Lady Eulalia de Ravenfeld
Dragon's Mist Arts and Sciences Defendership
June, A.S. XLII (2007 C.E.)
Introduction
My goal with this project was to showcase what I feel are three typical medieval sweets, thereby giving a sense of the kind of candies that were available in period. Since I am most familiar with European sources, and still more familiar with English and French sources, my general notes and conclusions are drawn from and focused on these areas. Additionally, I opted to look for actual period recipes (rather than archeological or other evidence), and so have been further constrained to (mostly) the fourteenth through sixteenth/very early seventeenth centuries for my sources.
Candying and sweets served several functions in medieval cooking. In addition to their more widely recognized role as a subtlety, sweets were also important as both a means of food preservation (Troy) and as a source of nutrition while traveling (Plat; Fleming). Although it is true that sweet dishes would appear during multiple courses in a grand feast, candy was a popular final course (see for example the dinners in the Menagier; this custom reached its fullest expression with Elizabethan sweets banquets [Fleming]). It is likely that this practice grew out of the belief that spices, including sugar, aid digestion (Santich).
I prepared candied orange peels (14th century French), gingerbread (14th/15th century English), and marchpanes (1609 English). I selected these in large part because variants on each of these dishes can be found in multiple medieval and Renaissance recipe collections. Additionally, each dish typifies a prominent theme in medieval sweets; orange peels demonstrate candying as preservation, gingerbread highlights the importance of spices, and marzipan/marchpane is in keeping with the idea of nuts being an appropriate conclusion to a feast (see for example the dinner menus listed in the Menagier; consider also the phrase "from soup to nuts").
1. Candied Orange Peels
Original recipe
"To Make Candied Orange Peel, divide the peel of one orange into five quarters and scrape with a knife to remove the white part inside, then put them to soak in good sweet water for nine days, and change the water every day; then cook them in good water just till boiling, and when this happens, spread them on a cloth and let them get thoroughly dry, then put them in a pot with enough honey to cover them, and boil on a low fire and skim, and when you believe the honey is cooked, (to test if it is cooked, have some water in a bowl, and let drip into this one drop of the honey, and if it spreads, it is not cooked; and if the drop of honey holds together in the water without spreading out, it is cooked;) and then you must remove your orange peel, and make one layer with it, and sprinkle with ginger powder, then another layer, and sprinkle etc., and so on; and leave it a month or more, then eat."
Hinson (trans.), Le Menagier de Paris. 14th century French.
My redaction
One 4 lb bag of oranges
Lots of water
24 oz honey
Powdered ginger (or cinnamon, or sugar)
Quarter the oranges and remove the flesh. Using a small, sharp knife, cut each piece in half and scrape most of the pith (the white part) from the peels. Cover completely with cold water, and let sit, changing frequently, for several days. Once the peels have stopped turning the water orange, drain them and let them dry overnight.
In a large, heavy, deep pan, heat the honey on medium heat until it softens and starts to foam (skim off the foam). Add the orange peels. Continue heating, skimming off and discarding any foam that rises to the top, stirring nearly constantly. The peels are done when the honey has reached the soft ball stage: if you drip some honey in cool water, it will stay in a ball rather than spreading apart. Remove and separate the peels, sprinkling each one with a little powdered ginger.
Notes
Where I differed from the period recipe:
Since I had not worked with honey much before this project, I consulted Santich's (Mediterranean Cuisine) redaction. She suggested a much shorter soaking time than is recommended in medieval texts; she says that this is due to the differences between period and modern oranges. I have tried soaking the peels for longer (a week or more) when candying with sugar, and have found that the difference in the final product is slight, to a point, and then non-existent. With this batch, however, I don't think I soaked them long enough -- the final product was too hard. Next time I'm going to try the full soaking cycle found in the period recipe.
Although I found a reference to sweet oranges being available after the 15th century (Seelig), I have seen enough medieval recipes that use verjuice and orange juice interchangeably that I believe it is fair to say sour oranges were the more common type. I have made candied peels previously with bitter oranges, but found no substantial difference in the final flavor. Since bitter oranges are only available for a brief period of the year, I used modern (sweet) oranges. I did not find information on the relative size of modern and period oranges (I have a 13th c. English recipe for an illusion food of meatballs meant to look like oranges, which only specifies that the balls should be "like an onion").
2. Gingerbread
Original recipe
Gingerbrede: "To make gingerbrede. Take goode honey & clarifie it on +e fere, & take fayre paynemayn or wastel brede & grate it, & caste it into +e boylenge hony, & stere it well togyder faste with a sklyse +at it bren not to +e vessell. & +anne take it doun and put +erin ginger, longe pepper & saundres, & tempere it vp with +in handes; & than put hem to a flatt boyste & strawe +eron suger, & pick +erin clowes rounde aboute by +e egge and in +e mydes, yf it plece you, &c."
I got this from Cariadoc's Miscellany (Friedman and Cook), which lists its source as Curye on Inglysch. 14th century English.
"Gyngerbrede.--Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & throw ther-on; take grayted Bred, & make it so chargeaunt that it wol be y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, & straw ther-on y-now; then make yt square, lyke as thou wolt leche yt; take when thou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leves a-bouyn, y-stykyd ther-on, on clowys. And if thou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now."
Anderson, A Fifteenth Century Cookry Boke. 15th century English
My redaction
1 loaf of bread
24 oz honey
1 pod long pepper, ground
1 tsp ginger
Fresh bay leaves and cloves, for decoration
Slice the bread and let the slices dry out completely over several days. Grind the slices into very fine crumbs (I found it helpful to sift and regrind multiple times).
