tarts-msg – 6/22/08
Period small, open-topped, shallow pies.
NOTE: See also the files: pies-msg, meat-pies-msg, fruit-pies-msg, ovens-msg, fruits-msg, pastries-msg, flour-msg, custards-msg.
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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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Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 22:20:48 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Tartys in Applis-NEW recipe-enjoy
This recipe would be good for a vegeterian or fast day feast also It is
recommended for experienced cooks.
* Exported from MasterCook *
Tartys in Applis (Apple Tarts)
Recipe By : L. J. Spencer, Jr. (copywrite 1998)
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : English Fruit
Pies & Pastry
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
- -------- ------------ --------------------------------
3 apples, peeled -- cored, chopped fine
2 pears, peeled -- cored, chopped fine
1/2 cup figs, dried -- chopped fine
1/2 cup Zante currants, dried -- chopped fine
1/4 teaspoon black pepper -- ground
2 teaspoons cinnamon -- ground
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg -- ground
1/4 teaspoon mace -- ground
1/4 teaspoon cloves -- ground
1 pie shell
sugar -- for garnish
Mix fruits and spices together thoroughly. Spread the mixture evenly in the
bottom of a pastry shell. Bake at 450 deg F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to
360 deg F for 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is
bubbling. Serve at room temperature. Garnish with granulated sugar if
desired.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NOTES: Original: Tartys in Applies- Tak gode applys & gode spycis & figs &
reysons & perys, & wan they arn wel brayed colour wyth safroun wel & do yt in
a cofyn, & do yt forth to bake wel. - Curye on Inglish
Although the original recipe doesn't specify seasonings, I chose to do so
based on a comparison to other tart/pastry type recipes from this manuscript.
I feel that this recipe was meant to convey the main ingredient of the tart
and was written for the pastry cook rather than any of the other myriad
specialty cooks available at the residence
The spices I used are typical of this sort of dish and provide depths of
flavor that literally lifts the original out of the depths of insipidity. The
spice mixture that I created is well within the acceptable range of other
similar mixtures that are listed in COE. Sprinkling a rounded tablespoon of
granulated sugar over the top after about a half hour out of the oven makes a
nice garnish.
Mincemeat-like recipes appear to have been very popular during the middle ages
and remained so right up until the end of the Victorian era with very little
change in ingredients or method of preparation. The popularity of mincemeat
dishes dropped dramatically throughout the first part of the 20th century C.E.
The economy of W.W.II brought about a major decline in availability of
ingredients as well as a major change in cooking styles, tools, utensils and
major product additions. Mincemeat dishes were reduced to the level the old
fashioned novelty that they are today.
This is a good recipe for the creative period cook because of it's obvious
resemblance to similar mincemeat-like recipes. The addition of 1/4 cup finely
diced suet and 6 ounces of finely chopped raw venison to the main ingredients
would make this tart substantial enough to serve as a first course. More
importantly, IMO, it would be as period as any thing we know about and with
appropriate documentation could be entered into A & S displays or competitions
without fear of 'being out of period'. :-)
Enjoy!
al-Sayyid A'aql ibn Ras al-Zib, AoA, OSyc
Guildmaster (The Guild of St. Martha)
Kingdom of Aethelmearc
Shire of Abhain Ciach Ghlas
Mountain Confederation
Clan Ravenstar
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 07:05:54 -0500
From: vjarmstrong at aristotle.net (Valoise Armstrong)
Subject: Re: SC - Tartys in Applis-NEW recipe-enjoy
Tyrca wrote:
>Very interesting, Ras, and it brings up a question that I have had for
>some time, about mincemeat. I grew up with mincemeat pies for
>Christmas as something with _meat_ in them. My mother usually used
>leftover roast beef or venison, put it through a hand grinder, and
>added the apples and raisins, and canned the filling to use for the
>holidays. It is my father's favorite. As I grew older, and went more
>out into the world, I discovered that other people I talked to had
>never heard of meat in mince pies. They thought I was crazy.
>
>Did they really use meat in mincemeat pies in period? Or is my family
>just an abberation? Any recipes? Anyone?
Fruit in medieval meat pies was a very common occurance.
Actually, until the second half of the fifteenth century recipes for meat
pies with fruit seem to be much more common than for fruit pies without
meat. Many meat pies were baked in a heavy flour and water crust that
served mostly as a container for the ingredients and could stand up under
long cooking times. Some writer's have claimed that the innovation of a
lighter and more edible pie crust and suggested that this new pie crust
made the fruit pies (which needed shorter cooking times) much more popular.
This is all supposition on the part of the historians so I set out to see
if I could verify it by scanning a number of cookbooks for recipes for
fruit pies that did not include meat. Out of about twenty English, French
and German cookbooks from the 14th to 16th century one percent or fewer
recipes were for fruit pies in the earlier two centuries while twelve
percent of all the 16th century recipes were for fruit only pies.
These are imperfect statistics since most of my 16th C. sources were German
- - so it might be a regional fad.
Valoise
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 17:25:33 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Tartys in Applis-NEW recipe-enjoy
Ras gave his worked-out version of the following 14th-c recipe:
>NOTES: Original: Tartys in Applies- Tak gode applys & gode spycis & figs &
>reysons & perys, & wan they arn wel brayed colour wyth safroun wel & do yt in
>a cofyn, & do yt forth to bake wel. - Curye on Inglish
For comparison, here is a richer version from a different source, with eggs
and cream and butter, but with the same ground apples and/or pears and
dried fruit as yours; it is 15th c. English and, unlike yours, specifies
the spicing. It does specify sprinkling on the sugar at the end--in this
case, cinnamon sugar.
A Flaune of Almayne
Ancient Cookery p. 452/39
First take raisins of Courance, or else other fresh raisins, and good ripe
pears, or else good apples, and pick out the cores of them, and pare them,
and grind them, and the raisins in a mortar, and do then to them a little
sweet cream of milk, and strain them through a clean strainer, and take ten
eggs, or as many more as will suffice, and beat them well together, both
the white and the yolk, and draw it through a strainer, and grate fair
white bread, and do thereto a good quantity, and more sweet cream, and do
thereto, and all this together; and take saffron, and powder of ginger, and
canel, and do thereto, and a little salt, and a quantity of fair, sweet
butter, and make a fair coffin or two, or as many as needs, and bake them a
little in an oven, and do this batter in them, and bake them as you would
bake flaunes, or crustades, and when they are baked enough, sprinkle with
canel and white sugar. This is a good manner of Crustade. [end of original;
spelling modernized]
2/3 c raisins pinch of saffron 1/2 c whipping cream
3 pears or apples 1/2 t salt 5 T butter
1/2 t cinnamon 3 eggs (large) 9" pie crust
1/4 t ginger 4 T breadcrumbs 1 T cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on at the end
A blender works well as a substitute for a mortar to mash the apples and
raisins; mix the liquids in with the apples and raisins before blending.
Bake at 375¡ for about an hour.
Elizabeth/Betty Cook (only a week behind the list, now)
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 10:17:56 -0800
From: Valoise Armstrong <varmstro at zipcon.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Cherry tarts? - Question to the list. (long)
Just got back from Wash DC and found an amazing number of digests to
wade through, but glancing through the subject headings, it doesn't
look like anyone has replied to this. Following are a couple of cherry
pie recipes from Sabina Welserin, only one of them redacted. I'm sure
there are more in other cookbooks, but these are the only ones I've
got translated and on my hard drive.
Valoise
123 To make a very good sour cherry tart
Take a pound of sour cherries and remove all of the pits. Afterwards take a
half pound of sugar and a half ounce of finely ground cinnamon sticks and
mix the sugar with it. Next mix the cherries with it and put it after that
in the pie shell made of good flour and let it bake in the tart pan.
130 To make a sour cherry tart
Take the sour cherries, take out the stones and make a pastry crust as for
the other tarts. Take bread crumbs from grated white bread and fry them in
fat. Pour them on the crust, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top, Put the
sour cherries in it, leaving their juice in the bowl, sprinkle it well with
sugar and with cinnamon, make a crust on top of it, let it bake, as it is
customary.
Pastry for a two-crust pie
1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter or lard
3 cups pitted sour cherries (fresh or frozen, canned in water as a
last resort)
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Drain cherries. Melt butter in pan. Add bread crumbs and brown lightly. Set
aside to cool. Arrange bottom crust in pie pan. Add bread crumbs and sprinkle
with a third of the cinnamon and sugar. Add remaining sugar and cinnamon to
drained cherries and place on top of bread crumbs. Cover with remaining pie crust. Trim and flute edges and cut vent holes. Bake in preheated oven 450
degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
and bake until brown (Approximately 35 more minutes).
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 13:19:00 -0600
From: Magdalena <magdlena at earthlink.net>
Subject: SC - sour cherry pie
Someone asked for a cherry tart recipe a while back. I
don't think this is what she? had in mind, but I thought I'd
post it.
Platina 8.40
40. Sour Cherry Pie
Pound in a mortar pitted sour cherries which can be
called 'merendae'. When they are pounded, mix into them
well cut up roses, a little fresh cheese, and ground aged
cheese, a bit of pepper, a little ginger, a little more
sugar, and four beaten eggs. When they are mixed, cook in a
well-greased pan with a lower crust on a slow fire. When
they are taken off the fore, pour sugar and rosewater over
them. This does not differ much from the above in force and
pleasantness.
(the above is millet pie)
- -Magdalena
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 02:44:51 +0100
From: Thomas Gloning <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: SC - cherry tarts & A tarte to provoke courage"
To make a good tart of Cheries.
Take your cheries and pick out the stones of them: then take raw yolks of egs, and put them into your cheries, then take sugar, Sinamon and Ginger, and Cloves, and put to your Cheries + make your Tart with all the Egges, your tart must be of an inche high, when it is made put in your cheries without any liquor, and cast Sugar, Sinamon, and ginger, upon it, and close it up, lay it on a paper, + put it in the Oven, when it is half baken draw it out, and put the liquor that you let of your cheries into the Tart: then take molten butter, and with a feather anoint your lid there with. Then take a fine beaten Sugar and cast upon it: then put your Tarte into the Oven again, and let it bake a good while, when it is baken drawe it foorth, + cast Sugar + Rosewater upon it, and serve it in."
(The good huswifes handmaide for the kitchen (1594?), ed. Stuart Peachey, Bristol 1992, 36f.) "To make a Tart of Cherries, when thestones be out, another waye. Seeth them in White wine or in Claret, and drain them thick: when they be sodden: then take two yolks of Egges+ thicken it withall: then season it with Synamon,Ginger, and Sugar, and bake it, and so serve it." (ib. 37.)
T.
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 08:44:58 +1000
From: "Drake & Meliora" <meliora at macquarie.matra.com.au>
Subject: RE: SC - WANTED Period recipe for an apple & chestnut pie
Lorix,
> I had a really nice period recipe for an apple & chestnut pie. Alas, I
> cannot find where I saved it to ;-(
I'm currently way behind at Uni at the moment, so sorry if this has already
been answered. Is this the recipe you are looking for? It is from Alia
Atlas' Ein Buch von Guter Spise.
Regards Mel.
Ooops, just noticed it is walnut not chestnut - sorry.
61. Einen krapfen (A krapfen)
So du wilt einen vasten krapfen machen von nüzzen mit ganzem kern. und nim
als vil epfele dor under und snide sie würfeleht als der kern ist und roest
sie mit ein wenig honiges und mengez mit würtzen und tu ez uf die bleter die
do gemaht sin zu krapfen und loz ez backen und versaltz niht.
How you want to make a fastday krapfen of nuts with whole kernels. And take
as many apples thereunder and cut them diced, as the kernel is, and roast
them well with a little honey and mix with spices and put it on the leaves,
which you made to krapfen, and let it bake and do not oversalt.
Recipe 61: An Apple and Walnut Tart
copyright 1994 Alia Atlas
4 apples, peeled and diced. (about 2 cups) (used Granny Smith)
2 cups walnuts
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 pie crust (made of flour, butter, water and salt)
Cook the apples in the honey until they are starting to become soft. (This
takes approximately 10 minutes.) Mix the cooled apples and honey with the
walnuts and spices. Roll out pie crust and put in pan. Fill crust with
mixture. Cook in the oven at 3508 F until crust is brown (approximately 30
minutes).
