Tomas de Courcy

25.

Well after making this three times in the last year I should probably post it here.

Today’s comes from “The Good Huswifes Jewell” published in 1596.  As far as I can tell the Turkey came back to Spain very early after discovering the New World; and by the 1530s it was common enough in England to be anecdotaly one of the king’s favorite meals.  By the 1590s it begins appearing in cookery books.

To baje a Turkie and take out his bones.
Take a fat Turkie, and after you haue
scalded him and washed him cleane, lay
him vpon a faire cloth and slit him through-
out the backe, and when you haue taken
out his garbage, then you must take out
his bones so bare as you can, when you
haue so doone wash him cleane, then trusse
him and pricke his backe toghether, and so
haue a faire kettle of seething water and
perboyle him a little, then take him vp that
the water may runne cleane out from him,
and when he is colde, season him with pep-
per and Salt, and then pricke hym with a
fewe cloues in the breast, and also drawe
him with larde if you like of it, and when
you haue maide your coffin and laide your
Turkie in it, then you must put some But-
ter in it, and so close him vp. in this sorte you
may bake a goose, a Pheasant, or capon.

This one is fairly easy as most of the steps are already done when you buy a turkey these days.

To Bake a Turkey

• Turkey
• Bacon enough to cover it
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cloves
• Butter – optional

1. Take your turkey and lay him breast down on your cutting board, this will be messy, so don’t have anything near.
2. You will need a bowl for the bones (roast them and make stock from them after, it tastes great), a long thin knife (slicing knife), and a pair of bone sheers.  If you don’t have those you can do it all with knives but it is a bit more dangerous and takes longer.
3. Use your bone shears to cut up each side of the spine and remove the spine from the back.
4. Use the knife to slowly release each of the bones and remove them.  You may need to use the sheers again to cut the cartridge connecting the leg bones to the thigh bones.  I normal leave the wing bones and leg bones but remove everything else.
5. Go slowly, don’t rush or you’ll cut yourself. the breast bone needs to be removed very slowly.  You don’t want to penetrate the skin by accident.
6. Once this is done rub the bird down with salt and pepper, then truss it up so it looks like a normal turkey (though smaller now).
7. If you want you can put some butter inside the bird, but it’s really not that necessary.  We wont be cooking it in a coffin (this time) so it isn’t really needed.
8. Use a small knife to poke holes in the skin and a little into the meat and stick cloves in them.  Clove the breast to your preference, but I find that people like the flavour of the cloves, so go nuts.
9. Wrap the whole thing in bacon.  Last time we did it we used a lot of bacon, but we’ve done everything from one tray to half a box. The bacon keeps the bird moist during cooking and adds some great flavour.
10. Put it in your preferred method of roasting (roasting pan, turkey cooker, etc) and cook it till a knife going in has clear juices come out of it.  Or you can go by a meat thermometer.
11. Remove from the roaster, take the legs and wings off and slice the rest like a roast.

We did this the other week as the main meat for Winters Tourney and everyone loved it.  The fact that the king loves bacon didn’t hurt .

I hope to do this some time with a proper coffin.

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This chapter lays out all the ways that a coward avoids a true show of his skill.

Chap. X. The trickes of a Coward.

The first way to know a coward is that he will carry a lot of weapons.  Swetnam is quick to point out that he doesn’t call all men who go about heavily armed cowards, but he says that if you pay attention you can tell which is which.

When a coward is challenged he will mention several places for the combat, but then will pick the location when only the challenger and he knows where it is.  He will then go to a different spot which he had mentioned previously and brag to everyone that he was there to fight the challenger but they didn’t show up, because the challenger is at the actual location.

Continue reading “Swetnam Chapter 10” »

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This chapter has two purposes.  The first is to remind us that skill is something that can always increase, and the second is a condemnation of telling tales or gossip.

Chap. IX. Sheweth what an excellent thing skill is, with persuasion to all men to forbeare the maintaining of idle quarrels.

In Favour of Skill

Swetnam begins this chapter by giving a disclaimer that though perfect skill is what we aspire to, it is also impossible to reach. Even if a man traveled the entire earth or soared through the sky, or dove to the bottom of the seas he would not achieve perfect skill.

“[skill] is so large that I cannot compas it, so high I cannot reach it, and so deepe a hidden secret, that I cannot sound the bottom of it; for I cannot travaile so far, climbe so high, nor wade so deepe”

Continue reading “Swetnam Chapter 9” »

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This chapter is a brief overview of the types of weapons that are currently used and some philosophy on the use and knowledge of weapons.

Chap. VIII. How the use of weapons came, also the number of weapons used from time to time, with other good instructions.

