Bakng-w-Sugar-art

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Bakng-w-Sugar-art – 10/21/06

≥Baking with Sugar in Renaissance Germany≤ by Lord Giano Balestriere.

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While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

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Baking with Sugar in Renaissance Germany

by Lord Giano Balestriere

When modern cooks or housewives say 'baking', they usually mean cookies,

cakes, and other sugary delights. This field of cookery is relatively fast-

changing and modern, as anyone who has ever compared cake or cookie recipes

as young as the 1930s with modern ones can attest to, and there is little

in period that compares to it until the 16th century. It is then we can

trace in our sources (at least, if we are prepared to throw caution to the

wind) the birth of home baking as we know it. All it takes is adding a

little sugar to the mix...

Honey from a Reed

The origin of sugar must most likely be sought in New Guinea or Indonesia, probably long before historical times. Sugarcane in its wild form comes from these parts and its cultivation was limited to India and Indonesia for much of its early history. Exactly what sugarcane (probably cultivated as long ago as 8,000 BCE) was used for initially is unclear, but it is still chewed raw in some parts of India as a sweet and there may have been nothing more than that to it for millennia. Syrup or sugar - extracted from it by crushing the cane, filtering the juice and boiling it down - can be traced back with any certainty to the 5th/4th century BCE when it is mentioned in a linguistic work in Sanskrit (1). Whether the ingredient in question is crystallized sugar or a form of syrup is unclear, but its wide use is attested by it appearing in a work that has nothing to do with the art of cookery.

The Western world's first contact with sugar probably came about through Persia, though the first surviving mention in literature is connected with the Indian expedition of Alexander's admiral Nearchus who described a 'reed that brings forth honey' growing in India (though, true to soldierly form, he only notes further that the sap can be used to make an alcoholic drink). Medical writers of Roman antiquity mention 'sakkharon' or 'saccharum', a solid, crumbly, sweet substance made from a reed in India and Arabia Felix, and though it is not quite clear whether this might not be a kind of resin, it is very likely sugar. There is, however, no evidence that it was used in cooking in Antiquity as our main sources Archestratus, Apicius, Vinidarius and Anthimus mention only honey and must as sweeteners (2).

We know tantalizingly little of the culinary traditions of Sassanid Persia and early India and can only guess that sugar must have been in use to some degree or other (3). Given the degree to which the cookery of the Islamic world took its cues from Persia, it is probably not too far-fetched to assume that the fondness for sugar evidenced in the earliest surviving Arabic cookery books comes from here, at least in part. Arab agricultural science, responsible for the dissemination of so many of our favorite food plants, took sugarcane from the Euphrates delta and India to Egypt, the Levant, Sicily, North Africa and even Spain (4). Sugar, as it were, followed the Qu'ran and stayed even after Christian rulers re-conquered the land (5).

From the 14th century onwards, sugar became more and more common in the diet of medieval Europe, first in the south and west, then increasingly in the north and east. Italy, Portugal and Spain, sugar-producing areas in their own right, were most likely at the forefront, though English sources also indicate a relatively high sugar consumption among the upper classes. Indeed, as early as the mid-fifteenth century, Platina, an Italian clergyman and author of the cookery and dietetics book 'de honesta voluptate', mentioned with mild disapproval that contemporary people used sugar with almost everything (III.7). However, his medical comment on the properties of sugar are very favorable.

Increased demand made sugar interesting as a commodity, which in turn led to a development that was, in time, to create some of the greatest fortunes ever made in commerce and one of the blackest chapters in European history. Portuguese settlers on the Canary and Cape Verde Islands imported first sugarcane, then the labor to work the fields for large-scale production, in the course of the 15th century. This endeavor became so profitable that 'Canary sugar' became a byword to European cooks for a century. Work in the sugar fields was not a prospect many European workers relished, though, and the required number of field hands had to be made up from slaves. Slavery had long been an accepted fact of life throughout the Mediterranean, but the pattern of the Portuguese sugar plantations was new. They purposely imported (mostly, but not exclusively, African) slaves for agricultural labor and processing on an industrial scale, as investment goods. As early as the 1500s, the system was expanded to Brazil and the West Indies, where it soon took root. As early as 1516, sugar from Santo Domingo was shipped to Europe and by 1560, plantations with 500 or more slaves had been established. By the late 16th century, American sugar, grown by African slaves, flowed into Europe to grace the tables of the wealthy and increasingly the middle classes. This is the situation our Renaissance cookery books reflect.

