marzipan-msg - 1/9/08 Use of marzipan (almond paste) in sotelties in both period and the SCA. Working with marzipan. Example marzipan sotelties. (Sotelties are sculptures made from edible ingredients but not always intended to be eaten or even safe to eaten.) NOTE: See also the files: almond-milk-msg, sotelties-msg, nuts-msg, sugar-msg, sugar-paste-msg, gingerbread-msg, gilded-food-msg, candy-msg, p-fd-coloring-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Platina's "Pie Which They Call Marzipan" (VIII. 48) "... They are of the best nourishment, are well digested, help the chest, kidneys, and liver, increase fertility, arouse passion, and remove burning of the urine." Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 08:54:40 -0500 From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net> Subject: SC - badge malfunction PLUS Marzipan Here's a hint, folks: when making marzipan, the best grind is either by hand in a mortar/pestle (but you risk getting almonds that oil before you're finished, from the pressing/crushing action of the pestle), and the next best is the coffee mill. It's quick---no oiling. I had to resort to a handblender with a chopper attachment (since a normal blender's or food processor blades can't get them to grind small enough). The result was useable, but my marzipan sculpture had a rough quality reminiscent of cheap play clay. So my St. George was rather Mister Bill-like, and the dragon was pretty good (he needed to look disreputable). My Damsel was dismal, because I couldn't get a good texture to simulate hair. Normally I would have pressed the marzipan through a coarse mesh to get hair-like fine spaghetti for hair, but the almond paste was too coarse due to the coffee mill failure. The Bride and Groom, who resembled (roughly) St. George and the Damsel, were delighted, however, so I guess that's what counted. By the way, Gold leaf will stick to fresh Marzipan (still damp-ish) with no additional stick-um needed. If the Marzipan has sat a while, it needs to be misted with water or painted with sugar syrup (thanks Ras) to get the gold leaf to stick. My St. George had gold-leaf flecking his blonde hair, since I couldn't figure out how to make a halo. We did his celtic cross in gold-leaf-flecks on yellow, too. Plus, silver shot (for cooking---those little silver balls) makes great dragon-toenails! With the green dragon's spine-ridge and ribs picked out in gold-leaf, he was a favorite. I had quite a few complaints that he was slayed though. They didn't like the spear sticking out of his side (complete with gore)! I guess I've lost all credibility with the Reptilian Brigade. Ah well. Back to the pastry-board. Aoife. Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 10:11:59 +0100 From: "Yeldham, Caroline S" <csy20688 at GlaxoWellcome.co.uk> Subject: SC - RE: Marzipan/Marchpane Stefan li Rous said > Yes, I believe Marzipan is period and was used in this way. I think it > is just ground almonds. Marzipan or marchpane was used to make subtleties, amongst other things. However, its not just ground almonds. Its half ground almonds, half finely pounded sugar, mixed with egg to make a paste. The paste is then used rather like modelling clay to make whatever shapes you want, and painted appropriately. One thing to note is that which bit of the egg you add to the powder mixture affects how mouldable the final mixture is. Egg yolk or whole egg makes the mixture taste better, but the paste won't mould as finely as when you add egg white. It's OOP but if you want really finely moulded marzipan (not edible) - - replace some of the sugar with cornflour - that works very well. We did it once when we ran out of sugar. Caroline Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 17:16:34 -0800 From: "Crystal A. Isaac" <crystal at pdr-is.com> Subject: Re: SC - RE: Marzipan/Marchpane Yeldham, Caroline S wrote: > Marzipan or marchpane was used to make subtleties, amongst other > things. However, its not just ground almonds. Its half ground almonds, > half finely pounded sugar, mixed with egg to make a paste. The paste is The recipes I have seen and used contain almonds, sugar and rosewater (sometimes orange flower water). I grind the (blanched and peeled) almonds in a eletric food processor, add slightly less sugar (grind again) and enough rosewater to help it stick together (grind more). I've found that putting the blanched and peeled almonds in a hot oven for a minute to dry them seems to help the consitency of the marzipan. I was never very good with play-dough so I usally make small balls, squash them flat and bake. If you try this at home, use baker's paper (parchment?) on your cookie sheets. Evil, sticky things will happen if you do not. Artistically Talented people who want to make cool things with marzipan should look at "Banquetting Stuffe" edited by C. Anne Wilson. IIRC, there is an essay on the forms and uses of marzipan in mid/late english renissance. There was a TI article about marchpane some time ago, but I do not remember who wrote it. Humm, re-reading my post I noticed that I use marchpane and marzipan interchangably. Is there a difference? Crystal of the Westermark Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 15:44:26 -0600 (CST) From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming) Subject: SC - Re: Marzipan/Marchpane Greetings! Crystal noted that there was a T.I. article about marzipan a while ago and wondered who wrote it. I did. I may well have it stored in my computer, so if someone wants an e-mail copy, post me privately so I can post you back off your request. I, too, have wondered if there is a technical difference between marzipan and marchpane. (Haven't looked it up in the OED. Anyone own one??) _I_ use marzipan to mean the almond/sugar/liquid mixture and marchpane to refer to marzipan made _into_ a marchpane. That's a layer of marzipan put on wafers, or on a wafer, usually with a raised edge to the marzipan, and then baked. The marchpane can be iced with "icing" (sugar and rosewater) to give a coating that looks like "ice". "Thingies" can be placed on top of the marchpane...Figures sculpted of marzipan or sugarpaste, a bush made from a branch of rosemary, a sculpted building, etc. Marchpanes could be small or huge. They were the center of the "banquet" (the dessert course) in Elizabethan and Stuart times. They also were necessary components (if memory serves) for funerals and wedding foods. Alys Katharine Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 13:28:38 -0400 From: "Gedney, Jeff" <Gedney.J at phd.com> Subject: RE: SC - Marzipan for Sotelties > Does anyone have a good recipe for soteltie-grade marzipan that can be > sculpted in the round? The stuff I've come up with is great for bas-reliefs, > but doesn't stand up very well. > > Rudd Rayfield I have had good success with store bought varieties they are generally two types of almond paste products, one is labelled "Marzipan", and one is labelled "Almond Paste" The almond paste is coarser grained and does not color or sculpt well. Be sure to get the "Marzipan". also make sure that the Marzipan is fresh, by squeezing the tube, and making sure it is pliable. Some of the stuff in stores is older than T Rex! (the band OR the dinosaur, take your pick!) For those who do not have a lot of experience with this medium, here are a few notes: If the marzipan is too loose to work with, then quickly knead in some confectioners sugar. Work fast! The surfaces harden and start to crack quickly, and cannot be easily restored. Put as fine a coating of vegetable oil on the hands as possible (Too much will loosen the Marzipan), or dust them liberally with confectioners sugar. Do not spray or brush with water if it dries out, if possible, just quickly knead it until pliable(or it crumbles). Keep whatever you are not working with wrapped completely in plastic. If you have kept it in the fridge, knead it until warm enough to work IN THE PLASTIC WRAPPING. The less time exposed to air, the better the results. Practice, practice, practice! The best Roses I made for a cake I made with marzipan!! (until I got into gum paste, which I do not believe to be period!) Speaking of recipes, a while ago, a period recipe for "sugar paste" was posted. Could someone reprise that one? I lost the original. brandu Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 17:55:45 -0500 (CDT)From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming)Subject: SC - Re: Marzipan for SoteltiesGreetings. Brandu wrote:>The best Roses I made for a cake I made with marzipan!! (until I got>into gum paste, which I do not believe to be period!)