidas.” 1994:84; ES: Fortun. Mar 8, 02; Fernández González. 1994:192-193; and Sutil. 1994:163-164]

Note: One helping Maragato cocido contains 1,000 calories. The normal intake of a person per day is 2,000 calories with bread and dessert. An individual helping of the pork including a blood sausage has over 700 calories.

MARAGATO COCIDO FROM THE MEDIEVAL SPANISH CHEF’S RECIPES

For 6 persons

Maragato Chickpea Stew
Photo by: MR Samper and MJ Martínez Pesta

Ingredients

10 ½ oz chickpeas

7oz bacon
9 oz jerky
9 oz de gallina/hen
7 oz  blood sausage
3 ½ oz salt pork
1 chorizo
1 pig’s ear
1 trotter
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
3 turnips
1/2 cow cabbage
1 c medium size noodles water extra virgin olive oil salt to taste
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Preparation

Soak chickpeas overnight. Put bacon and jerky in a separate boil and soak overnight as well. Put the meat, salt pork, chorizo, trotter, ear, chicken, bacon and jerky in a pot with plenty of water. Boil gently for 1 ½ hrs. Skim off grease. Fill a pressure cooker with plenty of water, bring to a brisk boil. Add chickpeas, onion and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook 15 minutes.
Peel the turnips and cut them into pieces. Chop the cabbage. Put them in a pot and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt. Cook 20-30 minutes.

Peel and chop garlic cloves. Brown them in a frying pan with olive oil and remove from heat.  

Add chopped parsley and white pepper.  Mix this and pour it over the cabbage and turnips. Strain the chickpeas and add the broth to the broth in the meat pot. Bring to a boil and add the noodles. Let it boil gently for 5 minutes. Sreve the meats and sausages first, then the chickpeas and vegetables. Serve the soup last.

Note: Leftovers from cocido are called ropa vieja ("old clothes)." The following day, the out coat or tegument of onions are friend until they become dark. Then the leftovers are put on top of them and they are cooked until toasted. Today this dish is served with natural tomato sauce.

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[1] See blog titlted Col Forrrajera published April 29, 2013.

COCIDO DE DIARIO WITH RECIPE

everyday chickpea stew. This is a much simpler dish than cocido or cocido maragato. The custom was that peasants left a pot of food cooking on the ashes of a fireplace when they went to work in the fields all day long. When they returned home at night, they were greeted with a warm, hearty meal. Some made new pots everyday, while others made enough food in a pot to last a week. See olla podrida. [Sutil. 1994:165; and Villar. 1994:182]

COCIDO OR EVERYDAY CHICKPEA STEW ADAPTED FROM EL LIBRO DE LA FAMILIA[1] COCIDOS O PUCHERO COMÚN, p 45-46

Everyday Chickpea Stew
Photo by: MR Samper and MJ Martínez Presta

½ lb chickpeas

1 lb meat (beef or lamb)
½ hen
entrails from the hen

3 ½ oz smoked ham

3 ½ oz streaky bacon

1 small onion

2 white carrots (orange, if not available)
1 bay leaf

salt to taste
½ tsp white pepper

Preparation

Soak chickpeas in water overnight. The next day, wash the meat and add that to the pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Skim off the scum. Reduce heat and boil gently for 2 hours.

Add chickpeas and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Add entrails from the hen, ham, streaky bacon, onion, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil again and then reduce heat.  Continue boiling gently for 10 minutes.

Add chicken and entrails. Boil gently 20 minutes.   

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[1] See  blog titled CHICHAS WITH RECIPE FOR COOKED MUSSLES published December 21, 2012 for explanation of the reference.

COCIDO WITH COCIDO MADRILEÑO RECIPE

Boiling Ingredients for Cocido
Photo by: MRSamper

OCast. cochos, cocheros, Eng 1. cooked, boiled. 2. OCast cocha, Eng boiled food, stew. It is speculated that it has existed from Neolithic times when humans first boiled food in liquid. The first written record is about the Spartan black soup, in Greece, containing blood and probably vegetables. It is thought that scraps of meat were included. The Spanish cocido is believed to be a descendant of the Jewish dafina, see adafina. Like the dafina, cocido takes hours to cook. It has been maintained that it became a Christian dish during the 15^th C, in Segovia, when products of the slaughter of pigs were added including blood sausage and chorizo, which stands to reason as Henry IV of Castile spent all the time he could in Segovia and loved sausages and other pork dishes. Segovia, also, is known for having some of the finest chickpeas, a basic ingredient in cocido.