Behind Oven Doors

We know very little of the baking traditions in Europe before the 16th and

17th centuries, and even much later baking recipes are far rarer than those

of other foods. Baking, it appears, took longer to move into the realm of

literary acceptance - whereas a cook, attached to the court of a royal

master, could be a person of consequence and often some education,

especially if he was also versed in the complex science of dietetics, the

baker long remained a craftsman whose skills (though probably considerable)

did not need to be committed to paper. Moreover, cooks of noble households (often the only ones who recorded recipes) frequently led a peripatetic existence, following their lord from place to place, which militated for the development of recipes suited for portable equipment whereas bakers, tied to their ovens, would have to be more stationary.

It is quite likely that sweetened baked goods were made from Roman times into the Renaissance. For the Roman Empire we can reconstruct an impressive array of different breads and sweet cakes, recipes for a few of which survive (6). Very little is known from this time onwards until well into the Renaissance but it is at least very unlikely that urban bakers - skilled craftsmen with a lot of capital invested into their equipment and fuel - made their living selling nothing but plain bread. If nothing else, limiting the use of the oven to bread baking would be wasting a lot of heat during the latter half of the cooling phase when the temperature was too low for bread loaves, but high enough for cakes or puddings. What they baked, though, is lost to us except for fragmentary accounts (7). That problem will continue to bedevil research simply because it is often impossible to tell whether a recipe for pastry crust, pie, or cake is new or simply moved from the realm of the (non-recording) baker to that of the (note-taking) cook.

The Tradition

Sources for medieval cookery before the 14th century are few and far between, but they make it clear that sugar took its time coming into use in Europe. The manuscripts of the so-called Harpestreng tradition mention sugar in only one recipe (it may have been intended in a second where the text is damaged) (8). The increasing use of sugar and sweeteners in general can be traced through recipe collections from the 13th century onwards, an effort I can not make in detail here. The 'Buoch von Guoter Spise', the earliest surviving German language recipe collection dating to the mid-14th century, specifies sugar in recipes 1 (a cherry rice porridge), 3 (chicken blancmange), 4 ('Greek' chicken), 5 (fried rice), 24 (bread and almond milk porridge), 62 (fish blancmange), 68 (quince puree), 71 (almond cheese), 72 (almond cheese), 73 (almond bun), 74 (almond fritters), 75 (rice in almond milk), 76 (chicken blancmange), and 83 (cherry-rice flour porridge), a total of 14 out of 96. Several other recipes explicitly specify honey and only one says 'sugar or honey', which may mean the two were considered different flavors. The 15th century dietetics book of Meister Eberhard does not mention sugar in any of its recipes and only once in the remaining text (recommending its use with almonds). The 'Kochbuch aus dem Archiv des Deutschen Ordens' (Teutonic Order cookbook), dated tentatively to the later 15th century, mentions sugar in recipes 4 (apple fritters), 5 (fish jelly), 7 (almond jelly), 18 (pear puree), 22 (fig fritters) and 29 (gingerbread sauce), which makes 6 out of 33. Perhaps the greater proximity to the (already sugar-hungry) Italy accounts for the great number of recipes using sugar in the cookbook of Meister Hans (1460) (9). Here, sugar is used in recipes 1 (almond mousse), 3 and 4 (almond 'cheese'), 5, 7 and 8 (hedgehog-shaped sotelties made from almonds and figs, respectively), 11 (raisin jelly), 24 (bread pudding), 38 (filled wafers), 84 (fritters), 104 (egg pudding), 105 (sweet rice), 127 (ditto), 129 ('pear' from raisins), 139 (fritters), 165 (almond 'cheese') and 166 (almond hedgehog) (both repetitions in intent, but not in text), 199 and 201 (hemp 'cheeses'), 200 (nut 'cheese'), 207 (white nut pudding), 213 (fritters), 243 (almond pudding), 246 (ditto, with fish), 249 (egg pudding), 154 (green fritters), 261 and 262 (layered jelly), 263 (apples in pastry) and 186 (fritters). That makes a total of 35 out of 289. The roughly contemporary Rheinfrînkisches Kochbuch (10) has sugar in recipes 16 (fig shishkebab), 21 (fritter pudding), 42, 43 and 46 (fritters), 58 ('stick' fritters) and 69 (coloured egg whites) (7 out of 75). On the whole, then, sugar was already quite well established in German cookery by the 14th century and common by the 15th.

