{"id":4285,"date":"2012-11-01T11:40:48","date_gmt":"2012-11-01T10:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/?p=4285"},"modified":"2019-12-10T09:47:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T08:47:03","slug":"pasties-with-sweetbread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/en\/pasties-with-sweetbread\/","title":{"rendered":"Pasties with sweetbread"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Straight to the recipe<\/small><\/a><\/p>\n

What Johann Sebastian Bach might have eaten in Leipzig<\/h2>\n

\"The<\/h2>\n

The connection between the pasties and the famous German\u00a0baroque<\/span>\u00a0composer Johann Sebastian\u00a0Bach<\/span>\u00a0(1685-1750) is tenuous; a few years after Susanna Eger had published her cookbook (in 1706),\u00a0J.S. Bach<\/span>\u00a0accepted the situation of cantor in the Lutheran Thomaskirche in\u00a0Leipzig<\/span>. He would\u00a0work there from 1723 until his death in 1750. It could well be that a copy of that cookbook was present in the Bach-household. So prepare and serve this dish accompanied by secular cantatas of the great composer!
\nOn the left is a non-contemporary painting from T.E. Rosenthal (1848-1917) from 1870, with the morning prayers of the Bach family as subject. In the background the breakfast table is being laid by a maid. (Stadtgeschichtliches Museum<\/a>, Leipzig ).<\/p>\n

\"FrontispiceThe\u00a0Leipziger Kochbuch<\/em> of\u00a0Susanna Eger<\/h3>\n

The recipe for these sweetbread-pasties originates from the\u00a0Leipziger Koch-Buch,<\/em>\u00a0which was written by\u00a0Susanna Eger<\/a>\u00a0(1640-1713). When Susanna was left a widow with four children, she became an independent cook who could be hired for special meals and feasts. Her cookbook was first published in 1706. In 1715,\u00a0Amaranthes<\/a>\u00a0wrote in his\u00a0Frauenzimmer-Lexikon<\/a><\/em>: “die Egerin” was “ein in der Koch-Kunst wohl-erfahrenes und geschicktes Weib” (Ms Eger was an able and experienced woman with regard to the culinary art). Although Susanna, in the first edition only known as\u00a0S.E.,<\/em>\u00a0claims in the introduction to her cookbook that the content is completely original, she has borrowed heavily from older cookbooks. In this she is not unique, this was a widely spread practice. According to Manfred Lemmer, the editor of the facsimile edition, some of Eger’s recipes can even be traced back, through several sources, to the fifteenth century. In 1712 and 1745 the cookbook saw new editions, the last one was used for the facsimile-edition from 2006. Since the later editions were ‘extended and improved’, and I have only seen the facsimile 1745 edition, I do not know yet whether this recipe was already present in the first edition.<\/p>\n

