Portuguese Mince on Toast

We are currently in a COVID-19 lockdown so I thought it was time to break out the comfort food while in isolation.  Mince on toast has always been a family favourite so I was pleased to see a variant on this in the Um tratado da cozinha portuguesa do século XV.

Picadinho de carne de vaca

Lavem carne devaca bem macia, e piquem-na bem miudinha. A seguir adicionem-lhe cravo,açafrão, pimenta, gengibre, cheiro-verde bem cortadinho, cebola batida, vinagree sal. Refoguem tudo no azeite, e deixem cozinhar até secar a água. Sirvamsobre fatias de pão.

Beef mince (English translation found here)

Wash the tender cow's meat, and mince it well. Next add cloves, saffron, black pepper, ginger (I've never heard of cheiro-verde, it translate literally as"green-smell") well chopped, crushed onion, vinegar and salt. Saute everything in the olive oil, and let cook until it the juices dry. Serve over sliced bread.

My redaction

Ingredients

500gm beef 

1 t each of cloves, pepper and ginger

A pinch of saffron

1 T of parsley, chopped (less if dried)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 T vinegar (balsamic is nice, I also used a mix of pinot grigio and malt)

1 t salt

1 T olive oil

Method

Cook onion in olive oil until translucent then add mince and brown.

Add spices and cook until fragrant.

Add parsley and vinegar and continue to cook until mince is fully cooked.

Serve over bread/toast or I made flat breads which were delicious with it.

The mince has a lovely spicy flavour and the tang of the vinegar works well with fattier mince.

Persona Name Article

This is an entry for the Persona Challenge

When I am forgotten, as I shall be, and sleep in dull cold marble, … Say, I taught thee.
The teaching or sharing of knowledge or skills that your persona would have had, for example, classes, published articles etc.
I wrote this article on the process I went through to choose my 16th century Portuguese name and then registered it.

Creating and Registering my Portuguese name

Another Recipe for Moorish Chicken - Portuguese 15th century recipe

This was to enter the Southron Gaard Persona challenge category

1. Do you think because you are virtuous, that there shall be no more cakes and ale?
An item of food or drink your persona may have grown, prepared, consumed, or known of.

There is one Portuguese cookbook from period called Um tratado da cozinha portuguesa do século XV or Livro de cozinha da Infanta D. Maria de Portugal which can be found, with an English translation at http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/tratado.html. This collection of recipes was written in the late 15th century and then taken to Italy with Maria, the grand daughter of Manuel I of Portugal, when she married Alessandro Farnese. It ended up in Naples. (See reference to this here or in At the  First Table:Food and Social Identity in Early Modern Spain by Jodi Campbell).

I was having a friend of over for dinner so decided to cook the Moorish Chicken recipe from this book as I have tried it before and it is delicious.

Outra receita de galinha mourisca
Façam em pedaçosuma galinha bem gorda, e levem-na ao fogo brando, com duas colheres de sopa degordura, algumas fatias de toucinho, bastante coentro, um punhadinho de salsa,umas folhinhas de hortelã, sal e uma cebola bem grande. Abafem-na e deixem-na dourar, mexendo-a devez em quando. Em seguida cubram essagalinha com água, e assim que levante fervura acabem de temperá-la com sal,vinagre, cravo-da-índia, açafrão, pimenta-do-reino e gengibre. Logo que agalinha esteja cozida, derramem dentro 4 gemas batidas. Tomem uma travessa funda, forrada com fatiasde pão e derramem por cima a galinha.

Another recipe for moorish chicken - literal translation
Cut a very fat chicken into pieces, and cook it over low heat, with two soup spoons of fat, a few slices of bacon, lots of cilantro, a bit of parsley, a few mint leaves, salt and a very large onion. Cover it (abafar means smother) and let it brown, stirring once in a while. Next cover that chicken in water, and as soon as it reaches a boil finish seasoning it with salt, vinegar, cloves, saffron, black pepper and ginger. When the chicken is cooked, add 4 beaten egg yolks. Take a deep serving tray, lined with bread slices and put the chicken over top.

My redaction to feed 4

500gm chicken breast
1T olive oil
100gm bacon
¼ cup of coriander
2T parsley
1T mint
Pinch of salt
2 cups of chicken stock
1T white wine vinegar
1 t salt
1t each of cloves, pepper and ginger
A pinch of saffron
4 egg yolks
1 loaf of bread.

1. Cut chicken and bacon in to chunks (I used chicken breasts as I wanted it to cook quickly) '
2. Roughly cut the herbs and dice the onion. (I didn’t add coriander the first time as my guest did not like it so included more parsley. I did up it in in a later attempt at this recipe and it added a nice flavor)
3. Heat up the oil in a thick based casserole dish on the stove top 
4. Brown chicken and bacon
5. Add in herbs, salt and onion
6. Put the lid on the casserole dish and cook at medium heat for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to stop the chicken from sticking.
7. Add in the stock (I used stock rather than just water as I was using breast meat which doesn’t have the flavor of chicken drums)
8. When the stock boils add in the vinegar, salt and spices. Leave to cook for 5 minutes
9. Separate the egg yolks and whisk together
10. Pour the egg yolks into the casserole and mix up the sauce thoroughly. If you do not the egg will cook in lumps rather than being spread through sauce.
11. Slice a loaf of good bread up. Either serve the chicken in a deep dish with bread underneath or serve the chicken to the table in a pot with a loaf of bread so guests can assemble their own. The bread is very delicious when soaked in the sauce!