sotelties-msg - 3/29/05
Sotelties and Warners - decorated food.Medieval food presented in an ornamental way. Disguised food. Food sculptures.
NOTE: See also these files: sugar-paste-msg, Warners-art, gingerbread-msg, sugar-msg, Sugarplums-art, Roses-a-Sugar-art, marzipan-msg, pig-heads-msg, Chastlete-art, endoring-msg, Sugar-Icing-art, molded-foods-msg.
(Warners are disguised food. Sotelties are sculptures made from edible ingredients but not always intended to be eaten or even safe to eat)
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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.
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Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: caradoc at enet.net (John Groseclose)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Edible stained glass
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 1994 20:43:53 -0700
mscholte at nyx10.cs.du.EDU (marion scholten) wrote:
> A member of my Shire remembers a recipe for edible stained
glass. If anyone has it could you please email it to me. Thanks
>
> M'Lord Marion Lang Boogschutter - Seneshal
> Shire of Border Vale Keep
> Kingdom of Atlantia
If you've any experience making hard candies, it's easy. All you need to
do is melt a lot of sugar with a little corn syrup and boil it until it
reaches "hard crack" (IE: when you drip it into cold water, it IMMEDIATELY
gets hard and brittle.
I make a Scottish candy called "gundy" from molasses and honey, flavoring
it with aniseed or horehound, depending on my taste at the time.
As soon as I can find my recipe, I'll post it for you.
To make the "stained glass" effect, simply mix coloring into the candy
before pouring it into a buttered pan, or carefully fold it into the candy
immediately after pouring.
In the local Barony (Sundragon, K. of Atenveldt) my lady has become
reknowned for her baklava (middle Eastern pastry of thin dough, nuts, and
honey.) Between the two of us, several households seem to be needing
longer belts. :) She also makes *astounding* cheesecakes.
--
John D. Groseclose <caradoc at enet.net>
From: mchance at crl.com (Michael A. Chance)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Edible stained glass
Date: 13 Nov 1994 20:15:25 -0800
caradoc at enet.net (John Groseclose) writes:
>If you've any experience making hard candies, it's easy. All you need to
>do is melt a lot of sugar with a little corn syrup and boil it until it
>reaches "hard crack" (IE: when you drip it into cold water, it IMMEDIATELY
>gets hard and brittle.
>To make the "stained glass" effect, simply mix coloring into the candy
>before pouring it into a buttered pan, or carefully fold it into the candy
>immediately after pouring.
John is essentially correct, and this is the basic recipe that my lady
has used for many years. I would only add a very important warning:
BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN MAKING GLASS CANDY! The temperature of
boiling sugar is extremely high, and will cause serious burns if it
comes in contact with skin. Worse, it will stick to your skin worse
than napalm, causing even more severe burning until removed or it
cools.
Even with extra precautions, my lady inevitably gets at least a couple
of spot burns from the candy boiling and spitting every time she makes
it. She puts up with it because it gets such rave reviews every time
she creates subtleties that make use of glass candy. Of course, she not
only colors the candy, she flavors it as well.
By all means, make glass candy. Just be careful when you do.
Mikjal Annarbjorn
--
Michael A. Chance St. Louis, Missouri, USA "At play in the fields
Work: mc307a at sw1stc.sbc.com of St. Vidicon"
Play: mchance at crl.com
From: meadhbhni at aol.com (Meadhbhni)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Edible stained glass
Date: 14 Nov 1994 09:40:08 -0500
I remember that the meridian A & S newsletter had an article about edible
stained glass a few years ago. you might see if they have that article on
file. unfortunately, i don't remember which issue of seasons it was in.
meadhbh ni ruaidh o chonnemara OL, Stargate, Ansteorra
From: mugjf at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Gwyndlyn J Ferguson)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Edible stained glass
Date: 14 Nov 1994 15:22:47 GMT
Question about edible stained glass in previous posting:
A non-period (or is it?) method that I have used for Christmas
cookies is to get hard candies in various colors (sour balls work well)
and smash them up. The I use them with sugar cookies or gingerbread.
You cut holes in the rolled cookie dough where you want the "glass" to
go. Then you sprinkle in the color of candy that you want and bake as
usual. **It is important to use foil under the cookies, and watch the
cookies closely to avoid burning the "glass". Stained glass cookies have
been one of my favorites for a long time. :)
Gwyndlyn (ne: Rhiannon) Caer Vyrddin
Lochmorrow-Middle
Gwyn Ferguson
Western Illinois University
mugjf at bgu.edu
From: ddfr at aol.com (DDFr)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Gingerbread Castle Help
Date: 25 Dec 1995 01:02:32 -0500
1. Elaborate food sculptures, called subtleties, are in period, including
ones that are castles.
2. What we call gingerbread is, I believe, period but not medieval. I
think it comes in in the sixteenth century, although I do not know
sixteenth century cooking well enough to be sure of that.
3. The 14th and 15th century English cookbooks have something called
gingerbread. It is easy to make, tasty, and could be used to construct a
castle. But it is utterly unlike what we call gingerbread--the texture is
more like a fudge. It is made of honey, breadcrumbs, ginger, pepper, and
saunders (at least, those are the ingredients in the recipe I use).
Hope this helps. If you can find my Miscellany on the Web (I don't know
the URL--someone else webbed it) it has a recipe for medieval gingerbread.
David/Cariadoc
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com(Elise Fleming )
Newsgroups: rec.food.historic,rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Pickled Lemons
Date: 21 Jan 1997 01:14:34 GMT
L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at postoffice.ptd.net> writes:
>I am searching for a source (unredacted) that will have directions for
>making Pickled Lemons and the other sorts of things that might be
>strewn upon a grand Elizabethan Salad.
Robert May, _The Accomplisht Cook, 4th edition, 1678, has "To pickle
Lemons" and says simply "Boil them in water and salt, and put them up
with white-wine."
May also includes a number of things for "sallats" which would include
the grand sallat. You may want to search out a copy. Ditto for
Gervase Markham's _The English Housewife_, 1615, as edited by Michael
Best. This you might find in a library. He includes a number of salad
ideas including carving carrots into fantastic shapes and making
"strange sallats" with flowers composed of parts of vegetables. May
would be an excellent resource.
Elise/Alys
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
To: sca-cooks at eden.com
Subject: sca-cooks Re: New member to the list
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 09:01:30 -0400 (EDT)
What's a solteltie?
Rita
Food that is decorated, or which is made to resemble that which it is not.
For example: a castle made of sugar paste: or a gilded pig. A model of a
deer with an arrow in it's side, which pours wine out of the hole when the
arrow is removed. Stuff like that.
Brigdet Henisch wrote "Fast and Feast" (which I reviewed for
_Serve_It_Forth_) and which has a whole wonderful chapter on sotelties.
In fact, let me quote the first paragraph of my review...
So, should a Society cook read a book that doesn't have recipes?
Yes, it seems we should. "Fast and Feast" is well researched and
indexed book covering everything about food and foodways customs
from late period, except the details of redactions. It is also fun
to read (I laughed out loud several times), well indexed and
copiously footnoted, and reasonably priced (I paid $14.95)
My wife has made a number of sotelties, including figurines especially:
models of the Crown of the East granting a Laurel to our friend Master
Aquel, the Baron and Baroness of our group leading a dance procession of
three other couples, and so forth. She has also made someone's arms in
colored sugar plate in the form of stained glass, a marzipan scroll, and so
forth.
I particularly treasure the sugar paste box she made to celebrate one award
that I received.
Tibor
From: Beth Morris <bmorris at access.digex.net>
To: sca-cooks at eden.com
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 13:19:28 -0400
Subject: Re: sca-cooks - subtleties
Angelina Capozello wrote:
> I would love to see some recipes for subtilities! I've seen them
> mentioned in novels, and know they often involve marzipan, but i've never
> actually seen one. Any help or recipes you have would be great!
There are descriptions of many of them in the front "menu" sections of
many of the surviving cookbooks.
They aren't so much things that require "recipes" as creations that
require 'design'. Many (although not all by a long shot) of them are
sweets, precursors (in a bizarre way) of the interestingly shaped
novelty cakes of the modern era.
Most subtleties (there are at least ten spellings of the word too) are
simply food presented in an ornamental way. Once for a feast I was
cooking, a friend made a reasonably accurate replica of the Crac' de Chevalier
(the crusader castle) out of shortbread. It was fantastic. Many of the
ones described in period are of famous people or religious scenes: the
Spirit of God Descending as A Dove or whatever. There's a great one
that's easy to do with a small roast (pig is good) with a chicken
"riding" on it with little armor (usually a helm and shield) on and a
lance. You can make it into a local figure or use an allegorical
historical figure through heraldry, etc. A subcategory of this idea is
that of illusion foods: foods designed to look like other foods.
Another friend makes great illusion eggs by blowing out the real egg,
rinsing the shell thoroughly, waxing over the hole in the bottom and
filling the shell with an almond milk concoction that sets up a la Jello
into a translucent jiggly texture just like hard boiled egg white. Only
sweet and almond flavored. They're great!
Marzipan is often associated with subtletie construction because it is
the "play doh" of desserts and can be molded into anything (and will
even go through a Play Doh pumper!). Another regular one is the candy
glass Tibor mentioned, and the sugar paste that can be made into
glasses, dishes, boxes, etc.
Keilyn
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
To: sca-cooks at eden.com
Subject: Re: sca-cooks Subtlety
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 11:06:54 -0400 (EDT)
Please don't add to the impression many folk have that subtleties are
*only* desserts! One of the most impressive subtleties I ever was
served was boneless chicken wrapped in pastry strips (with scalloped
edges to look like scales) and baked.
Then there is the period recipe, where you remove the skin whole, and stuff
the thing with ground meat, and bake. Make for a very easy to carve dinner.
And it's a lot of fun to "inflate" the chicken to get the skin off.
Subtleties can be made of anything, and served in any course!
Yup! One of my favorites was by Mistress Peridot and Baroness Johanna,
where they made a salad, and arranged it as a very long "tail" to a peacock,
and carved the body of the peacock from some vegetable or another. It was
beautiful, impressive, and snazzy. And, tasty.
Tibor
From: Annejke at prodigy.com (MS MARTHA L WALLENHORST)
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 10:40:31, -0500
Subject: SC - subtilties
Someone a while back ask me to post some of the subtilites I have
done to give people some ideas. I am sorry I haven't gotten to it
before but I had a CA to get out and have been very sick this last
week. So here goes, this is not all of them, just the one I remember
because i either have pictures or I won something or I thought it was
really memorable. If you want more info on any of these just ask. I
also want to make sure that people understand that some of these were
co-projects with my Laurel, but I'm the one that talked her into them
(I'm the crazy one of the two).
1977 Crapes with frogs (plastic wind up frogs and one sparking
Godzilla monster in the middle of the tray - not period but fun, and
the king kept the Godzila windup).
1978 Winter Sleigh (Fantasy Snow Queen Style for a Jan. event in
Mich), Made from Short Bread Cookie and icing. about 12" x 4"
1980 Peacock in full Pride (real bird) The serving tray we used was
4' x 3.5' and the tail didn't quiet fit.
Pie of frogs (lift the lid and the the little plastic baggers
took off across the table)
Candied Flower bouquets for the head table so the queen could
award them as favors.
1981 Sugar Cube Castle w/ marzipane people (castle form and
ingredients were not period but it was served with a sour current pie
and meant for people to take a piece and hand grind over the pie if
it was too sour for them - it was a great hit!) 2'x 2' x 8"
1982 A Yule log made of Marzipane and Nuget. 14" long
1983 1st Norse church (cake and Icing confection)
Birthday Cake done as a piece of music parchment for our
Madrigal Directors birthday.