Another thing that becomes evident rather quickly is that the recipes listing sugar are an eclectic mix and do not have much to do with baking. We find marzipan and a variety of soft spoon dishes ('Mus') with nuts, flour or fruit as well as firmer masses to shape into sotelties, a sauce, and occasional meat or fish dishes. A very evident connection is the use of sugar with almonds (recommended, we remember, by Meister Eberhard). Whether this reflects direct Arab influence or indirect transfer of this very successful flavor (11) through Italy, France or the Balkans must be left open here. Cakes are mentioned only once, fritters (a particular favorite of medieval German cuisine) more often. Whether this proves that sweet cakes were unknown or that they were prepared by bakers and purchased for the kitchen from the outside can not be answered, but the frequent use of prepared bread and baked goods (breadcrumbs, bread cubes, spiced 'Pfefferkuchen') makes the latter more likely. What these sweet confections were remains for other sources to disclose. Household accounts or guild regulations may be worth studying.

A strong influence on German Renaissance cuisine from Italy is evident when we look at the recipes that are added in the course of the 16th century. In some cases (such as 'Pinucade' or 'Bolognese Tart'), the etymology is a clear pointer while in others a look at Italian cookbooks shows recipes of the type occurring earlier (12). Indeed, there is good evidence for the claim that German culinary manners were civilized directly from Italy in the 1500s, not through the intermediary of France a century later. Other influences are possible (for example in the 'Hungarian Tart', an early form of puff pastry which may or may not be of Hungarian origin), and with a few recipes we can assume that they are direct descendants (indeed, in some cases direct copies) of earlier German dishes.

The Recipes

Fritters and Krapfen

Fritters are a perennial favorite of medieval German cooking, both sweets and savories. In fact, the German word 'backen' or 'gebacken(es)' in period sources can mean both 'bake(d)' and 'deep-fry/ied'. In some recipes that can become confusing, though in most cases it is fairly clear what is intended (recipes usually specify either 'in butter/oil/lard' or 'in an oven'). The role of fritters in medieval cuisine is varied and often unclear as some are to be served crumbled into bowls with sauce while others are clearly snack food or even make up an entire meal. By the Renaissance, fritters ('Gebackenes') are usually intended as a sweet snack or entremet/dessert food that, by the evidence of surviving menu plans, was served on platters with other confections. In many cases there are express instructions to serve them warm, fresh from the pan. Only very few fritters are sweetened themselves, though many are either sprinkled with sugar when served or have a sweet filling.

Mach ein Teig von lauter Dottern / geu˛ ein wenig suessen Rahm darunter

/ und mach den Teig darmit an / und mach Struetzel darau˛ / ettwan eines

Fingers lang / und eines Fingers dick / und schaw / da˛ du es nicht

versaltzest / wirffs in Butter / die nicht gar hei˛ ist / backs fein kuel

au˛ / unnd gibs warm oder kalt auff ein Tisch / bestraew es mit Zucker / so

ist es gut und wolgeschmack

(Rumpoldt, Gebackens 7)

Make a dough out of egg yolks, add a little sweet cream and stir the cough with that. Make strips of it, about a finger's length and thickness, and take care not to over salt them. Throw them into butter, not too hot, bake it nicely and serve it warm or cold, sprinkled with sugar. This will be good and delicious.

Redaction:

2 eggs (or 6 yolks)

1/2 cup whipping cream

approx. 1 1/2 cups flour

oil or butter

sugar

In a bowl, combine the eggs and cream. Add flour until the dough becomes thick enough that it can be shaped and pulled into strings. Cut out tablespoonfuls, pull then into strips with wet fingers and fry them in plenty of oil or butter from all sides until golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar and serve.

Mach ein Teig an mit Milch / Eyern / und schoenem weissen Mehl / thu

ein wenig Bierhefen darein / un mach einen guten Teig / der nicht gar

steiff ist / unnd versaltz jn nicht / setz jn zu der waerm / da˛ er fein

auffgehet / stuertz jn auff ein saubers Bret / un thu kleine schwartze

Rosein darunter / mach Struetzel daraus / wirff sie in heisse Butter / und

backs / so wirt es fein aufflauffen / gibs kalt oder warm auff ein Tisch /

bestraew es mit Zucker / so ist es ein gut Gebackens.