With the ascension of the Borbon kings to the Spanish throne, in the 18^th C, French dishes replaced cocido until Alfonso XII had it served at his 19^th birthday party in 1876. Then cocido made its way back into Spanish cuisine.

Frying Balls
Photo by: MRSamper and MJ Martínez Pesta

Francisco Franco, Dictator of Spain, 1939-1975, while boasting Spanish moral after the Civil War ending in 1939, declared cocido a national dish.  Now every region in Spain and every cook has his own recipe for cocido. Normally, it includes pieces of chicken, osso bucco, pork sausage, blood sausage, salt pork, turnips, carrots, leeks and cabbage (which is cooked separately). 

In Castile, it is inconceivable without chickpeas but the Portuguese use rice instead. It is noted today as the typical dish of Madrid but the cocidos of the Maragato Region in León are the most famous for quality and flavor.  See cerrón, comida del pastor, cocido maragato, garbanzos, larguero, puchero and ración. [Alonso, Martín. 1994:I:A:1108; Ares. “Cocido.” 1994:84; Autoridades. 1979:I:A:137; Fernández González. 1994:193; Fernández Muníz. 1994:187; Montoro/Ciceri. 1991:200:48 and Villena/Calero. 2002:41a]

COCIDO MADRILEÑO ADAPTED BY THE MIDEVAL SPANISH CHEF

Chickpeas Perfectly Cooked!
Photo by: MRSamper and MJ Martínez Pesta

Ingredients

10 ½ oz. 

1 piece of salt pork

10 ½ oz

shank of beef

1 hindquarter of chicken

1  shank bone

2  backbones

tip of smoked ham

2  chorizos

1  blood sausage

3  turnips

2  leeks

3 white carrots[1]

cabbage

virgin olive oil

Frying Balls for Cocido Madrileño
Photo by: MRSamper and MJ Martínez Pesta

For the balls:

500 gr pork

2 slices bread, crusts removed, diced

2 eggs

½ onion diced

1 garlic clove mashed

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Soak chickpeas overnight in water. Several hours before cooking cover the salted meat and the salt pork in cold water.

A Cocido to Melt in Your Mouth!
Photo by: MRSamper

Fill a pressure cooker half full with water. Clean vegetables, except the cabbage, and wash the bones adding them to the pot. Bring the water to a boil. Place chickpeas in a linen bag and add them. Add the remaining ingredients except the chorizo and blood sausage.

Skim off the scum, close the top and bring to a brisk boil then reduce heat and boil gently for 20 minutes.

Mix ingredients for the balls. Shape them and set aside.

Wash the cabbage and cook it in a separate pot for 20 minutes or until done. After 10 minutes add the chorizo and gently boil.

Fry the blood sausage. When cooked, place it on paper towels to remove excess grease.

Grammy's early 20th C Tomato Sauce
Photo by: MR Samper

When the cocido is cooked, each food item is placed separately on a platter, i.e. the carrots in one place, the chicken in another, the cabbage in another etc. (discard the bones). Remove the chickpeas and place them on the same platter. Add noodles to the broth and bring to a boil. Fry the balls in olive oil and put them on the platter.

When ready to eat, serve the broth piping hot with the noodles.

Drizzle a little olive oil over the chickpeas and serve with the solid ingredients on a platter.[2]

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[1] Orange carrots appeared in the Netherlands during the 17th Century. Today, they are used for color and are more common the white carrot, which was included in cocidos during the Middle Ages.  Orange carrots were used in this recipe as white carrots could not be found. 

[2] Today, a tomate sauce is served. MRSamper great granmother’s recipe is: tomato with a little broth, a mashed garlic clove, cumin and parsley.

COCHINOS WITH SAUSAGE RECIPE FROM MOSTOLES SLAUGHTERS

Grinding Meat and Bacon
Photo by: Lord-Williams

castrated pigs. They are noted for producing good sausage meat. [Pers. Memories. Slaughters Mostoles. 2000-2001:2003; and Serradilla. 1993:141]

SAUSAGES FROM RECIPES USED IN THE  SLAUGHTERS IN MOSTOLES (MADRID)

Ingredients

1 lb lean pork without skin or nerves

1 lb thick bacon without skin or nerves

1 1/3 tbsp salt

2 tsp white pepper

1 tsp rosemary

1 garlic clove mashed

1/4 c white wine

8’ clean and dry small pork intestines or 2’ large pork intestines

Preparation

Grind the meat and bacon two or three times in the meat grinder until finely ground. Put it in a tough or tub. Add garlic and season with salt, pepper and rosemary. Knead well adding wine. Dampen the intestines,  extend them on a table and stuff them.