Swan (Cake body, cookie wings and tale, marzipane neck with a
candied rose in it's gilded beak 1' x 1.5'
1984 Peacock in full pride
Dragon (Sweet bread body, neck breast and forelegs were
marzipan, decorated with period icing and small hard candies 2' x 1'
x 3' tall
Doll of Eilzabeth I (body of Marzipane, dress cake, decorated
with period icing 12" tall
Doll of Mary Queen of Scots (body of Marzipan, dress cake,
decorated with period icing 12" tall
Cathederal with stainglass windows (Gingerbread with hard
crack candy in the windows and a candle inside to light the windows)
2' x 1' x 3'
Knight Effigy of the Black Prince (carved Marzipane with
period ediable food colorings) 18" long
1985 Lion (carved marzipan on a large tart) 8" long
1986 Spanish flower pots (red clay pots filled with chicken and
stuffing with real candied flowers and fruit peel)
Stave church (ginger bread) 4' x 3' x 5'
1987 Sugar plate cupes and plates (dinner size)
1988 Sugar plate paltes and clear hard crack goblets
Joust (marzipan action figures) 12" tall
Dragon (similar as the other but with a pastry body filled
with candy for the children)
1989 Norweign Windmill holding the Twelve days of Christmas
(gingerbread with marzipan figures and sugar plate cupplings for the
rotating stages and gum balls for ball bearings) 4.5' x 3' with each
of five blades 18" long
1993 Winged Helmet (Cake and sugar plate) life size
1994 Doll seated in chair (Marzipan body, sugar plate dress, gilded
baked marzipan for the chair with hard crack candies set as jewels) 23" tall
1995 Bulls in the castle (Marzipan bulls building a castle out of carmel blocks)
1996 Rialto Bridge (scots fruit cake, carmel blocks, Marzipan) 12" x 2'
I hope this helps.
Annejke
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 09:43:04 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - SC--Forget the Philosophy and COOK, Dammit :)
Aoife, busy getting ready for Aethelmarc Crown (cooking, that is, not
fighting), wrote:
> I once read an MS that gave instuctions to "carve a radish in manner of a
> rose" or some wording remarkably similar. I can't find it now, but seem to
> remember it was French. Anyone remember this? Anyone else come across
> directions to carve vegetables to look like other things? I'm wondering how
> old the garnishing art is. I'm not talking about sweets and sotelties here,
> just veggies and fruits.
The specific reference you mention is one I haven't run across in
period. I do know that the idea of a sallet as a showpiece, with the
ingredients kept separate and arranged by color, in specific cuts and
shapes, goes at least as far back as 16th century England. You'll find
such references in Dawson (e.g. Hippes in five partes like an Oken
leafe, sliced carrots laid out as a fleur-de-lys), and though 17th
century, Markham as well, I believe.
The edible garnish goes considerably further back than those sources,
with the various sugared seed, fried onion/almond, pomegranite kernel,
and flower garnishes for pottages. Then, of course, you have your
ubiquitous Saracen's Head done in pistacchio nuts ; ).
Then you have actual subtleties, which often contained, or consisted of,
an edible garnish.
I SUSPECT that the carved veg idea, at least in the West, may date from
somebody like Careme (c. 1800). He had been an architecture student
before apprenticing to a pastry cook, and used to spend his copious
(ha!) free time at the library where the architecture books were kept,
and used to bring back sketches for the boss to translate into cakes.
When he eventually became a chef de cuisine, he carried the art form
into his new medium.
Adamantius
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming )
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 15:52:54 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: SC - Carved Vegetables
Greetings! Someone asked about documentation for carved vegetables.
Gervase Markham, _The English Housewife_, 1615 has "Sallats for show
only." It says, "Now for sallats for show only, and the adorning and
setting out of a table with numbers of dishes, they be those which are
made of carrot roots of sundry colours wel boiled, and cut out into
many shapes and proportions, as some into knots, some in the manner of
scutcheons and arms, some like birds, and some like wild beasts,
according to the art and cunning of the workman; and these for the most
part are seasoned with vinegar, oil, and a little pepper..." Hope this
helps!
Alys Katharine
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Date: Sun, 08 Jun 1997 19:14:02 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - Carved Vegetables
Elise Fleming wrote:
> Greetings! Someone asked about documentation for carved vegetables.
> Gervase Markham, _The English Housewife_, 1615 has "Sallats for show
> only." It says, "Now for sallats for show only, and the adorning and
> setting out of a table with numbers of dishes, they be those which are
> made of carrot roots of sundry colours wel boiled, and cut out into
> many shapes and proportions, as some into knots, some in the manner of
> scutcheons and arms, some like birds, and some like wild beasts,
> according to the art and cunning of the workman; and these for the most
> part are seasoned with vinegar, oil, and a little pepper..." Hope this
> helps!
>
> Alys Katharine
Hey! That's interesting...Why, if they are "for show only", are they
seasoned with the things that are used for salads meant to be eaten?
Is there another possible interpretation of the expression, "for show
only" that I'm not considering? I suppose some sharp-eyed types might be
able to look at a "show" sallat and say, "Yo! There's no vinegar and
pepper on this puppy! What kind of a banquet is this, anyway?" Display
foods through the centuries have often been of an inedible nature, which
is why they were for show only. These could include the lacquered
leftovers sometimes used to pad the menu at Imperial Chinese banquets
(and kept well out of reach of the guests), wax fruit, wax or plastic
tempura in the windows of some Japanese restaurants, and the modern
repertoire of the food stylist (e.g. instant mashed potatoes and Elmer's
glue for vanilla ice cream).
Does the expression mean they are only for special, "showy" occasions?
What do people think about this?
Adamantius
From: "Sharon L. Harrett" <afn24101 at afn.org>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 15:07:49 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Carved Vegetables
On Tue, 10 Jun 1997, Mark Schuldenfrei wrote:
> Hey! That's interesting...Why, if they are "for show only", are they
> seasoned with the things that are used for salads meant to be eaten?
>
> So they look like food...
>
> You must have seen the many loaves of bread in restaurants, carved and
> baked into fantastic shapes, that are not for consumption... so that the
> next person can see them.... Or, how cruise ships take some of their
> chocolate sculptures for the midnight buffets, and keep them in the freezer
> for re-use each week?
>
> Surely, if cared for well, those carved carrots could be reused for several
> days in a row, of maybe longer. Maybe he meant just what he said: make it
> look like food, but don't eat it: because you could use it for the next
> batch of guests, tomorrow.
>
> Tibor
Hi folks!
Found a bit more on the garnisher's art....the Book of Kerving
(Wynken de Worde, 1509) is the earliest I've been able to discover,, but
unfortunately, have only quotes in recent books from it, so I don't know if
it included fruits and veggies. In L'Escole Parfaites des Officiers de
Bouche (1662there were pages of designs for whittling fruits into fanciful
designs, as well as explicit diagrams for carving and serving meats and
other dishes at the table. I have been able to find two illustrations from
this book, detailing 12 designs for pears and two for oranges.
If anyone knows where I might be able to find copies of either of
these books, I'd love to know.
Ceridwen
From: Emily Epstein <epsteine at spot.Colorado.EDU>
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 09:38:34 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Carved Vegetables
Greetings from Alix Mont de fer.
I can't help with L'ecole Parfait at the moment, but both the 1508
and 1513 editions of the Boke of Kervynge are on reel I-4 (reel 4 of the
first shipment) of UMI's Early English Books, discussed in this forum
earlier. Reel numbering at the beginning of the series is a little odd, so
you might get the wrong reel 4 the first time you try.
I believe UMI also published a series of early French imprints, but I'm
not really familiar with it.
Alix Mont de fer, m.k.a. Emily Epstein
epsteine at spot.colorado.edu
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 13:22:03 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Feast Themes
I am wondering if anyone has done a feast where the sotelties are edible
and made to look like games or period toys (for xmas or 12th nite!).
If I recall correctly, Lady Emilia Mazzo di Novella made chess boards and
pieces out of shortbread for "Ein Festag en Nurenberg", and many strange
chess games were played, feature an excessive taking and consuming of
pieces... (:-)
Tibor
From: brighid at sojourn.com (Tina Carney)
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 13:37:18 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - Feast Themes
> I am wondering if anyone has done a feast where the sotelties are >edible
>and made to look like games or period toys (for xmas or >12th nite!).
A few years ago I won a dessert competition with a gingerbread chess board
with chocolate pieces. Great fun!
Brighid the Ageless
occasional saint
living in the canton of Rimsholt
in the glorious Middle Kingdom
From: kathe1 at juno.com (Kathleen M Everitt)
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 23:04:51 EDT
Subject: Re: SC - Feast Themes-Feast of Illusion
On Tue, 17 Jun 1997 08:47:54 -0500 (CDT) L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt
<liontamr at postoffice.ptd.net> writes:
>I'd like to hear more about Mistress Sincgiefu's (sorry if I mangled
>that) Feast of Illusion. That sounds lovely.
>
>Aoife
I hope Mistress Sincgiefu answers this and gives you more details, but
just in case she's busy I'll tell you what I remember. My younger son was
10 days old when I attended the feast she did in Hartshorn-dale, so sleep
deprevation blurred the evening! :-)
Some of the high points that I remember (I hope I'm remembering them
correctly!): They had acorns, hollowed out then filled with salt and
pepper, and put holes in the tops for salt and pepper shakers. I think
the chicken skins were stuffed with a pork mixture and cooked to resemble
chickens. The chicken meat was then put into hollowed out bread loaves.
They blew eggs from the shells then filled the shells with custard. There
were "oysters with pearls" but I can't remember what they were made from.
Anyway, nothing was what it looked like. Luckily, we had a squire with
us, so he tasted everything and let us know what it was really. If he
could figure it out. He at least let us know if there were any allergens
(onions or garlic) in it for several of us who couldn't eat those. There
were several dishes he never did figure out.
Great event! That feast is probably the highlight of any that I have
attended in over 19 years in the SCA! Not only was the food period and
delicious, it was so entertaining! We had a great time speculating on the
dishes as they came out and marvelling at the work that went into the
feast. And I understand that it was a lot of work.
Julleran
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 10:01:57 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SC - Feast Themes-Feast of Illusion
Great event! That feast is probably the highlight of any that I have
attended in over 19 years in the SCA! Not only was the food period and
delicious, it was so entertaining! We had a great time speculating on the
dishes as they came out and marvelling at the work that went into the
feast. And I understand that it was a lot of work.
It probably was. Our local cooks guild tried the "skin removal" trick for
the farcd chickens as it was written (using a straw to inflate the skin off
the bird). It was difficult, and almost painful. I found it easier to use
a knife to remove the carcass from the bird and leave the skin whole. (Next
time I try it, I may use a bicycle pump with a basketball needle, instead.)
Tibor (So there we were, me and my Baroness, blowing up chickens...)
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Date: Mon, 07 Jul 1997 13:15:07 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - Re: Shaped Bread
Elise Fleming wrote:
> It was unclear if this meant "period sources" or modern sources. I'm
> not certain of period references, and they are unlikely to be in
> cookery books but rather in discussions of what was presented at a
> feast.
>
> Alys Katharine
If I remember correctly, Taillevent speaks of some of the subtleties in
the Viandier as being made, at least in part, of dough. Precisely what
type of dough that would be, it's hard to say...
Adamantius
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 1997 07:08:16 -0500
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #224
>Margaret writes:
>I'm teaching a class at Pennsic called Heraldry at the Dinnertable,
>which is a survey of where you might find heraldic type things displayed
>at dinner in period.
>
>I'd like to include an "SCA use" section in the class, so I've got three
>questions:
>
>1. How have you used/seen heraldry used in serving dinners at an SCA feast?
>2. If you were the cook/planner, how did you choose the display you did?
>3. If you documented it, can you give me the rundown/citations?
>
>toodles, margaret
Things I've done with heraldry:
1. All desserts were to be Principality colors (red and white)
2. All desserts were to have an Escarbuncle (8-pointed star)
3. Cookies in the shape of the device.
4. Cake with device (NOT medieval, I'm afraid, at all).
5. Meat pies (coffin type) whose decorations included heraldic type stuff.
6. Meat pies in the shape of towers, flying the flags of the nobles present
(Taillevant---he's got some other good things in there!).