(Rumpoldt, Gebacken 41)

Make dough with milk, eggs, and good white flour, and add a little brewing

yeast. Do not make it too stiff and do not over salt it. Leave it to rise in

a warm place, then turn it out onto a clean board and knead small raisins

into it. Make strips of it and fry them in hot butter so they rise well.

Serve it warm or cold, sprinkled with sugar. This is a good baked food.

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2-3 cups flour

1 sachet dry yeast

1/2 cup raisins

oil or butter

sugar

Sieve the flour into a bowl and combine with the yeast. Add eggs and milk at room temperature and stir until a thick, sticky dough results (add flour or milk as required). Mix in the raisins, cover, and leave to rise for 1-2 hours. Pull the risen dough into strings with moistened fingers and fry in plenty of fat from all sides until golden brown (make sure that they do not burn - if too brown, the similarity in appearance to human excrement is such that even the best-mannered diner will find it hard not to comment). Serve warm or cold, dusted with sugar. Fritters made from soft dough, with or without leavening, are found mostly in relatively late sources.

Honnig Deig

Man sto˛t Anis klein / vermischet ihn mit Mehl / Eyerrn und Buttern / macht dar einen Deig von / dreibt ihn au˛ und nimbt ihn wider zusamen / macht da Deckel von als Tartendeckel / beckt sie in Buttern / wenn man sie will zu tisch geben gibt man hei˛ Honig dar∏ber und besprengts mit Zucker.

Honey Dough

Grind aniseed small, mix it with flour, eggs and butter and make a dough of it. Roll it out and put it together again. Make lids of it like pie crust lids, fry them in butter, and when you want to serve them, sprinkle them with hot honey and sugar.

(de Rontzier)

Redaction:

2-3 cups flour

2 eggs

2 tsp aniseed

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup oil or butter

In a bowl, combine the ground aniseed and 2 cups flour. Add the eggs and mix until a stiff dough results, adding flour as required. Roll out on a floured surface, fold over and roll out again several times. Cut out round pieces with a cup or small bowl (a 'pie crust lid' could be anywhere between 5" and 12" across). Fry the pieces of dough in oil or butter at moderate heat. Once they begin bubbling, they should be turned over. Drizzle with liquid honey while still hot and serve. These fritters are more typical of the medieval style, made from thin, relatively stiff dough and served with a sauce.

An artful conceit of the time were fritters whose doughs were squeezed into the hot oil in various shapes. A simple icing bag works fine for making rings, letters, numbers and even simple heraldic shapes. With more, smaller holes the dough can be squeezed into the pan in thin strings curled around and across each other, creating a solid 'plate-of-spaghetti-shaped' fritter. Such 'Spritzgebîck' is still popular in Germany as a Christmas fair treat and the basic doughs have not changed much. This is a simple but very tasty recipe:

Mach ein Teig mit guter Milch / schlag drei oder vier Eyer darein / und

ruer jn wol glat an / mach Loecher durch ein Hafen / der nicht gro˛ ist /

geu˛ den Teig darein / und halt ein Teller unten auff den Boden / da˛ der

Teig nicht heraus rinnet / da˛ du es kanst kreutzwei˛ in heisse Butter

eynziehen / zeuchs nicht zu dick eyn / da˛ es kann au˛backen / bestraew es

mit Zucker / unnd gibs kalt oder warm auff ein Tisch / so ist es ein gut

Strauben Gebackens.

Make a batter of good milk, break three or four eggs into it and stir it until it is nice and smooth. Make holes into a pot that is not too large, pour the batter into it and hold a plate against the bottom so it does not run out. You can pour it crosswise into hot butter. Do not pour it on too thick so that it can bake. Sprinkle it with sugar and serve it warm or cold. These are good fritters.

(Rumpoldt, Gebackens)

Redaction:

1 1/2 cups milk

3 eggs

1-2 cups flour

salt

Beat the eggs with the milk and a pinch of salt until combined. Stir in flour by the tablespoonful until a thick batter results. Another type of batter is made with curds or cream cheese - richer, with a dairy tang and deliciously soft at the center....