Lucca, the cat, only likes gourmet sausage!
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Do not over stuff. Make sausage links 4” long if using small intestines and 5”-6” for large intestines.  Prick each link several times with pins to prevent them from exploding.

Boil them for 30 minutes. Remove and store until ready to eat.

When ready to fry. Put them in water at room temperature for 2 minutes. Remove and pat dry. Warm a frying pan add olive oil or lard and fry very slowly turning them to brown on all sides. Remove from heat and drain off grease. Serve warm.

COCHINILLO AL PINO WITH A PORK AND PINE NUT EMPANADA

PIGLETS IN THE FOREST - GROUP PHOTO
Photo from: Snaps379

sucking pig from a pine forest. [Pers. Memories. Slaughters Mostoles. 2000-2001:2003]

PORK AND PINE NUT EMPANADA FROM THE SPANISH MEDIEVAL CHEF

Ingredients

Preparing the Stuffing
Photo by: Lord-Williams

dough for empanada
4 tbsp butter
½ lb pork diced
1 chopped onion
1/3 c flour
1 c cream
1 apple, peeled and diced
1 lemon and the zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 ½  oz pine nuts
salt to taste ½ tsp rosemary

Preparation

Prepare the dough.

PREHEAT OVEN TO 375º F/ 190 ºC

An Empananda To Savor!
Photo by: Lord-Williams

For the stuffing, heat a frying pan over medium heat and add butter. Add the meat and seal it. Add the onion and cook until transparent. Sprinkle flour over the onion and meat and stir 1-2 minutes until the mixture begins to boil.

Grease an oven-proof dish or pie tin and sprinkle with flour and line it with dough. Prick the bottom with a fork. Put chickpeas on the bottom to prevent the dough from rising. Bake 10 minutes in the oven.

Add the apple, lemon juice and rosemary to the stuffing mixture. Continue cooking until the apple is soft. Add  pine nuts and cream to the stuffing mixture and cook until thick. Season with salt to taste.

Remove the chickpeas from the empanada dish and add the stuffing. Cover with dough if desired. Seal the top to the sides wetting it with cold water. Prick holes in the top of the dough. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Serve warm or cold. 

COCHINILLO WITH ROAST LEG OF SUCKLING PIG

Suckling Pig Ready for Roasting
Photo by: Lord-Williams

suckling pig; boar; pig destined for reproduction. See cerdo. [Pers. Memories. Slaughters Mostoles. 2000-2001:2003]

ROAST LEG[1] OF SUCKLING PIG A SPANISH MEDIEVAL CHEF CREATION

1 leg of suckling pig

1-2 c salt

1 garlic clove meshed

1 fennel bulb

4 bay leaves

2 c white wine

Preparation

PREHEAT OVEN TO 200º F/90º C

Make a bed of chopped fennel and bay leaves in the bottle of the baking pan. Cut slits in the leg and press pieces of garlic into them until used up. Sprinkle some fennel over the leg. Pour the wine over the leg. Coat the skin side with salt. Seal the pan shut with aluminum foil. Let cook for 3 hrs 45 minutes.

Fifteen minutes before done, uncover and increase the heat to brown the skin.  

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A Simply Excellent Roast
Photo by: Lord-Williams

[1] A whole suckling pig can be roasted in this fashion but the Spanish Medieval Chef was too poor to buy a whole piglet.

COCHINA WITH SPARE RIBS

The Cochina!
Photo by: Lord-Williams

female pig; a dirty person. [Pers. Memories. Slaughters Mostoles. 2000-2001:2003]

SPARE RIBS 

Ingredients

1 lb spare ribs

2 tbsp lard

salt and white pepper to taste

Preparation

Cut the spare ribs. 

The ribs are best barbaqued and served as hors d'oeuvres. Neither salt nor sauce are necessary. If a barbaque is not available they can be broiled or pan fried as follows:

Heat a frying pan and add the lard. Fry the ribs until browned. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Eating Properly the  Medieval Way
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Eat the medieval way picking up a rib between the thumb and the index finger of the right hand. Wear rings with stones on the ring finger and baby finger. The stones are to ward off poisons and evil spirits. If any grease falls on the stones, they will loose their power and the eater will be considered a cochina or cochino!

