D.Currie wrote:
> "Meryl" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >I would like to make a recipe for Osso Bucco which is "authentic".
> I've
> > looked through a lot of cookbooks and I saw at least three cooking
> > styles:
> >
> > 1. in one heavy pan (or dutch oven), saute veggies then brown the
> > meat;
> > 2. in one heavy pan, brown the meat then saute the veggies;
> > 3. in two pans, separately brown the meat, saute the veggies, and
> then
> >
> > add the meat to the veggies.
> >
> > What method do you use? Do you think one method more authentic than
> the
> > others?
> >
> > In a general way, this opens up the question of what exactly is
> > authentic?
> > Is it defined by adherance to similar ingredients? Too cooking style
>
> > also?
> > As a starter for debate, French Onion soup is often cooked with
> water
> > or
> > chicken stock in France, but in America it's almost always chicken
> or
> > beef (or veal) stock.
> >
> > Meryl
> >
>
> As far as "authentic" goes, if a chef invented it for a restaurant or
> whatever, you can say that his recipe is the original, authentic dish.
> No
> doubt, there's only one original way to go.
>
> If it's something that's something cooked at home by people in some
> region,
> it's harder to pin down. Chances are everyone cooked it little
> differently,
> from house to house and town to town, depending on how they learned to
> cook
> it, what utensils they had available, and what ingredients they had on
> hand
> or that they particularly liked. Not to mention that over time the
> recipe
> probably changed as people incorporated ingredients that were new to
> the
> region.
>
> At some point, maybe somebody wrote down a recipe, or a restaurant
> popularized a certain variation, but that doesn't mean that any of the
>
> earlier versions weren't "correct" or that later variations are good
> as
> well.
>
> Think of something as simple as a ham sandwich.
I have been meaning to post this for some time but never got around to
it, its more a curiosity than anything else, but i actually spent 50
dollars on an old book press so as to be abel to make the following
recipe. Only later to have it pointed out to me that i could have put a
brick on a plate to the same effect.
Book makers sandwich
----------------------------
"This substantial sandwich is favoured by people attending race
meetings ; after perusal it well be seen that such a snack could on
occasion take the place of a full meal.
Cut of the crusts from the ends of a sandwich loaf leaving at least 1 cm
of bread on them.
Grill a thick steak, well seasoned with salt and pepper; allow it to
cool then spread it with mustard and sprinkle with grated horseradish.
Butter the crusts, put the steak between them and tie up with string.
Wrap it in several sheets of clean absorbent paper, place in a press and
tighten it gradually before leaving it for 30 minutes. When removed it
will be seen that the inside of the sandwich is saturated with the meat
juice which the outside crust has prevented from escaping. The string
and paper are removed and the sandwich is then wrapped in grease proof
paper or placed in a box with a lid.
> Imagine that someone who had
> never eaten one wanted the "authentic" recipe. After going to
> restaurants
> and homes across the country, there would be thousands of variations
> including the type of ham, thickness of slice, type of bread, add-ons
> like
> cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle; condiments like mayo or mustard. Do
> you
> toast the bread? If you toast it, do you toast just the bread, or do
> you
> toast the whole sandwich? What would an authentic ham sandwich be?
> Everyone
> would have a favorite, so how do you choose which are "real" and which
>
> aren't?
>
> Another problem is that if what you're looking for is really old dish,
>
> you're going to get people who will tell you that you can't use
> anything
> that wasn't native before the conquerors/explorers/settlers showed up
> with
> new ingredients from far-off lands. No matter that the new ingredients
> have
> been in use for 500 years. No matter that the original spice is now
> extinct
> or has been classified as toxic. No matter that no one wrote down
> those
> recipes, so everyone's guessing, anyway.
Especially now a days, imagine Italian cooking with out tomatoes, Asian
food without peanuts. Corn & chocolate are now parts of traditional
European cooking but were unknown to the Europeans 500 years ago.
Here's my contribution The first recipie is from Ada Boni' Talisman
cook book and the second is from Auguste Escoffier' Le Guide Culinaire.
Ossobuco
-----------
! tbs. butter
4 veal shin bones, 4 inches long, with meat
2 tbs. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup water
1 tsp. chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, chopped
4 strips lemon peel
1 anchovy filet, mashed
1 tbs. stock
1 tbs. butter
Melt 1 tbs. butter in a skillet. Roll bones in flour, place in skillet,
add salt and pepper and cook until well browned, turning bones over
occasionally during browning process. Add wine and continue cooking
until wine evaporates. Add cup of water, cover skillet and cook 1 hour,
adding more water if necessary.
Five minutes before serving add parsley, garlic, lemon peel and anchovy
and cook, 2 minutes longer, turning bones over once. Place bones on a
serving dish. Add 1 tbs. stock to pan gravy, add remaining 1 tbs.
butter, mix well and pour over bones. Serves 4 with rice or pasta.
------------------
And here's a French version
Ossi Buchi
--------------
Cut the knuckles of veal across the bone into round sections
approximately 2 - 2 & 1/2 inches thick. Season, pass through flour and
colour on both sides in hot lard, using a shallow pan. For 10 sections
of knuckle add 1/2 cup of chopped onion and cook together for a few
minutes with the knuckles, then add 2 & 1/4 pound roughly chopped flesh
only of tomato and 2 & 1/4 cups white wine. Reduce by two thirds,
moisten halfway up the ingredients with sufficient white veal stock and
add a bouquet garni. Cover with a lid and cook slowly in the oven for 1
& 1.2 hours, by which time the cooking liquor should be reduced by
approximately half.
Arrange the sections of knuckle in a deep dish with its garnish and
cooking liquid. sprinkle with a little lemon juice and chopped parsley.
--
JL
>
>
> I've got a few recipes that came from my mother, and presumably her
> mother
> taught her how to cook them. However, while the dishes were originally
> from
> the "old country" some of the ingredients were modified to take
> advantage of
> modern conveniences, like commercially canned foods. They're probably
> not
> authentic recipes if you want to go back to the roots of these dishes,
> but
> they were devised/revised by authentic ethnic cooks.
--
Joseph Littleshoes
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