7. Gingerbread in the shape of a critter.
7a. Gingerbread shield, with the device painted on it.
8. Sugar-paste helm (in red and white), with marzipan Torse, filled with red
and white peppermint candy.
9. Tree (really a honeysuckle branch in a pot) scattered with paper
Escarbuncles in red or white, and the "fruits" laying under the tree:
desserts (the above mentioned red and white and escarbuncle desserts),
marzipan, etc....
10. Ham, in crust (Apecius) with fig sauce. The crust decorations included
heraldic stuff....dough is like clay that way!
12. Garnishing in colors. Therefore, Red and White can take the form of
radishes carved in various ways, Red Apple Swans, Red-leaf lettuce (bib),
red sauce with cream poured in a pattern......
Will look for your class. Sounds interesting!
Aoife--in too big a hurry to trot out recipes. See you there!
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 1997 08:16:49 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - A Mixed Bag (So to Speak)
Kathleen M Everitt wrote:
> So, why don't you start one?
>
> Okay, I will. I saw a science program for kids called Beakman's World and
> he gave a recipe for making sugar "glass" like they use in movies. It
> used Karo syrup. How did they make it in period? I saw a documentary on
> Lorenzo Medici and they said that he had a lot of things made from candy
> glass at his wedding. I've always wondered how it was done.
>
> Julleran
Any sugar cooked to the hard crack stage can be worked like glass. I
even have a gizmo that is for "glass-blowing" sugar syrups, but I
haven't developed any skill with it yet. Check out the "Goud Kokery"
volume of "Curye on Inglysche" for fifteenth-century sugar plate recipes
resembling sugar glass, as opposed to the later ones which call for
making a paste with gum tragacanth, etc.
Adamantius
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 1997 07:34:42 -0500 (CDT)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming )
Subject: SC - Julleran's Sugar/Candy Glass
Julleran wrote:
> I saw a science program for kids called Beakman's World and he gave a
>recipe for making sugar "glass" like they use in movies. It used Karo
>syrup. How did they make it in period? I saw a documentary on Lorenzo
>Medici and they said that he had a lot of things made from candy glass
>at his wedding. I've always wondered how it was done.
The Manuscrito Anonimo in Cariadoc's Collection tells about melting
sugar and making all things with which to furnish a castle (also made
of sugar). I can print out the reference if it's wanted.
Curye on Inglysch, Book V: Goud Kokery, #13, has "To make suger plate."
Sugar is melted to a specific temperature and removed from the fire
and stirred until it turns from its brown color to yellow. (The sugar
must not have been pure white to start with...probably "cooking" sugar
would have been of a less-fine quality than what would have been served
"upstairs". It is then turned out onto a marble stone with rice flour
shaken on it. You pour the sugar out as thin as you want, the thinner
the better for plates. In traditional after-the-fact style it is noted
that you can add any kinds of leaves (petals) cut small when you first
remove the syrup from the fire and begin to stir it. Presumably this
will color the syrup somewhat and may also add a slight flavor. It is
also noted that you can add rosewater. If you want it red you can use
clean, washed turnsole at the first boiling.
I have discovered that working with sugar syrup takes a lot of
practice. One might "luck out" the first time trying this but
subsequent repetitions might lead to "failures." I would be extremely
supportive of anyone who would like to go into sugar sculpture and
cookery as a specialty! FYI, recipe 15 tells about making "images in
sugar" and gives colors to _paint_ on.
A good place to start playing with melted sugar is to get a good candy
book from the library. I found an excellent one in a used book store,
put out by Time-Life books. It has detailed instructions, step-by-step
pictures, and information on why or how something might go wrong. (I
can't tell you how many batches of fruit pastes have refused to set
until I "messed" with them!)
Someone from Ansteorra taught a class at Pennsic around Pennsic 17, 18,
or 19 on making stained glass from melted sugar. While a stained glass
window wouldn't be "period", the melting of the sugar, pouring it into
a mold to make an image, or pouring it into a square shape to make a
trencher, would.
I saw a reference to one of the English coronations (Henry V or VI? The
child one, I believe) where there were crowns with jewels that shone
like enamels. My guess is that these might have been poured from
melted sugar (the jewels, at least). Can we get some tinsmiths to make
some simple molds that sugarworkers can use for flat forms??
Alys Katharine
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 20:40:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: rousseau at scn.org (Anne-Marie Rousseau)
Subject: RE: SC - gum arabic
We are asked:>
>Where would one find gum tragacanth? (I've just come across it in a =
>materials list for an enameling project, so having it come up here is =
>quite a coincidence.) I've seen gum arabic in art supply stores, but =
>since I now hear you say they are different things...
You can find gum tragacanth (food grade) as well as food grade edible
gold, about six different wafer irons, cake pans of every shape and size,
frosting pens, etc etc etc from Maid of Scandanavia. I posted the address
for their catalog on this list a few months back.
Great catelog!!
- --Anne-Marie
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anne-Marie Rousseau
rousseau at scn.org
Seattle, Washington
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 10:32:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - Julleran's Sugar/Candy Glass
Alys Katherine wrote:
I have discovered that working with sugar syrup takes a lot of
practice. One might "luck out" the first time trying this but
subsequent repetitions might lead to "failures." I would be extremely
supportive of anyone who would like to go into sugar sculpture and
cookery as a specialty! FYI, recipe 15 tells about making "images in
sugar" and gives colors to _paint_ on.
Hmmm. Would my lady wife's Laurel for soteltie making be a good start?
(Well, she also cooks first rate feasts.) Alys, I know you've seen pictures
of her work.
She and I, together, have made stained glass renditions of arms. We made
marzipan for the "lead", and poured colored hard crack (technical term in
candymaking) sugar into the various pockets to form the arms. It's messy,
but it seems to work adequately well. Humidity can play hell with hazing,
though.
You can use food paste to make "food paint" with. We mix it, or powder
colors with vodka for paint.
Julleran wrote:
Would candy molds that you can buy at art stores work, or are they just
for chocolates which I imagine would have lower temperatures than melted
sugar?
Sugar does have a higher temperature than melted chocolate. I don't think
those molds could withstand it: but I'd ask at the store.
Tibor
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 14:26:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - Stained Glass Questions
1. I have made Christmas candy in this way many of times, but the
problem I always had was that I needed to pour it out onto powdered
sugar so that it would not stick. is there a good substitute that
will allow it to harden and not stick?
We grease a marble board, with PAM.
2. What flavors would have been period, if any? I usually use
wintergreen, anise, cinnamon and peppermint oils for my candies.
I know rosewater is one. Violets another. I will leave good answers to
Alys Katherine.
Tibor
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 16:43:57 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Stained Glass Questions
Christi Redeker wrote:
> I have been researching sotelties and read through the stained glass articles on the Rialto. I now have a couple of questions.
>
> 1. I have made Christmas candy in this way many of times, but the problem I always had was that I needed to pour it out onto powdered sugar so that it would not stick. is there a good substitute that will allow it to harden and not stick?
Oiling a marble stone with almond oil is one period solution. Another is
a bag of rice flour, made like a baseball pitcher's rosin bag, which is
used to dust surfaces with the flour.
> 2. What flavors would have been period, if any? I usually use wintergreen, anise, cinnamon and peppermint oils for my candies.
Apart from the odd flower petal, there are generally no additional
flavorings used in the recipes I've seen.
Adamantius
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 22:19:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Uduido at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Stained Glass Questions-not period
<< s there a good substitute that will allow it to harden and not stick? >>
Although it is not period, cornstarch works great.
Lord Ras
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 17:26:17 -0500 (CDT)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming )
Subject: SC - Re: Stained Glass Questions
Murkial af Maun asked:
>2. What flavors would have been period, if any? I usually use
>wintergreen, anise, cinnamon and peppermint oils for my candies.
I haven't seen any refereence to flavors for a hardened sugar syrup. I
would wonder if those oils had come into existence. Sugar _was_
flavored with rose and violet, the two most popular flavors, this was
not in a melted sugar state. I would seriously doubt that the English
flavored the "stained glass". Keep in mind that re-creating a stained
glass object may well be an anachronism. Reference is to re-creating
objects such as fruits, statues, flowers, plates, etc. While a castle
is referred to, and I think that the jewels in the coronation subtlety
might be melted sugar, I have seen no reference to recreating a stained
glass window.
Alys Katharine
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 10:54:36 -0500
From: "Jack Hubbard" <jack at configdotsys.com>
Subject: SC - Re: Stained Glass Questions
> Murkial af Maun asked:
> >2. What flavors would have been period, if any? I usually use
> >wintergreen, anise, cinnamon and peppermint oils for my candies.
While not seen in hard sugar candies, these flavors I have for Sirrup's:
Violets, Gilleflowers, Cowslip, Rose, Damask Roses, Barberries,
Mulberries,Rasps (rasberies), Leamons, Poumcitrons, Pippins (that is
apples), Purslane, Liquorish, Wood Sorrell, and Hyssope. I suspect that
Saunders( red sandlewood) wood work well too. As for coloring agents the
rose and sandlewood would make red, liquorish for black?, blackberries for
purple....
Yours,
Eoian (who thinks he may go home and destroy the kitchen tonight with all
these ideas)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 01:52:56 -0400
From: marilyn traber <margali at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: SC - thanks
Russell Gilman-Hunt wrote:
> Thanks to everyone for the recipes!
>
> Because I just re-read the event copy, and found that they want
> *finger* food (for samhain? Interesting choice of words), the
> shortbread and the Jusselle Dates are what I am thinking about...
How about jordan almonds-sugar coated almonds
small marzipan tidbits made into discs and pressed
with a tandy leather picture stamp and painted with food coloring[did it
once with household device in color as decoration around a
sotltie-looked great, less filling lol]
margali
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 15:46:45 -700 MST
From: "Jeanne Stapleton" <jstaplet at adm.law.du.edu>
Subject: SC - Subtlety Quest
Okay, cooks, it occurred to me today that I might be able to finally
get a question answered that has occasionally surfaced in my mind
for a couple of years now:
At the Eastern royalty dinner at Pennsic in 1994, a subtlety was
brought in that I found absolutely staggering: it was a kneeling
stag, about 1/2 life size (maybe 3/4--that sucker was *big*). It was
carried to the table on a litter on the shoulders of bearers. The
exterior's key ingredient, I was told, was cream cheese. When
pierced to the heart with an arrow, it "bled" warm mulled wine.
This thing was awesome. I've wanted to attempt it myself ever
since. Now that I live in the Outlands...:-)
Anybody know who the creator was?
Berengaria
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 12:19:27 EDT
From: melc2newton at juno.com (Michael P Newton)
Subject: SC - Re: below the salt)
On Fri, 10 Oct 1997 14:13:54 -0700 kat <kat at kagan.com> writes:
>Basically, I'm looking for dishes with major "OOOHHH!" factor... any
>and all suggestions would be welcome.
If you don't mind illusion food, I have a doozy which I been keeping back
for just such an occasion. Looking through my church cookbooks, I
actually found a jello recipe that did not contain pineapple {which I am
allergic to}! You peel a melon, a cantaloupe or one of it's cousins,
slice off about 2 inches one of the ends, and scope out the seeds. fill
the cavity with jello [before it gels] and replace the lid. Let the jello
set. Frost the melon with a combination of cream cheese and powdered
sugar[beated together first]Roc's Eggs, anyone?
Lady Beatrix of Tanet
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 10:01:38 -0500 (CDT)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming )
Subject: SC - Illusion Foods Challenge (Was: Below the Salt)
Greetings! Lady Beatrix of Tanet suggested:
>If you don't mind illusion food, I have a doozy which I been keeping
>back for just such an occasion. (snip...) You peel a melon, a
>cantaloupe or one of it's cousins, slice off about 2 inches one of the
>ends, and scope out the seeds. fill the cavity with jello [before it
>gels] and replace the lid. Let the jello set. Frost the melon with a
>combination of cream cheese and powdered sugar[beated together
>first]Roc's Eggs, anyone?