Heat the honey on moderate heat, skimming off any foam that rises. Add the bread crumbs a little at a time, stirring constantly. Add the spices. When you have a stiff paste, remove from the heat and let cool. Knead with your hands, then roll out and cut into squares. Decorate each square with a bay leaf tacked on with a clove.
Notes
Where I differed from the period recipes:
The loaf of bread I used was a sourdough leavened, part whole wheat loaf that I bought at New Seasons; I chose this rather than packaged bread crumbs because sourdough, which was the most common leavener in period (Cullinan), has a distinct flavor. Paynemayn and wastel are both made from white (or the whitest available in period) flour.
I liked the spices in the first period recipe and the decoration in the second, which is why I have included both for reference.
3. Marchpanes
Original recipe
"To make a Marchpane: Take two pounds of Almonds being blanched and dryed in a sieve over a fire: beat them in a stone mortar; and when they bee small, mix with them two pounds of sugar being finely beaten, adding 2 or 3 spoonfuls of Rose-water, and that will keeps your almonds from oyling. When your paste is beaten fine, drive it thin with a rowling ping, and so lay it on a bottom of wafers: then raise up a little edge on the side, and so bake it: then yce it with Rose-water and sugar: then put it into the oven once again, and when you see your yce is rise up, & dry, then take it out of the oven, & garnish it with pretty conceits, as birds and beasts, being cast out of standing moulds. Stick long comfits upright in it: cast biskets and carrowaies on it, and so serve it: gild it before you serve it: you may also print off this Marchpane paste in your molds for banquetting dishes: and of this paste our comfitmakers at this day make their letters, knots, Arms, Escocheons, beasts, birds, and other fancies."
Plat, Delightes for Ladies. 1609, English.
The only wafer recipe I found was this one, which dates from solidly within the seventeenth century, unfortunately:
"Take Rose-water or other water, the whites of two egs and beat them and your water, then put in flower, and make them thick as you would do butter for fritters, then season them with salt, and put in so much sugar as will make them sweet, and so cast them upon your irons being hot, and roule them up upon a little pin of wood; if they cleave to your irons, put in more sugar to your butter, for that will make them turn."
Archimagirus Anglo-Gallicus, 1658.
My redaction
For the marzipan:
2 lbs almonds (I bought them already blanched and slivered)
2 lbs sugar
Lots of rose water
Wafers:
2 egg whites
2 tsp rose water
4 T sugar
1/4 c flour
Salt, to taste
Icing:
Rose water
Sugar
Decoration: cardamom pods, cloves, cubebs, bay leaves.
Grind the almonds as fine as you can. Blend together the almonds and sugar, adding enough rose water to form a paste. Set aside.
Beat together all of your wafer ingredients. Prepare the wafers using a pizelle iron (or something similar), being sure to cook them until they are quite brown. I found it helpful to brush the iron with oil before each set. Let the wafers cool completely flat.
Once the wafers have cooled, roll out (or pat out with your hands) discs of marzipan and press on top of each wafer. Add a raised edge on each. Bake the marchpanes at 300°F for 10 minutes. Let cool.
Prepare icing by adding rose water to sugar until you have a slightly runny but still fairly thick consistency. Spread over the cooled marchpanes, and decorate with spices, etc. as you see fit. Bake for another 10 minutes.
Notes
Where I differed from the period recipes:
For completeness, I did grind some of the almonds with a mortar and pestle just to get the feel of it, and I was able to get a finer grind than I had been with the food processor.
The sugar that I used was minimally processed, which would allow some of the flavor of the natural molasses to remain. Although the process now used to refine sugar is very different from that used historically, sugar in the 16th century was refined, at least to some extent, and white sugar was available (Olver).
The marzipan recipe produced a very, very great quantity; I did not have nearly enough wafers. Half or even a quarter of this recipe would be sufficient for most purposes.
I found Dame Alys Katherine's redaction to be extremely helpful for baking times/temperature and general hints.
Sources
Anderson, John: A Fifteenth Century Cookry Boke. ©1962 Charles Scribner's Sons.
Archimagirus Anglo-Gallicus; Or, Excellent & Approved Receipts and Experiments in Cookery. 1658. The recipe I used can be found at http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec52.html
Cullinan, Richard: "A Short Note on Medieval Bread." http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rcull/bread.htm
Fleming, Elise (SKA Dame Alys Katherine): "Of Sugar and Confections" and "About Marzipan". These and other articles are at http://home.netcom.com/~alysk/articles.html
Friedman, David and Cook, Elizabeth: Cariadoc's Miscellany: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html. The recipe I used can be found at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/desserts.html#1.
Hinson, Janet: Le Menagier de Paris. Full text available at: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier_Contents.html
Troy, Phil: "A Pilgrim's Picnic Basket." http://www.ostgardr.org/cooking/ppb.html
Matterer, James L.: "Medieval Gingerbread." http://www.godecookery.com/ginger/ginger.htm
Olver, Lynne: "The Food Timeline" http://www.foodtimeline.org. I found the notes on sugar particularly useful: http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcandy.html#aboutsugar
Plat, Hugh: Delightes for Ladies: To adorne their Persons, Tables, Closets and Distillatories: with Beauties, Banquets, Perfumes and Waters. 1609. Partial text (transcribed by Katherine Rowberd) available at: http://katrowberd.elizabethangeek.com/texts/delights.mhtml
Santich, Barbara: The Original Mediterranean Cuisine: Medieval Recipes for Today. ©1995 Chicago Review Press, Inc.
Seelig, R.A.: "Fruit & Vegetable Facts & Pointers: Oranges." March 1966. Full text available at: http://food.oregonstate.edu/faq/janfaq/orange2.html
©Laurel Black