SC - Greetings

[Varju@aol.com]

Hi, Katerine here.  Sincgiefu asks:

>Does anyone have any insight into these instructions to "streyne hem all
>[th]orgh a straynour till hit be so thik that it woll bere him self" ?  I
>tried beating all together, but it never got as thick as described.  Could
>this mean we are to make "whipped" cream, "so thik that it woll bere him
>self", and then fold in the beaten eggs?  Has anyone tried this? (I ran out
>of cream before I ran out of interpretations...)
>
>Harleian MS. 279, c. 1430, - Dyuerse Bake Metis
>xvij.  Crustade lumbard.  Take gode Creme, & leuys of Percely, & Eyroun,
>[th]e yolkys & [th]e whyte, & breke hem [th]er-to, & strayne [th]orwe a
>straynoure, tyl it be so styf [th]at it wol bere hym-self;

{ remainder and the copied H4016 recipe snipped }

My instinct is that adding parsley and whole eggs before straining the cream
would be a bad idea, if whipping were intended.  Since cream in those days
was neither pasteurized nor combined with milk (as even modern heavy cream
is, because dairies can legally do it and save money thereby), my suspicion
is that they would have been using a much heavier cream, and the straining
may have been encouraging the fats to harden, thickening it further, rather
than introducing air.  The effect, in that case, would be closer to making 
curds or butter than to whipping.

But that's just a guess.

Cheers,

- -- Katerine/Terry

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