Might I suggest transposing this into something more medieval or
Renaissance? From what I have seen, illusion foods recreated real
foods with a surprise. You really _might_ stuff an egg shell with
custard and cook it to set. You could take marzipan or sugar paste and
make it look like a hard-boiled egg or even bacon. But, I haven't seen
any evidence that something mythological such as a roc's egg would have
been mimicked. Statues of gods and goddesses, yes; made of sugar, or
marzipan, or sugar paste, yes. To me, roc's eggs would belong to our
modern version of what was done in the Middle Ages. Now, if one wanted
to do a roc's egg then one should look at what foodstuffs were
available to make it from. I would think that cantalopes, jello, and
cream cheese would be "right out." But... the concept is interesting.
What illusion foods can you "invent" that would fit into the medieval
or Renaissance world and would avoid modern ingredients or forays into
our modern fantasy world?
You already probably know of "apples" made from meatballs; hollow
walnuts made of sugar paste with trinkets inside; and the
above-mentioned bacon and hard-boiled eggs of marzipan or sugar paste.
Can we invent something similar?
Alys Katharine
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 11:24:36 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Illusion Foods Challenge (Was: Below the Salt)
Elise Fleming wrote:
> Might I suggest transposing this into something more medieval or
> Renaissance? From what I have seen, illusion foods recreated real
> foods with a surprise. You really _might_ stuff an egg shell with
> custard and cook it to set. You could take marzipan or sugar paste and
> make it look like a hard-boiled egg or even bacon. But, I haven't seen
> any evidence that something mythological such as a roc's egg would have
> been mimicked. Statues of gods and goddesses, yes; made of sugar, or
> marzipan, or sugar paste, yes. To me, roc's eggs would belong to our
> modern version of what was done in the Middle Ages.
>
> Alys Katharine
There actually is a late-period source with a recipe for a gargantuan
egg, made from about a dozen hen's eggs. I will try to locate the
source; it's one of the ones about three feet away from me as I thump da
keyboard. Essentially it calls for the raw eggs to be separated, and the
yolks to be boiled inside a clean bladder, with the boiling water being
constantly stirred in one direction until there is a little whirlpool
depression in the surface. This is intended to keep the yolks round as
they cook and set. This is then unwrapped and put inside another,
larger, bladder, with the raw whites, and boiled in the same way. This
time the stirring is not only supposed to make the egg roundish, but
also supposedly causes the yolk to settle in the center of the mass.
This is supposed to be peeled and eaten in slices, presumably so that
any minor imperfections, like wrinkles in the surface, won't be
immediately visible.
Adamantius
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 17:02:39 -0500
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Re: Illusion food
>You already probably know of "apples" made from meatballs; hollow
>walnuts made of sugar paste with trinkets inside; and the
>above-mentioned bacon and hard-boiled eggs of marzipan or sugar paste.
>Can we invent something similar?
>
>Alys Katharine
Wasn't it Taillevant who suggested filling a pre-baked pie shell with live
frogs? The idea is that you get a pretty volunteer maiden or three to "open"
the pie, and then clap out the lights and watch the panic ensue.
Sigh. Those were the good old days.
Today, you'd have to answer to animal welfare. But wind-up toys are cheap
and they work. Try the leaping variety (the kind that do somersaults, etc....).
Another Taillevant suggestion is to have a warship complete with working
cannon, which are fired from a distance at another warship. That's a little
complicated.
I have a friend (the mysterious Master Dyfan) who made a stained-glass
cathedral from gingerbread and melted hard candy. It was lovely. He used the
same recipe to make a carved wedding chest which was astounding. It had
leaping stags, IIRC, and foliage. The only reason I think I beat him out at
Ice Dragon in that catagory was that the chest was so amazing the judges
probably assumed that it was a wooden chest, and thus in the wrong room :^(
. I made preserved oranges (which had been preserved quite a while), a
rather compicated almond butter, and period flaky pastry. It was yummy, but
I didn't do the work he did, and mine wasn't as complicated.
My brother once made a dragon from loaves of french bread artfully cut. It
was more of a crocodile, but effective none the less. He filled the bread
with bread pudding.
I used to make (back when Dawnfield in the East Kingdom existed) bread swans
to hold butter or soft cheeses. They are similar to the puff pastry swans,
less elegant but more durable (more inportantly, freezable), and they get
completely eaten, so there's no dishes to wash! That's so much nicer than
putting out a stick or blob of butter on a plate.
I've also been known to mold butter into another form, harden, unmold, and
press fresh herbs, edible flowers, and thinly sliced pieces of vegetables
cut to fancy shapes onto the surface of the butter. You wrap it up, chill it
again, and simply unwrap to serve. Letting it stand a while will make it
soft enough spread.
I want to do a gaming theme: Cheeses arranged in a checkerboard and picks of
vegetables for chessmen. Or a feast where Every dish served looks like
something it isn't. Sounds really fun! I read an account of a feast where
the cook made an army of drumsticks. Each had a red grape helmet, carried a
breadstick spear and had a shield of sliced turnip. They were mounted on a
covered board with rows of non-galvanized nails. That's an army that really
was chicken! <<groan>>
Just a few ideas off the top of my head.
Aoife
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 06:31:55 -0500
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Re:Bread swans
>I like that idea. How does one make bread swans? Does it take artistic
>ability? Does it involve using a sharp object? Maybe I ought to get my
>Laurel husband to do something like that while I just cook. Lots safer,
>I'll bet.
>
>Julleran
You need an oval shaped piece of bread dough, and a thin S shaped piece of
bread dough. Bake them.
Slice the top of the oval loaf. Slice that in half to form wings. Scoop out
the innards of the loaf. Fill with butter or soft cheese. Insert your
s-shaped neck. Put the wings in at an angle. Voila, a swan!
Aoife
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 10:26:26 SAST-2
From: "Ian van Tets" <IVANTETS at botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #355
Wasn't the giant egg recipe in Hannah Glasse? If it features earlier
than that, I'd like to know. Had a feeling that the ship and frog
and deer subtelties mentioned came from May, but my book with both
May and Taillevent stuff is in storage, so will trust your judgement.
At a Tewlfth-Night about 4 years ago saw a wonderful marzipan
subtelty which was the boar's head. Meant the vegetarians could have
some too.
Cairistiona
*****************************************************
Dr. Ian van Tets
Dept. of Zoology
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7701 RSA
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 10:28:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - piping bag
<< I saw a late-period or mid-1600s reference to paper tube
with a hole in one end. Of course, I have no idea now where I saw it.
Alys Katharine >>
Simply take a clean sheet of paper or baker's parchment, form into a cone,
fill and fold down the long edge. Snip the pointed end off and use as any
other piping bag. Works great and it's throwaway. :-)
Ras
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 11:22:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tyrca at aol.com
Subject: Re: Freaking them out (was: SC - Re- Illusion food))
All these people dreaming of large subtleties in Marzipan . . . (sigh)
That's a lot of almonds!! I have seen subtleties in bread, covered with
icing, and with detailed features in Marzipan. I also was privileged to
witness a particularly spectacular subtlety in Drachenwald. At Visby week in
1989, Master Confecticus came out with a Dragon and presented it to the
Baron, with an elaborate story of its hunt and capture, but sadly, the dragon
was not quite dead. He asked the Baron to humanely kill it as it was
suffering. The Baron immediately pulled out his sword, and severed the head,
at which point "blood" flowed from its veins. The dragon was 12 layers of
cake with coffee buttercreme frosting, and the "blood" was grape jelly,
melted. It was delicious. We do not always have to rely on marzipan!
Tyrca
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 14:36:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - Subtlety Quest
At the Eastern royalty dinner at Pennsic in 1994, a subtlety was
brought in that I found absolutely staggering: it was a kneeling
stag, about 1/2 life size (maybe 3/4--that sucker was *big*). It was
carried to the table on a litter on the shoulders of bearers. The
exterior's key ingredient, I was told, was cream cheese. When
pierced to the heart with an arrow, it "bled" warm mulled wine.
Dyffen ap Iago, member of the Laurel, and a damned fine cook. (IIRC... I can
check with my wife, who is a soteltie expert, and who would recall
instantly.)
It was not, however, made of food. It was made of plastic, and inside it
was a sack of wine taken from "box wine". If I recall, it is based upon a
surviving description of a period sotelty.
This thing was awesome. I've wanted to attempt it myself ever
since. Now that Ilive in the Outlands...:-)
It travelled around to a number of events after that, and was always very
popular. I first saw it "in the flesh" at a Coronation some years later.
Tibor
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 07:33:36 -0500
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Stag that Bleeds Red Wine Soteltie
Hello folks! I just talked to Master Dyfan ap Iago last night, and got the
"scoop" about the bleeding stag soteltie. Here it is:
He did a paper mache casting of a life-sized deer target (his father had one
to practice archery on). He built an internal framework with the help of his
friend Seppo. This held the bag from a "red wine in a box". There was a
metal tube in the breast (internally) which guided the arrow. The arrow was
implanted in the breast in the mid-region of the plastic bag of wine, and
left there. When it was pulled out, gravity kicked in and the wine flowed
out the tube.
The paper mache was covered in candy (sugar)paste, which was rather more
liquid than usual due to a shortage of gum tragacanth, so that it was
essentially the consistency of cream cheese. He had a real set of antlers
attached, and attached to those was a crown, since this was the Prince of
the Forest, come to offer himself so that the Kings of the East and Middle
would stop fighting. Since The Prince was a magical being, the wound was not
fatal. It appears that he managed to survive three such attacks before his
swan song at pennsic, after which he mysteriously went up in a puff of flame
at a campfire. Apparently, burned sugar paste smells like roasting marshmallows.
And that's the story, true, unembelished, and devillishly clever. Dyfan will
be online soon, and we hope he will join us in this religous community. He
must be somewhere in the hierarchy of the Church. He probably ranks around
Arch Bishop!
Aoife
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:21:16 -0600
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Sotelties
I vaguely remeber seeing an independant reference (in Taillevant, perhaps?) of
a radish carved in the manner of a rose. So, here is my version of a
peacock, which we determined yesterday does indeed work well as an
individual table-pretty:
Tip five short skewers with gum paste (sugar paste) colored either green or
blue, to look like a hat-pin. Splay out the gum paste to resemble the tip of
a peacock's feather (drop-shaped, thin and flat). Let dry.
Carve a large red apple to resemble a swan, minus the tail: Stand the apple
on it's side and slice off an inch thick slice of the side of the apple. Sit
the apple down with the sliced side down, giving you a stable object to
carve. Make a small wedge shaped slit in the stem end, vertically, to put
the neck into. Carve the head/neck from the one-inch slice. Use a piece of
the stem to poke through the head for eyes. Reserve in a bowl of lemon-juice
and water.
On each side make the wings:
Cut off center to the left straight down to form a vertical cut on the outer
left edge of the apple, cutting only halfway. Make a perpendicular cut so
that you have a small neat horizontal wedge.Dip the wedge in the
lemon-water. Replace the wedge. Right next to, but closer to the center,
make ANOTHER horizontal cut and vertical cut to make another wedge, which
contains the first, smaller wedge. Repeat this until you feel you have as
many wedges as you need (you don't want any core--3 to 4 wedges max.). Do
the same operation to the right side of the apple. Put the whole thing into
the lemon water (Note: To make a swan, you repeat the wedge process in the
tail area).
When ready to present, put three or four grapes of various colors, and
cranberries at the end for stability (yes, we know they didn't eat them in
period, but they knew what they were), on to the skewers to make the tail
feathers. I assume berries (blue-, small straw-, boysen-) would work well,
too, or small melon balls. Insert the neck into the neckhole with the aid of
a toothpick. Fan out the wings towards the back (the wedges make a
three-dimensional feather effect). Insert one Skewer with fruit in the
center back. Fan out the remaining four skewers on each side to make a
"Displayed" tail. Or, if desired, insert the skewers so that the tail is
dragging behind (not displayed). There you have it. A peacock. Serve
immediately.