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 00:58:00 +0200
From: tgl at mailer.uni-marburg.de
Subject: SC - parma tarts
There is a recipe "De torta parmesane" in the "Liber de coquina ubi
diuersitates ciborum docentur", part V, #6. This cookbook is extant in
two codices, according to the editor, Marianne Mulon, both probably
written in the early 14th century.
Thomas
PS.: In case you want (or somebody else wants) to take a look at the
Latin text, I append it here:
6. -- De torta parmesane: ad tortam parnesanam, [ed!] accipe pullos bene
depilatos et incisos uel demembratos et suffrige eos cum cepis bene cisis
<<418>>
cum lardo in bona quantitate. Et decoctis ipsis pullis, pone desuper
species trittas cum sale ad sufficientiam. Accipe etiam herbas odoriferas in bona quantitate, tere fortiter et super pone de safrano. Postea, accipe uentrem porci; elixa fortiter; excoria eam, in pinguedinem eius fortiter percute cum cutello et misce cum herbis predictis et aliquantulum de caseo grattato et distempera cum ouis. Et fac inde rauiolas albos. Et si in eisdem addideris petrosillum et alias herbas odoriferas, potes facere rauiolas uirides.
Item, accipe amigdalarum mondatarum aliquam quantitatem et tere eas fortiter. Et diuide per medietatem, in quarum una parte pone de speciebus in bona quantitate et in alia ponas zucaram et de utrisque facias rauiolos semotim.
Item, accipe budella porcina bene pinguia lota et imple ea de bonis
herbis et caseo et lixa.
Item, recipe presucum et ettiam salcicias et inscinde subtiliter et
oua fracta commisce cum eis et ibi pone pullos prius dictos et sepe misce
cum cocleari, donec sit spissum. Postea, remoue ab igne et assapora cum sale.
Vltimo, recipe farinam albam mondatam et fac inde pastam solidam.
Postea, forma ad modum testi et appone farinam parum inter pastam et
testum cum cocleari. Postea, de brodio dictorum pullorum inunge pastam
et facias in predicta pasta plura solaria. In primo solario pone carnes
pullorum; in secundo solario pone rauiolos albos et saporem desuper; in tertio
solario, pone presuccum et salcicias; in .4o. solario, de eisdem
carnibus; in .5o. solario, de ceruellatis; in .VIo. solario, de rauiolis
amigdalarum; et sic deinceps si habeas fercula. Et in quolibet solario, pone dactilos et species ad sufficientiam.
Postea totum cooperias pasta et pone super prunas et testum desuper.
Et postea, cooperi de prunis super et subtiliter et frequenter dictam tortam
discooperias et unge cum lardo. Et si forte frangatur dicta torta, accipe
pastam subtiliter operatam et balnea cum aqua et pone super fracturam
et pone testum calidum desuper.
Postea, quandoque uidebitur esse cocta, porta coram domino cum magna
pompa.
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:44:32 +0200
From: Jessica Tiffin <melisant at iafrica.com>
Subject: Re: SC - parma tarts
>"E. Rain" wrote:
>> so I'm wondering, what's the earliest known form of the Parma Tart recipe
>> out there? I'm currently looking at the version in the Anonimo Toscano late
>> 14th c. at the same time it also appears in the Anonimo Veneziano, and in Le
>> Viander de Taillevant, but it is not found in Forme of Cury (or the other
>> manuscripts contained in Cury on englysch).
As Adamantius said, there are two articles on Parmesan Pies in Petit Propos
Culinaires #59 and #61, by Anna Martellotti; the pie seems to consist of
layers of meats, including fowl, in a dough case, with some smaller rolls
or filled pasta included under the main crust. The author finds parallels
in Babylonian recipes (1700 BC), Athenaeus (300BC) and some 12th-century
Arabic dishes, although these are similar constructions which do not have
the same name. Later versions are not quite as elaborate as earlier ones.
JdH
Lady Jehanne de Huguenin (Jessica Tiffin)
Chronicler, Shire of Adamastor, South Africa
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 08:32:52 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - parma tarts
"Laura C. Minnick" wrote:
> Stefan li Rous wrote:
> > And what is a good definition of a "tart", and I mean the food item.
>
> Aw, Stefan- you're no fun! ;-)
>
> I think of a tart as:
>
> *small
>
> *open-top (no top crust)
>
> *and fairly shallow
>
> Thought I'm sure someone else has a better definition (the GIANT
> dictionary of food is in the next room, but I'm too lazy to go look it
> up...)
Be that as it may, a tourte parmerienne, a.k.a. parmesan tart, a.k.a.
parmesan pie, as described in Thomas's Latin recipe, in Taillevent and
in a reelly reelly detailed dual account for meat and fish versions in
Chiquart, is a fairly massive layered dish of cooked poultry, fruit,
custard, pork, cheese, and various other delicacies layered in a large
covered pie. Sometimes the layers are separated with pastry, sometimes
with wafers inside the pie. I think of them as being about the size and
shape of a hatbox. I could be wrong about that, though.
Adamantius
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 18:48:13 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - parma tarts
stefan at texas.net writes:
<< Okay, for those of us who have little idea of what you are talking
about,...>>
Fishing again? :-)
<<And what is a good definition of a "tart", >>
This definition is about as good as any:
tart [2] (noun)
[Middle English tarte, from Middle French]
First appeared 15th Century
1 : a dish baked in a pastry shell : PIE: as
a : a small pie or pastry shell without a top containing jelly, custard,
or fruit
b : a small pie made of pastry folded over a filling
2 : PROSTITUTE
>From Merriam-Webster.
Ras
From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com>To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.orgSubject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Why is saffron a mistake?Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 19:50:03 -0000 >I'm sure that there are others on this list who can give you a more scholarly>answer, but I suspect that the recipes calling for saffron are using it mostly>as a coloring agent. Most recipes don't call for that seasoning...at least>the ones I've seen. KiriI know this is only one example, but may I submit the following recipe asone that calls for saffron as a spice;Tart in Ymbre day(Curye on Inglysch, Forme of Cury recipe # 173, page 136)Take and perboile oynoun & erbis & presse out the water & hewe her smale.Take grene chese & bray it in a morter, and temper it up with ayren. Dotherto butter, safroun & salt, & raisouns corouns, & a litel sugur withpowdour douce, and bake it in a trap, & serue it forth.In more modern English:Take and parboil onion[s] and herbs, and press out the water, and chop themsmall. Take green cheese and grind it in a mortar, and temper it up witheggs. Add butter, saffron, and salt, and currants, and a little sugar withpowder douce, and bake it in an open crust, and serve it forth.
Olwen
Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 09:01:44 +0200
From: Jessica Tiffin <melisant at iafrica.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Strawberry Recipes?
I gave Sabina Welserin's strawberry tart recipe:
>>89 To make a strawberry tart
>>Make a pastry shell and let it become firm
>>in the tart pan. Afterwards take strawberries
>>and lay them around on top as close together as
>>possible, after that sweeten them especially well.
>>Next let it bake a short while,
>>pour Malavosia over it and let it bake a while,
>>then it is ready.
and Gunthar asked:
>Sounds nice. One question though. When it says to
>"let it become firm in the tart pan" does that
>mean to prebake the pie shell or let it sit out
>to stiffen?
I interpreted it as baking it blind - the filling is very liquid, I'd worry
about ending up with very mushy pastry if I didn't harden it first.
Valoise may be able to give us more pointers from the original German.
Lady Jehanne de Huguenin (Jessica Tiffin)
Chronicler, Shire of Adamastor, South Africa
From: BaronessaIlaria at aol.com
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 01:49:12 EDT
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Too many peaches? NEVER
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Normandy Tarts... The original is made with apples, but I have it on good
authority (Duchess Melisande de Belvoir) that many other fruits, including
peaches, work beautifully...
Pastry:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
a pinch of salt
1 stick of butter
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon water
1. Sift flour, sugar and salt together. Cut in butter til well blended with
lumps no bigger than peas. Add egg yolks and water and blend well.
2. Knead until smooth and use to line ungreased muffin cups, pressing into a
shell.
Filling:
2 1/2 cups apple slices
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
a pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon
1 cup of heavy cream
1. Peel and slice apples. Make the pieces fairly small so they will fit into
the shells.
2. Toss the apples with flour, sugar and spice
3. Place in tart shells and bake at 375 for 10 minutes
4. Pour a dash of cream into each tart
5. Bake another 30 minutes or until crust is golden and apples are tender
6. Cool before serving
Note that some ovens bake hotter than others so keep an eye on things during
the 30 minute bake. They may not take that long. This is also successfully
tested on peaches, raspberries and pears.
Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 11:30:51 -0600
From: Mem Morman <mem.morman at oracle.com>
Organization: Oracle Corporation
Subject: [Sca-cooks] cheese and mushroom tarts - reprise
Cordelia=E2=80=99s Cheese and Mushroom Tarts
=E2=80=9CMUSHROOMS of one night are the best and they are little and red
within and closed at the top; and they must be peeled and then washed in
hot water and parboiled and if you wish to put them in a pasty add oil,
cheese and spice powder. Item, put them between two dishes on the coals
and then add a little salt, cheese and spice powder.=E2=80=9D Le Menagier de
Paris, 1395
I know lots of people in the SCA who make these tarts in various ways,
but since eating Cordelia=E2=80=99s tarts in about 1993 I=E2=80=99ve never bothered
to try anything else. These are wonderful. They are fantastic. They
might be better than sex. No matter how many you make, there will
never, ever be any left and people will still be asking for more.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb mushrooms
1/2 lb grated cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 grinds fresh black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic
Prepared pie crust
PROCEDURE:
=C2=B7 Preheat oven to 400o (F).
=C2=B7 Cut out 48 2" rounds from the pie crusts.
=C2=B7 Line cup cake tins with half of the pie crusts, pierce with fork.
=C2=B7 Meanwhile, bring pot of lightly salted water to boil. Clean and tri=
m
mushrooms. Lightly parboil them in boiling water (30 seconds)
=C2=B7 Drain mushrooms, pat dry, and chop or slice them thinly.
=C2=B7 Add oil, cheese, and seasonings. Mix to blend.
=C2=B7 Fill prepared pie crusts almost full.
=C2=B7 Top with reserved pie crust rounds. Seal with a beaten egg brushed
around the edges. Pierce top once to vent.
=C2=B7 Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 13:52:13 -0500
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] colored tart lids, was Re: Cookcon
>Colored tart lids? I'm not sure exactly what we are talking
>about here. I hope it's not hats....
Bad boy. They're removable pie top-crusts, colored with baked-on jellies of
assorted colors. If you look in Robert May's "The Accomplisht Cook", you
will see he has diagrams for "cut-laid tarts". A few of these specifically
say they are to be colored tarts (but I haven't found detailed directions
from him). "Banquetting Stuffe" mentions these, too (pp.82, 91). The plain
top crusts of tarts were sometimes cut off & replaced with reusable
decorated ones for service.
Robert May uses both short crust or hot water pastry for these. For
convenience I used pre-made pie shells for the conference. The first ones
into the oven puffed up, which they were not supposed to do, so we pricked
the others with a fork before baking them. This worked fine.
The method is fairly simple.
Separate an egg. Mix the yolk with a teaspoon of milk (or not) & set aside.
Mix the white with a teaspoon of water & set aside.
Roll out your dough. If you want a raised-up lid, instead of a flat one,
drape the dough on the *outside* of a pierced pie tin & smooth it down. If
you want a flat lid, place an appropriatly-sized circle of dough on a
pierced pizza pan (allow a little extra dough for shrinkage). (The piercing
is important because this allows the dough to dry better in the oven.)
Brush the dough with eggwhite. Using extra strips of dough, make a pattern
on the lid. (Robert May gives several patterns.) The strips serve to show
the pattern as well as to keep the jellies separated, one from the other
(think stained glass window). Make sure there are no gaps for the jelly to
seep through.
The eggwhite serves as glue & helps seal the crust. Brush the crust all
over again with eggwhite before baking.