The content of the\u00a0Leipziger Kochbuch<\/em><\/h3>\n

The cookery book has no less than 900 recipes. On the right is a pictur of the fromtispiece of the\u00a0Kochbuch<\/em>, and here follows a description of the content. The book opens with soups, but lacks a basic recipe for stock. The book continues with boiled dishes (fowl, meat, offal, but some of these dishes are fried before serving), and forcemeat balls (Kl\u00f6sser<\/em>) of meat, fish, cheese, vegetables, grains, and sausages. Next are some recipes for vegetables, for offal, and brawn\/jelly, eggs and fish. Then there are recipes for roast meat and sauces, salads, side dishes for the main meal (mush, porridge,\u00a0blancmange<\/a>, vegetables), and evening meal (again mush, dishes with fruit). These are followed by baked dishes: pasties, dough, pies, cookies, pancakes, fruit, marzipan, bread. Then confectionery, drying of food, sweets, quinces. There is a separate division on how to keep fruit and vegetables, making mustard and vinegar, pickling and smoking, wine and beer, and some ‘table jokes’ like a fire-spitting pig’s head and meat with fake maggots. The last chapter before the recipe index consists of thirty\u00a0Curieuse Tisch-fragen<\/em>\u00a0(‘curious table questions’) about food and health, like: “Which meal should be most nutritious?” Answer: ” Ancient Greeks and Romans ate light on midday, the main meal was in the evening, but these days it is the other way around”. After the index of recipes -in which recipes 868-889 are missing- the book continues with the\u00a0Curieuses Tisch- und Speise-Lexiocn<\/em>\u00a0[sic], an alphabetic overview of food and ingredients. The next appendix concerns a calculating help for the shopping cook:\u00a0Die auf den Marckt zum Einkauf gehende geschickte und allzeit fertig-Rechnende K\u00f6chin<\/em>. Super handy in a time before pocket calculators (unless you count the\u00a0abacus<\/a>). It offers multiplication tables from 1 to 10, and conversion tables for unit prices (if for example 1 chicken costs 3\u00a0Pfennige<\/em>, you’ll have to pay 5\u00a0Groschen<\/em>\u00a0and 6\u00a0Pfennige<\/em>\u00a0for 22 chickens), a list of Leipziger measures (1\u00a0Wispel<\/em>\u00a0-an old measure for wheat- equals 2\u00a0Malter<\/em>, but in Hannover for example 1\u00a0Wispel<\/em>\u00a0equals 6\u00a0Malter<\/em>). (On the picture is the frontispiece of the\u00a0Leipziger Kochbuch<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"ExampleFinally at the end of the book there is a kitchen inventory, with the objects ordered according to the material they are made of: tin, plate, iron, wood, earthenware, porcelain and linen. A separate leaf shows ways to lay oblong, round and square tables, with indications of the dishes that should be on the table.
\nBy the way, Susanna also offers two\u00a0holl\u00e4ndische<\/em>\u00a0(Dutch) recipes in her cookbook, for stockfish with rice (recipe #304), and for a beef sausage with lard that is pickled raw and will keep from 29 September (Michaelis<\/em>) until May (recipe #879).<\/p>\n

Ravioli, raffiolen, roffioelen, or simply pasties?<\/h3>\n

The German recipe is for\u00a0Raffiolen<\/em>. There are recipes for\u00a0ravioli<\/em>\u00a0as early as the fifteenth century, and not just in Italian cookery books.\u00a0Ravioli<\/em>\u00a0are small, stuffed dumplings that can be boiled, fried or baked.\u00a0This pasta recipe<\/a>\u00a0from the sixteenth century certainly looks Italian, not surprisingly it is from an Italian cookbook. But the recipe on this page and the recipe for Roffioelen with fish<\/em> from the fifteenth century that will be published in the future, have more in common with pasties or samosas.<\/p>\n

Het oorspronkelijke recept<\/h2>\n

Leipzicher Kochbuch<\/em>, edition 1745 (facsimile-edition 2006, see bibliography<\/a>) p.60\/61.<\/p>\n

Raffiolen zu machen, erstlich von Br\u00f6\u00dfgen und H\u00fcner-Brust.
\nNimm Br\u00f6\u00dfgen, darnach du viel machen wilst, koche sie nicht gar zu weich, dann hacke sie mit etwas gekochter H\u00fcner-Brust und Marck, doch nicht gar zu klein, thue ein wenig Rindfleisch-Fet in einen Tiegel, r\u00f6ste gehackte Petersilie und geriebene Semmel darinn, thue das Gehackte dazu, nebst ein wenig Salz, W\u00fcrze und einem Ey, r\u00fchre es unter einander, la\u00df es auf einer warmen Stelle stehen.
\nDenn thue sch\u00f6n Mehl in eine Sch\u00fcssel, schneide kleine St\u00fcckgen Butter und knete sie darunter, querle zwey Eyer in ein T\u00f6pfgen, darnach du viel Teig hast; gie\u00df sachte zu, und r\u00fchre es mit einem R\u00fchr-L\u00f6ffel recht unter einander, mit ein wenig Salz, streue Mehl auf ein Bret, thue den Teig heraus, w\u00fcrcke ihn, da\u00df er nicht mehr an H\u00e4nden klebe, mandele ihn fein d\u00fcnne auf, lege dann von dem Gehackten darauf, H\u00e4ufgen wie ein Klo\u00df, etliche nach einander; jedoch da\u00df allemahl ein wenig Plaz darzwischen bleibe. Schlage den Teig dar\u00fcber, formire es wie einen halben Monden, r\u00e4dele den Teig um jedes ab, doch nicht zu genau. Wenn sie nun alle gemacht, so backe sie in hei\u00df geschmelzter Butter fein gelbe, lege sie in eine Sch\u00fcssel, seze Rindfleisch-Br\u00fche zum Feuer, thue ein gut St\u00fcck Butter darein, auch Muscatenblumen, querle es, gie\u00df auf die Raffiolen, und la\u00df es auf einem Kohl-Feuer aufkochen. Du kanst sie auch warm trocken essen.<\/em><\/div>
To make ‘ravioli’, first of all from sweetbread and breast of chicken.
\nTake sweetbreads, according to the amount you want to prepare. Do not boil them too tender (soft?), then chop them with some cooked chicken breast and marrow fat, but not too small. Put some beef fat in a skillet, fry chopped parsley and bread crumbs in it, add the chopped [meat] with some salt, herbs and an egg. Mix well and keep it in a warm spot.
\nThen put good flour in a bowl, cut two pieces of butter and knead them with [the flour]. Beat two eggs in a small bowl, depending on how much dough you have. Pour slowly in the bowl, and stir it with a stirring-spoon well together, with a little salt. Sprinkle flour on a board, put the dough out (=of the bowl on the board), work it until it does not stick to the hands anymore, and roll out thinly. Then place the stuffing on it, heaps like a small forcemeat ball, many next to each other but with a little space between them. Fold the dough over, shape it as a half moon and cut the dough with a tracing wheel (?) around each, but not too precisely. When they are all made, fry them in hot melted butter nicely yellow and put them in a dish. Put beef stock on the fire, add a nice piece of butter to it, also mace, stir it and pour over the pasties. Bring to the boil on a coal fire. You can also eat them warm and dry.<\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>Modern adaptation of the recipe<\/h2>\n