Mann zerstost frische Kese dar Floten in gethan ist und ein wenig trucken geworden sein mit Mehl / Eyerdottern unnd ein wenig Saltz in einem Moersel/ beckts in einer Spritz mit Buttern und bestrewet sie mit Zucker wenn man sie will zum tisch geben.

You grind up fresh cheese that is mixed with cream and slightly dried in a mortar with flour, egg yolks and a little salt and bake it in a /Spritze/ (icing tube, or any instrument for squeezing liquids). Sprinkle it with sugar when you wish to serve it.

(de Rontzier)

Redaction:

250g soft cream cheese or curds and cream

5 egg yolks

1-2 cups flour

salt

Beat the cream cheese and egg yolks with a little salt until smooth, then add flour by the tablespoonful until a thick batter results.

Spoon either batter into an icing bag or icing tube and squeeze into the pan in whatever shape you like (if you want to use the period method, the batter should be a bit thinner than for an icing bag). Fry at medium temperature, turning over once or twice. Serve hot, dusted with sugar.

Krapfen are a kind of fritter that is filled. The word is still in use in modern German, where it denotes a spongy, deep-fried confection with a sugar coating a small jam center. In period Krapfen, there was more filling for the dough and the variety of both sweet and savory fillings was greater. The great age of the medieval Krapfen was probably over by 1580 as far as court cooks were concerned, but we still find recipes for filled fritters that are clearly lineal descendants. There seems to have been a wide variety of doughs for various fillings, both leavened and unleavened, including one of the rare sweetened doughs we know from medieval sources:

Czu machen ein krapffen teig. Item seud honig in wein al˛ vil du wilt und

nym auch ein weitte schussel und zwir den wein mit weissem melbe als ein

muslein. Schlach ein ayer tottern der rot sey in ein ander schussel und

auch ein wenig saffran das treib gar wol mit dem gemachten honig wein und

tu es in den gezwerten teig temperir es auch wol. Und wurff ye ein

steublein melbs dar zu in die schusseln als lang bi˛ du ein litigen teig

gemachst. Den so bereit ein sauber tuch auf und zeug den teig darauf mit

einem welgerholtz zu massen duen. Un schneid den form gro˛ od klein all˛ du

die krapffen haben wilt nach yeder ful da richt dich nach. Od was teig man

mit hefel od bier od hopf wasser macht dy mu˛ man lassen auf gen und

darnach aber ein knetten mit loem wasser od mit einem gesotten honig wein

da wi˛ dich nach zu richten.

(K∏chenmaisterey, 1490)

To make dough for Krapfen. Boil honey in wine, as much as you need, take a

wide bowl and stir the wine with white flour until it is the consistency of

porridge. Break an egg yolk that is red with saffron into another bowl and

stir it with the honey wine. Add that to the other bowl and mix it well.

Add flour, little by little, until you geta stiff (?) dough. Turn that out

on a clean cloth and roll it out to the proper thickness. Cut out the

shapes you want the Krapfen in, large or small, depending on the filling

you want to use. But the doughs that are made with yeast or beer or hop

water need to rise first and then be kneaded with lukewarm water or honey

wine. Heed this advice.

Now, this is not very clear, but it shows the major components of one dough

while pointing at a number of other possibilities. My reading of this would

be:

1/2 cup white wine

3-4 tblsp honey

2 eggs

2-3 cups flour

saffron

Heat the wine and dissolve the honey in it. Beat the eggs with a pinch of

saffron. In a large mixing bowl, combine honey-wine, egg, and flour until a

stiff dough results. Cool and rest, then roll out to use. This dough does not have any leavening agents in it (unless unboiled wine is added, which might introduce a minimal quantity of yeast), but it deep-fries well and the honey flavour harmonises with sweet fillings.

A more yeasty dough for filled fritters that comes closer to what modern Germans think of as a Krapfen is described by Rumpoldt:

Mach ein Teig an mit Milch / Eyern / und schoenem weissen Mehl / thu

ein wenig Bierhefen darein / un mach einen guten Teig / der nicht gar

steiff ist / unnd versalñtz jn nicht / setz jn zu der waerm / da˛ er fein

auffgehet / ...