Bake at 400 degrees F. for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the crust looks
a little golden, and is slightly firm to the touch. You don't want it to
brown. Take it out of the oven & let it cool. Reduce the oven temperature
to 350 degrees.
Melt some different colored jellies in small cups. Use a toy paintbrush, a
tiny spoon, or a feather to put a modest amount of jelly in each pastry
'compartment'. A thin layer of jelly about 1/8 inch thick is sufficient.
Don't overfill the compartments, or the jelly will leak.
Bake the colored crust for about 10 minutes and remove it from the oven.
Let it cool.
Using a toy paintbrush, highlight the pattern with the egg yolk mixture.
Bake another 10 minutes & remove from oven. When cool, if necessary, you
can repeat the egg yolk wash and return it to the oven for another 10
minutes.
Now you want to dry it out slowly. You can put it in & out of the oven
several more times, or put it in the oven & turn off the oven, or place it
on a wire rack, or do whatever you usually do to dry a baked item.
Tip: remove the raised-up pie shell from the pan as soon as it is firm
enough to handle. It will shrink as it dries, & will crack if left on the
pan.
These can be stored unwrapped in a dry place. I kept mine in the cold oven
for 3 weeks (before I got tired of looking at it & threw it away) and it
dried out completely. Even the jelly was dry & not sticky to the touch.
Cindy
Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 10:26:10 -0500
From: "Louise Smithson" <smithson at mco.edu>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Rice Tart and orenge tart
I can't find a recipe for a rice tart that has both oranges and rice,
but I found recipes for both in original manuscripts.
>From The Second part of the good huswives jewell. 1597
To bake a citron pie
Take your citron, pare it and slice it in peeces, and boile it with
grose pepper and ginger and so lay it in your paste with butter and when
it is almost baked put theretoe vineger, butter and suger, and let it
stand in the oven a while and soke.
An other way to bake Citrons
When your citrons be pared and slyced laye it in your pasts with small
raysons and season them with pepper, ginger and fine suger.
>From a book of cookrye 1591
How to bake Orenges
Faire peele your orenges and pick away all the white that is under the
peele, and so lay them in fine paste, and put into them sugar, very
little sinamon or none at all, but a little ginger and bake them very
leisurely.
>From Epulario or The Italian Banquet 1598
To make a fat tarte with rice
Wash the rice well and make it cleane and boyle it in fat broth, and
being boyled, take it out and dry it, then take a little new cheese
stamped with egges, sugar and rosewater according to the quantity you
will make, and if you will you may adde a little milke, and this being
mixed together bake it in a pan and observe the order prescribed for
white tarts but it must have less chese then the other aforesaid.
To make tarts in fleshtime and first to make a white Tarte
Take two poiunds of good new chese and cut it smal and then stampe it,
then take fiftene or firten whites of egges and temper and mire them
with the cheese putting thereto a pound of sweet butter and some milke
as much as will sufice, then make your paste and let it be some what
thin, and let it bake with a soft fire both under and over it, and let
him bee some what brown, and when hee is baked straw sugar and rosewater
upon it.
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 09:13:11 -0800
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Rice Tart and orenge tart
>I can't find a recipe for a rice tart that has both oranges and rice,
>but I found recipes for both in original manuscripts.
>
>>From The Second part of the good huswives jewell. 1597
>To bake a citron pie
In modern use, at least, "citron" is a distinct fruit, related to but
different than an orange. I will be happy to show you one, but not
quite yet--the tree is only about waist high.
>From Epulario or The Italian Banquet 1598
>To make a fat tarte with rice
Note that, despite the date, this is not the same cuisine. Epulario
is an English translation of an Italian cookbook, and is very closely
related to two fifteenth century Italian cookbooks (Platina and
Martino). So there is not much reason to think that a combination of
the two recipes is a likely guess at something that would have been
made.
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Good Huswife's Jewell recipes, Typos
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 13:44:46 -0500
From: Kirrily Robert <skud at infotrope.net>
Elizabeth wrote:
> Does he earlier say anything about crusts on all these tarts?
OK, he doesn't say anything *earlier* but he does say some stuff later.
Specifically:
To make a fine paste
Take faire flower and wheate & the yolkes of egges with sweet Butter
melted, mixing all these together wtih your hands, til it be brought
dowe paste, & then make your coffins whether it be for pyes or tartes,
then you may put Saffron and suger if you wil have it a sweet paste,
having respect to the true seasoning some use to put to their paste
Beefe or Mutton broth, and some Creame.
Katherine
--
Lady Katherine Rowberd (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert)
katherine at infotrope.net http://infotrope.net/sca/
Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 15:32:41 -0500
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Tart of rice recipe
Mike Newton wrote:snipped
> Does anyone have the Tart of Rice recipe in which you make a rice pudding
> with oranges that is then baked without a crust? I have an "idea" of how I
> made it last time, but I'd feel more confendent with some words in front of
> me.
> Beatrix
Returning to the original question,
this may be your recipe---
To Make a Tart of Ryse
Boyle your rice, and put in the yolkes of two or three
Egges into the Rice, and when it is boyled put it into a
dish and season it with sugar, synamon and ginger, and butter,
and the juice of two or three Orenges, and set it on the
fire againe. page 17.
This is from Thomas Dawson's The Good Huswifes Jewell, the
edition STC 6392, published in 1596.
Adapted versions may be found in both Dining with
William Shakespeare and Sallets, Humbles & Shrewsbery
Cakes.
Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 10:56:57 -0500
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: rice with orange juice, was Lemonwhyt?
Again, From Robt. May's Accomplisht Cook, p. 245-6
"To make a Tart of Rice.
Boil the rice in milk or cream, being tender boil'd pour it into a dish, &
season it with nutmeg, ginger, cinamon, pepper, salt, sugar, and the yolks
of six eggs, put it in the tart with some juyce of orange; close it up and
bake it, being baked scrape on sugar, and so serve it up."
Cindy
Date: Mon, 01 Jul 2002 09:11:37 -0700
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Hotel interested in period food
From: Yamil O Kiwan <res03l8a at gte.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
This recipe con be found in:
Bartolomeo Scappi's - Opera: cuoco secreto de Papa Pio Quinto (Cooking
Secrets of Pope Pius V) 1570
I have a redaction of this recipe if you would like it.
Thanks,
Jamal
> From: LadyAngustias at aol.com
> res03l8a at gte.net writes:
>> Almond Pear Tart - A tart of pears in marzipan was served to Pope Pius V at
>> a banquet.
>>
> Where is this recipe from, if I may ask? Sounds like something good for a
> dessert board.
> Angustias
Date: Thu, 04 Jul 2002 11:11:56 -0700
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Hotel interested in period food
From: Yamil O Kiwan <res03l8a at gte.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sorry for the delayed response, real world interruptions.
Almond Pear Tart - A redaction of a pear tart in marzipan served to Pope
Pius V at a banquet.
Ingredients
8 oz sweet pastry
4 oz apricot jam
12 oz frangipani (liquid marzipan)
3 poached pears, drained, dried, and halved (canned pear halves work just as
well)
Roll out pastry onto a tart pan, spread a thin layer of jam on the pastry,
save 1/2 for glaze. Pour in frangipani, 2/3 full(don't fill the tart pan).
Place pear halves on top of frangipani. Preheat oven (350 degrees) bake 20
min., remove when golden brown, let cool slightly. Boil jam and a little of
the pear syrup and brush over the slightly cooled tart. Serve warm with
fresh cream or custard sauce.
Frangipani recipe - Cream 4oz unsalted butter, 4oz sugar, 4oz course ground
almond flour, and 2 eggs.
Note: Almond Pear Tart leftovers a great for breakfast
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 07:28:46 EST
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Ember Day Tart
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
doc at medievalcookery.com writes:
> Are there any versions of this recipe available other than the one in
> Forme of Curye?
There have got to be, because I've had ones with cheese in, but the recipe I
usually use doesn't have cheese.
Yeah, the FOC one has cheese.
OH, now that's interesting! I just checked the one I usually use, which is
the redaction in the first edition of Pleyn Delit. They say the original
they give IS from FOC, but it totally leaves out the "erbis", and changes the
"bray grene chese in the mortar" to "bray brede in the mortar"!
Yep. Just checked the Pegge translation in Cariadoc's manuscripts - that's
the one they used for Pleyn Delit. The Curye on Inglysch one is far more
likely to be correct. Which is a darn shame, because I LIKE the recipe
without cheese in it!
A quick scan of a few of my other books did not show any other versions of
that recipe.
Which version do you have - the Pegge, or the Curye on Inglysch? If you'd
like the COI one, I could type it in for you.
Brangwayna Morgan
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 11:21:17 -0500
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Ember Day Tart
The Curye on Inglysch one is far more
>likely to be correct. Which is a darn shame, because I LIKE the recipe
>without cheese in it!
A note of clarification: There are several extant copies of Forme of Cury.
They are not all identical in the number & order of the recipes, nor in the
exact wording of the recipes. Some copies call for herbs and green cheese,
one specifies sage and parsley, and one omits cheese & substitutes bread.
Just because an author presents one version does not mean that is the only
version available.
Cindy
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 14:42:14 -0500
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy at thousandeggs.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Ember Day Tart
Pegge wasn't a cook. He was also reading manuscript. There is a bit inset
between his pages xxx and xxxi. You can see that the hand is very ornate.
See the introduction to CoI, pp. 20-30 for the answers to your questions
about the different manuscripts.
Cindy
>OK. I've only ever seen the versions done by Pegge and by COI. On the
>whole, I've worked enough with the Pegge version not to trust it AT ALL - too
>many words either skipped entirely (like saying "hit well" instead of "sethe
>hit well"), or words that make no sense at all - like describing small birds
>as being "ysasted and ystyned" when COI says "yfarsed and ystweyd". I've
>always assumed that these are transcription/translation errors by Pegge. Are
>you saying that he was working from a different manuscript of Forme of Cury
>than those presented in Curye on Inglysch? Is the manuscript he was working
>from actually worded the way he worded it?
>
>Brangwayna Morgan
From: Robyn.Hodgkin at affa.gov.au
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Ember Day Tart
Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 12:16:31 +1100
I don't know of an ember day tart recipe that doesn't contain cheese, but here are the two I used for a redaction class I ran:
1.Tart in Ymbre day
(Curye on Inglysch, Forme of Cury compiled 1390)
Take and perboile oynoun & erbis & presse out the water & hewe her smale. Take grene chese & bray it in a morter, and temper it up with ayren. Do therto butter, safroun & salt, & raisouns corouns, & a litel sugur with powdour douce, and bake it in a trap, & serue it forth.
2. Tart on Ember-Day
(Ancient Cookery 356, 448/38c 1381)
Parboyle onions, and sauge, and parsel, and hew hom small, then take gode fatte chese, and bray hit, and do therto egges, and tempur hit up therwith, and do therto butter and sugur, and raisynges of corance, and pouder of ginger, and of cannell, medel all this well togedur, and do hit in a coffyn, and bake it uncoveret, and serve hit forthe.
Date: Mon, 04 Nov 2002 10:49:14 -0500
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Ember Day Tart
Actually it appears twice more.
Arundel 334 has it. This manuscript dates from
later than FoC, possibly 1420?.
Arundel 334 is a part of the text that appears as
pages 51-90 in the section that is labeled as
"Ancient Cookery" in Warner's Antiquitates Culinariae.
Warner was published in 1790, but there was a limited
edition facsimile released by Prospect Books in early 1981.
That version reads:
"Tart on Ember-day
Parboyle onions, and sauge, and parsel, and hew hom small, then take gode fatte chese, and bray hit, and do therto egges, and tempur hit up therwith; and do therto butterand sugur,, and raisynges of corance, and pouder of ginger, and
of canell; medel all this well togedur, and do it in a coffyn, and bake hit
uncoveret, and serve it forthe." pp.69-70
Arundel also appears in:
A Collection of ordinances and regulations for the government of the
Royal household,
made in divers reigns, from King Edward III to King William and Queen
Mary. Also receipts in ancient cookery.
which was published by the Society of Ant. in 1790. I have the microfilm
reel of this one; it was filmed in
1975 as part of the History of Women Collection and is the copy from
Radcliffe. The book was reprinted in 1970 in a very limited edition.