COCER A MEDIAS WITH 14TH C CHICKEN IN ONION SAUCE RECIPE

Parboiling Onions
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Cat prebullir, Eng parboil. [Anón/Grewe. 1982:LXXII:113]

CHICKEN IN ONION SAUCE ADAPTED FROM SENT SOVÍ #LXXII QUI PARLA CON SA DEUEN DONAR GUANINES EN ASTA B PURIOLA, p 113

For 4 persons

Ingredients

1 whole chicken 

3 onions

3 ½ oz lard

2 roasted chicken livers

½ tsp black pepper

salt to taste

½ c red wine vinegar

A Tasty Dish Anytime of Year
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Preparation

Clean and scorch the chicken, Cut off the claws and neck. Salt it and put it on a spit; smear it with lard.

          

Put the rest of the lard in the dripping pan and heat it until dissolved. Parboil the onions in boiling water for 5 minutes. Thinly chop them and add them to the dripping pan. Chop the livers and grind black pepper. Add these to the dripping pan with vinegar and ½ c water.

Put the dripping pan under the spit and roast the chicken. When the chicken is done, carve it and place it in a serving dish with the liver and onion sauce in the dripping pan.

          

Supply eaters with grails[1] instead of plates for eating this dish.

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[1] The word in Old Catalan is gresals. These are earthware, wooden or metal cups or bowls.

COCER WITH 14TH C RECIPE FOR GOURDS BOILED IN MILK

Cooking Meat and Gourds
(The gourds are probably New World
but were the only ones available.)
Photo by: Lord-Williams

OCast cozer, Eng to boil, cook. [Nola. 1989:xxxi-2]

GOURDS BOILED IN MILK ADAPTED FROM SENT SOVÍ #LXXXXII 

QUI PARLA CON SA DEUEN COURA CARABACES AB LET[1], pp 124-125

Ingredients

1 lb meat

1 lb  gourds

2 c goat or ewe’s milk

salt to taste

2-3 eggs beaten

The Addition of Ewe's Milk
Gives the Dish a Unique Flavor
Photo by:Lord-Williams

Preparation

Wash web meat and put it in a pan with a flitch of bacon containing lean meat. Cover with water and bring to a boil. After 10 minutes add peeled and washed grourds diced with seeds removed. Bring to a boil stirring continually until cooked.

Reduce heat when the mixture has stopped boiling add more milk.  Taste for salt and flavor. When thick and cooked, remove from the heat. If desired, two or three eggs to enhance the flavor. When cooked, serve in bowls.

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[1] See Nola xxv-2 for a similar recipe.

COCCIÓN WITH 13TH C RECIPE FOR MACARRONI

Cooking Meat and Onion
Photo by: Lord-Williams

boiling, cooking. [Gázquez. Cocina. 2002:116]

BOILING MACARRONI[1] ADAPTED FROM HUICI’S TRANSLATION OF AL-ANDALUS #378. HECHURA DE LA COCCIÓN DE LOS MACARRONES, p 207-208

For 4 persons

Ingredients[2]

7 oz fatty meat

¼ c virgin olive oil

salt to taste

1 onion chopped

½ tsp white pepper

1 tsp coriander

For the pasta:

1 tbsp clarified butter

1 tbsp lard

1 tbsp virgin olive oil

14 oz macaroni

Garnish

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 ginger scraping

Boiled Macarroni with Meat and Onions
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Preparation

Dice fatty meat. Heat the olive oil in a pot. Seal the meat. Add the salt, onion, pepper and coriander and meat. Add enough water to cover and boil gently 20 minutes with the onion.  Remove the meat and onion and clarify the sauce. Put the meat and onion back in the pot and keep warm.

Put plenty of water in a separate pot and add butter, lard and oil and bring to a boil covered.  Remove the lid and add macaroni. Being to a brisk boil and gently shake the pot from time to time. Let cook 9 minutes. Remove from heat and cover let sit for 5 minutes. Strain remaining water.

Put the macaroni on a platter and let the grease settle. Pound[3] the meat and put it on the macaroni. Sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger and serve.

Rice or noodles may be used instead of macaroni.

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[1] Huici and Perry explain that the Hispano-Arab name is atriyya or itriyya, which is pasta of Greek origin known to the Arabs by the 8th century or so, i.e. five centuries before Marco Polo!

[2] This is a very basic and bland dish. The instructions for cooking the pasta are very interesting and correct. It does come out al diente with this rule of thumb. It however, needs pepping with garlic, fresh basil, oregano, a bay leaf and when ready to serve plenty mature cheese grated.

[3] This step is not necessary as it is assumed the meat is tender and the eaters have teeth!