If you have very large apples, you could use more skewers.
Aoife
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 17:57:08 -0600
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Aoife's Bull
> Gee... Sugar paste makes great "concrete" and pillars! Roll out some
> slabs, let them dry, fasten together and paint on it with food paste
> colors so it looks just the way the columns would have... And you can
> break them after serving them!
>
>Alys-Katherine
ARGH! Too late! I only have 4 days, during which I have to go to work, and
also care for 3 unruly young'uns with colds (and one grumpy old man but
that's another story...). No time left for major construction. Drat! Can I
count on some personal instruction some time in the future? I seem to be
getting insane with this soteltie thing lately. Somebody stop me!
If anyone cares to, they may view the originals, which I modelled the Bull
after, at:
asmar.uchicago.edu/OI/HIGH/OIM_A24065_72dpi.html
or
www.nelson-atkins.org/collections/ancient/detail/capital.htm
or
www.hartford-hwp.com/image_archive/achaemenid/carving03.gif
As the original bulls from the 100-columned Persepolis Throne Hall were most
likely painted, I am choosing to interpret the looped bead-work on the
statues as colorful types of (?????what is that word?) that horses wear, in
mid-east style, and am making a felt table-runner type thingy to cover from
the center forehead to below the tail (which will handily disguise the trap
door on it's way). I wish I had time to embroider it, but I'm awful at that,
so I am relying on gaudy gems, etc. on black felt. Read on to find out why I
needed a trap door:
The bull, wearing his last coat of paint, is now finished and looking quite
spiffy. I used glass globules for eyes and put a scrap of gold cloth
underneath. I made him out of paper mache', modelled on a chicken-wire form,
and molded eye-sockets with heavy brows around the 'eyes'. The frame was
made from 12" chicken wire: 2 pieces side-by-side for the body, about 3'
around (not closed on the bottom since he is laying down). These were tied
together with twine. The head was a 4 or so foot piece, rolled into a U
shape and the top third bent down upon itself to make the neck and head.
This was also attached with baling twine. A piece of twine running from the
back of the head to the center of the back held it steady until the paper
mache dried enough to give it independent strength. A piece of wire mesh was
used down the front and back. The legs were molded out of tubes of mesh,
folded upon themselves, and the join where they attached to the body clipped
open and attached to the body to form the thighs. The whole frame was twined
together for stability and then pressed into a more natural shape. I then
clipped the trap door and twined the top of it to the body. Last, a small
piece of mesh formed the tail, twined to the body. i know none of this is
really edible, but a great many Sotelties weren't edible, being made of
linnen, paper, brass, lead, wood, glass, wire, etc.....
To add the mache: boil a very thin paste of flour and water (a thick,
unboiled paste works but spoils quickly). You can add glue or oil of
wintergreen (preservative) but I did not. I attached large sheets of
newsprint at first, to cover. This took two weeks to dry in the garage, so I
brought him inside, where he dried in a few hours. I then applied 2 more
coats of paper mache in strips. Next came a good coat of spackle (2 cans of
ready mix)applied with the fingers, which was left fairly rough for texture.
A coat of black spray paint was put on for primer. My husband preferred this
look, but I put on a coat of faux "granite" paint, and I really like the way
it's shaping up.
Now, about the tricky bits, which I have yet to complete:
Borrowing from Master Dyfan's Stag that Bled red wine, I am making a similar
contraption myself, based on his instructions---it's a gravity feed through
a small piece of siphon hose, blocked by the arrow stump acting as a cork at
the chest. A wine bag from wine-in-a-box on a pedestal (yes, bleck! but it's
a sturdy bag, and red) is the blood, attached to the other end of the siphon
hose. It resides inside the chest area. Are you grossed out yet? There's
more. My bull has a trap door. I have made 5 dozen crinkle-surfaced,
center-moist, lumpy chocolate cookies to simulate Bull-Dookey. They will be
delivered as soon as someone lifts up of the tail, because i installed a
slanted tray inside the rear of the bull----gravity feed again. And before
anyone cringes at the symbolism, I am trying to demostrate that even with
the most horrible of political stuff going on in the group, even the worst
BS we can produce is, well, worth it. Besides, I want to see my brother the
Baron-elect's face when I offer him a plate of bull-pucks!
You're all sworn to secrecy, tho. I can't keep a secret to save my life, so
you folks are in charge of my secret now. I don't care who knows.....just
nobody tell Tigranes!
Aoife---wishing she'd thought of incorporating a pillar in the design now,
like one of the originals has.
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 09:31:13 -0600
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Aoife's Bull---Update
Hallo! I am recovering from the First Endless Hills Baronial Investiture,
and would like to re-hash it here for you.
<snip>
About the Sotelties:
First let me prepare the way with two statements:
1: The feast had a bird theme, which some of the sotelties carried through.
2: The event had a Bull theme, due to our Baron's device and persona's
religeon. When invested, we all donned felt horns among the kitchen crew
(except for Valerie, who made a huge set of real steer horn affixed to a
head band that looked hysterical), and Moo'd our new Baron into office!
There were five. First was my Persian Miniature, made on a square slab of
shortbread, executed in fruit leathers gummmed down and sealed with simple
syrup. It was really cute, and I enjoyed doing it. All in all, about an
hour's work and about $5.00 in materials. Not bad, and my kids ate the
scraps of fruit leathers, keeping them busy while I worked. I bought three
different kinds, and had enough color variations in them to do some neat
things.
Second to be served was the lantern. Ragnar and Rowan made this, and it was
from gingerbread (cookie type), cut-work held together with royal icing. The
damaged side was held towards the presentor, and I don't think anyone
noticed. It was quite dramatic when paraded around the hall, with a lit
candle inside. Simply beautiful!
Third was a set of gold keys on a gold key-ring to honor the new Chatelaine,
dear friend of all the cooks. Again, Rowan made this from gingerbread
pressed into molds and baked. She found some sort of gold powder which, when
mixed with orange extract, made a paint. This was brushed on, and some
greenery painted with food colors. The keys were attached to the ring with
golden threads. Again, simply beautiful.
Fourth was an enormous egg. We had a sort of bird theme to the feast
(phoenix tail salad, apricot chicken, apple peacocks, etc.) so Ragnar and
Rowan made an enormous, perfectly smooth white egg, presented in a
nest-like basket, symbol of the birth of our barony, from cake. When sliced,
it looked like a real egg inside. I have no idea how it was done, but it
knocked them cold. They gasped when it was broken open. I am hoping Ragnar
will read this and enlighten us about the process. It was devoured, and
folks were asking for more.
Last came the bull, at the end of the feast. I was unaware of a fortuitous
legend from the Zaroestrian religion, wherein the God Mithras wounds a
celestial bull, and the blood spilled became all of creation. This made the
soteltie more appropriate than I could have hoped, given that our new
Baron's (my brother) device was a Bull. Two stalwort fellows carried out the
table bearing the bull. Khasar announced the last soteltie which "wasn't
subtle at all. In fact, it could be downright offensive". Naturally that got
them all crowding around. I explained the originals the bull was based on,
and had the good Baron Tigranes recieve the first cup of wine when the
corking arrowhead was removed. And then I began to explain about how we had,
like all groups going barony, gone through some rough times, with a lot of
BS. I was leading up to opening the trap door in the rear so that the
chocolate cookies could fall out. But my 8-year old (who had been keeping
the secret for 2 weeks) joyously shouted "And he POOPS cookies". So I simply
explained that even the BS in Endless Hills was delightful and let the
cookies fly. Gratifyingly, the first cookie went flying out and rolled
across the floor. I had to "help" the rest, a substantial paylod, but no one
seemed to mind. It was a big hit, got lots of laughs, and folks really
enjoyed their "bulls blood and BS for dessert." I had to donate the wine,
since the SCA money cannot buy alcohol for drinking purposes, which I was
happy to do.
So all in all, that's it. I got home at midnight, and now the next day I'm
still exhausted. I think I'll take a breather for a few months before I do
this again. We have lots of cooks in our group now, so a temporary
retirement is perfectly feasible.
My crew were troopers, and I hope they realize how wonderfully well they
did. I was told the feast was excellent. A cook can't wish for better than
that.
Aoife
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 16:05:43 -0600 (CST)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming)
Subject: SC - Re: Brandy
Greetings! Crystal of the Westermark wrote:
>There are instructions for distilling in Curye on Inglysch, I think
>some cooks would have made brandy to produce the famous fire breathing
>subitiles.
I haven't seen brandy listed as needed for making things flame.
Camphor is what the period cookery books call for. Cotton or other
flammable things are soaked in camphor and then set alight to produce a
dragon's flame (St. George's dragon, not SCA fantasy), etc.
Alys Katharine
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 19:15:58 -0400
From: Ceridwen <ceridwen at commnections.com>
Subject: SC - Carving books?
In my 10 years in the SCA I have occasionally seen references to
books on carving and garnishing. I am preparing to do a Feast for a
small collegium, and would love to be able to include some examples of
those methods taught in these books. The list of books` :
1. 1423 Arte de Cisoria by the Marquess of Villena
2. 1508 Book of Kervynge - Wynken de Worde (sp?)
3. 1604 Il Trinciante - Vincenzo Cervio
4. 1676 L'Escole Parfait des Officiers de Bouche (author?)
At least two of these are much more than carving manuals. If anyone on
the list has a clue where to find any of these (in any form) please let
me know (public or private). I am reasonably sure I cannot afford
anything like originals, but if I can copy from microfilm, etc?
Ceridwen
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 11:36:34 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - Carving books?
> In my 10 years in the SCA I have occasionally seen references to
>books on carving and garnishing. I am preparing to do a Feast for a
>small collegium, and would love to be able to include some examples of
>those methods taught in these books. The list of books :
>
> 1. 1423 Arte de Cisoria by the Marquess of Villena
> 2. 1508 Book of Kervynge - Wynken de Worde (sp?)
> 3. 1604 Il Trinciante - Vincenzo Cervio
> 4. 1676 L'Escole Parfait des Officiers de Bouche (author?)
>
>At least two of these are much more than carving manuals. If anyone on
>the list has a clue where to find any of these (in any form) please let
>me know (public or private). I am reasonably sure I cannot afford
>anything like originals, but if I can copy from microfilm, etc?
>
>Ceridwen
Hello! Visit
http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/gallery/aresty/aresty1.html An
Exhibition from the Esther B. Aresty Collection of Rare Books in the
Culinary Arts. I know Esther Aresty had a copy of Il Trinciante in her
collection.
>1676 L'Escole Parfait des Officiers de Bouche (author?)
This may be " A Perfect School of Instructions for the Officers of the
Mouth" by Giles Rose, one of the Master Cooks to Charles II. 1682.
Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 18:17:55 -0500
From: vjarmstrong at aristotle.net (Valoise Armstrong)
Subject: Re: SC - Carving books?
> In my 10 years in the SCA I have occasionally seen references to
>books on carving and garnishing. I am preparing to do a Feast for a
>small collegium, and would love to be able to include some examples of
>those methods taught in these books.
Several years ago I got a great German book on carving through interlibrary
loan. The title says that it's about table customs to the end of the Middle
Ages, but as I recall there was quite a lot about carvers and the art of
carving. It's a good secondary source and if you can handle the German
worth looking up. There are also some great photographs of dishes and
eating utensils.
Schiedlausky, Gunther. Essen und trinken: Tafelsitten bis zum Ausgang des
Mittelalters.
Munich: Prestel Verlag, 1956.
Valoise
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 09:52:55 +0100
From: "Yeldham, Caroline S" <csy20688 at GlaxoWellcome.co.uk>
Subject: RE: SC - Carving books?