Ancient Cookery in that book is given as taken from pages 275-445 of the
MS. in the Arundel Collection number 344. (numbering is a mistake;
should be 334.) Sometime when I have time I will take a look at the
Ember day recipe in it, but I am not up to trekking off to the library
today
to use the rather bad reader that they have locally. Whe doing research
on another topic earlier last month, I found that are some minor
differences between Warner and the Household Accounts.
Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway
(Sorry not to have gotten to this earlier; I was busy over the weekend.)
-------------
Daniel Myers wrote on Sunday November 3rd:>
> Ok, so what we have then is the FoC recipe, mutated once or twice in
> reproduction, and then further variations upon that during redaction.
-> I'm working from the one in Curye on Inglish (thanks anyways). I had
> just assumed from the sheer number of references to Ember Day Tarts
> that the recipe appeared in a number of different period cookbooks, but
> when I started searching through my collection I had much the same
> experience as you did. I then thought that perhaps I didn't have the
> right books.
> - Doc
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Sabina Welserin #30
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 09:56:16 -0600
> 30 To make Genovese tart
>
> Take eighteen ounces of chard or spinach, three ounces of grated cheese, two
> and one half ounces of olive oil and the fresh cheese from six ounces of
> curdled milk. And blanch the herbs and chop them small and stir it all
> together and make a good covered tart with it
> ***************************
> OK, would this be quark, or a rennet based drier curd? And
> for the grated cheese would a nice tilsit work?
>
> margali
The original says "12 lott gerente milich, das keslin dar=FAon." Since
"quarc" is Middle High German and is not used here, I would probably choose
to go with a rennet based curd.
I don't know whether Tilsit is contemporary with Welser, but as an
ingredient, it should work fime. I think Parmesian would also work in this
recipe and it is contemporary.
While it makes no difference to the ratios of the ingredients, the original
recipe is measured in "lott" or approximately 1/2 troy ounce. The modern
"lott" is 15 grams, so in metric measure, it's 540 g. chard, 90 g. grated
cheese, 75 g. olive oil and 180 g. curds.
Bear
From: "Barbara Benson" <vox8 at mindspring.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 12:46:07 -0500
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Welserin Pear Tarts
As promised to the Gorgeous one I have completed my A and S competition and
am now prepared to provide the results. I am afraid that the total
documentation is around 5 pages long, and that is a bit much, so to start
off I am just going to post the redactions. If anyone wants the whole kit &
caboodle (including you Stefan ;) I would be happy to send it on:
All english translations by Valiose Armstrong.
73 A pear tart
Take pears and peel them and cut them into thin strips, take beef marrow,
cinnamon, sugar and raisins and let it bake. If you do not have any marrow
then use butter or another fat.
My interpretation:
2/3 C - Raisins - soak a bit in hot water and drain
5 T - Unsalted butter
2 1/2 t - Cinnamon
2 T - Sugar
3 to 4 - Pears
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small container mix sugar, raisins and
cinnamon; set aside. In another container soften butter using a fork.
Prepare tart shell (#61) and chill. Peel pears, cutting off stem and
bottom. Cut pears into 3 pieces lengthwise. Lay each slice on its flat side
and slice into thin strips. Place in bowl of water to avoid browning. After
all pears are sliced drain well and transfer to dry bowl. Add spice mixture
and toss well. Smooth up to half of the butter onto the bottom of the tart
shell. Put pear filling into tart shell and then dot the top evenly with the
remaining butter. Place onto cookie sheet and cook in oven for 55 minutes or
until done.
80 A pear tart
Cut out of each pear eight or twelve slices, according to how large the pear
is, fry them in fat, take them after that and lay them nicely around the
tart and sprinkle them under and over with sugar, cinnamon, cloves and
raisins and let it bake.
My interpretation
2/3 C - Raisins - soak a bit in hot water and drain
2 T - Sugar
2 t - Cinnamon
1/2 t - Cloves
3 to 4 - Pears
2 - Sticks unsalted butter
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small container mix sugar, cinnamon and
cloves; set aside. Prepare tart shell (#61) and chill. Cut pears in 8 to 12
slices depending on size. Remove seeds and string core - do not peel. Place
both sticks of butter in a heavy skillet and melt, allow to get hot enough
for frying but do not burn. Set tart shell beside stovetop and sprinkle a
good bit of the spice mixture and some of the raisins over the bottom of the
crust. Fry slices of pear in butter a few at a time - do not overcrowd the
pan. Cook pears until they start to brown a bit - but not too long because
when you try to remove them from the butter they will fall apart. Transfer
pear slices directly to tart shell and try to place them neatly and
attractively in the shell. After you have one layer of pears over the bottom
of the crust, sprinkle on more spices and raisins. Continue until all of the
pears are done and finish with a layer of spices and a very few raisins.
Drizzle a bit of the butter into the tart if you want to. Place onto cookie
sheet and cook in oven for 50 minutes or until done.
87 To make a pear tart
Then take the pears and peel them and remove the cores and divide the pears
into two parts and cut them into slices as wide as the pear is and turn them
over in a little good flour. Then heat up some fat and roast them therein,
until they are a little browned, afterwards prepare the pastry shell and lay
them on top of it, close together. Take cinnamon, sugar and raisins mixed
and sprinkle them on the crust and over the top of it, let it bake a while.
After wards take Malavosia, put sugar into it and cinnamon, let it boil
together, pour it over the tart and let it cook a short while.
My interpretation:
1/2 C - Raisins - soak a bit in hot water and drain
2 t + 3 t - Sugar
2 t + 2 t - Cinnamon
3/4 C - Wine made from Malvasian Grapes - also known as Malmsey Madeira
3 to 4 - Pears
1/2 to 3/4 C - Flour
2 - Sticks unsalted butter
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small container mix 2 t sugar and 2 t
cinnamon; set aside. Prepare tart shell (#61) and chill. Peel pears. Cut in
half lengthwise and remove core. Place flat side down and cut crosswise.
Place sliced pears into a bowl of water to avoid browning. After all pears
are sliced, drain well. Place flour into dry bowl and flour each slice of
pear, put into bowl. Place both sticks of butter in a heavy skillet and
melt, allow to get hot enough for frying but do not burn. Set tart shell
beside stovetop and sprinkle a good bit of the spice mixture and about half
of the raisins over the bottom of the crust. Fry slices of pear in butter a
few at a time - do not overcrowd the pan. Cook pears until they start to
brown a bit - but not too long because when you try to remove them from the
butter they will fall apart. Transfer pear slices directly to tart shell.
After you have one layer of pears over the bottom of the crust, sprinkle on
more spices and raisins. Continue until all of the pears are done and finish
with a layer of spices and a very few raisins. (Your numbers of layers will
vary depending on the size of your tart.) Place onto cookie sheet and cook
in oven for about 50 minutes. While the tart is baking put the wine, 3 t
sugar and 2 t cinnamon into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce a little
bit. After about 30 minutes in the oven, pull the tart out and drizzle wine
mixture over the tart (make sure you stir it up before pouring) - resume
cooking until done.
On this third tart, after the first test that used 1/2 C wine I upped it to
3/4 C wine for this version. After tasting it at the competition I still
think there is not enough wine. I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to wine,
so I tend to be a bit cautious with it. I would suggest if you do make this
that you up the wine yet again.
I received full marks from the judges and there were no left-overs. I
received extra complimentary remarks on the tart shell (I posted it here a
couple of days ago) from a good Mistress who has worked with the same recipe
herself. Made me blush good and proper.
Serena da Riva
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 02:13:29 +1100
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: Mark Calderwood <mark-c at acay.com.au>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Torta de Cerase
One of the oustanding hits of the banquet table at the Yule feast I
recently did was the Torta de Cerase, the cherry and cheese tart from the
Cuoco Napoletano, so I thought I'd share my redaction for those who are
interested (bear in mind all measures are in Australian metric).
Original- Cuoco Napoletano (recipe 137)
Get red cherries or the darkest available, remove the pit and grind in a
mortar; then get red roses and crush them well- I mean the petals alone-
with a knife, get a little new and old cheese with a reasonable amount of
spices, cinnamon and good ginger with a little pepper and sugar, and mix
everything together, adding in six eggs; make a pastry crust for the pan
with half a pound of butter and set it to cook giving it moderate fire;
when it is cooked, put on sugar and rosewater.
My redaction
Crust
I used a standard pate brisee recipe from Redon et al, which uses only
125g. Blind bake for approx 10 mins to ensure a firm base and let cool.
Filling
approx 700-750g fresh cherries, the darkest and plumpest available
2-3 red roses
40g ricotta
approx 25g aged cheese, I used a creamy Mersey cheddar, finely grated
3 eggs
pinch each to taste cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper
Wash and pit the cherries, and chop coarsely if desired. I left mine halved
for a more chumpy texture.
Pluck the petals from the roses (I used fragrant rosa gallica from my
garden), wad them up and give them a solid whacking with the back of a
heavy knife to release the flavour. Mix in with the cherries, cover with
cling wrap and leave overnight in the refrigerator for the flavours to
infuse into the cherries. This is an optional step, based on similar
Mediterranean dishes infused with roses like the plate of figs from de
Nola. If you don't want to do this simply add a splash of rosewater to the
mixture.
Mix the ricotta, cheese, eggs, and spices together. In trials I found six
eggs as stipulated in the manuscript to be way too much, and cut it down to
three which seemed to bind quite well. Next time I'm planning to use six
egg whites to see how that affects binding and flavour, I have a feeling
that's what the manuscript may mean. I added about three handfuls of fine
white sugar, and small pinches of nutmeg, ginger and pepper, larger pinches
of cloves and cinnamon (Sorry about the lack of precise amounts, I season
by pinches). After tasting I added more cloves and cinnamon as I wanted a
light sweet taste, but you can adjust the seasonings to suit yourself.
Add the cherries and fold together. The mixture turns out a brownish glug,
so I added a good slug of cochineal for a deep rosy pink. Lift the cherries
out with a slotted spoon and arrange in the crust, then ladle the mixture
over the fruit being careful not to overfill the crust, as it will rise
slightly during cooking.
Cook for 30-35 minutes at 180C, until the filling is just set. Sprinkle hot
tart with rosewater and dust with fine white sugar. I dusted mine several
times while they were cooling and again when cold, so they had a sweet
topping and an attractive frosted crimson appearance.
I was quite pleased with how they turned out: they were quite nice on their
own, fantastic with angel's food and biscotti. I had people fighting over
them. :o)
Has anyone else had a go at these tarts, I'd be interested to compare
redactions...
Giles
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 10:52:26 -0500
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Torta de Cerase
From: Daniel Myers <doc at medievalcookery.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
On Wednesday, December 18, 2002, at 10:13 AM, Mark Calderwood wrote:
> Original- Cuoco Napoletano (recipe 137)
> Get red cherries or the darkest available, remove the pit and grind in a
> mortar; then get red roses and crush them well- I mean the petals alone-
> with a knife, get a little new and old cheese with a reasonable amount of
> spices, cinnamon and good ginger with a little pepper and sugar, and mix
> everything together, adding in six eggs; make a pastry crust for the pan
> with half a pound of butter and set it to cook giving it moderate fire;
> when it is cooked, put on sugar and rosewater.
[snip]
> Has anyone else had a go at these tarts, I'd be interested to compare
> redactions...
This is one of my favorites. The version I make is online at
http://www.medievalcookery.com/recipes/cherrytorte.html
Like you, I also cut the number of eggs down to three (six seemed like
way too many). How did the cheddar affect the flavor? I keep thinking
that it'd make the tart too savory to be a good dessert.
While I was experimenting with this recipe I tried making it with dried
cherries and the tart ended up with a very "raisins & spice" sort of
flavor.
- Doc
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers)
http://www.medievalcookery.com/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 14:44:23 -0500
From: "Nick Sasso" <NJSasso at msplaw.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: re: [Sca-cooks] Torta de Cerase
From: "Mark Calderwood" <mark-c at acay.com.au>
<<SNIP>>>
> My redaction
> Crust
> I used a standard pate brisee recipe from Redon et al, which uses only
> 125g. Blind bake for approx 10 mins to ensure a firm base and let cool.