Although the name of the dish calls a pasta dish to mind, in fact it has more in common with Indian\u00a0samosas<\/em>. In the original recipe the pasties are not boiled, but almost deep-fried in hot butter. You’ll have to use clarified butter for this, otherwise the butter will burn. Clarifying butter is quite easy to do (see here). If you do not mind deviating from the historical recipe, you can also use oil to deep-fry the pasties.
\nEen borrelhap (droog) of voorgerecht (met bouillon) voor\u00a06 tot 10 personen<\/span>;\u00a0voorbereiding<\/em>\u00a045 minuten<\/span><\/span>;\u00a0bereiding<\/em>\u00a040 minuten<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"PastiesFor 20 pasties<\/em>
\nThe stuffing<\/em>
\n1 pair of\u00a0sweetbreads<\/span>\u00a0(about 1 pound\/ 450 gr, after poaching about \u2154 pound\/ 300 gr)
\n1\u00a0chicken fillet<\/span>\u00a0(about 5\u00bd oz\/ 160 gr, after poaching about 4.4 oz\/ 125 gr; when not using sweetbread, take more chicken fillet instead, about 1\u2153 pound\/ 600 gr)
\nmarrow<\/a><\/span>\u00a0from a 2 inch\/ 5 cm marrow bone
\n1 Tbsp melted\u00a0suet<\/span>\u00a0(or butter)
\n2 Tbsp chopped\u00a0parsley<\/span>
\n3 to 4 Tbsp crumbs of fresh\u00a0white bread
\n1\u00a0egg<\/span>
\nsalt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
\nThe dough<\/em>
\n2\u00bd cup\/ 250 gr flour
\n3 Tbsp + 1 tsp butter
\n2 eggs
\npinch of salt
\nas much water as needed to make a good dough (I needed 2 tablespoons)
\nFurthermore<\/em>
\nclarified butter made from 17.6 oz \/ 500 gr butter (do NOT use margarine)
\nAnd optionally<\/em>
\n\u00bd liter\u00a0beef stock<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(home-made, because ready bought stock is always much too salty)
\n2 Tbsp butter
\npiece of mace<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparation in advance<\/h3>\n

\"FromStuffing<\/strong>\u00a0– Prepare the sweetbread: steep in salted water for fifteen minutes, rinse, and remove the outer membranes. Put on the fire in cold water, heat it until almost boiling, and poach the sweetbreads for twenty minutes. Poach the chicken breast as well (ten to twelve minutes). Take the marrow from the bone (here<\/a>\u00a0is how to do this). Melt suet or butter, fry parsley and bread crumbs. Put this in a bowl and mix in meat and egg. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg and keep covered until making the pasties. Not in a warm place as the original recipe instructs, but in the refrigerator.
\nDough<\/strong>\u00a0– Cut the butter with two knives in the flour into small pieces. Add the eggs with a pinch of salt, and mix and knead into an elastic dough ball. If the dough stays too dry, add a little water. If it is too wet, add a little flour. Cover and leave the dough to rest for a half hour.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/h3>\n

