SC -Riley, responding to and recipes (long)

[Melissa Hicks]

Greetings all,

As the original poster of this question, I apologise for not thanking the
repondants sooner.

It appears that general consensus is that the recipes in general from this
book are quite tasty but as the original recipes are not included (probably
why the autocrat did not provide me with them) the redactions are questionable.

Lionardo Acquistapace wrote:
Unfortunately Ms. Riley does not include the originals anywhere in the
book. She does list, or at least give some good clues, as to where she
got the recipes. I'm going to be trying to track down her sources, but
I don't think I will have anything helpful for you in the short term.

Thank you for offering to try.  Even in the long while, I would be
interested to hear what you find out.

Goeffrey Blount wrote:
Jaelle's annotated bibliography says:
Riley, Gillian.  RENAISSANCE RECIPES. Pomegranate Artbooks. 1993.
Pictures involving food and redacted recipes to go along with the picture.
No original recipes are given.  Some of the pictures are useful, but I
have some doubts about some of the recipes, although without seeing the
originals it is hard to tell.  NOT RECOMMENDED.
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/articles/food_bibliography.html

Thank you for the web site.  I have an older copy of Jaelle's Bibliography,
but forgot to look in it <sorry Jae !!!!>.  Thank you to you both for making
this resource available on the web.

Elaina wrote:
do the cookies use baking powder or baking soda?  if so, they are right
out!  if they use only leavening from highly beaten eggs, like an
Elizabethan 'biscuit bread' then they may be okay.  another alternative
might be Digby's "Excellent Small Cakes" - although they are 17th century.
I can post the recipe if you would like it.

Yes, I would like to see Dgby's recipe (if you don't mind or you haven't
already posted it, I'm only 50 messages behind).  As to your question, the
recipes as I know them are as follows.  This is all of the information I have.

Almond Cookies

1 cup ground almonds
1 cup flour or more
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup rosewater
1/2 teaspoon ground anise seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
Almond oil and water

Moisten the ground almonds with the rosewater and a little water to make a
soft paste.  Add sugar, salt, anise, and 1 tablespoon of almond oil and mix
well.  Stir in enough flour to make a paste which is stiff enough to flatten
on a floured surface, but not too dry.  Cut into shapes with cookie cutters,
prick with a skewer, and baked in an oiled tin in a moderate oven for about
twenty minutes, until golden and cooked through.


Raspberry Cream

1 pint (600 ml) fresh heavy cream
3 whites of egg
2 blades mace
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (without pith)
2 oz. (60 g) white sugar
1 lb. (550 g) raspberries

Melt the sugar and raspberries together on a very low heat.  Strain through
a fine sieve into a bowl and let it cool.  Meanwhile bring the cream up to
the boil, then take it off the heat.  Add, very carefully, the egg whites
beaten with a little cold crean and stir gently until the custard thickens -
putting the pan back on the heat from time to time to avoid cooling too
soon.  Put it one side and let it cool, then stir in the raspberry juice.
Mix together thoroughly to get an even pink colour, or swirl the juice in
with the minimum of stirring to created a marbled effect.


That it.  Thank you so much for all of your comments.  I think I might make
a small batch of these and small batches of other biscuits that are closer
to period (such as Digby or Fettiplace's Biskit Bread) and send them out to
be taste-tasted before the event.  If there is a better-documented recipe
that is just as tasty, I will make that for the Supper instead.

Meliora