>
> Filling
> approx 700-750g fresh cherries, the darkest and plumpest available
> 2-3 red roses
I had a go at these tarts on two occasions with gret success as an
individual tart, and acceptable, though not great baked in sheet pans
for large numbers.
My redaction is below. I used rosewater as subsitute for the rose
petals as they were not readily available when I made them. I would
think the flavor is close, but will use the petals if available. New or
Soft cheese, I used farmer cheese (IIRC), and the aged I used a
semi-soft like butter cheese available in this area. I decided that
the hard cheese would not make the texture at which I wanted to aim. I
chopped the cherries, and added some reconstituted dry ones to intensify
the flavor of some rather average tasting fruit. I used the sugar as a
spice instead of a sweetner as I read the recipe to say it was a spice
like cinnamon and pepper. the result was a fruity tasting, though not
entirely sweet custard. Sweeter cherries would have given a little more
sweetness as well.
1 lb. Sour cherries
8 ounces fresh/soft cheese
2 oz grated semi soft cheese
25 tsp. Powdered ginger
25 tsp cinnamon (zeylanicum)
pinch ground black pepper
2 Tbl white sugar
6 eggs
dash of rose water (to taste)
Pastry crust (made with one half pound butter) (used pate brisee type
crust with the 8 ounces butter . . . see Alton Brown recipes if you need
one)
Coarsely grind cherries in mortar or food processor, or chop coarsely
with knife. Mix together cheeses, sugar, spices and eggs. Add cherries
and rosewater. Pour into prepared, pre-baked pastry shell as one pie or
as several tarts. Bake at 350F until just set and it moves as one mass
when jiggled, about 40 minutes; do not overcook! Remove from over and
sprinkle immediately with fine sugar and a dash of rosewater.
I also had a brownish red as well, which was more reddish after
cooking. The 6 eggs made a somewhat stiff tart. I did not reduce the
eggs, but adjusted the type and amount of cheese used. Since the recipe
went to the trouble of specifying an exact number of eggs, I figured
that was not an error, and that the other ingredients would be the key
to the tart modifications.
I disagree with your decision to reduce number of eggs for your desired
texture. I would suggest changing the cheese types or amounts to get
different results. I mean, it ain't often we get exact figures to start
with. I believe the whole eggs is correct as the yolks will assist in
maintaining the emulsification of the cheeses (preventing separation)
and enrich the 'custard'.
I am glad to hear of someone out there taking a whack at this. My
first shot was in 2000 about 3 months of publication, and there was no
one out there to compare with :o( Came out well, and I am pleased with
having a new desserty item that isn't so very sweet. Heck, even MY
mileage may very on this one :o)
pacem et bonum,
niccolo difrancesco
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 17:48:05 -0800 (PST)
From: Ruth Frey <ruthf at uidaho.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] A couple tart recipes.
I'm working on 12th Night recipe redactions, and I thought I'd
pass along 2 that I've gotten to the "quite good" stage. Both are from
the Sabina Welserin cookbook (which is webbed somewhere, but I'm
too lazy to look up the URL at the moment), and may have been done to
death, since they're nice simple recipes with lots of handy proportions
given -- apologies if everyone's seen them before. :) I've tinkered
with some of the proportions a little, but they're still pretty close
to the originals.
FWIW, when cooking mass quantities, the cinnamon tart can be
made with powdered egg whites instead of fresh, with no difference in
flavor.
-- Ruth
-------------------------------
GENOVESE TART (CHEESE AND SPINACH "PIE") (16th c. German)
2 pie crusts for 9" covered pie
2 - 10 oz. packages frozen spinach, thawed
3 oz. grated parmesan cheese (approx. 3/4 c.)
1/3 c. olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
6 oz. ricotta cheese (approx. 3/4 c.)
Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly grease a pie pan, and put in
the bottom pie crust. Drain off any excess water from spinach by
putting it into a strainer or colander and pressing down on it with
the bottom of a large bowl. Combine spinach, oil, and cheeses in a
large bowl and mix thoroughly. Spoon filling into pie crust, smooth
down, and cover with top crust, sealing edges well. Put into oven,
turn heat down to 375 F, and bake for approx. 1 hour. Makes as many
servings as you cut pieces - figure about 8.
CINNAMON TART (ditto)
1 pie crust for 9" pie
1/2 lb ground blanched almonds (about 2 c. blanched slivered almonds
before grinding)
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. salted butter, melted
7 egg whites
1 1/2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
3 - 4 tbsp. rosewater
Preheat oven to 400 F. Grind almonds to a fine meal in a
coffee grinder, blender, or food processor. For a finer result, sift
out any un-ground bits of almond. Stir together almonds, sugar, and 1/2
tbsp. cinnamon, then add butter and egg whites and mix thoroughly.
Lightly grease a pie pan, and line with the pie crust. Pour in
the filling, smooth down, and then sprinkle surface evenly with 1 1/2
tbsp. cinnamon, followed by the rosewater. Put tart in oven, turn
heat to 375 F, and bake for 1 hour. About 8 servings.
Both from Sabina Welserin's cookbook (mid-1500s).
From: "Nancy Kiel" <nancy_kiel at hotmail.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] tart crusts/pans
Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 17:46:10 -0500
>>Hey, love, any chance you might be able to find the pic, or similar pix to
>>what you're suspecting? I'm thinking it might be interesting to try to
>>reproduce a tarte pan or two- fuctional if not necessarily 100" a
>>reproduction of an original.
Williams-Sonoma and Kitchen Glamour carry tart pans with fluted sides and
removable bottoms in varying depths. They give the same result as the Clara
Peeters painting, but I don't know if they're period.
Nancy Kiel
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 08:32:42 -0500
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Help!! - Recipe needed for Honey & Saffron Tart!!
Also sprach Susan Laing:
>I'm trying to work up a menu costing and my co-cook has nominated to make
>"Doucet Tart" aka Honey & Saffron Tart and I can't find the recipe!!!
>
>Anyone know the source (I'm *told* 14th century) - anyone got the recipe to
>hand??
>
>Mari
><slightly frazzled down-under>
I think this one is probably the original. (Of course, and
regrettably, the original for a lot of old-timey SCAdians is in
Maxime McKendry's "700 Years of English Cookery"/"The Seven Centuries
Cookbook", which is where the "Honey and Saffron Quiche" name comes
from. Bah! Humbug!)
I think this is the actual source, from MS. Harl. 279 (which is 15th
century), recipe XV in the "Vyaunde Furnez"/"Dyuerse Bake Metis"
section :
"Doucetes -- Take Creme a gode cupfulle & put it on a straynoure;
(th)anne take (y)olkys of Eyroun & put (th)er-to, & a lytel mylke;
(th)en strayne it (th)orw a straynoure into a bolle; (th)en take
Sugre y-now, & put (th)er-to, or ellys hony forde faute of Sugre,
(th)an coloure it with Safroun; (th)an take (th)in cofyns, & put in
(th)e ovens lere, & lat hem ben hardyd; (th)an take a dysshe
y-fastenyd on (th) pelys ende; & pore (th)in comade in-to (th)e
dyssche, & fro (th)e dyssche in-to (th)e cofyns; & when (th) don
a-ryse wel, take hem out, & serue hem forth."
In other words:
Doucettes [Little Sweets?] -- Take a good cupful of cream and put it
through a strainer, then take yolks of eggs and add them to it, and a
little milk, then strain it into a bowl. Then take enough sugar, and
add it, or honey in default of sugar, then color it with saffron;
then take your coffins/crusts, and put them in the oven empty, and
let them harden, then take a dish fastened to the end of your peel
[using the peel to make a really long-handled ladle, so you can fill
the coffins without removing them from the oven], and pour your
filling into the dish, and from the dish into the coffins, and when
they rise well, take them out, and serve them forth.
I figure for each tart, you'd want about 2 1/2 cups (20 ounces/~600
ml) milk and cream, mixed, depending on how rich you want it (I think
I'd just use commercial half-and-half in this case), with eight egg
yolks or four whole eggs (again, depending on how rich you want it,
with about half a cup of sugar or honey (or to taste), plus your
saffron, and I would add a pinch of gratuitous salt, myself (these
scribal errors can work both ways!)
FWIW, the McKendry adaptation of this same recipe calls for 2 cups of
cream, half a cup of milk, 3 whole eggs plus 2 yolks, and half a cup
of honey or sugar. Plus the saffron, etc.
My version is more yolky, but otherwise pretty much the same.
Adamantius (hmmm... gai dan tart from Chinatown)
From: DeeWolff at aol.com
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 07:09:50 EST
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Help!! - Recipe needed for Honey & Saffron Tart!!
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Darioles
Ancient Cookery p. 37/443
Take cream of almonds, or of cow milk, and eggs, and beat them well together;
and make small coffins, and do it therein; and do thereto sugar and good
powders, or else take good fat cheese and eggs, and make them of divers
colors, green, red, or yellow, and bake them and serve them forth.
1 1/3 c milk and cream
1/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1/6 t salt
enough pastry for 2 9" pie crusts
colorings, each in a quantity for 1/3 of the filling:
6 threads of saffron in 1 t water
3/16 t of saunders
2 T parsley mashed and strained with 2 t water
Make pastry into tart shells in muffin tins and bake about 10 minutes. Make
filling, divide in three and color one part with saffron, one with saunders,
and one with parsley juice. Pour into tart shells and bake. The recipe makes
15 tarts.
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/desserts.html#25
Doucettes a-forcyd
PERIOD: England, 15th century | SOURCE: Harleian MS 279 | CLASS: Authentic
DESCRIPTION: An almond milk pie
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL RECEIPT:
xxxviij. Doucettes a-forcyd. Take Almaunde Milke, & yolkys of Eyroun
y-melled to-gederys, Safroun, Salt, & hony; dry <thorn>in cofyn, & ley
<thorn>in Maribonys <thorn>er-on, & caste <thorn>in comade <thorn>er-on, &
serue forth.
- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 &
Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS
55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Tr=FCbner & Co., 1888.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:
Mock Doucettes. Take Almond Milk, & yolks of eggs blended together, Saffron,
Salt, & honey. Dry your pie shell, & lay your marrow there-on, & place your
filling there-on, & serve forth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INGREDIENTS:
* Almond Milk
* Egg yolks
* Saffron or a few drops yellow food coloring
* Salt
* Honey
* 1 pre-baked nine-inch pie shell
* Marrow, diced
DIRECTIONS:
Beat together the almond milk and the egg yolks. Sweeten with the honey and
season with the salt and saffron. Place diced marrow in the bottom of the pie
shell; fill shell with the egg & almond milk mixture. Bake until the filling
has set. Serve forth!
http://www.godecookery.com/mtrans/mtrans28.htm
From: "Catherine Hartley" catherine1966 at bellsouth.net
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2002 21:39:38 –0400
Subject: [Sca-cooks] recent crisp recipe request
I was recently putting together vigil food and decided to do a pear tar from
Sabrina Welserin. My assistant (who may be know to list denizens as Serena da Riva) and I were looking through Sabrina Welserin for a pie that had apples and pears. Not finding one, we redacted recipe #87 "to make a pear tart" as translated by Valoise Armstrong in
1998:87 To make a pear tart
Then take the pears and peel them and remove the cores and divide the pears into two parts and cut them into slices as wide as the pear is and turn them over in a little good flour. Then heat up some fat and roast them therein,until they are a little browned, afterwards prepare the pastry shell and lay them on top of it, close together. Take cinnamon, sugar and raisins mixed and sprinkle them on the crust and over the top of it, let it bake a while. After wards take Malavosia, put sugar into it and cinnamon, let it boil together, pour it over the tart and let it cook a short while.
Our redaction:
This yielded two very shallow 8 inch pies.
I made a pie shell of eggs, butter, flour and water.
