SC - a short "feast"

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Morgan wrote:

>         I have tried to make Apricot Pastilles from the many tales of Kitchen
> Wench Whilda from Castle Gilliwick.  I played fast and loose with the
> ingredients, and now fear I may have undone myself.  I cooked the apricot
> puree,  with a 1:1 sugar ratio, added fresh ginger to it, and cooked it to
> that fairly stiff ball stage, and poured in unto a jelly roll pan with wax
> paper for a lining.  Now that the stuff has cooled, it is very leathery,
> and I can't envision cutting the "leather" into squares without a fight.
> Any suggestions??  I was hoping to use the stuff as house gifts for our
> stay in Loch Salann for Solstice Court.   I gotta think of something before
> Thursday . . .

Lessee now. I _would_ suggest remelting the stuff, and adding a bit of
water, and allowing it to solidify again, but it is a very fine line
indeed you'd need to walk (how's THAT for an Irish way of putting
things?) to be sure of getting it right at that point. Alternately, you
could remelt the mass in a double boiler, with just a tablespoon or two
of extra water, and pour them out thinner, into two such pans. At least
then the thinner version would be a bit easier on the teeth.

Actually, now that I think about it, (and this is going to sound silly,
I know, but...) why not abandon the modern technology of x-ball stages,
and simply remelt the stuff with some water (perhaps in a low oven or in
a large double boiler, or whatever won't brown the stuff) and then cook
it again until the melted puree mixture will hold tracks? In other
words, when you put the tip of a spoon or spatula into it, and drag it
across the pan, it should leave well-defined, standing walls on each
side of the spoon track. This is one case where the period way of doing
it works perfectly well almost all of the time, and is easier to
monitor, too.

If you do actually recook it, you may need to add a small hit of fresh
lemon juice to zip it up a bit; the longer cooking may result in some of
the apricot flavor to cook away.

Good luck!

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at spambegone.asan.com

Sentient beings should remove the "spambegone." portion of our address
before replying.
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