Mankind was created without natural weapons.  We have hands to push away that which annoys, and feet to run from that which scares us.  But other creatures are naturally armed with teeth, claws, horns, beaks, venom, etc.

Continue reading “Swetnam Chapter 8” »

23. 24.

This past weekend my wife and I went to July Coronation.  It was a very long court for me to have forgotten my chair, but some very well deserving people were recognized.

After court we went back to Mistress Safiye’s sunshade and got out the brazier, filled it with charcoal, and got to work.  It was flatbread day.  I’d been planning this one for a while, so I’m very happy with how it turned out.

I did two different versions.  One standard flatbread and one desert flatbread.

The first was translated in Medieval cuisine of the Islamic World by Lilia Zaouali.  But me being stupid forgot to write down the page number or which manuscript it was from originally.

Take semolina and moisten it, energetically mixing with a little water and salt.  Divide the dough into pieces and knead each piece with clarified butter.  Roll it out, first by hand and then with a rolling pin, fold it, add clarified butter, and roll it out again to obtain a very thin layer.  For this purpose use a shaubak, which is a piece of carved wood, thick in the center and thin at the extremities.  Small lumps of dough can be rolled out three at a time, placing one on top of the other with clarified butter between each layer.

Heat an iron skillet or one of unglazed clay. Take a piece of the rolled out dough and heat it until it has become white and lost all its moisture, at which point remove it from the fire and beat it with the hands in order to separate the layers.

Continue reading “Flatbread” »

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This chapter is about how to use Joseph Swetnam’s manual.  However, there are the usual digressions.  It’s a good chapter.  I’m finding the slow transition from philosophy of combat into theory of combat interesting.

Chap. VI. Diverse reasons or introductions to bring thee the better unto the knowledge of thy weapon

Continue reading “Swetnam Chapter 6” »

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

We now begin to get to the combat application part of Joseph Swetnam.  Chapter five is a combination of how to fight a duel with a bit towards the end on avoiding duels.

Chap. V. The cause of quarrells, and what preparation you aught to be prepared with to answer a challenge.

Swetnam truly has it in for people who duel without cause.  He does give leave to duel if your reputation is truly insulted, but for other than grave insults he admonishes us to turn the other cheek.

Continue reading “Swetnam Chapter 5” »

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

Chapter two of Joseph Swetnam’s work is less than three pages long.  That’s not enough for a whole post.  So I’ll put three chapters together here.

Chap. II. Declaring the difference of sundry mens teaching, with a direction for the entrance into the practice with thy weapons

There are innumerable styles and fashions of fighting.  Every man practices his art in a slightly different way.  Once you have settled into a style it is very difficult to change, even if there is a major issue with what you’re doing.

But true skill of weapons is never forgotten.  Even years later you will remember how to fight.  Even if you have just having seen someone else fight before you will remember some of it.  Similarly a man who doesn’t know how to swim may save themselves from drowning by remembering what others did.  If people are able to do this, how much more if they were trained from a young age.

Continue reading “Swetnam Chapters 2, 3, & 4” »

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

This first Chapter sheweth what weapons are chiefly to be learned, with many other principall notes worthy of observation

Swetnam likes long chapter titles.

Now we get to the beginning of the manual.  As I understand it the first several chapters are not directly about combat, but are instead about various topics related partially to combat.

A number of different looks at Joseph Swetnam I’ve read ignore these chapters.  I’m hoping to get a feel for his concept of combat through reading them.

I’ll try to organize his thoughts, something Swetnam doesn’t seem to have done.  That means that it won’t be in the original order, as Swetnam jumps around a lot.

Continue reading “Swetnam Chapter 1” »

This is part of an ongoing project to summarize and provide SCA focused commentary on The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence by Joseph Swetnam, published in 1617.

For links to the other sections of the Swetnam Project please go here.

I am using this facsimile: http://tysonwright.com/sword/SwetnamSchooleOfDefence.pdf for the project.

Unto all Professors of the Noble and worthie Art of Defence I send greeting

Is how Joseph Swetnam begins his second preface.  This one is only eight pages long, rather than 14.

He begins with a call to his peers.  He extolls them for being men of good self government and the pinnacle of the community.  He calls on them to remember that their lives are not their own but their country’s.  He extolls them to be the best they can be because you never know when you may die.

He explains that his peers must set a good example.  He gives an anecdote of a gentleman who was exceedingly good at putting out eyes with his rapier, and that although he was a very good fencer it encouraged others to attempt it, which was bad because it first encouraged men to take foolish risks while fencing, and second that one should not enter the duel with a murderous mind.  The point of the duel should be to end the duel, not to kill your opponent, as you may be hung for that.

Continue reading “Swetnam Preface to Peers” »