Sabrina describes various pastry dough in her diverse recipes, some call for fat, some don't. I chose to use fat as the manner of "roasting" pears in fat made it seem natural. (1 3/4 c flour, 8-9 tbsp butter, 2 eggs, water until it forms a ball). We used butter as the "fat" in the filling (as well as the shell) as the pear recipe suggested if we didn't have fat, butter could be used. I will make this recipe in the near future using a beef fat or other. Her other pasty preparations sometimes call for a prebaked pie shell, so I did in this recipe as instructed to "prepare a pastry shell". (15 min at 375)
6 pears, peeled sliced
approximately 1 cup flour for dredging pears
1/2 oz cinnamon
2 cups raisins
1 cup of sugar
To roast pears:
approx 3 sticks (24 oz) butter
Wine syrup:
Note: Did not have malavosia, but as I knew this was a dessert wine, of a lighter grape varietal and sweet, I did use some home vinted pear wine. I will be using malavosia when it comes in with the beef fat test.
4 fl. oz wine
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Preparation:
Peeled and sliced pears. Dredged with flour. Placed in fat (butter) and poured butter over until pears covered. Placed in oven and "roasted" for 5 minutes, Turned over pears and pulled out when golden in color and flour cooked.
Mixed raisins, sugar and cinnamon in bowl. Layered the mixture on the bottom to cover crust. Layered pears into shell. Placed more sugar raisin mix on top. Cooked for approx. 15 minutes at 375. While pie was baking, cooked wine syrup until thickened over stove top medium heat.(5 minutes or so) Poured wine syrup over top until it reached the crust edge. Baked another 15-20 minutes until syrup thickened considerably. Pulled out and let set.
Results:
This pie is wonderful cold or hot (better hot, though). The pears do not have a strong flavor. While simple to make, the flavors blend so nicely. Many folks thought this was apple pie/crisp. Folks who "don't like pears," including my assistant cook, thought this was incredible tasting.
One more note: The raisins on the top that aren't covered with the wine will burn. Make sure the raisins are all in the liquid when it is added. This really tastes much like an apple crisp I have had in restaurants. While I never made modern crisps, this tasted much like the ones I've sampled.
Caitlin of Enniskillen
From: Nambeanntan at aol.com
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2003 13:20:41 EDT
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Tartlets
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
rcmann4 at earthlink.net writes:
> A question for those of you who have baked little tarts in a cupcake pan: did
> you use cupcake liners? If not, did you have much trouble getting the
> tartlets out unbroken?
>
> Brighid ni Chiarain
I turn the pans upside down and bake the shells on the outside of the
Cup after cooling I few minutes they lift right off.
Annan
Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 14:25:28 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Tartlets
The only time I had them stick was when we did 600 plus of
the mini size and the filling over ran and baked on. My assistants
got over enthusiatic when filling them. Somehow they seemed to think
that lots more filling was much better. We ran a
palette knife or icing spatula around the edge to break the
grip of the baked on sauce for those that stuck.
We were nor using non-stick pans at that time. My new
set that makes 24 at once is non-stick and we'll use plastic
utensils only with it.
Johnna Holloway Johnnae llyn Lewis
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2003 16:44:56 EDT
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Tartlets
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
rcmann4 at earthlink.net writes:
> A question for those of you who have baked little tarts in a cupcake pan: did
> you use cupcake liners? If not, did you have much trouble getting the
> tartlets out unbroken?
I haven't had any problems, but I use a non-stick pan to begin with...Usually
I find it helpful to spin the tartlet around inside the little hole before
trying to get it out - that tends to break loose any sticky spots while not
breaking the tart too much.
Brangwayna
From: "Mercedes/Stephanie" <steldr at cox.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Tartlets
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 13:48:20 -0500
That's a tart pusher. I have a couple of them that I love. Recently I
wanted to do a cupcake size meat tart for a feast so my husband made me a large one with a predrilled ball and a dowel. It's a little unwieldy but it did the job - and it kept me from having to roll dough for 150 little
tarts........
Mercedes
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] a little dinner party
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 11:54:14 -0400
From: Kirrily Robert <skud at infotrope.net>
> Kirrily, this meal sounds wonderful. Wish I had been there! I do have a
> question about this rice dish though. Why did you put the rice in a pie
> crust? The recipe does not mention doing this. It says put it into a dish,
> I imagine more like a casserole.
Well, if it's not in a crust then it's not a tart, to my mind.
Here's the other rice tart recipe, for comparison:
A Rice tart
Take Rice that is clean picked, and boyl it in sweet Cream, till it be
very soft; then let it stand and cool, and put into it good store of
Cinamon and Sugar, and the yelks of a couple of Eggs, and some Currants,
stir and beat all well together, then having made the coffin in the
manner before said for other Tarts, put the Rice therein, and spred it
all over the Coffin: then braek many little bits of sweet butter upon it
all over, and scrape some Sugar over it also; then cover then Tart and
bake it, and trim it in all points as hath been before shewed, and so
serve it up.
That's from Markham's English Housewife. And here's another from the
same source, for one that's definitely *not* baked in a pie crust:
A white-pot.
Take the best and sweetest Cream and boyl it with good store of Sugar
and Cinnamon, & a little Rose water, then take it from the fire, and put
it into clean pick'd Rice , but not so much as to make it thick, and let
it steep therein till it be cold, then put in the yelks of six Eggs, and
two Whites, Currants, Cinnamon Sugar, and Rose-wate, and Salt, then put
it into a pan or pot as thin as it were a Custard, and so bake it, and
serve it in the pot it is baked in, triming the top with Sugar or
Comfeits.
And, to come at the discussion from another direction, several other
tart recipes from around the same part of the Good Huswife's Jewell
don't mention the crust, and say to put the filling "in a dish" or "in a
bowle" but I think they're talking about just for mixing it.
Examples:
To make all maner of fruit Tartes
You must boyle your fruite, whether it be apple, cherrie, peach, damson,
peare, Mulberie, or codling, in faire water, and when they be boyled
inough, put them into a bowle, and bruse them with a ladle, and when
they be colde, straine them, and put in red wine or Claret wine, and so
season it with suger, sinamon and ginger.
To make a Tarte of Prunes
Put your Prunes into a pot, and put in red wine or claret wine, and a
little faire water, and stirre them now and then, and when they be
boyled enough, put them into a bowle, and straine them with sugar,
synamon and ginger.
Not sure if that's a coherent argument, but it's roughly how my mental
processes worked.
Yours,
Katherine
--
Lady Katherine Rowberd (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert)
katherine at infotrope.net http://infotrope.net/sca/
Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 11:56:12 -0800
From: Ruth Frey <ruthf at uidaho.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Brief ricotta return. :)
To: "sca-cooks at ansteorra.org" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Whew! I ended up having a pretty busy couple of weeks after I
posted my question about "ricotta as New Cheese," and didn't have a
chance to reply to any of the following posts on the topic. Thanks to
everyone who did respond, though -- it was definitely interesting to
see people's thoughts/info on the matter!
So I won't end up being considered a "recipe tease," I thought I'd
post my Genovese Tart redation which started the whole thing, complete
with my commentary from the time. I think I'd go with blended cottage
cheese now, for accuracy's sake, but FWIW the recipe below makes a darn
good tart! Very useful for large feasts, since the pies can be assembled ahead of time, frozen uncooked, and then tossed in the oven
at an appropriate moment. Good warm or cold. I tend to like Sabina's
cooking. :)
-- Ruth
GENOVESE TART (CHEESE AND SPINACH "PIE") (16th c. German)
A recipe adapted rom The Cookbook of Sabina Welserin; Sabina was
quite fond of "tarts" of all kinds - here is a savory version. The
relative quantities of spinach and "new" cheese (ricotta is used here)
have been upped a little in relation to the original recipe, and he
quantity of olive oil reduced slightly (to avoid a rather bitter
aftertaste), but the proportions are still quite close to the
originals. The quantity of spinach was increased from 18 to 20 oz.
because modern frozen chopped spinach comes in 10 oz.packages, so a
slight increase in spinach content makes measuring much simpler. The
"new" cheese was increased in quantity based on comments made by the
experimental tasters, since I was attempting to balance historical
accuracy with general palatabiity. The original recipe calls for the
curds from 6 oz. of freshly curdled milk - obviously the whole 6 oz. of
milk would not convert to curds, but it does allow for a somewhat
flexible interpretation of the amou
nt of "fresh" cheese to add. Also, thre is a bit of leeway in exactly
what kind of new cheese to add - I chose ricotta, for its pleasing
flavor and texture, but modern cottage cheese would probably be equally
acceptable as a substitute.
2 pie crusts for 9" covered pie
2 - 10 oz. package frozen spinach, thawed
3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese (approx. ¾ c.)
1/3 c. olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
6 oz. ricotta cheese (approx. ¾ c.)
Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly grease a pie pan, and put in the
bottom pie crust. Drain off any excess ater from spinach by putting
it into a strainer or colander and pressing down on it with the bottom
of a large bowl. Combine spinach, oil, and cheeses in a large bowl and
mix thoroughly. Spoon filling into pie crust, smooth down, and cover
with top rust, sealing edges well. Put into oven, turn heat down to
375 F, and bake for approx. 1 hour. Makes as many servings as you cut
pieces - figure about 8.
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 17:18:44 -0500
From: "a5foil" <a5foil at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Brief ricotta return. :)
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> OK, question time, here. Why were you using frozen spinach? I wasn't aware
> it was a common comodity in the MA. Furthermore, in both flavor and texture,
> fresh sinach is considerably different from that stuff that comes out of
> the packages. From the original translation, I would expect something rather
> light and tender:
I can answer that one -- the recipe says to blanch and chop the herbs.
Assuming that "herbs" means spinach, frozen chopped spinach, thawed, is
really close in flavor and texture to fresh spinach, blanched and
chopped. Cheaper and much, much easier if you're doing any quantity.
Cynara
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 12:05:49 -0700
From: Sue Clemenger <mooncat at in-tch.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beets (was Eggplant)
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I don't have the Shakespeare book, but I've got a copy of Lumbardy Tarts
in my copy of _To The Queen's Taste_. The source is given as "The Good
Huswives Handmaid for Cookerie," and is dated to 1588.
The original follows:
"How to make Lumbardy Tarts. Take beets, chop them small, and to them
put grated bread and cheese, and mingle them wel in the chopping. Take
a few corrans, and a dishe of sweet butter, and melt it. Ther stir al
these in the butter, together with three yolkes of egges, sinamon,
ginger, and sugar, and make your tart as large as you will, and fill it
with the stuffe, bake it, and serve it in."
The redaction recommends using a mild cheese such as emmenthaler or
monterey jack (perhaps for the melting qualities?), but outside of
telling you to grate the cheese (if you take the adjective "grated" to
refer to both the bread and the cheese, and not just the bread), there's
really nothing in the recipe that specifies cheese type. Might be
interesting to experiment with....
It also doesn't say anything about pre-cooking the beets, although I
think the one time (many years ago) that I did this recipe, I used
canned, diced beets that I drained of their liquid (cost of fresh ones
being prohibitive with that particular feast budget).
Oh, and on the same pages (68 and 69), there's a bit from Gerard on
beets. In part he says, "The red Beet, boyled and eaten with oyle,
vinegre and pepper, is a most excellent and delicat sallad...."
Mmmmm....now I'm hungry!
--maire
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 20:15:04 +0000
From: ekoogler1 at comcast.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beets (was Eggplant)
Yup...sounds like the same recipe...I did omit a few ingredients,
sorry about that. I always used canned beets as well...for much the
same reason. Also, I don't have to peel and shred them! The original
recipe reads pretty much the same as what you cite. Madge Lorwin's
redaction calls for fresh young beets, grated. She also says to use
mild cheddar, which I what I do. This pie is, IMHO, even good cold.
We frequently take a couple with us to Pennsic to snack on at lunch.
Kiri
> I don't have the Shakespeare book, but I've got a copy of Lumbardy
> Tarts
> in my copy of _To The Queen's Taste_. The source is given as "The Good
> Huswives Handmaid for Cookerie," and is dated to 1588.
> The original follows:
> "How to make Lumbardy Tarts. Take beets, chop them small, and to them
> put grated bread and cheese, and mingle them wel in the chopping. Take
> a few corrans, and a dishe of sweet butter, and melt it. Ther stir al
> these in the butter, together with three yolkes of egges, sinamon,
> ginger, and sugar, and make your tart as large as you will, and fill it
> with the stuffe, bake it, and serve it in."