I don't know about the others, but Wynken de Worde's book was republished in
FURNIVAL, Frederick J. (Editor). Manners and Meals in Olden Time. The Babees
Book, The Bokes of
Nurture of Hugh Rhodes and John Russell, Wykyn de Worde's Boke of Keruynge,
The Booke of Demeanor, etc. etc.
1973. Reprint of the 1868 edition.
ie originally in 1868, and the whole book was republished in 1973. You
might have better luck searching under this title in a decent library. BTW
from memory its more about serving than carving, although it does include
the terminology, its rather short on techniques!
Caroline
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 10:02:04 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - SC sotelties - cockatrice
>Does anybody know of documentation for the practice of sewing different
>bits of animals together, or is it just folklore?
>
>Charles Ragnar
Hello! Harleian MS 279, Leche Vyaundez, recipe #28 for Cokyntryce, and
Douce Ms.55, #3 Cokentrice. Both sew the fore part of a capon to the hind
part of a pig, & vice versa, to produce 2 beasties. (Recipes can be found
on pages 573-4 of V.2, Take 1000 Eggs or More.)
Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 11:00:55 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: SC - RE: SC sotelties - cockatrice
> Does anybody know of documentation for the practice of sewing different
> bits of animals together, or is it just folklore?
>
> Charles Ragnar
See "Cokagrys" in The Forme of Cury, #183 or thereabouts, and "For to
make two pecys of flessh to fasten togyder.", #198, q.v. Actual recipe
numbers may vary from edition to edition, but they're there. I'd say the
practice is pretty well documented.
Adamantius
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 11:18:40 -0400
From: mermayde at juno.com (Christine A Seelye-King)
Subject: Re: SC - SC sotelties - cockatrice
>Does anybody know of documentation for the practice of sewing different
>bits of animals together, or is it just folklore?
>
>Charles Ragnar
There is also a kid's book called "A Medieval Feast" by Aliki, that I got
at Pennsic many years ago. It is all about a manor house that is
expecting the King and Queen for a visit. They go into detail as to the
animals hunted, the preparations for the feast, and the service of the
feast as well. There is a couple of pages in there where they are sewing
the back and front half of a suckling pig and a chicken together to make
two cockentrices.
Way back when I was just a lowly apprentice chef, I was entered
in a student's food show. I did a competant hors d'oerve platter, and I
also did a cockentrice. The pig we got was larger than a suckling pig,
so I ended up having to use a turkey instead of a chicken. I cut out a'loaf' from the center of the forcemeat stuffing the body, and sliced it,
layed it back into the hole it came out of, decorated it with choid-froid
and truffles, covered the whole thing with aspic, and displayed it with
carved vegetables. I thought (and still do think) that it looked
wonderful. Unfortunately, by the time I got everything to the hall, I
had been up working on it for 36 hours straight, and neglected to put
anything down on the form except "Cockyntrice" and left. Needless to
say, the judges had no idea what to make of my entry, and made absolutely
no comments on it at all! (My other platter got an honorable mention.)
Since then, I have learned the value of good documentation (especially
when dealing with judges who may not know what you are going for) and
look back and sigh for what could have been.
We also did some cockyntrices at an event once, where we tookrabbits and chickens and did the Frankenstein thing to them. We also
endored them, boy, were those some weird looking critters! Unlike my
food show entry however, these were edible. (For displaying an entry on a
mirror for three days, the forcemeat had about 4 pounds of cornstarch
mixed into it, and then the whole thing was aspic'd to within an inch of
it's life).
I took lots of pictures of both processes, and have used them to
show folks what is entailed. Lots of fun, I might even do it again some
day, for an appreciative audience!
Mistress Christianna MacGrain, OP, Meridies
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 15:44:06 -0500 (CDT)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming)
Subject: SC - Re: sotelties - cockatrice
Charles wrote:
>Does anybody know of documentation for the practice of sewing
>different bits of animals together, or is it just folklore?
It it is written up in, I believe, Chiquart's book.
Alys K.
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 11:22:59 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: SC - Re: SC sotelties - cockatrice
Charles Ragnar asked:
>> Does anybody know of documentation for the practice of sewing different
>> bits of animals together, or is it just folklore?
and Adamantius answered:
>See "Cokagrys" in The Forme of Cury, #183 or thereabouts, and "For to
>make two pecys of flessh to fasten togyder.", #198, q.v. Actual recipe
>numbers may vary from edition to edition, but they're there. I'd say the
>practice is pretty well documented.
Cokagrys. Take and make (th)e self fars, but do (th)erto pynes and sugar.Take an hold rostr cok; pulle hym and hylde hym al togyder saue (th)elegges. Take a pigg and hilde hym fro (th)e myddes dounward; fulle him fulof (th)e fars, & sowe hym fast togeder. Do hym in a panne & see(th) hymwel, and whan (th)ei bene isode: do hem on a spyt & rost it wele. Colourit with yolkes of ayren and safroun. Lay (th)eron foyles of gold and ofsilver, and serue hit forth.Translation/spelling modernization: Cockatrice. Take and make the samestuffing [this is the preceeding recipe: ground raw pork, eggs, powderfort, saffron, salt, currents], but do thereto pine nuts and sugar. Take awhole roast cock; pull him and skin him altogether except for the legs.Take a pig and skin him from the middle downward; fill him full of thestuffing, & sew him fast together. Do him in a pan & boil him well, andwhen they be boiled: do him on a spit & roast it well. Colour it withyolkes of eggs and saffron. Lay thereon gold and silver leaf, and serve itforth.
Madeleine des Milles Roses did pair of cocketrices for a Middle Kingdom
Coronation several years back; one of them had colored shortbread armor
resembling the new king's, and the other wore a ruff of the general stylethe new queen was accustomed to wear. All tables but high table got stuffed
roast pork that course.
Elizabeth/Betty Cook
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 19:14:01 +1000
From: Robyn Probert <robyn.probert at lawpoint.com.au>
Subject: SC - Marchpane Revisited
There are certainly references to 14th centure recipies for marchpanes, but
I just cannot find the example I know I have (somewhere). By way of cross
reference, the Time Life Good Cooks series (wonderful books) gives a range
of recipies in the Confectionary volume. It is remarkable how similar the
recipies from Persia, Germany, France, Italy, etc really are and how little
they have changed over the centuries!
Elinor Fettiplace gives A Receit to Make a Marchpane (1604):
Take a pound & a half of almonds, blanch them & bruise them in a martar by
themselves, then take a pound & a half of sugar & pound it smal, search out
as much of it as you think will servie to ice your marchpanee, & to mould it
up in, Take the rest of your sugar & mingle it with your almonds, & beat
them in a morter till they come to paste, not putting too much at once in
your morter for fear of oyling, you must have gum dragon steep it in rose
water all night, & in your pownding put some of your gumdragon upon your
pestills end, when you have pounded it all mould it upon a bottome made with
marchpane bread, make your conceits as you think fit, set your marchpane in
the oven not being too hot, & when it is reasonable well hardened take it
out & ice it, & set on your conceits, then put it in the oven againe, untill
yor iceing bee hardned, then take it out, & stick on your comfits, & when it
is cold gild it, your iceing is made with nothing but rosewater & sugar
beaten together, it must bee somewhat thick, I think some 3 greate
spoonfulls of sugar will serve for the iceing of it.
I hope I can find my earlier recipie and will post it if I do.
Rowan
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 08:47:56 PDT
From: "Michael Clifford" <guytalbot at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - SC sotelties - cockatrice
A few years ago Master Ian did a cockentrice he has a page on it at
http://www.labs.net/dmccormick/cocken.htm it has the sources along with
some pictures.
Guy
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 01:06:53 -0700
From: "James L. Matterer" <jlmatterer at labyrinth.net>
Subject: SC - Cockentrice
In regards to recent questions about cockentrice, I prepared one for the
Pennsic A & S Competition at Pennsic 24 and have detailed instructions
and recipe, along with photographs at
http://www.labs.net/dmccormick/cocken.htm
Master Huen
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 10:49:21 -0400
From: "marilyn traber" <mtraber at email.msn.com>
Subject: Fw: SC - Pine-nut Confection
Here's a blast from the past, not a hazlenut recipe, but one still sort of
close to the discussion at hand...
margali
- -----Original Message-----
From: Elise Fleming <alysk at ix.netcom.com>
To: sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG <sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG>
Date: Monday, December 29, 1997 10:50
Subject: SC - Pine-nut Confection
>Greetings. Here is the recipe from the Nostradamus book. I will be
>sojourning in the snowy climes of Minnesota until next Sunday. While I
>may be able to access my e-mail I probably won't be able to respond.
>
>Alys Katharine - Recipe follows
>
>"How to Make a Confection from Pine-Nut Kernels".
>
>"Take as many well-cleaned and carefully shelled pine-nut kernels as
>you will, dry them or toast them a little. Or take them whole with
>their skins and shells and put them in a basket. Hang this over the
>hearth near the fire and leave it there for three days. Tus the heat
>from the fire will slowly penetrate them and dry them. Then take them
>out and clean them thoroughly. Next take two and a half pounds of
>nuts, being careful to keep them close at hand. Then take some of the
>most beautiful and best Madeira sugar, dissolve sufficient of it in
>rose-water and boil it until it attains the consistency of a jelly. If
>it is winter or a time when there is a lot of moisture in the air, boil
>it a bit longer, but if it is summer, then let it just simmer. this is
>when it does not boil over or bubble when it boils, which is a sign
>that the moisture had been evaporated; but to be brief, when it has
>boiled to the consistency of a jelly, as I have said, thake the
>preserving pan off th efire and put it somewhere where th eliquid can
>dry off and become firm. Then give it a good stir with a piece of wood
>and beat it continuously until it turns white. When it begins to cool
>down a little, add the white of a whole or half an egg and beat it well
>again. Next place it over the coals, in order to allow the moisture
>from the egg-white to stiffen, and when you see that it is properly
>white and like the first lot you boiled, take the dried, well-cleaned
>pine-nut kernels and put them into the sugar. Stir them with the wood
>so that they are thoroughly mixed with the sugar - this should still be
>done over the coal fire, so that the mixture does not cool too quickly.
>
> Then take a wide wooden knife, like the ones used by the shoemakers,
>and cut the mixture into pieces, each weighing about ana ounce and a
>half, but not more than two, which would not be good, and spread them
>carefully on to some paper until they have properly cooked, at which
>stage put a little gold leaf on to them and your confection is ready.
>If, however, it is not possible to obtain pine-nut kernels anywhere,
>use peeled almonds instead, dividing them either into two parts or
>three and mixing them with the sugar to make this confection. And if
>there are too few pine-nut kernels, you can replace them with pieces of
>almonds, for the latter are not dissimilar to the former in taste and
>potency. You can also use fennel which is flowering or in seed, which
>is kept in houses and used during the wine harvest. When your sugar
>has almost completely boiled and is hot and white with everything mixed
>in it or scattered over it, it looks like manna or or snow and is so
>beautiful and lovely."
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 18:30:41 -0700
From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: SC - What to do with the head
This reminds me of a cook's jape I committed upon a royal personage some years
past. The concept was not original with me, I heard of a similar incident long
ago and far away, and decided to commit it anew.
Knowing the timid tastes of our populace, instead of an actual Boar's Head we
served pies of mincemeat to the populace and a paste replica of a Boar's Head
to the High Table with mincemeat inside. The head was capped with a gilded
Crown, so I bore the Boar to the King Guy, exhorting him to de-crown the
pretender and begin the sweet course. The king graciously did so. Being a
good little herald-cook, I announced it to the crowd.
"The King has the brains of a Pig!"
King Guy looks at me. I look at him.
"I have an amendment to the previous announcement. The King does NOT have the
brains of a Pig!"
King Guy looks at me. I look at him.
"I'm leaving while I still have MY head," quoth I, and did so with all speed.