(Rumpoldt, Gebackens 41)

Make a dough of milk, eggs and good white flour, add some brewer's yeast to

it and make a good dough, not too stiff. Do not oversalt it. Leave it in a

warm place to rise... (there follows a raisin fritter recipe)

Nimm ein solchen Teig / und treib jn au˛ / schlag Weichselsalsen darein

/ schneidts mit dem Redtlein ab / wirffs in Butter / und backs / gibs warm

auff ein Tisch / und bestraew es mit weissem Zucker / so seind es gute

Krapffen von Weichselsalsen. Du magst solche Krapffen machen von allerley

Salsen.

(Rumpoldt, Gebackens 42)

Take such a dough and roll it out, wrap cherry sauce in it, cut it up with

a pastry wheel, deep-fry it in butter and serve it warm, sprinkled with

sugar. These are good 'Krapfen' of cherry sauce. You can make them with all

kinds of sauces.

This rich, neutral yeast dough works beautifully for all kinds of sweet

Krapfen and will probably also go with savory ones. I read this as:

3 cups flour

2 eggs

1-2 cups milk

1 sachet dry yeast

Stir the yeast into the flour. Add the eggs and milk at room temperature

and mix until a thick dough results. Knead, continually adding flour, until

it has the consistency of soft pizza dough. Leave to rise till doubled,

then punch down and roll out. Use.

The shape of the Krapfen itself is left open in the sources. Krapfen were probably made in all kinds of shapes, from the simple folded-over circle (easy to mass-produce with the aid of a pastry folder) through ravioli-like pockets to more complex shapes. Almost everything works, as long as it does not get too large. Especially when using a wet filling, the edges have to be closed thoroughly to prevent leaks (beaten egg has worked well for me). Also, the dough should not be rolled out too thin to stop it from tearing in the pan. Krapfen are generally fried at a moderate heat until golden brown and heated through, and served warm.

Fillings for Krapfen are described more rarely in the sources than one may think. It seems as though the exact combination was more often than not up to the cook, as in the case of the cherry sauce 'or any other sauce' stipulated by Rumpoldt. We do not have his recipe for cherry sauce, but one from a somewhat earlier source, the mid-15th century cookbook of Meister Eberhard, survives:++

Zum ein salsenn von weichselnn zu machen.

Item wiltu machen ein gutte salsenn von weichselnn,

so thue die weichsell in einen hafen vnd

secz die auff ein glut vnd la˛ sie siedenn vnd

la˛ dann wider erkaltenn vnd streich sie durch ein

tuch vnd thue sie dann wider in den hafenn vnd

secz sie auff ein glut vnd la˛ sie wol sieden

vnd rurr sie, pi˛ sie dick wirt, vnd thue dann

honig dar an vnd geribens prot vnd negellein vnd

gut gestu:ep vnd thue sie in ein fe˛lein. Sie

pleibt dir gut drew oder vier iar.

To make a sauce of tart cherries.

If you wish to make a good sauce of tart cherries, put the cherries into a pot and place it on the embers and let them boil. Then cool down again and pass them through a cloth, put it back into the pot, place it on the embers and let it boil well until it thickens. Then add honey and grated bread and cloves and good spice powder and put it into a small cask. It will stay good three or four years.

(Meister Eberhard, Recipe #1)

Redaction:

250 grams of tart cherries (from a jar) or

350 grams of fresh tart cherries

50 grams of honey

fine fresh breadcrumbs from two slices of wheat bread

ground cloves

ground cinnamon

ground ginger

Clean and stone the fresh cherries or strain the jarred ones (in that case, keep the juice). Place in a pot with some water (as little as you can get away with) and boil until soft, then pulp (in a mortar, blender, food processing mill or through a coarse cloth). Return to the boil (add liquid if necessary - you want a fluid consistency at this point) and add honey (more with fresh cherries, less with jarred ones which are usually sweetened already) and spices to taste. Then add breadcrumbs, stir and remove from the fire once it thickens. Pour into a storage container or serving dish and let cool. The sauce will set into a semi-jelly.

Rumpoldt does, however, give us two other fillings for Krapfen that are quite delicious:

Nimm Epffel / unnd hack sie mit klein schwartzen Rosein / thu es in ein

Pfannen / unnd ein wenig Butter darein / roe˛ts wol darinnen mit Zimmet und

Zucker / la˛ kalt werden / unnd schlags in ein Teig / der mit Wasser unnd

butter angemacht ist / backs fein kuel au˛ / bestraew es nit weissem Zucker

/ und gibs warm auff ein Tisch.