>
> --maire
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 22:09:09 +0000
From: ekoogler1 at comcast.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beets (was Eggplant)
To: mooncat at in-tch.com, Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Actually, it is spelled with the "d" in "Dining with William
Shakespeare"...and Lorna Sass, in "To the Queen's Taste" uses a
"b"...so, depending on which source we check, it is spelled
differently. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the Partridge book
and, while Sass does use the title with her version of the original,
Lorwin does not. I can't help but wonder, given the fact that Sass
changes the spellings of several things from the earlier form of
English, if she hasn't reworked the spelling here to something more
familiar, a real place...Lumbardy. Who know?
> It's "lumbardy," with a "b". Someone (maybe even me) just hit the
> wrong key....
> --maire
>
> ranvaig at columbus.rr.com wrote:
>> Are Lumdardy Tarts and Lumbardy Tarts the same thing? Is one spelling
>> more correct?
>> Ranvaig
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 11:57:24 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Beets (was Eggplant)
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I looked this up on EEBO in order to check the actual text
and it is "To Make Lumdardy tartes." page 32 in
the 1594 edition STC 3298. EEBO is using the scanned Bodleian Library copy.
So Sass appears to have changed it. She also lists that she used a 1588 edition
which no longer appears as such in the ESTC. There has been a lot of work
done on these books in the last quarter century and dates/titles/credited authors have been changed. Please note that not all sources today even credit
Partridge with
A good huswifes handmaide for the kitchin. And the bibliographic
records are very confused. Lorwin uses
the 1594 edition which is now STC 3298. UMI when they filmed it (and they
filmed it more than once ) labeled
the 1594 as 3298a for the microfilm which would indicate a variant
edition. My bet is that this is the microfilm edition that Lorwin used.
Just to be even more confusing the book carries a running title of:
A new booke of cookerie which is why it turns up sometimes as that!
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 14:04:26 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beets (was Eggplant)
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Ranvaig wrote:
> I was browsing the Florilegium and found this on beets:
> http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-VEGETABLES/vegetables-msg.html
>> Curiously the red beet with a bulbous
>> root was new to Gerard; common beets were white or
>> yellow and eaten as greens. (Even in the 16th, beets
>> often were called by their French name.)
>> Alysoun
>
> Were they just new to England, but known in France and
> elsewhere, or a new variety?
>
> Do Lumdardy tarts use red beets or white/yellow beets? It doesn't
> sound like it means to use the greens.
and Kiri replied:
> Just read the end of your message. The roots themelves are
> used...it would be kind of hard to >grate leaves...I think
> directions for that would be to chop finely. No indication is given
> for the color >of the beet but, as red is what is available to me, I
> use red.
The original recipe, as quoted by Maire from _To the Queen's Taste_,
was:
"How to make Lumbardy Tarts. Take beets, chop them small, and to
them put grated bread and cheese, and mingle them wel in the
chopping. Take a few corrans, and a dishe of sweet butter, and melt
it. Ther stir al these in the butter, together with three yolkes of
egges, sinamon, ginger, and sugar, and make your tart as large as you
will, and fill it with the stuffe, bake it, and serve it in."
Looking at this, I actually do assume it means beet greens. In this
version of the recipe, at least (I haven't seen the _Dining with
William Shakespeare_ version), it is the bread and cheese that are
grated, not the beets, which are just being chopped small. Le
Menagier de Paris (late 14th c., so a good deal earlier), talking
about beets, clearly means the greens; and the lumdardy tarts recipe
reminds me of a contemporary (i.e. late period) English recipe for
spinach, so we know they did things similar to this with greens:
An Excellent Boiled Salad (English Huswife book 2, p.40):
To make an excellent compound boil'd Sallat: take of Spinage well
washt two or three handfuls, and put it into faire water and boile it
till it bee exceeding soft and tender as pappe; then put it into a
Cullander and draine the water from it, which done, with the backside
of your Chopping-knife chop it and bruise it as small as may bee:
then put it into a Pipkin with a good lump of sweet butter and boile
it over again; then take a good handfull of Currants cleane washt and
put to it, and stirre them well together, then put to as much Vinegar
as will make it reasonable tart, and then with sugar season it
according to the taste of the Master of the house, and so serve it
upon sippets.
------
So my guess is that it really is greens, not beetroot.
Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook
From: ekoogler1 at comcast.net
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beets (was Eggplant)
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 14:54:58 +0000
I just checked the version in Madge Lorwin's book, and it also says to
"chop the beets". I have always made the pie using the roots, as she
indicates in her redaction. She bases hers on statements from Gerard's
"Herbal". The first part, which she quotes, acknowledges the use of
the leaves in salads, even giving a recipe for doing so. Then she
quotes him as saying, "But what might be made of the red and beautiful
root (which is to be preferred before the leaves, as well in beautie as
in goodness) I refer unto the curious and cunning cooke, who no doubt
when hee had the view there, and is assured that it is both good and
wholesome, will make thereof many and divers dishes, both faire and
good." Lorwin goes on to state, "And beets were used in mnay ways by
cooks, including beet-root salads, both hot and cold."
I assume, therefore, that she based her use of the root on the
quotation from Gerard...and the fact that the flavors of cheese,
currants, etc. go especially well with the root. I have a copy of "To
the Queen's Taste", but never used that one, as I felt that the
redaction in Lorwin's book is better. This because I first made the
pies before I learned to do my own redactions. However, I suspect I
would have come up with something quite similar had I done the
redaction myself.
Kiri
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 17:17:42 -0800 (PST)
From: Louise Smithson <helewyse at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks]Lombard tart (was beets
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
The recipe for Lombard tarts from scappi is almost
certainly referring to the greens. Still today in
Italy you almost never see the root, but Bietole is
widely available. When I lived there Swiss Chard was
what was sold under this name.
Here is the recipe from Scappi:
Per fare torta dÕherbe alla Lombarda, Cap 92, folio
360 quinto libro, Scappi
Talinisi biete minute con i coltelli, & si lavino in
piu acque, lasciandole scolare da se in un foratoro,
perche spremendole nÕescie il sugo, che la sua
bontˆ, & poi si pigli una libra di cascio Parmigiano,
overo di Riviera grasso grattato, e libra una diricotta pecorina fresca, overo di vacca, unÕoncia tra
pepe, & cannella, un quarto tra garofali, & noci
moscate, quattro oncie di butiro fresco, & sei ove, &
fatta che sarˆ la compositione dÕogni cosa, habbisi la
tortiera onta di buttio con un sfoglio di psta fatto
di fior di farina, acqua rosa, zuccaro, & butiro,
rossi dÕova, & acqua tiepida, & pongasi la
compositione in la tortiera, cuoprendola con unÕaltro
sfoglio di pasta cresputo, facciasi cuocere al forno,
o sotto il testo, & servasi calda, se si vorˆ ponere
zuccaro in la compositione, & di sopra, sarˆ in
arbitrio.
To make a Lombard style herb tart
Cut beet (swiss chard) finely with a knife and wash in
plenty of water, then leave to drain in a sieve,
because it will give out all the juice, that is is
goodness, then take a pound of parmesan cheese or that
fat cheese of Riviera, grated and a pound of sheep
milk ricotta, or that of cow, one ounce between pepper
and cinnamon, a quarter of an ounce between cloves and
nutmeg, four ounces of fresh butter, nd six eggs, and
thus make the mixture of everything. Have a tart pan
greased with butter with a sheet of pastry, made of
flour, rose water, sugar and butter, egg yolks and
warm water, and put the mixture into the tart pan,
covering it with another sheet of pastry wrinkled
(pleated?), put it to cook in the oven or under a
ÒtestoÓ and serve hot, and if one wants to put sugar
in the mixture and on top it is at your discretion.
Helewyse
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 16:49:59 -0400
From: Daniel Myers <edouard at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pastry cases - baking blind?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at anteorra.org>
On Apr 14, 2004, at 4:04 PM, Jessica Tiffin wrote:
> Help! I think I may be hallucinatig... Am I imagining it, or is
> there somewhere in the medieval corpus (I know not where, she says
> despairingly), a recipe for a tart of some sort which specifies
> filling the shell with flour before pre-baking it? I seem to vaguely
> remember some suh recipe, but can't find the damned thing in any of
> my books, and I'm starting to twitch at the sight of the word
> "coffin". Does anyone remember anything of the sort?
Another quick note - I found these recipes in "A Book of Cookrye", by
A. W., Londn, 1591.
[ http://jducoeur.org/Cookbook/Cookrye.html ]
To make a Tarte of Prunes. Take Prunes and wash them, then boile them
with faire water, cut in halfe a penny loaf of white bread, and take
them out and straine them with Claret wine, season it with cinamon,
Ginger and Sugar, and a little Rosewater, make the paste as fine as you
can, and dry it, and fill it, and let it drie in the oven, take it out
and cast on it Biskets and Carawaies.
To make a Tart of Cream. Take Creame and Egs and stir them, togiher,
and put them into a strainer till the whay be come out, then strain it
that it may be thick, season it with Ginger, Sugar, and a little
Saffron, and then make your paste with flower, and dry your paste in
the Oven, and then fill it, and set it into te Oven to dry, and then
take it out, and cast Sugar on it, and so serve it forth.
- Doc
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers)
http://www.medievalcookery.com/
Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 08:35:15 -0700
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Genovese and Bolognese tortas?
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Anahita mentioned:
> - and a Torta... was asked to make a Genovese, but just realized last
> night i got ingredients for a Bolognese... Oh, well, it will taste
> good.
Stefan pondered:
> Okay, what is the difference between this (the?) Genovese and this
> (the?) Bolognese torta?
I am not sure which Genovese Sylvie had in mind.
When i went to track recipes down i found two
sorts. One was a Spanish tart made of mixed
fruits and nuts. The other was in Das Kuchbuch
von Sabina Welserin, 1553, with a cheese and
greens filling, rather like the Bolognese.
The Bolognese is in "The Medieval Kitchen" and is
from Maestro Martino. Cooked in a top and bottom
crust, the filling is made of rich cheeses,
chard, parsley, and marjoram, eggs, butter,
saffron and pepper.
---------------------
Torta Bolognese - Maestro Martino
Take as much cheese as indicated above in the
section on torta bianca [a livre and a half] and
grate it. Note that the richer the cheese is in
fat, the better. Then take some Swiss chard,
parsley, and marjoram. And when they are cleaned
and washed, chop them very well with a knife, and
mix them together with the cheese, combining and
mixing with your hands so that they are well
blended, and adding four eggs and enough pepper
and a little saffron, as well as good lard or
fresh butter, mixing and blending all these
things very well, as I have said. And put this
filling into a pan with a top crust and a bottom
crust, and put on a moderate fire; and when it
seem to you to be half cooked, so that it will
look more attractive, color it yellow with an egg
yolk beaten with a little saffron. And to know
when it is cooked, remember that when the top
crust comes away and rises, then it will be good,
and you may remove it from the fire.
-----
What i did:
For 2 deep 9" pie shells
1/2 lb. raclette
1/2 lb. ripe brie
1/2 lb. cream cheese
(a real cream cheese without gums or stabilizers
- not that nasty "Philadelphia" stuff)
2 lb. Swiss chard leaves
2 handfuls fresh flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup fresh marjoram
4 Tb. butter
4 eggs
several threads saffron
a little pepper
2 Nancy's pie crusts (made with UNbleached flour and real butter)
2 egg yolks & saffron to color top crusts
Preheat oven to 400 ¡ F.
Cut back rind off cheeses and cut into cubes (i left the rest of the
rinds on).
Wash greens and herbs.
Take chard leaves off tough white stalks,
discarding stalks (if you have the kind with red
stalks do the same :-).
Tear coarse stalks off parsley (i left parts of
the stalks), and slip marjoram leaves off their
stalks (tend to be woody).
Bring water to boil, reduce to simmer, and
blanche chard leaves, i.e., immerse leaves in
water for a minute or so, then remove and drain.
