Boiled meats from Markham

[bunnyjadwiga]

From Markham's English Housewife, reformatted for my own convenience:

Of boiled meats ordinary

It resteth now that we speak of boiled meats and broths, which, forasmuch as our housewife is intended to be general, one that can as well feed the poor as the rich, we will begin with those ordinary wholesome boiled meats, which are of use in every goodman's house: therefore to make the the best ordinary pottage; you sahll take a rack of mutton cut into pieces or a leg of mutton cut into pieces; for this meat and these joints are the best, although any other joint, or any fresh beef will likewise make good pottage:
and, having washed your meat well,
put it into a clean pot with fair water, set it on the fire;
then take

• violet leaves
  
• endive
  
• succory
  
• strawberry leaves
  
• spinach
  
• langdebeef
  
• marigold [calendula] flowers
  
• scallions
  
• and a little parsley

and chop them very small together;
then take half so much oatmeal well beaten as there is herbs, and mix it with the herbs
and chop all very well together:
then when the pot is ready to boil, scum it very well,
and then put your herbs,
and so let it boil with a quick fire, stirring the meat oft in the pot,
till the meat be boiled enough, and that the herbs and water are mixed together without any separation,
which will be after the consumption of more than a third part:
then season them with salt and serve them up with the meat either with sippets or without.

Michael Best translation, page 74.

So, we take our mutton or beef, cut up,
wash it,
put it in a pot with fair water, on the fire (possibly a new ceramic pot)
chop up our herbs
take half as much oatmeal as we have herbs
chop herbs and oatmeal together.
When the pot boils, skim off the scum
and then add the herb/oatmeal mixture
and boil until it is reduced by one-third and the herb/oatmeal mixture is porridgey.
Salt to taste.
Serve with sippets (toast triangle-like objects) or without, the pottage along with the meat.

Comments

[auntiero.livejournal.com]

Can you hear my stomach growling from here?

[stringlady.livejournal.com]

What do you suppose "oatmeal well beaten" is?

It certainly isn't our rolled oats. (Wonder when that technique was developed..)

It's boiling a long time, to cook the meat. (Well - I'd simmer...) I'd think it might be enough to cook whole groats, but "beaten" sounds as if they might not be whole, either.

Irish steel cut? Scotch (which are cut finer?) Something else I don't know about? What happens to oats when they're ground - and why does no one grind oats, but rather cut and/or roll them?

Hadn't thought about it, until I read this.

[herveus.livejournal.com]

I pondered the same question briefly. The answer that leapt to mind works something like this:

What we tend to think of when we hear "oatmeal" is rolled oats. What I suspect is that you take oat groats and coarsely mill them (a la "corn meal"). "well beaten" may imply something closer to oat flour than Scottish Oats.

It appears the "Irish oats" are oat groats cut into bits. Scottish oats take Irish oats, steam them, then grind to meal with an optional bit of toasting thrown in. Oat flour is grinding much finer.

I think I'd go with Scottish oats. The cooking time will be moderately long, and they will ultimately thicken the broth, giving the porridgey texture.