>>Speaking of recipes, a while ago, a period recipe for "sugar paste">was posted. Could someone reprise that one? I lost the original.Yes, gum paste is period - late Tudor/Elizabethan, and probably earlierin Italy.One comment on sculpting with marzipan - Keep in mind that it mightalso have been put over an armature, that not the entire thing wouldhave been edible, especially if one is dealing with a large item.Mashing marzipan (catchy song title!) onto an armature would requireless stiff marzipan. Alys Katharine Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 07:00:00 -0800 From: varmstro at zipcon.net (Valoise Armstrong) Subject: SC - Welser marzipan part 1 (long) was Re: Puck's marzipan I've been following this thread with great interest but haven't commented since most all of my books are still in storage. I did have Sabina Welserin on my hard drive and remembered that there was also a marzipan on wafer recipe in it. There is a confusing section about the box, which I do not completely understand, maybe it's to store the finished marzipan? The second recipe I've included just as an example of baking a marzipan confection on paper. I'm including the German in a second post as it's pretty long Valoise 22 If you would make good marzipan First take a half pound of almonds and soak them overnight in cold well water, take them out in the morning. Next pound them well until they become oily, pour a little rose water on them and pound them further. When they become oily again, then pour a little more rose water thereon. Do this until they no longer become oily. And pound the almonds as small as possible. After that take a half pound of sugar, pound not quite all of it in, leaving a little left over. Next, when the almonds and sugar are pounded well together, put them in a bowl, take the lid from a small box, loosen the rim completely, so that it can be detached and put back on again, however leave the lid and the rim together. Take wafers and make them about as wide as a pastry shell, very round. Spread the almond paste described above with the fingers onto the wafers, moistening the fingers with rose water and dipping the almond paste into the sugar, which you have kept in reserve. After that, when you have spread it out evenly with your hands, take the sugar that you have reserved and sprinkle it through a sieve evenly over the marzipan. And take a small brush and dip it in rose water and sprinkle the marzipan overall, so that the sugar is dissolved. Then let it bake. Check it often, so that it is not burnt. It should be entirely white. The amount of a half pound is necessary, so that the oil remains. 51 Almond chanterelles Pound the almonds, as you would to make marzipan, put sugar thereon, but not too much, take after that the chanterelle mushroom mold, clean it and take a small brush, dip it in almond oil and brush the mold with it, also with a brush of rose water. And put the almond paste into the mushroom mold and blow through the tube [so that the almond mushroom falls] onto a sheet of paper, and let it bake in a tart pan and sprinkle it with starch flour, then they will be white. Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 07:35:07 -0800 From: varmstro at zipcon.net (Valoise Armstrong) Subject: SC - Welser marzipan part 2 (long) Here's the German for the marzipan recipes from Sabina Welserin's cookbook. I've used modern s's and double ss instead of her older forms. Valoise 22 Welt jr ain gut marciban machen Erstlich nempt ain halb pfund mandel vnnd waicht jn jber nacht ein jn kaltt rerwasser / ziecht jn am morgen aus, darnach last jn woll stossen, bis er ellig wirt, giest ain wenig rossenwasser daran vnnd land jn wider stossen, wirt er wider eilig, so giest wider ain wenig ain rossenwasser daran, das thiet so lang, bis der mandel nimer eilig wirt, vnnd last den mandel auff das allerklenest staissen / darnach nempt ain halb pfund zucker, stossent jn gar daran, last ain wenig jber, darnach, wan der mandel vnnd zucker klain anainander erstossen jst, thiet jn jn ain schissel, nempt ain lidlen von ainem ledlin, thiet den ranfft gantz daruon, das es ab- vnnd zugang, last das lidlin vnd ranfft beyainander, nempt mandatten vnnd machens fein wie brait das bedelin jst, fein rundt, darnach streichen den gemelten mandel auff den oblatten mit den fingern, netzen die finger mit rossenwasser vnnd den mandel tuncken jn den zucker, den jr jber habt gelassen / darnach, wan es mit der hand aufs gleichest ist auffgestrichen, nempt darnach den zucker, den jr jber habt gelassen, set jn mit ainem siblin auff das martziban auffs gleichest / vnnd nempbt ain bristlin vnd dunckts jn ain rossenwasser vnnd sprenckt das martziban allethalben, darmit das zucker ergang, darnach last bachen, secht offt darzu, damit es nit verbachen werdt / es soll gantz weisss sein, die gressin von ainem halb pfund jst, damit wax anklaibt. 51 Pfifferling von mandel Stosss die mandel, als welest ain marciban machen, thu zucker daran, aber nit gar zu vill, nim darnach den pfifferlingmodel, mach jn sauber vnnd nim ain birstlin, duncks jn mandelell vnnd birst den model damit, auch mit ainem birstlin rossenwaser, vnnd thu den mandel jn pfifferlingmodel vnd blass bey dem ror auff ain bogen babir vnnd lasss jn ainer tortenpfannen bachen vnnd see krafftmell darauff, so werden sy weisss. Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 17:43:39 -0400 From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> Subject: Re: SC - Almond Paste/marzipan Helen wrote: > Please tell me the difference between marzipan and almond paste. I thought > marzipan was made from the paste. But the tube of paste I see in my local > store has the same ingredients listed as the tube of marzipan beside it. The > color is a little different. > > Helen Almond paste is moister, stickier than marzipan, and is more used for coating or filling things than marzipan, which is better suited for holding shapes. Think in terms of putty versus modelling clay... Modernly, almond paste is frequently used to coat cakes under icing; it flavors them and helps keep them moist. Adamantius Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 23:36:16 -0000 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is> Subject: Re: SC - Almond Paste/marzipan Almond paste is raw, marzipan is cooked (or heated, at least). Otherwise, they are much the same. Nanna Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 20:31:41 -0400 From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> Subject: Re: SC - Almond Paste/marzipan Nanna Rgnvaldardttir wrote: > Almond paste is raw, marzipan is cooked (or heated, > at least). Otherwise, they are much the same. > > Nanna Um, how do you mean, cooked? Do you mean it is cooked afterwards, or that cooking is somehow integral to the process of making marzipan? Yes, it's often cooked in the form of cakes and such, but often eaten uncooked, as well. I've never seen a period recipe that required it except as an additional step, i.e. yes, you do bake pie crust dough, but you don't need to bake it to make it. Adamantius Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 01:23:16 -0000 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is> Subject: Re: SC - Almond Paste/marzipan