Cirons Tendres

Original:

Si vols adobar cirons tendres, lava 1s be e ages l e t d ametlles e mit los a coure ab la let e ab oli e ab sal, e mit hi una ceba o dues escaldades ab aygua bullent, e con1 r'.euran esser cuytes mit hi juyvert, elfaba, moradux e d altres bones erbes, un poch de gingtbre picat e un poch d agras ; en aquesta manera los cou homcom ells son tendres que no son dels primers ; si vols adobar dels pus telidres fes bullir la let de les amctlles ab oli e ab sal e ah cebes tendres e de les erbes deiiiunt dites, e del girigebre e de 1 agras, e mit los cirons

1a'i:ats ab aygua calda e tantost son cuyts. E n aquesta maiiera pots asi matex adobar fabes teudres ; pots lii metra saliandre vert ab de boues especies: pebre, gingcbre, canyella e safra.

[El Llibre de Sent Soví, LII, c1350]

Translation:

If you want to prepare tender chickpeas, wash them well.  Take almond milk, and cook them with the milk and oil and salt; and put in one or two onions scalded with boiling water.  When they should be cooked, put in parsley, basil, marjoram and other good herbs, and a little ground ginger and a little sour grape juice.  This is the way to cook them when they are tender; but not among the first.

If you want to prepare the most tender ones, boil the almond milk with oil, salt, and new onions, and the herbs listed above and ginger and sour grape juice.  Put in the chickpeas, washed with hot water, and they’ll be done the right way.

In this way you can also prepare young broad beans; you can put in green coriander with some good spices, pepper, ginger, cinnamon and saffron.

[El Llibre de Sent Sovi/The Book of Sent Sovi, LII, c1350, Trans: Robin Vogelzang, 2008]

Ingredients:

Chickpeas

Almond Milk

Oil

Salt

Onion

Parsley

Basil

Marjoram

Ginger

Sour Grape Juice Wine Vinegar

Redaction:

Cut Onion into quarters and scald in boiling water.  Remove Onion from water.  Take Almond Milk, Oil, Salt, and Onion and place in saucepan.  Wash Chickpeas in hot water and add to the milk.  Add Parsley, Basil, Marjoram, Ginger, and Sour Grape Juice.  Bring to a boil to thicken.


Notes: 

“This first paragraph deals with the preparation of tender chickpeas, but not those of the first springtime crop; the following paragraph describes how to prepare these, even more tender chickpeas.  To avoid the confusion, the Llibre d’aparellar (6), instead of the last <<tender>>, indicates that chickpeas that are <<a little hard>> (un poc durets) are prepared in this way, and it clearly distinguishes the preparation of the <<Most tender chickpeas>> (Ciurons pus tendres; 61), granting them their own chapter.”

“New Onions (cebes tendres):  Instead of the Catalan adjective tendre, in the Llibre d’aparellar (61) we read <<whole in four quarters>> (entegres en quatre quartons), i.e., cut into four parts but not chopped up.”

[El Llibre de Sent Sovi/The Book of Sent Sovi, LII, c1350, Trans: Robin Vogelzang, 2008]

Vogelzang compares the version of the recipe in Llibre de Sent Sovi with the version in Llibre d’Aparellar, which included the recipe borrowed from Llibre de Sent Sovi.  Llibre d’Aparellar is an unfinished manuscript that contains 300+ recipes compiled in the late 14^th Century.

Bibliography:

El Llibre de Sent Sovi/The Book of Sent Sovi, LII, c1350, Trans: Robin Vogelzang, 2008