Make the pasties<\/strong>\u00a0– You can make them several hours in advance, and keep the pasties in the refrigerator until frying.
\nSprinkle flour on the worktop and roll out the dough in a thin sheet. Cover one half of the sheet with small heaps of stuffing, fold over the empty half of the dough sheet and press the two layers together between the stuffing. You can also use a dim sum-mould to make the pasties (see picture). I used a medium sized one, with a diameter of 9.5 cm\/3.75 inch. Whichever method you use, take care that the edges are carefully pressed together.
\nFry the pasties<\/strong>\u00a0– Heat clarified butter in a small skillet to 160 \u00b0C\/320 \u00b0F. Bake two or three pasties a time for a few minutes until golden brown. Drain them on paper towels and then keep them warm in an oven at 120 \u00b0C\/250 \u00b0F while baking the remaining pasties.
\nWhen serving the pasties in stock, heat this with a piece of mace, and let a piece of butter melt in it. Or not of course, as there is already an amount of butter used in the dough and the stuffing, plus the pasties are fried in butter. If you want to make a leaner version, you can wrap the stuffing in\u00a0Italian pasta dough<\/a>, and boil the ravioli (because that is what you are now preparing) first in water and then serve in the stock. See the recipe for\u00a0Ravioli with quail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To serve<\/h3>\n

The pasties are at their best when they are served straight after frying.
\nDry<\/strong>\u00a0– Cover a dish or individual plates with an elegantly folded napkin, place the pasties on the napkin and garnish with (fried) parsley. Served this way, the pasties can be eaten as finger food.
\nIn broth<\/strong>\u00a0– Pour hot beef broth in soup plates and add some pasties. Served this way, it is better to use cutlery. Early eighteenth century most people already used forks and knives, but some people still preferred (or were used) to eat with their fingers.<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/h2>\n

All descriptions of ingredients<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Bone marrow<\/h4>\n

‘The soft, nutritious substance found in the internal cavities of animal bones, especially the shin bones of oxen and calves’ (The Oxford Companion to Food<\/em>). It used to be a delicacy, but now it is looked upon with suspicion (BSE, cholesterol). This distrust and repulsion is not justified. Bone marrow contains iron, phosphorus, vitamin A, and contains 75% monounsaturated fat which is believed (though not yet proven beyond a doubt) to reduce the risk of heart disease and even some cancers. Since the shin bone is not connected to the brain or spine, there is no risk of BSE.
\nBefore using bone marrow, you have to prepare it. The bones have to soak for at least twelve hours in salted water which has to be refreshed several times. You’ll see the water turn pink from the blood that is extracted from the bone marrow by the salted water. After soaking rinse the bones and pat them dry.
\nBone marrow can be prepared in to fashions: you can boil them or roast them. If you boil them, fifteen minutes is enough. Roasting takes about as much (or little) time, in a preheated oven of 225-240 \u00b0C\/435-465 \u00b0F. Just place the bones upright in a greased baking tray. When the bones are done, they are served on a plate with a special marrow spoon. The marrow is scooped out of the bones, spread on freshly toasted bread and sprinkled with salt.
\nThe marrow spoon dates from around 1700, when serving roasted marrow bones was quite popular. The spoon can be used at both sides, for narrow and wider marrow bones.<\/p>\n

\"Sweetbreads<\/p>\n

<\/a>Sweetbread<\/h4>\n

This is offal, a gland which is present in young animals and humans but shrivels when they get older. Especially sweetbread of veal and lamb are eaten. In the Netherlands sweetbread is one of the most expensive kinds of meat. It used to be recommended for the weak and ill because of the white colour and soft texture. Like liver, sweetbread is rich in cholesterol.
\nPreparation: Sweetbread must be prepared as freshly as possible. First steep them in cold salted water, about one hour. Refresh the water a few times. Then bring to the boil with fresh water with salt, and take the sweetbreads out as soon as the water boils. Rinse them under the cold tap. Remove membranes and hard pieces. To make sweetbread firmer, you can now keep it under light pressure for an hour, allowing the excess moisture to drain away. This is especially advisable if you want to fry (breaded) sweetbread.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Bibliography<\/h2>\n

The editions below were used by me. Links refer to available editions.<\/p>\n