Selene
cook, herald and unemployed jester
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1998 08:22:45 -0700
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - The British Museum Cookbook
Hey all from Anne-Marie
> Also, we are hosting Crown Tourney in Oct. and I have someone who wants to
> do an edible castle for the head table. I would LOVE to hear
> suggestions/comments on this. I would appreciate any alternative ideas to
> present to this lady. She really wants to make a special contribution
> food-wise to Their Majesties feast but she is new at this and I would like
> to give her more than one option to try before hand.
Theres a recipe in Taillevent (14th century French) for something called a
"parma tart". There's one in Chiquart too, but where Chiquart focuses on
the filling, Taillevent says "you can put in chopped spice meat, or boiled
or roasted meat or...". The neat part of the recipe is how he describes
creating a pastry casing for the food, with high sides and crennallations.
Then, you make little banners for the lords present, and stick them in the
food in the dish.
when we did "parma tarts" for a banquet, what we did was use a very sturdy
pie dough and shape crennellated walls around regular pie pans. We baked
them and decorated them with little banners showing the heraldry of various
notables there present. Then we filled the pie dish with a dish of chicken
quarters and sauce. To do it "right", we should have put a layer of spiced
meatballs or patties, and then the chicken.
Few people ate the "castle" part (though they could have), but it was
flashy, not too hard, and oh-so-period. If you decide to use real pie
dough, be careful as it tends to slump in the oven.
here's the primary source quote...
Parma Tarts (Taillevent #180):
Take mutton, veal or pork meat, cook it, chop it appropriately, spice it
extremely reasonably with fine powder, and fry it in lard. Afterwards, have
large uncovered pies the size of little platters, with pastry sides higher
than for other pies, and made in the manner of crenellations. The pastry
should be strong so that it can hold the meat. If you wish, mix some pine
nut paste and currants with the meat, and crumble some sugar on top. Take
some boiled and quartered chicken, and in each pie put three or four
chicken quarters in which to fix the banners of France and of the lords who
will be in the [royal] presence. Gild them with sprinkled saffron to be
more attractive.
If you do not want to depend so much on chicken, you need only make some
flat pieces of roasted or boiled pork or mutton. When the pies are full of
their meat, glaze the top of the meat with a little egg yolk and egg white
beaten together, so that the meat will more hold together more firmly for
inserting the banners. Have some gold, silver, or tin leaf for gilding the
pies in front of the banners.
- --AM
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 10:22:00 -0500
From: mfgunter at fnc.fujitsu.com (Michael F. Gunter)
Subject: SC - Crown feast
> Also, we are hosting Crown Tourney in Oct. and I have someone who wants to
> do an edible castle for the head table. I would LOVE to hear
> suggestions/comments on this.
>
> Gwenyth
As for the castle. Have you thought of making it from cakes? You can bake a
cake in coffee cans for the towers and make sheet cakes, slice them and stack
the slices for the walls. Make sugarcube crenallations and gingerbread or
cardboard turrets. You can fill the cake with candies, flowers or make a
donjon from more cake.
You could also try hard salt pastry. It is inedible but you could build walls
and towers and then fill the towers with a course and place something in the
center. I did this once and fille the towers with fettuccini in one, rice in
another and eggs in another. The center had rice topped with beef stew and
covered with an edible pastry looking like the center house.
Gunthar
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 12:39:59 -0500
From: maddie teller-kook <meadhbh at io.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Crown feast
Clarissa and I did a castle for the high table at Bryn Gwlad Baronial last year.
We used the recipe from "Savoring the Past". It looked pretty good! The only
thing I would recommend is to add more seasoning to the meat filling and make
sure you get some of the broth into the pie.... otherwise the meat is a little
dry. All in all a fun project!
Meadhbh
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 13:37:53 -0600 (MDT)
From: Linda Peterson <mirhaxa at swcp.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Crown feast
On Tue, 1 Sep 1998 Seton1355 at aol.com wrote:
> > melted life saver technique.>
> Huh?
If you take the 5 Fruit flavors (or any of the clear candy types) of
Lifesavers, crush them a bit and put inside cutout parts of sugar cookies,
or in the castle's case gingerbread, then bake the cookies, the candy will
melt leaving when cooled a resolidified candy sheet inside the frame of
the cookie. When backlit, it looks just like stained glass.
Mirhaxa
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 14:00:09 +1000 (EST)
From: The Cheshire Cat <sianan at geocities.com>
Subject: SC - castles of cake and other such stuff.
Other memorable illusion foods were for Hrolf's last feast as Baron of
Ynys Fawr there was a man lying on his face made out of cake, iced to look
like it was wearing the barons gamberson and a knife sticking out of the
back with a note. "He who pulls this sword from the bone shall be the true
Baron of Ynys Fawr", and for an Assasin's feast a severed head made from
sugar plate was presented to the Head table complete on the ceremonial
spiked board (One of my wooden sashimi boards with a long nail driven
through the middle. The things we do for our art...*sigh*). The top of
the head was removed and the 'brains' were made of turkish delight.
Grotesque, but very well done. It recieved the screams of horror that we
were hoping for at any rate. =>
- -Sianan
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 16:02:43 +0100
From: Robyn Probert <robyn.probert at lawpoint.com.au>
Subject: SC - Lebkuchen recipie
Here is the lebkuchen recipie. I used it as the covers for a
subteltie I made of a book - it had 50 pages made of phyllo, glued together
at the spine with eggwhite, then with sugar, cinnamon, ground almond and
lemon zest sprinkled between each page, then I illuminated the open pages
with edible colouring and gold leaf and baked the lot. I also used
lebkuchen as the basis for another subteltie, where I made it into shields,
baked on a curved surface, then covered in moulded marzipan and painted on
the devices. I made the straps from fruit leather and real buckles, rivetted
through the shields (I put in holes before I baked the shields). Both looked
and tasted great! It makes great castles too...
On with the recipie (this makes a LOT - about 200 or so biscuits)
DOUGH
4 eggs
400 g brown sugar
450 g white flour
450 g whole wheat flour
150 g honey
1 pkt Oetker baking powder (or 10 g bicarb and 1/4 tsp baking powder)
125 g mixed peel (ie preserved orange and lemon peel), very finely minced
125 g walnuts, ground
1 tsp each cinnamon, cloves, cardamom
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
Mix the eggs, sugar and honey and sit overnight. Add everything else and mix
to a firm dough. Rest 2 hours in a cool place. Roll out thinly (2-3 mm) and
cut out shapes (we use a bunch of trad animal shapes). Cook at 350 F/180 C
for 10 mins. Cool on racks, then ice.
ICING
White - Beat 3 egg whites to soft peak, then beat in about 400 g icing sugar
and a good squeeze of lemon juice.
Yellow - Beat 3 yolks, then beat in enough icing sugar to form a smooth icing.
We also make pink from the white (add red colour) and brown from the yellow
(add melted chocolate - not period I know!).
Apply one thin coat of icing (using a butter knife), dry, then pipe features
in a contrasting colour. Each shape we use has trad colours and patterns,
but I don't know how old these are.
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 00:48:25 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Lebkuchen recipie
At 4:02 PM +0100 9/18/98, Robyn Probert wrote:
Anyway, here is the lebkuchen recipie. I
...
>On with the recipie (this makes a LOT - about 200 or so biscuits)
>
>DOUGH
>4 eggs
>400 g brown sugar
>450 g white flour
>450 g whole wheat flour
>150 g honey
>1 pkt Oetker baking powder (or 10 g bicarb and 1/4 tsp baking powder)
>125 g mixed peel (ie preserved orange and lemon peel), very finely minced
>125 g walnuts, ground
>1 tsp each cinnamon, cloves, cardamom
>grated rind of 1/2 lemon
>
>Mix the eggs, sugar and honey and sit overnight. Add everything else and mix
>to a firm dough. Rest 2 hours in a cool place. Roll out thinly (2-3 mm) and
>cut out shapes (we use a bunch of trad animal shapes). Cook at 350 F/180 C
>for 10 mins. Cool on racks, then ice.
this has very little similarity to the period lebkuchen recipe that Valoise
posted earlier. Are you basing it on a different period recipe, or is it
simply a modern recipe (as the use of baking powder suggests) for something
with the same name as something that existed in period? In my experience,
it is risky to assume that the names of dishes keep their meaning over long
periods of time--consider syllabub, for example, or harisa, or blancmange.
David/Cariadoc
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 15:42:51 -0400
From: "Gedney, Jeff" <gedje01 at mail.cai.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Subtlety Question
Idea 1
How about making a two sided wooden cookie die with the coin design cut into
the die in reverse on the striking surfaces?
Then take the marzipan, roll it into small balls and press them into rough
circles. Lay a leaf of edible gold on the lower die, and place a flattened
ball in the center of the lower die. Lay another sheet on top of that and
press it firmly together. A sharp tap should be sufficient. That should make
a gold marzipan coin.
Idea 2
Take the dies from Idea 1 and oil them lightly. Make a batch of drawn or
plate sugar, and press it into the dies, and press the dies together. After
the sugar cools completely (that will be quick, but you'll want to keep the
candy stock in a pot set in very warm water, to keep it flexible), remove
the candy coin, and set aside. After the coins are made, you can get edible
silver and gold foil, and coat the coins thusly: First take a coin and
LIGHTLY coat with egg white, lay the foil on top of the coin, and using a
dry sable brush, push the leaf into the surfaces of the coin.
Just some thoughts...
Brandu
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 01:15:51 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - marzipan coins
At 1:03 PM -0400 9/23/98, Marilyn Traber wrote:
>Why not make your own marzipan coins?
There is actually a pasta recipe in Ibn al Mubarrad which tells you to
strike the individual bits of pasta between your fingers like coins. Not
gold--but period. It's in the _Miscellany_.
David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 09:23:57 -0400
From: Phil & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Pastry Castles!
Jessica Tiffin wrote:
> There was a discussion a couple of weeks back about recipes in Taillevent
> and Form of Curye for a subtlety with a pasty castle filled with various
> fillings. I had a go at an extrapolation from this idea
<snip>
> - the effect was rather fun.
>
> The major problem I had, though, was in the texture of the pastry. It was
> basically just a paste of flour and water, but there was no way I could get
> it into a cylinder while it was still raw - it was too soft, and would not
> stand up at all. I didn't have anything of the right size to use as a
> "roller", as the Form of Curye recipe specified; I ended up parcooking the
> pastry flat on a baking tray, and then bending it into shape when it had
> hardened slightly - not ideal, as it then tended to crack, and it was very
> difficult to join the cylinder (more toothpicks...)
>
> Does anyone have any ideas on making a more robust pastry, or cunning plans
> for shaping the stuff raw? I'd like to try this again, it was fun to do and
> went down well with the Shire
Well, the recipe, if I remember it correctly, does tell us to make it stiff!
The simplest solution might be to make a really really really stiff
flour-and-water dough, or flour-and-egg-yolk dough. Draft the nearest 300-lb
fighter for kneading! This appears likely to have been the period solution to
this problem. Another might be to rethink the proportions of a castle as seen
through the eyes of people who actually lived in, or spent time in them. Most
aren't in the proportions of the castle in Disneyland. Is there any chance you
were a bit too ambitious on your proportions? (No need to answer this, it was
just a point I thought might need addressing.) The recipe also says to dry it
in the sun or bake it, so maybe a really low oven might be effective at
stiffening the dough without causing it to lose structural integrity. I'm
talking about a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius or less.
As for modernish alternatives, one might be a hot water and lard pastry, such
as is used for various meat pies in the U.K. I generally use Hillary
Spurling's recipe found in her edition of "Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book",
my copy of which seems to have mysteriously vanished. I vaguely recall it
calls for a pound of plain or AP flour, five ounces of lard, nine ounces of
water, and some salt, I forget how much. Bear, Aoife, how far off am I here?
You bring the lard and the water to a boil in a saucepan, pour it into a well
in your flour, in a mixing bowl, and stir until mixed. As soon as it's cool
enough to handle you knead it until it's a smooth, homogeneous pastry dough.
While it's still warm, it is pliable, but when it cools, it stiffens up
somewhat, so it's good for free-standing pies, baked outside of pie pans.