Adamantius wrote: >Um, how do you mean, cooked? Do you mean it is cooked afterwards, or >that cooking is somehow integral to the process of making marzipan? No, Im probably wrong here, it is just that all my old recipes call for some sort of cooking or heating - mixing the pounded almonds with a hot sugar syrup, or heating them gently in a saucepan with the sugar, or whisking eggs and sugar in a bain-marie, then adding almonds. And the almond paste recipes do not. Nanna Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 18:48:17 -0500 (CDT) From: alysk at ix.netcom.com Subject: SC - Re: Almond Paste and Marzipan Greetings! I have a hunch that the two terms mean whatever someone _thinks_ they mean. Early marzipan recipes don't seem to include cooking. I'm probably wrong :-) but my memory seems to tell me that most period recipes are for "marzipan" or "marchpane" but are not entitled "almond paste". And, while almond paste is modernly put under a layer of icing on certain cakes, older recipes called for "marzipan" under the icing. I usually think of almond paste as the stuff one can start with to make marzipan, after adding lots more sugar. Homemade marzipan usually isn't as sweet as commercial marzipan. Period marzipan called for rosewater, orange juice or orange flower water. The latter makes a _very_ interesting confection, since the flavor is not what one would expect from "marzipan". Someone asked about a lack of almond flavor. Well, with the addition of orange flower water, one would taste more of that rather than more of almonds. And, I think the same is probably true for adding rosewater, which is called for in most English, period recipes. Modern stuff lacks the rosewater or other flavoring ingredient which is (always?) added in period recipes. For my own part, I've found that a food processor can make a fairly smooth marzipan. As someone else noted, the almonds should be processed in small batches. For me, a pound of almonds is done in three batches. I process one-third and then put it into a separate bowl. As each third is done, it's put into the bowl. Then I go back and take a third or even a quarter of the first processing (which contains sugar and rosewater). That stuff is put into a different bowl. I then go through the whole process a third time. You can feel the difference in the size of the ground almonds between your fingers. However, at no point will the stuff get as finely ground as modern commercial paste which uses many blades and more processing. I would suppose that if one had a big enough mortar and good muscles, the paste could be reduced to even further smoothness. Modern blenders don't have quite the same "action" as a medieval mortar and an hour or more of pounding. Yes, you had better refrigerate the marzipan or you will eventually grow an intriguing variety of mold! Alys Katharine Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 09:58:36 EST From: ChannonM at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Chocolate - Yes I know its not period! If you would like to employ a heraldic device, I suggest going to a cake makers store and look through their chocolate molds, you can even paint with coloured chocolate that is made wiht the pretend "white chocolate". The sizes would be perfect for individual servings at a feast. You could even go to the extant of making say a marzipan shield and making the various charges in chocolate and placing them appropriately upon it. I have used various molds for doing marzipan sublteties. I have a recipe that works well for the sheild (I did various devices for a 15thC feast a few years ago). I'll post that now. Marchepane The sweet confection, currently known as marzipan is made from ground almonds, rose water, confectioners sugar and egg whites. This sweet was a discovery of the later Middle Ages as it required refined sugar to make. The origin of marzipan is difficult to determine as many countries claim its discovery. It is believed, however, that the name marchpane was first used in Italy in the 13th Century11. Many countries have claimed to be the place of origin of marzipan, however, it should be noted that the name marchpane can be compared to the Arabic word mautaban--meaning glazed vessel12. Recipes for marchpane can be found that date back as far as 13th Century France13. The extant recipes describe how to colour, flavour and create "subtleties". Subtleties were sweets that were often used as Illusion Foods. An Illusion food was a food made to look like something it wasn't. Marzipan was sculpted into shapes of castle scenes, heraldic coats of arms, diminutive fruits and vegetables, and allegorical animals. These fantastic creations would be paraded around the feast hall only to be dismantled and eaten by the guests. The following is a recipe reproduced from the manuscript entitled "Delights for Ladies" by Sir Hugh Plat (1609). The Art of Preserving 12. To make an excellent Marchpane paste to print off in moulds for banquetting dishes. Take to every Iordan Almond blanched, three spoonefuls of the whitest refined sugar you can get: searce your sugar, and now and then, as you see cause, put in two or three drops of damask Rose-water: bear great labour, vntil you have brought it into a dry steffe paste: one quarterne of sugar is sufficient to worke at once.........You may mix canel or ginger in your paste, & that will both grace the taste, and alter the colour, but the spice must passe thorow a fair searce; you may steep your almonds in cold water all night, & so blanch them cold.... the instruction in the recipe reproduced from "Delights for Ladies" , " Take to every Iordan(Jordan) Almond blanched three spoonefuls of the whitest sugar(refined)..." to indicate that the weght must be at least equal. In testing this theory I weighed 3 almonds to 2 teaspoons of confectioners sugar. Considering that the modern sugar would be denser I still found that the weight was comparable at.5 gm for the almonds to .5 gm for the sugar. To ensure accuracy, these weights were obtained on an electronic scale at my local bulk food store Therefore 1 almond would weigh in at approximately 1.66 gm and 1 tsp of sugar approximately 2.5 gm. This has lead me to the conclusion that the 2 and 2/3 cups of sugar must be 2 and 2/3 POUNDS. This is the amount of sugar that was used in the recipe presented today. Colours: You may use artificial or natural food dyes, be creative Grind the almonds to a thick paste using a food processor, Add small amounts of rose -water 1/2 tsp at a time to prevent the almonds from becoming to oily. Place almond paste in a bowl. gradually beat in sugar. knead mixture. Separate the marzipan into several sections, one for each colour required. Place sections in a separate bowl and seal. Allow these to age for 24 to 48 hours. Mix the colouring agents into the aged marzipan. It will be easier to knead if allowed to warm. Sculpt the paste according to your wildest fancy. Use fingers , cookie cutters, molds or knives Note:After experimenting with this "redacted" recipe, I have found that the original call for only 22/3 CUPS of sugar was not nearly sufficient to satisfy both the taste factor and the "sculpturability" of the paste. In addition I have considered the instruction in the recipe reproduced from "Delights for Ladies" , " Take to every Iordan(Jordan) Almond blanched three spoonefuls of the whitest sugar(refined)..." to indicate that the weght must be at least equal. In testing this theory I weighed 3 almonds to 2 teaspoons of confectioners sugar. Considering that the modern sugar would be denser I still found that the weight was comparable at.5 gm for the almonds to .5 gm for the sugar. To ens ure accuracy, these weights were obtained on an electronic scale at my local bulk food store Therefore 1 almond would weigh in at approximately 1.66 gm and 1 tsp of sugar approximately 2.5 gm. This has lead me to the conclusion that the 2 and 2/3 cups of sugar must be 2 and 2/3 POUNDS. This is the amount of sugar that was used in the recipe presented today. Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1999 12:17:32 EST From: RuddR at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Blown eggs, was Chocolate Alex Clark writes: "A dimly half-remembered idea from a period cookbook: Mostly fill blown eggs with starch-thickened almond milk. Then put a "yolk" in the middle made from some thicker almond product with saffron. I think these were roasted after being assembled." Here is my version. I have chosen to use modern food coloring instead of saffron and cinnamon, mostly for convenience, but using those spices would be simple enough. EYROUN IN LENTYN Almond Paste "Eggs" Take Eyroun, & blow owt (th)at ys with-ynne atte o(th)er ende; (th)an waysshe (th)e schulle clene in warme Water; (th)an take gode mylke of Almaundys, & sette it on (th)e fyre; (th)an take a fayre canvas, & pore (th)e mylke (th)er-on, & lat renne owt (th)e water; (th)en take it owt on (th)e clo(th)e, & gader it to-gedere with a platere; (th)en putte sugre y-now (th)er-to; (th)an take (th)e halvyndele, & colour it with Safroun, a lytil, & do (th)er-to pouder Canelle; (th)an take & do of (th)e whyte in the ne(th)er ende of (th)e schulle, & in (th)e myddel (th)e (y)olk, & fylle it vppe with (th)e whyte; but no(gh)t to fulle, for goyng ouer; (th)an sette it in (th)e fyre & roste it, & serue f[orth]. Harleian MS 279 1 C blanched almonds 2 1/2 C water 1 C sugar 1/4 tsp salt 6 large eggs Yellow food coloring 1. Grind blanched almonds to a fine paste in a blender or food processor, adding about half a cup of water, a tablespoon at a time, during grinding. You might want to grind the almonds in two or three batches. 2. In a saucepan, combine almond paste with the remaining two cups of water, sugar, and salt, stirring to blend smooth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring frequently, for about ten minutes. 3. Pour and scrape the mixture onto a large, clean white cloth, such as a dinner napkin or tea towel, laid on a large plate or cookie sheet. Spread the mixture out and let it cool. Then gather up the cloth by the corners, and gently wring it out over a cup or bowl. Tie the cloth up like a bag, and hang up the mixture in the cloth over a cup or bowl for at least three hours. 4. Separate out one third of the almond cream, and put it into a separate bowl. Stir in yellow food coloring a few drops at a time until it is the color of egg yolk. 5. Carefully poke holes into both ends of the eggs, a large hole at the wide end, and a pin hole at the narrow. Holding each egg over a bowl, blow through the pin hole, blowing out the yolk and the white into the bowl. You may refrigerate the yolks and whites for later use. Rinse out the empty egg shells with warm water. 6. Using a pastry tube with a wide nozzle, pipe one third of the plain almond cream into each egg shell. Using a clean chop stick, or other clean, blunt stick, tamp the cream down and pack it against the sides of the shell. Then pipe in yellow cream, and tamp it down. Pipe in the remaining cream and tamp it down. Leave about a quarter of an inch space near the open end. 7. Preheat oven to 3508. 8. Place the filled egg shells on a rack in a roasting pan, and bake them for ten minutes to dry out the almond cream a little. Remove them from the oven, wipe off any drips that may have occurred, cool, and serve. Serves six to twelve. Rudd Rayfield Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 23:41:58 -0500 From: harper at idt.net Subject: Re: SC - Help! To the Queen's Taste And it came to pass on 30 Nov 00, that Jeff Heilveil wrote: > There is, I hope, a recipe for marzipan in "To the Queen's Taste." If > someone could PLEASE email me the original (I don't need the redaction) > before Friday 2pm CST I would GREATLY appreciate it. I do not see such a recipe in "To the Queen's Taste". Do you need *any* period recipe for marzipan, or does it have to be from a particular time and place? There are recipes in such varied sources as: "A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen" (English, 1617) "The Medieval Kitchen" (from Martino, Italian, 15th cent.) "Libro de Guisados" (Spanish, 1529) "Libre de totes maneres de confits" (Catalan, 14th cent.) Digbie (English, 1669) And I'm sure there are others, especially if you're willing to go post- period. Lady Brighid ni Chiarain Settmour Swamp, East (NJ) Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 00:15:48 -0500 From: harper at idt.net Subject: Re: SC - Help! To the Queen's Taste And it came to pass on 30 Nov 00, , that Angie Malone wrote: Just the language. One is the English name, the other is German. The other European names sound pretty similar. > The reason why I ask is there is an article in the > Autumn 2000 Tournaments Illuminated titled Marchpane recipes. I noticed > the bibliography has some references to Marzipan. The TI article deals mostly with English recipes, and therefore uses the period English name. I tend to use "marzipan" because it is the modern term I am familiar with. Lady Brighid ni Chiarain Settmour Swamp, East (NJ) Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 19:31:41 +0100From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>Subject: Re: SC - Help! To the Queen's Taste>There is, I hope, a recipe for marzipan in "To the Queen's Taste." If>someone could PLEASE email me the original (I don't need the redaction)>before Friday 2pm CST I would GREATLY appreciate it.>>BogdanHi! As someone already pointed out, Sass doesn't have a recipe formarzipan in either Queen's or King's Taste. Here is the recipe from RobertMay's Accomplisht Cook. You will note that marchpane and marzipan, at thistime, were not the same thing. What we call Marzipan was the basis of anelaborate cake made of marzipan and wafers, iced and garnished withcomfits; but the recipe starts out with how to make the almond paste wecall marzipan."To make Marchpane.Take two pound of almonds blanch't and beaten in a stone mortar, till theybegin to come to a fine paste, then take a pound of sifted sugar, put it inthe mortar with the almonds, and make it into a perfect paste, putting toit now and then in the beating of it a spoonful of rose-water, to keep itfrom oyling; when you have beat it to a puff paste, drive it out as big asa charger, and set an edge about it as you do upon a quodling tart, and abottom of wafers under it, thus bake it in an oven or baking pan; when yousee it is white, hard, and dry, take it out, and ice it with rose-water andsugar, being made as thick as butter for fritters, to spread it on with awing feather, and put it into the oven again; when you see it rise high,then take it out and garnish it with some pretty conceits made of the samestuff, stick long comfets upright on it, and so serve it." The AccomplishtCook, 1685 edition, ed by Alan Davidson.Note: Alan Davidson notes that May omitted the eggwhite necessary to makethis rise. He was copying a recipe from The Queen's Closet Opened, p. 68.I don't have that here.I have others. If this is unsuitable, let me know.Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefucindy at thousandeggs.com Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 12:46:46 +0100 From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com> Subject: Re: SC - Marzipan recipe -- Found it! Hello! I checked several dozen refs last night & this morning & finally found the one you're looking for in "John Evelyn, Cook", ed. by Christopher Driver, pp. 159-160. [This book contains a MS cookbook compiled by John Evelyn over the course of many years. If I'm reading Driver's comments correctly, writing of the book was begun by Evelyn's clerk, Richard Hoare, in 1649. He wrote up to recipe 127, & was sacked in 1653(?). The writing was then continued by Evelyn and others. Evelyn published "Acetaria" in 1699. Many of the recipes in this book were included in "Acetaria". So, this recipe, #298, was written down between 1653 and 1699. But, as the custom was to solicit recipes from friends and relatives, this recipe may be older. Driver does not give the dates of the specific recipes. ] 298. To make royall Marchpane in round rings. Take 2 pound of sweet Almonds and one handfull of bitter ones blanch them in cold water over night drie them in a cloth beat them very well then with the whites of three Eggs beat up with Orenge flower water put to them a p[ound] and halfe of fine sugar sifted set it over a chafing dish with charcoale in a bason or preserving pan stirr it till it is very drie and will work up in to a past then lay it on a cleane board till allmost cold then role it out shape them round let them lye till they are all made then beat 2 or 3 whites of eggs to a froth tosse and wett them all over then tosse them in fine sifted sugar then sift sugar on papers to lay them on set them in an oven that will just couler the paper a qr of an hour will bake them the oven must be so quick they may rise. Notes: - - qr (r is superscripted) = quarter - - letters in brackets were added by Driver, recipes abbreviate pound with "p". - - Driver cites a note by Karen Hess that this method of drying the marchpanes over coals is French, & is used by Massialot. Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu cindy at thousandeggs.com Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 16:52:38 -0600 From: "Elise Fleming" <alysk at ix.netcom.com> Subject: SC - Re: Marzipan Gwendolen wrote: >Can anyone recommend a relatively quick and *easy* thing to do with >Marzipan? Do you use it as an icing or do you mold it just as is? I >brought some back from England and I'd like to do something with it for an >event on Saturday. Any other tips (already read the Florilegium files) >would be welcomed. Quick and easy would be to roll it into balls and dip it into melted chocolate. Not period, however! If you're a sugar paste person, make some period paste. Roll the marzipan into a "snake" and roll the sugarpaste around the snake. Twist it into knots, letters, bows, etc. Place on parchment paper. Bake in a very slow oven (300?) until the color just turns. Remove. It's late period. Get wafers. Roll out marzipan to fit and pinch up an edge. Bake as they say for marchpanes. Alys Katharine Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 14:33:55 -0500 From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net> Subject: Re: SC - Marzipan One thing: I found that my hands kept getting sticky when working with it. What I found works really well to stop this is to dip your hands into orange juice when they start getting sticky. Kiri Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 15:53:21 -0000 From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> Subject: Re: SC - Marzipan >Can anyone recommend a relatively quick and *easy* thing to do with >Marzipan? Do you use it as an icing or do you mold it just as is? I > >Gwendolen Being unsure how familiar you are with marzipan, the following tips should be kept in mind. Due to the large sugar content in marzipan it dries very quickly when exposed to the air. I should be covered at all times. If the marzipan becomes dry you can add a little water to reconstitute it but this will cut down on it's shelf life. Using a stainless steel bowl to make or keep it covered in will prevent discoloration. Also, when handling marzipan be sure every surface and your hands are extremely clean. As the almond oil raises to the surface when worked will pick up and absorb even small traces of dirt and can lead to spoilage and discoloration. When rolling out marzipan work on a surface (preferably marble)dust the surface with powdered sugar (instead of flour like you would for pastry dough). You can use cookie or butter cutters for shapes or free hand cut. To top a cake or petits fours you can make a cardboard cutout of the size and use that as your pattern. If you color marzipan it is traditional to use soft pastel shades, but I have gone beyond those boundries myself. You can use water-soluble food coloring, cocoa powder, saunder, and for bright white (for display pieces only-don't eat) add 4 to 6 drops of titanium dioxide per 1 ounce of untinted marzipan. If you want to make small amounts of one color, place a drop of food color on a piece of baking parchment and add the marzipan to it. Many little figures can be free hand sculpted with marzipan also. To avoid having fingerprints left on your marzipan piece, plastic food handlers gloves are a welcome addition. Just be sure to change gloves between colors. To make a marzipan parfait: (six cups) 8 ounces marzipan 2 tablespoons kirschwasser (kirsch, a clear uncoloured black cherry brandy) 3 ounces granulated sugar 4 egg yolks (1/3 cup) 2.5 (2 1/2) cups heavy cream Soften the marzipan by mixing in the kirschwasser. Add the sugar and egg yolks and place over simmering water. Whip until the mixture is light and fluffy. Remove from heat, continue whipping until cool. Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold the cream into the marzipan mixture. Place in the freeser for at least two hours or, preferably, overnight. Need any more? Olwen~down to 10 pounds of marzipan and planning on restocking.... To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan From: Kirrily Robert <skud at infotrope.net> Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 11:20:35 -0400 Brighid wrote: >Last night I tried making peach pits with commercial almond paste. It >looked just as good, and was easier to handle than my homemade, BUT the flavor >was very different. The commercial paste has such a strong almond flavor >that the cinnamon got lost. Many people who don't like commercial marzipan do like my home-made marzipan. I think the commercial stuff has heaps of almond essence in it, and it's overwhelming. Katherine -- Lady Katherine Robillard (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert) katherine at infotrope.net http://infotrope.net/sca/ Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 10:14:46 -0500 (CDT) From: "Pixel, Goddess and Queen" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan.... On Mon, 24 Sep 2001, Melody Mahanna wrote: > The marzipan posts of late started the gears and cogs in my imagination > ticking so I got a small bit of marzipan to play with. Now I have heard of > wondrous creations made out of this stuff and mine still looks like uncooked > sugar cookie dough and is about as agreeable to my sculpting efforts. Do > you leave it out once sculpted to harden up or do you bake it? Any > suggestions as to neato things I can try here? *looks at the poor lump of > neglected marzipan* > ~Melody There are different recipes for marzipan. The recipe that my late grandfather used, and that it sounds like Olwen uses, is fairly stiff, not really sticky, and sculpts a lot like well-handled Play-doh. Commercial marzipan like the kind you buy in the tube is fairly soft (although still tasty), and usually used inside baked goods, so the texture doesn't matter nearly so much. If you leave marzipan out for long, it will harden and become not fun to eat. If you want to be able to eat it after it's been formed, you have to store it airtight or seal it in something (like chocolate). You can bake it--shape it into little breads, glaze it with beaten egg white, and bake it until it is brown on top. Looks like little buns. Changes the taste, too. If you freeze it, wrap it very well and don't store it for too long or it will dry out. Without baking it, the easiest shape I know of is the potato (ok, yeah, it's not really period). Make balls, make little dents for eyes with the wide end of a flat toothpick, and roll in cocoa powder. You can also tint it with food colorings--just knead it in. You may find that if you knead in some icing sugar (powdered or confectioner's sugar to those who haven't been reading English cake decorating books lately) it will stiffen up the paste enough for good sculpting. It may make it extremely sweet--use about a teaspoon at a time until it's stiff as you want. Olwen, do you use fondant in your marzipan, and if so, what proportions? Margaret, who is missing the annual marzipan-making weekend with Grandpa rather acutely this year From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan.... Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 17:14:20 +0000 > The marzipan posts of late started the gears and cogs in my imagination >ticking so I got a small bit of marzipan to play with. Now I have heard of >wondrous creations made out of this stuff and mine still looks like uncooked >sugar cookie dough and is about as agreeable to my sculpting efforts. Do >you leave it out once sculpted to harden up or do you bake it? Any >suggestions as to neato things I can try here? *looks at the poor lump of >neglected marzipan* >~Melody Oh goodie Melody is going to play with marzipan!! So much fun. Well, to begin with, if you want to colour marzipan and don't mind if it's not some period tinture then use the gel or paste rather than the water based stuff. Make sure your hands and surfaces are very clean and don't smell funny cuz that is the one thing marzipan is finicky about (trust me, fish smelling marzipan is not a good choice). After that it's just a matter of play. I leave my marzipan sit out and get to room temp. before I play with it. The more you handle it the softer it will become. Sometimes it gets so soft it's sticky and it should go back in the fridge till it cools down. You can mold it, use cookie cutters, "paste" pieces together using rose water (or plain water ~ I use rose water), put it between wax paper and roll it or use your finger to squish it (that's how I form the petals for the roses), you can sclupt it, stuff it, boil it, bake it, give bits to your cat....well, get the idea? Depending on what you are going to do with it. I usually just leave mine sit out and harden up then put it in containers or ziplock. Mind, if you let it sit out way long it will get hard as a rock. Mix a little in some simmering cream and it makes a wonderful sauce to pour over poundcake, pasteries, fruit and icecream. (Remember the "stuff" in the bottle Chirhart?) Yum. Well, sorry for going on, but it is my favorite toy. Olwen, queen of marzipan Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 13:23:44 -0400 From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan.... I have also found that a hint that I found somewhere (don't remember where....) works really well....I keep a dish of orange juice (without pulp works best) that I use to rinse my fingers when they get too sticky. Kiri From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan.... Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 18:52:31 +0000 >So what *are* the proportions you use? Grandpa used 16 oz almond paste, 12 >oz fondant, 4 oz icing sugar, and about a 1/2 tsp rosewater for a 2-lb >lump. It started out sticky but after everything was blended nicely it was >smooth and slightly dry to the touch. It would dry out very quickly, >though, so we always kept it covered when we weren't working with it. > >Margaret Half and half almond paste and powdered sugar. I add a little rosewater if needed or a little more sugar to stiffen it. Olwen Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 15:50:04 -0500 (CDT) From: "Pixel, Goddess and Queen" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com> To: SCA-Cooks maillist <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan.... > Olwen answered Margaret with: > > >Olwen, do you use fondant in your marzipan, and if so, what proportions? > > > > > >Margaret, who is missing the annual marzipan-making weekend with Grandpa > > >rather acutely this year > > > > No. I don't use fondant. > > Huh, What's "fondant"? > > Stefan li Rous Another nifty thing you can do with sugar. There are two types. What I am talking about is cooked fondant--you cook sugar and water and corn syrup or cream of tartar to soft ball stage, let it cool completely, then beat it until white. This is the sort of fondant you find as candy cream filling. The other kind is the rolled fondant that gets put on cakes, which includes white vegetable fat and glycerine as well as sugar and gelatine. Margaret Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 13:51:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Nelson Beth <grdygirl at yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan.... To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org I started looking for a recipe to give you but found this instead. It's a pretty good description. Orlaith http://www.pastrywiz.com/season/fondant.htm says Fondant is a sugar syrup that is crystallized to a smooth, creamy white mass and is used for both icing cakes and cake decorations. The cooked Fondant (European Fondant) is quite difficult to make but is the best Fondant recipe around due to its elasticity and smoothness. European Fondant is made by boiling sugar, water and glucose to 240F. It is then poured onto a marble slap and sprinkle with some water to prevent crystallization. Once the syrup has cooled down to 110F, start to work the sugar with a steel scraper, folding it onto itself. Do not attempt to work it before it cooled to 110=B0F or it will become tough and coarse. After a while it will start turning white. Work the fondant until it is smooth and creamy. It may take well over 40 minutes to achieve the right consistency. Once smooth and creamy store in an airtight container for later use. European Fondant should NOT be attempted by inexperienced pastry chefs without the appropriate supervision, as you may burn yourself badly. European Fondant is not rolled fondant. Fondant originates from "fondre" - to melt and is a soft creamy preparation of sugar, water, and flavoring. Rolled Fondant is a Canadian term for Sugarpaste, which is a different product. Read about Sugarpaste. Uncooked Fondant is made by simply mixing all ingredients together. Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 16:03:51 -0500 (CDT) From: "Pixel, Goddess and Queen" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan.... On Mon, 24 Sep 2001, Nelson Beth wrote: > I started looking for a recipe to give you but found > this instead. It's a pretty good description. > > Orlaith > > http://www.pastrywiz.com/season/fondant.htm says > > Fondant is a sugar syrup that is crystallized to a > smooth, creamy white mass and is used for both icing > cakes and cake decorations. The cooked Fondant > (European Fondant) is quite difficult to make but is > the best Fondant recipe around due to its elasticity > and smoothness. <snip> Note that a Kitchen-Aid substitutes nicely for the scraper and marble slab, for those of us who don't have room to store large slabs of marble nor places to put them when they are in use. I find the assurances that this is difficult amusing, since Grandpa taught me the fondant-making process when I was twelve. Ok, so I'm a mutant. Margaret From: "Elise Fleming" <alysk at ix.netcom.com> To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org> Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 19:51:02 -0500 Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Playing With Marzipan Greetings. If you really want to see some fantabulous marzipan creations, find a copy of _Decorations, Borders and Letters, Marzipan, and Modern Desserts_ by Bilheux and Escoffier. It is one of the volumes of the Professional French Pastry Series. The book may be out of print now. The copyright in mine is 1988. However, the contents are "wowzer"! The marzipan section contains how to make flowers, how to paint on colors white marzipan, making leaves, inscriptions on marzipan parchment, making sculptures and applying color, making fruits and vegetables and