Porcupine
From The spirit of cookery, 1895
Porcupine is still occasionally served in Roman cuisine.
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation below, not the original instructions.
A modern interpretation · AI-generated from the original record
Ingredients
Method
As published
This recipe was extracted from The spirit of cookery (1895) by Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Thudichum, page 28. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.
porcupine, hedgehog, hare, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and dormice ; amongst birds, nightin- gales, sparrows, redbreasts, hecca- ficM, and swallows, ortolans, pheasants, red and gray partridges, francolins, peacocks, pea-fowl, cranes, herons, and wild geese. For the various ways of cooking all these beasts and birds he gives formulae. That for dressing bear’s flesh is as follows : “ The bear must be young, and must be caught in winter, when the flesh smells less strong than in July, though it is then fatter. Having first skinned the animal, you must take the best part of the carcase, such as the haunches and the shoulders, and keep them until they are sufiicieutly tender. Before putting them on the spit, leave them for a short time on a gridiron, and sprinkle them with salt, fennel, pepper, cinnamon, and cloves. Then roast them as you would the same parts of a goat. You can make the same dishes of bear’s meat as you can of venison, but it is not much esteemed, nor is it commonly eaten.” Nevertheless, Scappi informs us that he had often dressed it. He gives THE. HISTORIC LITERATURE OF COOKERY 29 elaborate directions for cooking the porcupine, an animal still occasionally served in Roman tvcittoTicis. It is in season from the beginning of October to the end of January , at other times it has a disagreeable odour, and requires at all times garlic, cloves, and rosemary to overpower any peculiar flavour. It should be served hot, with a sauce made of boiled mint, red vinegar, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and its own gravy
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