However, it also works best when it has some added support, such as a filling
inside, when it bakes. Some might even go far enough to wrap a belly-band of
foil or parchment around it while it bakes.
Finally, the other thing you can do is use any pastry you want, just about,
baked "blind" in something like a coffee can with the top and bottom removed,
on a cookie sheet, with the can lined with pastry, the pastry lined with foil
or parchment, and filled with something like rice, dried beans, or metal "pie
beans". Bake, allow it to cool, remove the beans, whatever you've used, the
foil or parchment liner, and very carefully lift the can off the pastry.
Ridges in the can shouldn't be a problem; your pastry is likely to shrink
somewhat in baking. Flat walls can be baked on another cookie sheet, and
everything can be attached together with something like Royal Icing (which,
BTW, occurs at least as far back as the 17th century) for sweet pies, and
something like softened meat glaze for savory ones. Not to mention the
occasonal toothpick... .
Adamantius
Østgardr, East
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 12:59:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - Feline Suprise {Tasteless Idea?} (OOP)
Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 16-Oct-98 SC - Feline Suprise
{Tastel.. by Ann & Les Shelton at conter
> This discussion lead to a split over whether one person's idea for a
> suprise at feast was incredibly humorous or the most tasteless thing
> we'd ever heard of {this coming from someone who had a large "pig
> cooker" set up on site with a plastic arm dangling out of it}. His idea
> is to carry a big pot of soup/stew to a table, reach in with a ladle and
> plunk down a cat collar into someone's bowl! Personally, I can see how
> under the right circumstances this could be funny as a personal joke;
> however, at an event you'd most likely offend/gross out more people than
> you'd amuse.
Speaking of feline surprises, I had a friend once serve a Blatancy
(cause you couldn't call it subtle) at a potluck:
Mix together equal parts of brown and white sugar, add such spices as
you will. Mix together chopped dates, raisins, figs (you know, the kind
of stuff that goes into peascods), roll into "logs" about 1/4 inch
around ad 2-5 inches long. Place sugar in a long flat pan with 2 inch
sides (a new cat litter box works well, as does a lasagna pan), mix
"logs" with your sugar, place slotted spoon (or litter pan scooper) in
the pan so folks can server themselves, and serve hit forth.
He had people running up to him all day, munching on these things saying
"you know, that looks like...." to which he replied "yes, I know. It's
a blatancy." ;-)
toodles, margaret
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 18:15:50 EST
From: kathleen.hogan at juno.com (Kathleen M Hogan)
Subject: Re: SC - Soteltie???
<AlettaS at seaharvest.co.za> writes:
>What is a soteltie? A dish showing off your skill? Any examples?
A soteltie (or subtlety)is a dish that creates a pictoral scene. It can
be a sweet or a savoury. They are often decorated with herbs, candied
flowers, bits of dried fruit, etc. Some examples that I have read
about...
1. a wedding feast, England (IIRC about 1400's). A sculpture of sweet
bread in the shape of the wedding party before the door of the church.
Specific details include the bride's blonde hair and dress done in
candied flower petals. Pieces baked separately and then assembled with
marchpane and something that sounds like spun sugar.
2. a wedding feast (German)(no date given). A savoury bread sculpture
of a rampant goat (one of the figures on the groom's arms) and a doe
dormant (the bride's family). Specific details include the eyes of the
goat and doe made of dried fruit.
Both books were borrowed from a library in California years ago. I think
one of them was by a Rodney? MacKinnon. The other one was something
unpronounceable in German. One of these days I will start taking notes
when I find a good book and keep them!
Caitlin Nicfhionghuin
House Oak and Thistle
Shire of Bordervale Keep, Atlantia
Augusta, GA
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 09:11:22 +0100
From: Robyn Probert <robyn.probert at lawpoint.com.au>
Subject: Re: SC - marchpane holly leaves
At 15:09 20/10/1998 -0500, Helen wrote:
>I am sorry, but what are marchpane holly leaves?
Make marchpane and colour it green with spinach juice (blanch the spinach,
crush it in a mortar and pestle and squeeze out through cheesecloth), roll
and cut out holly leave shapes, draw on the veins and let them dry. If you
have more time, make little red berry balls and stick them on with eggwhite.
These, with the gilded walnuts (spray gold is quick) and red cherries in
flat baskets with pine sprigs looks great and shelling the walnuts gives
people something to occupy themselves with until the real food starts...
Rowan
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 11:51:07 +0000
From: Robyn Probert <robyn.probert at lawpoint.com.au>
Subject: Re: SC - Sotelty question-Pirates!
At 16:16 19/11/1998 -0800, Kat wrote:
>Someone here was telling about the making of an edible "book" made with
leaves of phyllo... is that person still on the list, and if so would he or
she be so kind as to outline the procedure? I'd love to try something like
that... maybe as a ship's log?
That was me! I made the boards (covers) out of sweet biscout (cookie) dough
(sweet shortcrust would work too), then partially baked them and gilded the
edges using an eggwhite glair. The pages were 1/2 sheets of phyllo - a whole
box worth - 'bound' with eggwhite and separated with a dusting of ground
almond, cinnamon, sugar and lemon zest. The top pages were strengthened by
sticking 2 pages together with eggwhite, then I calligraphed and illuminated
them using professional food colouring (fabulous vivid colours!) and gold
leaf, assembled the pages into the boards (more eggwhite) and baked the lot
until golden. It looked great and tasted good too.
Certainly adaptable to a ships log... You could even illuminate a nice map
showing compass bearings, the four winds and 'here be dragons'...
Rowan
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 07:14:19 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Hedgehogs
We're asked for hedgehog recipes; there's one in the Forme of Cury,
which is part of a long series of several recipes using the same meat
mixture, shaped and cooked variously:
"182 Farsur to make pomme dorryse and o(th)ere (th)ynges. Take (th)e
lire of pork rawe, and grynde it smale. Medle it vp wi(th) eyren &
powdre fort, safroun and salt; and do (th)erto raisouns of courance.
Make balles (th)erof, and wete it wele in white of ayren, & do it to
see(th) in boillyng water. Take hem vp and put hem on a spyt. Rost hem
wel, and take persel ygrounde and wryng it vp with ayren & a perty of
flour, and let erne aboute (th)e spyt. And if (th)ou wilt, take for
persel, safroun; and serue it forth."
Later, we get:
"184 Hirchones. Take (th)e mawe of (th)e grete swyne, and fyfe o(th)er
sex of pigges mawes. Fyll hem full of (th) self fars, & sowe hem fast.
Perboile hem; take hem vp, & make smale prikkes of gode past, and frye
hem. Take (th)ese prickes yfryed & set hem (th)icke in (th)e mawes on
(th) fars, made after an vrchoun withoute legges. Put hem on a spyt &
roost hem, & colour hem with safroun, & messe hem forth."
The Harleian MS 279 recipe (found in the Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery
Books) used in "Pleyn Delit" calls for spicery, and, specifically,
ginger. I'd go a bit closer to the earlier FoC notion of powder forte,
probably a mixture of pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and maybe galingale. I'd
go with 1/2 teaspoon of the first three for Pleyn Delit's recommended
two pounds of ground pork, plus 1/4 teaspoon galingale. I think I'd go
with 1 teaspoon salt. I like the idea of the almond spines or prikkes
over the fried pastry ones, although that's a cool idea too. The
Harleian MS 279 / Pleyn Delit recipe also omits the currants.
I think a really essential point is to use the right cut of pork,
especially if you're doing little ones without the natural organ
casings. You need to have a sufficiently fatty cut to ensure moistness
of the finished product. Probably shoulder (blade or "Boston" rather
than picnic) is marbled enough without going overboard. If you just buy
generic "ground pork" you might be okay, unless the supermarket butcher
is on a health kick. Bulk sausage meat might not be such a bad idea --
it's usually seasoned with pepper and salt only, and is plenty moist enough.
Adamantius
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 07:36:59 -0800
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Hedgehogs
Hi all from Anne-Marie
Here's my version. Adamantius is right...your generic UNSEASONED ground pork
works great and has enough fat that they stick together nicely. I like mine
pretty spicey and slightly sweet, so tend to at least double the spices. Mix it
up and fry a bit then taste test. Adjust the seasonings as you like. Also,
please note that the originals do indeed call for sausage casings. In SCA
tradition, we often will omit this and just do them like little sausage
meatballs. I've done it with the sausage casings, and they were very good
(Though getting the almonds to stay was a pain).
These are a big hit at demos and with kids, being cute as all get out. Its
also a good illustration of the concept of a sobteltie.
enjoy! as always, all rights reserved, blah blah blah.
- --AM
YRCHOUNS: Take Piggis mayws and skalde them wel; take groundyn Pork and knede it
with Spicerye, with pouder Gyngere, and Salt and Sugre; do it on the mawe, but
fille it nowt to fulle, then sewe them with a fayre threde and putte them in a
Spete and men don piggys. Take blaunchid Almoundys and kerf them long, smal and
scharpe, and frye them in grece and sugre. Take a ltytle prycke and pryckke the
yrchons. An putte in the holes the Almoundys, every hole half, and lech fro
sometimes. Ley them then to the fryre; when they be rostid, dore them, sum with
Whete Flowre and mylke of Almoundys, sum grene, sume blake with Blode, and lat
them nowt browne to moche; and serve forth. (Harleian MS 279, c. 1420)
a handful slivered almonds, lightly fried in butter and sprinkled with sugar
2 lbs ground pork
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp each salt and sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
currants for eyes and nose
Fry the almonds in melted butter over gentle heat. Don't over cook! They like
to burn, even after you take them off the stove. Just before they're done,
sprinkle them with a bit of sugar. Try not to eat them all before you use
them for the hedgehogs...
Mix the pork and spices; form into balls about 2" in diameter, and squish into
a vaguely hedgehog shape (kinda ovalesque). Stick them with the slivered
almonds, at least 6-8 per hedgehog, angled backwards, like quills. Place a
snippet of current for each eye and a nose. Bake on a cookie sheet in a 350o
oven for 30 min, taking care not to burn them, until medium brown. Drain on
paper towels for a couple of minutes before serving.
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 15:37:39 EST
From: RuddR at aol.com
Subject: SC - Re: Hedgehog
Diana asks:
<<Also, would anyone have a hedgehog recipe? the one that starts with
forced meat and uses lovely period spices (cubeb, pepper, ginger,
cinnamon)? I seem to have misplaced mine in a flurry of wrapping paper,
ornaments, gifts.....*sigh*>>
YRCHOUNS
Pork Loaf Hedgehog
Take Piggis mawys, & skalde hem wel: take groundyn Porke, & knede it with
Spicerye, with pouder Gyngre, & Salt & Sugre; do it on (th)e mawe, but fille
it nowt to fulle; (th)en sewe hem with a fayre (th)rede & putte hem in a
Spete as men don piggys; take blaunchid Almaundys, & kerf hem long, smal, &
scharpe, & frye hem in grece & sugre; take a litel prycke, & prykke (th)e
yrchons, An putte in (th)e holes (th)e Almaundys, every hole half, & eche fro
o(th)er; ley hem (th)en to (th)e fyre; when (th)ey ben rostid, dore hem sum
wyth Whete Flowre, & mylke of Almaundys, sum grene, sum blake with Blode, &
lat hem nowt browne to moche, & serue forth.
Harleian MS 279
(In the original recipe the purpose of the pig's maw, apart from holding the
meat loaf in shape, seems to be to roast it in a bag of fat. Modern tender,
fatty pork makes this unnecessary. Also, roasted pig's maw is inedible, and
must be peeled from the yrchoun, and scraped of the almond spines and
"frosting" before being discarded. I also have not colored the frosting
green or black.)
2 pounds ground pork or other meat
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp pepper or other strong spice
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/8 tsp cloves
Butter for sautéing
1 C blanched, slivered almonds
Frosting
1/4 C almond milk
1 T flour
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2.&nb