steop-by-step instructions to make cutesy animals. You can get some marvelous ideas! The wild part about this book (and the others in the series) is the final section of photographs and descriptions of entries in a food-related competition, the Charles Proust. The entries are unbelievable. I don't know if this would be available in a library, or if one could request it on one of those "hard to find" book web sites. The original was about $70. Alys Katharine From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks digest, Vol 1 #679 - 16 msgs Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 14:00:28 +0000 >And the brand name is? Hmmm. I'm at work now so if memory serves I believe that the brand name now is K & K. They are pretty much the same though. >BTW - I understand that you need to store the marzipan so it doesn't go >hard. Is it like some of the Candy recipes I've read that you need to store >it with Silica Gel to keep out the moisture, or is a well-sealed container >stored in a cool, dry place sufficient?? I stick it in a zipper bag and pop them into the drawer at the bottom of my fridge. I do keep it either in bags or covered with a cloth when I have the lump out that I am working with. The surface will get stiff but can be caressed and made soft again. The finished pieces I either leave out for a while to set up or I cover, depending on how hard I want/need the presentation to be. The peach pits, for instance, I leave sit out and get fairly hard. That way transporting them to a feast is as simple as tossing them in a bag and they won't mash. The roses I do I leave set out for while but the petals are so thin that if they dry out too much the edges crack so I pop them into a tupperware container. >Mari Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 10:44:24 -0400 From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks digest, Vol 1 #679 - 16 msgs I actually froze some of the marzipan I purchased from Bakers Catalogue...and, when thawed, did not seem the worse for wear. It was sealed very tightly to avoid freezer burn. Kiri From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan.... Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 01:09:29 +0000 >I don't know, dear...I think Olwen's the Resident Expert on Things >Marzipan. I have managed to make marzipan acorns, and they tasted just >fine, but didn't look hugely impressive, and that's about it..... >--Maire You could have added just a bit of acorn flour to that mix and it would have given that nice bitterness. Just add water instead of rosewater for the moisture and a little more sugar. Olwen From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] REC: LARDED MILK...BACON Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 17:13:23 +0000 When I ran marzipan through my pasta machine I simply dusted the rollers and the rolled out marzipan with powdered sugar. I made the greatest looking fettucine. Made "meatballs" too! I even dried some pretty hard and grated it and put it in a small bowl as parmazian. Put them out on a buffet table. Then I sat back and had a good laugh. Tried the playdough presses too. It worked but I'm more hands on. Olwen From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan roses Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 19:56:06 +0000 > > And thank you for the complement. They are dead easy to make. So > > much easier than the piped frosting ones! > > Olwen > >Oh, I like dead easy. I can only guess at how to hand-assemble >something like that. May we know the arcane secret? > >Iyad ibn Bisharo / Thr=E1inn Tj=FAguskegg Using gel colouring select the colour you want and mix it thoroughly into the marzipan. Pinch off a section and form the cone, just like you would in frosting. Between pieces of wax paper place a bit of marzipan and with your finger as the rolling (pushing) pin spread out a piece about one to one and a half inches long and about three quarters inch tall. Unpeel it from the wax paper and beginning with the center petals begin wrapping and pinching it around the cone. Keep adding more rows of petals till you are happy. Cut off any remaining base after the marzipan begins to set up a bit. Dead easy. Olwen From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OLWEN'S MARZIPAN Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 18:15:44 +0000 >Olwen, >I have been meaning to ask you all through this thread: do you make your >own marzipan or do you buy it in little cans? I was wondering because the >little cans can get awfully expensive. > >But now you have me thinking of marzipan playtime. >Do you have a favorite recipe for making the marzipan? >And (and I might have missed this) How & where do you keep the left over >marzipan or marzipan for long term storage. And what is considered long >term? >Phillipa I have made my own marzipan from scratch. It is a not that much fun and is costly. I get almond paste in #10 cans, which is 7 pounds of paste, at Restaraunt Depot. That is a restaurant supply house. I mix the 7 pounds of paste with 7 pounds of powdered sugar in Master Chirharts kitchenaide. It is great fun and very messy. I store the marzipan in ziplock bags in the vegetable bin in the fridge. It can keep up to a year or so if you have it that long. I make and use somewhere in the area of 60 to 80 pounds of marzipan a year. This year you can add at least 24 more pounds to that as I have a rather daunting soltie planned for 12th night. It is my understanding, although I have never used it, that the stuff that comes premade in those little expensive plastic tubes is not very condusive to molding with. Having never used it I am not sure that adding a little more powdered sugar to it may stiffen it up enough to be more user friendly. It may be worth a try. Olwen From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: Re[2]: [Sca-cooks] OLWEN'S MARZIPAN Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 20:58:56 +0000 >Had to buy 'em at W*l-M*rt. Not cheap, but I now have marzipan. >Sticky, questionable, stubborn, freaky marzipan, but marzipan >nonetheless. I don't think the rose thing's gonna work, so I'll just >make bunches of grapes. They're easy. >____________________________________________________________________ >Iyad ibn Bisharo / Thr=E1inn Tj=FAguskegg Sticky? Did you weigh the ground almond paste? You have to add the same amount of (weighed) powdered sugar. Then if it is too stiff add a few drops of rose water. If yours is sticky try adding some more powdered sugar to a bit of it and see how it improves. It should be fairly stiff to hold it's shape. Stiffer for some shapes. Olwen From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OLWEN'S MARZIPAN Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 16:07:15 +0000 >olwentheodd at hotmail.com writes: ><< You can ask a a patissarie or a place that does wedding cakes where they get > their almond paste or marzipan in bulk. As for the colouring, use a gel > rather than the water based ones you get at the grocery store. They work > better and don't stain everything and run colours and they don't affect > the marzipan with added moisture. > Olwen >> > >Olwen, I have also used the paste colours to no ill effects. Though I do >admit to using gloves when kneading the colours in. I just don't like my >hands being stained 4-5 different combinations of colours. > >Finnebhir When using the gel paste colour the colour does not transfer to my hands. Unlike the water based stuff you get in the grocer which stains everything. Everyone can tell when we make those apple eggs cuz our hands are all yellow and red :-( Some folks use gloves. Some folks use baggies. Some folks are more hands on, like me. I use gloves only when I am in the final stages of a hand modeled figure to avoid prints. Olwen From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: Re[4]: [Sca-cooks] OLWEN'S MARZIPAN Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 