Take apples and chop them with small raisins, then fry them well in a pan with a little butter and sugar and cinnamon. Cool, wrap it in a dough made with water and butter and fry it at a low temperature. Sprinkle with white sugar and serve warm

(Rumpoldt, Gebackens)

Redaction:

2 apples

1/2 cup raisins

1 tblsp butter

sugar

cinnamon

Peel, core and dice the apples. Fry them in the butter with the raisins and add sugar and cinnamon to taste. Cool, and fill into Krapfen. The Krapfen dough described here, made like a modern shortcrust pastry, works very nicely, though the other varieties serve as well.

Nimm gerunnen Milch / die mit Eyern angemacht / unnd wol fei˛t ist /

ruers mit Zucker ab / thu kleine schwartze Rosein / die sauber ausgewaschen

seyn / darunter / schlags in einen Teig eyn / wie vorhin vermeldet ist /

wie man einen Teig machen sol / bestraew es mit Zucker / und gibs war auff

ein Tisch.

Take curdled milk mixed with eggs, nicely fat, and stir in sugar. Mix it with cleaned black raisins and wrap it in dough made by the process described above. Sprinkle it with sugar and serve it warm.

Redaction:

250g curds or cream cheese

3 eggs

1/2 cup raisins

sugar

Beat the curds with the eggs until smooth, then add sugar to taste and stir in the raisins. Wrap in dough and deep-fry as krapfen.

Marzipan

Marzipan was a favorite sweet of the Middle Ages throughout Europe, and its popularity did not wane with the advent of the Renaissance. Sotelties were commonly made from it in the shape of fruit, animals, or heraldic designs, but the more sober cookbooks of Rumpoldt and de Rontzier only list simple forms. A German favorite of the era were small marzipan cakes baked on wafers and glazed with sugar, a method already found in medieval Italy (13). Rumpoldtis particularly interesting in that he goves two different methods of preparing marzipan, one involving cooking the sugar and the other by grinding it with the almonds. The cooking method has survived to this day in the preparation of the popular L∏beck marzipan and the frosting prefigures cake coverings of later eras:

Nimm Zucker / der fein gelaeutert ist mit Rosenwasser / unnd setz ihn

mit dem Rundel auff Kolen / und la˛ ihn also sieden / unnd wenn er wol dick

ist / so ruer Mandeln darunter / unnd ruers wol durcheinander / da˛ es

nicht anbrennet. Setz es vom Feuwer hinweg / nimm gestossenen Zucker / un

ruer jn darunter / un versuchs wie es so wolgeschmack ist. Und aus diesem

Mandelteig magstu ein Marcipan machen / truckne jn im Ofen oder

Pastetenpfann / la˛ wider kalt werden / und nimm das wei˛ vom Ey / unnd

Rosenwasser / ruers unter lautern Zucker / und je lenger du es ruerst / je

weisser es wirdt / la˛ es ein weil stehen / so gewinnt es ein schoen

weissen Faum / nimm jn herab / un bestreich den Marcipan damit / nimm

alsdenn die Deck von einer Turtenpfann / unnd thu Kolen darauff / so wirt

der Faum fein aufflauffen / und wei˛. Unnd also macht man die guten

Marcipan / sampt dem weissen Ey˛. Du kanst auch wol wei˛ von Eyern unter

den marcipan nemmen / und Rosenwasser / wenn du die Mandelm gar hast

abgetrucknet / so nim erst das wei˛ von Eyern darunter / und ruers wol

darunter / so wirt es gut und wolgeschmack.

Take sugar which has been clarified with rosewater and set it on the coals

in a small pot to boil. When it has thickened nicely, mix almonds into it

and stir vigorously so that it does not burn. Take it off the fire and stir

in ground sugar, trying the mix until it is good-tasting. From this almond

dough you can make a marzipan which you can dry in the oven or a pastry

pan. When they are cool, take egg whites and rosewater and stir it with

pure sugar. The longer you stir, the whiter it becomes. Let it stand a

while and it will gain white foam. Take that down and spread it on the

marzipan. Than take the top of a tart pan (cover it with that) and heap

coals on it, so the foam hardens nicely and becomes white. That is how the

good marzipans are made with their ice(-ing). You can also use egg whites

and rosewater in the marzipan. When the almonds are dried well, stir in the

egg whites well. That way it turns out good and tasty.

(Rumpoldt, Gebackens)

Redaction:

200g sugar