[Ansteorra] Gingerbread

[Dan Baker]

I am familiar with that one, an speculation is it was copied wrong.
These are the two recipes I used for Elfsea's Christmas Party

An I had but one penny in the world,
thou shouldst have it to buy gingerbread.
Love’s Labour’s Lost Act V Scene I, Shakespeare
Gyngerbrede
    Gyngerbrede, or Gingerbread was a favorite treat at festivals and
fairs in medieval Europe—often shaped and decorated to look like
flowers, birds, animals or even armor—and several cities in France and
England hosted regular “gingerbread fairs” for centuries. Ladies often
gave their favorite knights a piece of gingerbread for good luck in a
tournament, or superstitiously ate a “gingerbread husband” to improve
their chances of landing the real thing.

Two 15th c. Cookery-Books by Thomas Austin, 1888. This book is
compiled from several period English manuscripts, most notably
Harleian MS. 279 and Harleian MS. 4016, both circa 1425-1450:
"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."
William Edward Mead in The English Medieval Feast, p. 65, calls this
"gingerbread without the ginger!" and offers this translation:
"Take a quart of honey and seethe it and skim it clean. Take saffroun,
powdered pepper, and throw thereon. Take grated bread and make it so
stiff that it will be leched (cut in slices). Then take cinnamon
powder and strew thereon enough. Then make it square as though thou
wouldst slice it. Take, when thou slicest it, and cast box leaves
above, stuck thereon in cloves. And if thou will have it red, color it
with saunders (sandalwood) enough."
Curye on Inglish, a collection of period cookbooks including Forme of
Cury, gives this definition: "Gyngebred; not to be confused with the
cake-like variety, made from breadcrumbs boiled in honey with spices:
not the modern cake but more like it than the confection." The good
ladies who are the authors of Curye on Inglish (and of Pleyn Delit, a
collection of period recipes transcribed for the modern cook), feel
that the ginger has been mistakenly left out of this particular recipe
by a forgetful scribe; however, I'm not sure I entirely agree. I have
made this recipe many times without ginger, and the results were
always delicious! As it is above, this is like a honey candy, and the
ginger is neither needed nor missed. But here's what Pleyn Delit says:
"Do not expect this gingerbread to resemble its modern spice-cake
descendant. Both texture and flavor will be quite different, though
equally delicious. But we must make up for the absent-mindedness of
the scribe who neglected to tell us when to add ginger." Period
recipes from other manuscripts such as Goud Kokery are similar to this
but do contain the ginger, so there indeed were several different
versions floating around during period.
1st Batch
Original: Take goode honye & clarefie it on the fere, & take fayre
paynemayn or wastel brede & grate it, & caste it into the boylenge
hony, & stere it will tgyder faste with a sklyse that bren not to the
vessell. & thanne take doun and put therin ginger, linge pepere &
saundres & tempere it vp with thin handel; & than put hem to a flatt
boyste & strawe theron suger, & pick therin clowes round about by the
egge and in the myudes yf it plece you &c.
Translation: Take good honey & clarify it on the fire, & take fair
white bread & grate it, & add it to the boiling honey, & stir it well
with a flat-bottomed utensil to avoid burning, & take it off the heat
and add ginger, black pepper & sandalwood, & mix it well with a thin
handle; & then put it in a flat pan & sprinkle with sugar, & put
cloves round about by the edge and in the middle if it please you
Ingredients:
honey
bread crumbs
ginger
black pepper - as a substitute for "long pepper"
sandalwood
sugar
cloves
Recipe
3/4 C clover honey
2 1/2 C fine, dry bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch black pepper
1 1/2 tsp ground sandalwood
sugar
whole cloves
Mix crumbs, ginger, pepper and sandalwood. Boil honey and skim off any
scum that accumulates. Remove from heat and stir in seasoned crumbs.
Press mixture into a buttered 8" round cake pan Let it sit several
hours or overnight. Turn onto a plate and sprinkle with sugar.
Decorate with cloves. Slice and serve.

2nd batch From Curye on Inglisch.

¾ cup honey
1 15 ounce canister of bread crumbs
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Bring honey to a boil with spices.  Keeping over low heat, add
breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly.  Press into 8 or 9 inch square pan and
let cool several hours or overnight.  Slice to serve.








TheSmithsonian.com . A Brief History of Gingerbread.
GodeCookery.com
Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books. Harleian MS.
279...and Harl. MS. 4016. London, 1888. Early English Text Society,
Oxford Series, No. 91.
Baugh, Albert C. Chaucer's Major Poetry. New York, 1963. Meredith
Publishing Company.
Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English
Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of
Cury). London, 1985. For the Early English Text Society by the Oxford
University Press.
Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery
for Modern Cooks. Toronto, 1976. University of Toronto Press.
Mead, William Edward. The English Medieval Feast. New York, 1967.
Barnes and Noble, Inc.



On Fri, Feb 8, 2013 at 7:41 PM, willowdewisp at juno.com
<willowdewisp at juno.com> wrote:
> I just found a period recipe for Ginger bread and it has no Ginger in it? You folks that have made it from period sources is this true in all cases?
> willow
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