16:55:19 +0000 > > If yours is sticky try adding some more powdered sugar to a bit of > > it and see how it improves. > >That did it. Thanks! Turned out to be little more than equal parts >of each. Best going theory (thanks Johnnae!) is that the recent -- >current -- damp weather had rendered it limp. A little extra dry >ingredient evened it out. Still soft, but no longer sticky. Softness >can be taken care of by leaving it out uncovered for a while, right? > >Iyad Leaving it out will give it a crust. Put it in the fridge. The cold will stiffen it up some. After it is molded you can leave it sitting out to firm up. You may have to add a little more sugar for thinner parts. Glad it's working for you! Have fun. Olwen Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 20:41:09 -0500 (CDT) From: "Pixel, Goddess and Queen" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan creations, like onions... > I would LOVE some marzipan so I > could taste it and get an idea of what it tastes and looks like before I > *attempt* (yes, ATTEMPT) to do marzipan. > > Misha You've had sweet rolls with almond goo in them? Kind of like that. Sweet and almond-y, with just a faint hint of roses. If you don't feel like trying to kill a KitchenAid (I burned out the fuse on one once) you can knead the almond paste and the sugar together with your hands (equal weights almond paste and icing sugar, with a bit of rosewater in that great medieval measure called "some" which is usually about a half to a whole teaspoon per pound of paste), start working the almond paste first so it's soft when you add the sugar. Grandpa always stored his fondant and the almond paste on the unheated back porch--cold fondant and cold almond paste is *not* fun to knead. Depending on the kind you get, it may be kind of hard with a tendency to crumble when it's cold. Some varieties of paste may be softer. If you are kneading it by hand, you'll want some sort of scraper when it inevitably sticks to the table/counter/pastry board/marble slab/generic kneading surface. Just keep mushing it together until it's all smooth and uniform, not streaky with unmixed sugar and paste. Once it's mixed thoroughly, then you can add your color if that's what you're doing, gradually in small amounts as Olwen has already said. If you get pre-mixed from Olwen, you'll just have to color and shape it. I can give you directions to make fruits, if you like, which is a traditional thing to do with marzipan. And potatoes, which although not fruits, are dead easy. The only thing easier, not counting mixing in the color, are oranges. Sheesh. Now I'm going to have to see where I can get almond paste. Olwen, this is *your* fault. ;-) Margaret Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 08:11:42 -0700 (PDT) From: Jennifer Whitbeck <jbwhitbeck at yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan creations, & experiments To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org I asked opinions a while back about using one of those old-style "meat" grinders to grind almonds for marzipan, since I had recently acquired one with a "nut butters" attachment. (I know it's far easier to buy the stuff, but I like this sort of experimenting.) Well, I finally got off my duff, blanched some almonds and tried it out. Though somewhat more messy, it definitely yielded smoother results than the food processor. (Quote from fiance; "Hey, that's so much smoother than the other stuff you've made!") ;-> Now, I've started playing with molds too... I found one interesting product I played with this week; Crayola's Model Magic. I read it was non-toxic and non-sticking, so I thought I'd see how it stood up to making molds for marzipan. Preliminary results might be promising, so that prompted me to write the list about it. It didn't turn out how I expected. I cast two things: an acorn and a plastic chess piece. Apart from being non-toxic, I picked it because it said it was an air-drying modelling clay. It was weird stuff; felt like I was trying to mold marshmallows! It seems that it does "dry", but it doesn't really harden. Now that the test molds are dry, they're like a solid foam and retain they're shape (acorn, chess piece) after squeezing. I found when I tried molding marzipan into them, the mold was pliable enough to flex and help pop the marzipan out. I think I'd rather try some stiffer, real clay, before deciding what I preferred, but I thought this might be useful info if anyone was looking for a more flexible mold material that was non-toxic. Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 22:10:13 -0400 From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan creations, & experiments Jennifer's comments about molds reminded me that Beryl's Cake Decorating and Pastry Supplies catalogue was advertising a product called CREATE-A-MOLD. It's a reuseable non-toxic molding gel that can be melted in the microwave. See it at: http://beryls.safeshopper.com/130/4850.htm?452 or at http://www.beryls.com/mainpage.htm. It's priced at $15 for 8.5 ounces. Has anyone tried this??? She also sells silicone plastique for molding. Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 11:40:05 -0500 From: Amanda Whiteley <siancr at shaw.ca> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan creations, like onions... To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org A lot of cake decorating supply places, especially those specializing in wedding cake supplies, supply almond paste for a quick and dirty start on marzipan. Here in Winnipeg, I just trot down the road to Evelyn's. Sian Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 12:41:38 -0400 From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan creations, like onions... Olwen the Odd wrote: >> For those who have worked with Marzipan before, I present a question:Is it >> easier and/or better to work with the almond paste or the homemade >> made-from-scratch? The recipe I have is the homemade stuff. >> >> Misha > > Trust me Misha, opening a can of almond paste and mixing it with sugar and > rosewater is SOOOOOO much easier than blanching and grinding almonds and > THEN mixing with sugar and rosewater. I do think the experience is worth it > though. > > Since I use 60 to 80 pounds of marzipan (at least) a year I would be > grinding almonds in my spare time and my sleep if I did not use the cans. > Olwen Olwen, have you investigated the almond flour sometimes found in Indian or Middle eastern markets? ISTR getting it for about $5 a pound (maybe less), mixing it with an equal amount of powdered sugar and enough diluted rosewater to moisten it all to a cohesive state when mixed and kneaded. It made an ever so slightly coarser version of marzipan, not especially sticky (there was just a hint of released almond oil, which combatted that). I suspect that what I ended up with was perhaps not quite as fine as a modern commercial product, but very possibly as fine, or very nearly so, as a hand-made period product. And then, how well my cost compares to your method, I have no idea. Adamantius Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 14:53:20 -0400 From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan creations, like onions... Olwen the Odd wrote: >> Olwen, have you investigated the almond flour sometimes found in Indian or >> Middle eastern markets? ISTR getting it for about $5 a pound (maybe less), >> mixing it with an equal amount of powdered sugar and enough diluted >> rosewater to moisten it all to a cohesive state when mixed and kneaded. It >> made an ever so slightly coarser version of marzipan, not especially >> sticky >> (there was just a hint of released almond oil, which combatted that). I >> suspect that what I ended up with was perhaps not quite as fine as a >> modern >> commercial product, but very possibly as fine, or very nearly so, as a >> hand-made period product. And then, how well my cost compares to your >> method