[Northkeep] cooking question

[Jennifer Carlson]

Hartshorn was also that substance that headachy females retired to their 
boudoirs with in Regency novels.  I wonder if it worked along the lines of 
Alka-Seltzer?

If anyone finds a source for it, I'd be interested.


Talana



>From: "Stephanie Drake" <steldr at cox.net>
>Reply-To: The Barony of Northkeep <northkeep at ansteorra.org>
>To: "The Barony of Northkeep" <northkeep at ansteorra.org>
>Subject: Re: [Northkeep] cooking question
>Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 10:12:21 -0500
>
>   Interesting
>
>
>   Q. I have a Danish cookbook with recipes for Christmas cookies. Several 
>of
>them call for hartshorn, also called bakers ammonia. I cannot find it. I
>have tried pharmacies, bakeries, and old-time bakers. Is there a substitute
>I can use or a source you know of?
>   A. Hartshorn is a leavening agent, and a precursor to the baking soda 
>and
>baking powder that everyone uses these days. Hartshorn's virtue is that it
>readily breaks down into a gas when heated (causing the leavening), but
>unless it escapes completely, it leaves a hint or more of the smell of
>ammonia. For that reason, it is generally used only in cookie recipes where
>it doesn't have to fight its way out of a deep batter.
>
>   Another name for hartshorn is ammonium bicarbonate, and it should be
>available in at least some drug stores, but you must first grind it to
>powder to use it. The Baker's Catalog at King Arthur Flour doesn't carry 
>it,
>so as far as we're concerned, it is not an essential aid to baking. We 
>think
>substituting baking powder (at a ratio of 1 teaspoon per cup of flour) 
>would
>be a perfectly good solution to your problem. If the recipe you're using
>includes a particularly acidic ingredient (such as buttermilk), you might
>instead substitute baking soda for the hartshorn, in the ratio of 1/4
>teaspoon per cup of flour.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <faolanmacfarland at cox.net>
>To: <northkeep at ansteorra.org>
>Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 9:56 AM
>Subject: [Northkeep] cooking question
>
>
> > I have a friend that mentioned that they  are  interested in medieval
>baking & that they are
> > trying to find "Baker's Ammonia".   They found it on the Internet that
>it's used in old world pastries.  He wants to use it in cookies.
> >
> > Have anyone ever head of "Baker's Ammonia"?   aka Hartshorn.  and maybe
>where to get it?
> >
> > thanks Faolan
> >
> >
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