SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #415

[L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt]

Charles McCN wrote:

> Also, here is Hieatt + Jones' Translation:
> 
> Here is a dish which is called kuskenole. Make pastry with eggs then take
> figs raisins pears and apples and then dates and almonds; beat together
> and add good mixed ground spice and whole spices. In Lent make yourt
> pastry with almonds[ ie almond butter or cream]. Roll your pastry out on
> a table and cut into several pieces, one and a half hands long and three
> fingers in width then grease the pastry on one side then put the filling
> in dividing it equally among the cakes then fold together as teh diagram
> illustrates ***[presumably folding overthe pastry then crimping the edges
> together as with ravioli]*** then boil in clean water the brown on a
> griddle etc.
> 
> I am assuming the diagram is well-known by now.

Uh huh. Interesting, though, that the diagram has been rotated 45
degrees between the two versions of the recipe. I would imagine the
French recipe's diagram to be more square than rectangular, both in
overall shape and the shape of the grid cells. That being the case, I'm
not sure how well the measurements of the pieces of pasta support that
shape in the diagram. One possible answer is as Cariadoc suggests, that
each filled piece of dough is either folded over or topped with another
piece of dough, sealed around the edges, and additional seals made which
effectively subdivide the pastry into several smaller pastries attached
at the edges. Other possible answers all pretty much predicate on the
premise that the instructions in the recipe are either incomplete, or
out of sequence, or that something is wrong with the diagram, all of
which are possible, regardless of one's own personal opinion as to the
likelihood.

At first I thought that the dough should just be folded over, since
doing so would result in a nice, plump, square. In an attempt to
reconcile that idea with the diagram, though, I began to consider
scenarios where the filling was sandwiched between two pieces of dough,
which can be made to work reasonably well, both a a food, and as diagram
incarnate. I still find it hard to accept that a small pastry subdivided
into smaller cells would be what the author definitely intended, with
absolutely no attempt made to explain the process in words, especially
since the diagram has changed between the two sources.

I tried entertaining the idea that the corners of each rectangle were
pulled up and into the center, with the appropriate seals made along the
meeting edges. With a bit of fiddling, that method could be made to
approximate a grid, but not one with more than four squares, let alone
nine or fifteen, and it would work much better with square pieces of
dough than with rectangles.

So far, all the other explanatons I can recall seem to have been for
simple square or rectangular ravioli, either cut before filling, or
cooked first, and then cut prior to, or during, service.

The only other method I can think of is to assume that the instruction
to hew it into many parts is given out of sequence, lest the cook get
confused about the size of the final portions. To make the idea more
clear, let's assume a great big sheet of pasta is rolled out, and either
cut in two prior to filling, or perhaps spread with the filling only on
half of it. In either case, the big pastry could be filled and sealed at
the edges, then boiled (presumably in a basket of some sort) and
grilled, and then simply cut into portions like sandwiches. Admittedly
this assumes a series of instructions out of sequence, as does the
interpretation as square fruit ravioli, which agrees with the diagram
only if it is assumed to depict the assembly after cutting and filling,
but before folding and sealing.

If the recipe is really for rectangular ravioli, you have to assume that
either there is some unstated reason why the finished rectangular
raviolis are left together (I can think of a couple but the fact is that
the reason is not supplied), OR that the diagram is not of the finished
product, but of filled, but unsealed, rectangles of dough.

So far the only explanation that has been offered that is both [fairly]
faithful to what the recipe says, and to the diagram, is Cariadoc's.
That being said, I still find it hard to accept that the subdivision of
the filled pop-tart into little separately sealed cells, would be left
entirely to the vagaries of a diagram that changes according to the
source document. This in spite of His Grace's reasonable statement that
the instruction is omitted from the text because the diagram is there,
and a picture is worth, etc., AND that the diagram is a significant
replacement for a text instruction, which must have been really
necessary, given that no other recipe we know of in the Anglo-Norman
corpus is so illustrated.

Of course, it is by no means the only recipe where a diagram would be
helpful: His Grace's own redaction explains the process quite well, even
without the diagram. (The diagram linked to the recipe in the Online
Miscellany, BTW, appears to have gone away, so it's lucky the recipe can
stand on its own.) Of course, His Grace's redaction is not a period
document, but it does demonstrate that it can be done in words.

My feeling is that it is probably coincidence that no other recipe in
the corpus is provided with a diagram. What about all those Teste de
Turt recipes? Their instructions are almost invariably as confusing as
all get-out, and they're not illustrated. We just have to figure out how
to make a tart in the shape of a dismembered Turk's head. Simplicity
itself ;  ) , given that the recipes usually tell us what the filling
should be, and what colors to use.     

Adamantius, prepared to accept a Final Verdict of "Who Knows?"
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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