SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #51

[Ray Caughlin]

Question? Bleached flour during the Middle Ages? Would someone clarify. My
understanding is that white flour or (bleached) is modern. Good Period
bakers need to know these things!
Lord Mandrigal of Mu

- ----------
> From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at postoffice.ptd.net>
> To: sca-cooks at eden.com
> Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #51
> Date: Wednesday, April 16, 1997 8:54 AM
> 
> 
> >From: Dottie Elliott <macdj at onr.com>
> >Subject: SC - Scottish Recipes
> >
> >I am interested at present in locating period Scottish recipes. If
anyone 
> >can point me in the direction of references I should look for or offer 
> >recipes,  I would appreciate it.
> >
> >Thanks, Clarissa
> >
> Clarissa, I shall be giving away my best kept secrets, however.......
> 
> To the best of my knowledge, not one single period Scottish cookbook
exists
> to date (I've look fairly hard, but may have missed one). Scottish food
is
> somewhat similar to British food, with the addition of traditional foods
> that have so much attention in Scotts Cuisine. So period sources from
> Briatain are largely appropriate. Things like Venison, Brawn, Any game,
and
> a larger portion of higher quality fish would be appropriate. And there
is
> one major subtraction: leavened bread. True, the nobility (mostly English
or
> Half English ) in later period ate white bread. The common man considered
> this sissy food to the extent that Scotts Merchants traveling "down"
below
> Hadrian's little nuisance brought their own bakestone and supplies rather
> than suffer the type of bread that would not sustain you. Edinburough had
a
> professional white bread bakery late in period, but the Idea was very
slow
> to catch on. Naturally this would be more true of midland to highland
> scotts, and less true of lowland scotts.Read *Food In Britain* for the
best
> non-recipe information on this topic.
> 
> Scotts Cuisine had a heavy French influence, so suprisingly you will find
> some wonderful and involved recipes. Where to look? Two wonderful books:
> 
> Lady Castle Hill's Receipt Book, The Molendinar Press, Glasgow, copyright
> 1976 Hamish Whyte. This is essentially a coffeetable book, with the
original
> recipes (selected ones, but all pretty good) typed and the punctuation
> altered to make sense to the modern reader --- so beware, they may have
made
> a mistake.
> 
> Mrs. McClintock's Receipt Book, Edited by Isabail MacCloud (sorry, I
don't
> have the copyright but I bought mine within the last 5 years at a noraml
> bookstore). This tiny book is a faithful reproduction of the original
with a
> glossary of Scottish terms and measurements. Recipes are excellent and
the
> book was later published under another name----either stolen or Mrs.
> McClintock (a widow) remarried.
> 
> Both books date to the early 1700s. That seems to be the closest we can
get
> to documantation. I know, it's very very sad.
> 
> Hope that helped you. I have also been known to get a little inspiration
> from "MODERN" traditional cookbooks such as the excellent Farmhouse
Cookery,
> Recipes from the Country Kitchen, which gives traditional recipes in
modern
> format with a little history of each from Reader's Digest Books, London.
> Britain's Ethnic dishes are well represented here, but you'll have to
> translate metric to the US system of measurement (if you live in the
> states). This is easily done with a   glass pyrex measuring cup, which
has
> Both marked on its side. 
> 
> Aoife
> "Many things we need can wait. The child cannot."
> 				---Gabriela Mistral, Chilean Poet 1889-1957