I did this in batches, as there was a lot of
chard.
Then i blanched the parsley...
Chop greens finely in a a food processor.
Add the cheeses and process until it's a smooth,
evenly colored mixture, scraping down the sides
of the bowl as needed.
Add eggs and blend them into the mixture.
Add butter and blend well.
Add ground pepper and about 10 threads of saffron
and process until thoroughly blended.
Pour filling into two deep 9 inch pie crusts.
Cover with top crust, pressing seams tightly shut.
Set tart pans on a baking sheet to catch drips, and put in the oven.
Beat two egg yolks. Crush a few threads of
saffron and add to yolks along with a tablespoon
of warm water. Beat well to blend and leave to
infuse. When pie has baked for 15 minutes, remove
from oven, paint top crusts with egg yolk and
saffron mixture. (i skipped this step this time -
but i did it the last time i made this)
Return to the oven and bake for another 45
minutes. As it bakes, the filling will begin to
puff up, raising up the top crust. Test by
inserting a clean knife - if filling sticks, it
isn't done. If knife comes out clean but a little
damp, remove pies from oven immediately.
NOTE:
I realized when i got home that i didn't have top
crusts - note that i generally do not bake,
although i can. I found a little baggie of
something that looked like flour in my cupboard.
I tasted it, and it tasted kinda like wheat
flour, so i cut butter into it, added a little
water and rolled out two top crusts. It was
flour, but i'm not sure what kind. It baked into
a flakey top crust, a bit flakier than usual, and
tasted a little bitter... it might have been a
blend of wheat and soy flours... i really need to
label those bags of stuff i buy in bulk...
-----
Here is the version of the Genovese with Cheese and Greens that i
didn't make:
30 To make Genovese tart - Sabina Welser
Take eighteen ounces of chard or spinach, three
ounces of grated cheese, two and one half ounces
of olive oil and the fresh cheese from six ounces
of curdled milk. And blanch the herbs and chop
them small and stir it all together and make a
good covered tart with it.
Valoise Armstrong, the translator, noted that the
curdled milk cheese "is known today as Quark in
Germany and Topfen in Austria."
-----
Here is the version of the Genovese with Fruits and Nuts that i didn't
make:
1) From Brighid ni Chiarain's translation of Libro de Guisados
TORTA A LA GENOVESA
A pound of almonds well-peeled, and another of
pine nuts, and another of toasted hazelnuts, and
grind them all together in a mortar and after
grinding, set them aside. And take a pot with
water, and salt, and oil. And this shall be on a
flesh day, and taste [to see] if it is
well-salted; and take a half pound of raisins
without seeds, and three ounces of peeled dates
cut into quarters, and three or four apples which
are sweet-sour or sweet, and quarter them and
remove the core and seeds, and cast them in the
pot to cook. And when it is well-boiled, the
apples will be cooked. And then remove them
from the water, and grind them with the dates,
and raisins, and almonds, and with the hazelnuts,
and pine nuts. And after they are well-ground,
blend it all with the said broth; and if it is a
flesh day, you may cast into the mortar a dozen
eggs ground up with the aforementioned things.
And then strain it through a sieve, and having
done this take good dough which is well-kneaded,
and make a trencher as large as if it were the
bottom of the frying pan which you have, and make
its edges like a empanada without a top; however,
let it be the size of the frying pan neither more
no less, and put it in the frying pan; and when
it is inside, cast in a little oil underneath so
that the dough does not stick to the frying pan;
and then cast all that sauce or foodstuff in the
pie, and put it upon good hot cinders; and then
take a lid which is as large as the frying pan,
that will cover it well, and put a good fire of
charcoal above and below and around it. And when
it has been like this for a little while,
carefully remove the lid from the top, and cast
into the tart two ounces of sugar, and one of
ground cinnamon, and then cover it again with its
lid; and cook two hours until the dough comes
away from the frying-pan; and then it is cooked,
and remove it to a plate as if it were an omelet;
and put it on the table like a pie.
Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:31:39 -0400
From: "Barbara Benson" <voxeight at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Greetings from the Incipient Shire of
Tymberhavene in AnTir
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> So with that plea, I would be VERY VERY happy if people would offer
> advice on the dishes for such a competition and also maybe some
> guidelines that I can use/tweak/modify for our purposes
Greetings,
Setting aside the exciting discussion on breakfast vs no breakfast
(and I am learning more with each post) I might have a suggestion.
Regarding breakfast, I tend to function under the assumption that
people at events expect breakfast, and that I personally would prefer
to serve a period dish that, to our modern palates, seems like a
breakfast dish.
I served this at a feast, and it went over very well. There was left
over filling and crust so I made a big one for the kitchen crew
(meaning I Iined a half sheet pan with crust, poured filling on one
half of that half sheet pan, folded the crust over and made a biggish
rectangular tart) that got overlooked that evening.
The next morning it was discovered, devoured and dubbed a "Period Pop
Tart". Should I be in charge of breakfast at an upcoming event I will
be making it and serving it for breakfast:
Plum Tart
From The Cookbook of Sabina Welserin. Translated by Valiose Armstrong.
70. Ain torten von pflamen, s? se?en dir oder gren. Last s? vor sieden
jn ainem wein vnd treibs d?rch vnnd nim air, zimerrerlach, z?cker, la?
bachen den taig zu der torten, hept man also an, man nimpt 2 air vnnd
erklopffts, darnach riert ain mel daran, bis es dich wirt, schit jn
darnach a?ff den disch vnnd arbait jn woll, bis er recht wirt, hernach
nempt ain wenig mer dan den halbtail vom taig vnnd welglet ain blatz,
so brait jr die torten haben welt, hernach schit die pflamen dara?ff
vnnd welglet hernach den andern blatz vnnd zerschneit jn, wie jr jn
geren haben welt, vnnd thiets oben jber die torten vnnd zwicklens woll
z?samen vnnd lasts bachen, also macht man all tortentaig.
A tart with plums, which can be dried or fresh. Let them cook
beforehand in wine and strain them and take eggs, cinnamon and sugar.
Bake the dough for the tart. That is made like so: take two eggs and
beat them. Afterwards stir flour therein until it becomes a thick
dough. Pour it on the table and work it well, until it is ready. After
that take somewhat more than half the dough and roll it into a flat
cake as wide as you would have your tart. Afterwards pour the plums on
it and roll out after that the other crust and cut it up, however you
would like it, and put it on top over the tart and press it together
well and let it bake. So one makes the dough for a tart.
6 oz Dried Plums
150 ml Red Wine
1/4 C Water
2 Eggs
5 T Sugar
1 t Cinnamon
2 Pie Crusts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop Plums well and place in saucepan
with wine and water. Cook covered over low heat for 30 minutes -
stirring frequently to avoid burning. Remove from heat and allow to
cool. Break eggs into a bowl and beat. Add sugar and cinnamon and
beat. Add in prunes in small increments, beating to incorporate. Place
bottom crust on a sheet pan and pour on filling. Place top crust over
filling and press around the edges to seal well. Turn up edges to
prevent leaking. Cut many slits in the top crust to vent well. Bake
for 1 hour. Allow to cool before slicing. Will keep well overnight.
Glad Tidings,
--
Serena da Riva
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 23:48:57 -0700
From: Britt <tierna.britt at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] squash tart
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On 9/6/07, Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> Katira commented:
> <<< Which I am growing in my garden. My lagenaria longissma are long
> and skinny. Now to find a squash tart recipe! >>>
>
> I find a "winter squash tart" listed in the menu in this file, but
> unfortunately there aren't any recipes given. I don't know if this
> individual is still on this list, but perhaps you can locate her and
> ask about it.
> 12th-N-Oertha-art (9K) 7/ 7/00 Oertha 12th Night Feast, Jan 2000.
> http://www.florilegium.org/files/FEASTS/12th-N-Oertha-art.html
>
> Written by Cedrin Etainnighean, OL. Kerri Canepa
> <kerric at pobox.alaska.net>
>
> Stefan
Greetings from Teceangl, back after some years absence.
Maestro Martino has a 'Torta de zucche' which might be sufficient. My
Italian is all but nonexistant, though.
I got this from the online Libro de Arte Coquinaria at
http://www.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/martino2.htm
[Torta di zucche.]
Habi le zucche et mondale molto bene, et grattale como gratti il
cascio, et farale un pocho bollire in un bono brodo, overo in bon latte.
Et pigliarai tanta quantit? di cascio frescho quanto ? ditto in li
sopra ditti capitoli, giongendovi con esse et miscelandovi un pocho di
cascio vecchio che sia bono. Et pigliarai una libra di bona ventresca
di porco, overo una tetta di vitella cotta molto bene allessa et
battuta assai col coltello. Et volendo poterai in loco de queste doi
cose sopra ditte, se pi? ti piace, usare il butiro, overo il strutto,
giongendovi meza libra di zuccharo, un pocho di zenzevero et di
cannella, con un bicchieri di lacte, et sei ova. Et como ti pare che le
preditte zucche siano cotte, tirale fora dell'acqua, et passale per
la stamegnia; et farai gialla questa compositione col sesanime; poi
la mitterai in una padella solo con una pasta sottile di sotto et non
di sopra, et darali il focho temperatamente di sotto et di sopra; et
quando ti pare meza cotta gli gitterai di sopra, in loco de la crosta,
de le lasagne ben minute. Et quando ser? cotta abastanza vi metterai
suso di bono zuccharo et acqua rosata.
I'm pretty sure around here someplace I have an English version but I
cannot apparently find it tonight. Sorry to only be half helpful.
- Teceangl
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 10:48:18 -0700
From: "V A" <phoenissa at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] squash tart
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On 9/6/07, Britt <tierna.britt at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Maestro Martino has a 'Torta de zucche' which might be sufficient. My
> Italian is all but nonexistant, though.
>
> I got this from the online Libro de Arte Coquinaria at
> http://www.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/martino2.htm
>
> [Torta di zucche.]
>
> Habi le zucche et mondale molto bene, et grattale como gratti il
> cascio, et farale un pocho bollire in un bono brodo, overo in bon latte.
> Et pigliarai tanta quantit? di cascio frescho quanto ? ditto in li
> sopra ditti capitoli, giongendovi con esse et miscelandovi un pocho di
> cascio vecchio che sia bono. Et pigliarai una libra di bona ventresca
> di porco, overo una tetta di vitella cotta molto bene allessa et
> battuta assai col coltello. Et volendo poterai in loco de queste doi
> cose sopra ditte, se pi? ti piace, usare il butiro, overo il strutto,
> giongendovi meza libra di zuccharo, un pocho di zenzevero et di
> cannella, con un bicchieri di lacte, et sei ova. Et como ti pare che le
> preditte zucche siano cotte, tirale fora dell'acqua, et passale per
> la stamegnia; et farai gialla questa compositione col sesanime; poi
> la mitterai in una padella solo con una pasta sottile di sotto et non
> di sopra, et darali il focho temperatamente di sotto et di sopra; et
> quando ti pare meza cotta gli gitterai di sopra, in loco de la crosta,
> de le lasagne ben minute. Et quando ser? cotta abastanza vi metterai
> suso di bono zuccharo et acqua rosata.
Here's a quick translation, for those who don't have access to an
English version:
Take the squashes and peel them, and grate them like you grate cheese, and
let them boil a bit in good broth or in good milk. And take as much
quantity of fresh cheese as is stated in the above chapter, adding it to
this and mixing in a bit of aged cheese if it is good. And take a pound of
good pork belly, or else [the meat from] a good veal head that has been
boiled well and pretty finely chopped with a knife. And if you want you can
replace these two aforementioned things, if you like it better, by using
butter, or else lard, adding half a pound of sugar, a bit of ginger and
cinnamon, with a glass of milk, and six eggs. And when it seems to you that
the aforementioned squash are cooked, take them out of the water, and pass
them through a sieve [i.e. puree them]; and make this mixture yellow with
sesame [oil?]; then put it alone in a pan with a thin dough below and above;
and when it seems half-cooked to you cast on top, in place of the crust,
some very thin lasagne. And when it is cooked enough you will add on top
some good sugar and rosewater.
Buon appetito! :-)
Vittoria
<the end>