SC - WASSAIL--Is There Documentation?

[Philip & Susan Troy]

LHG,JRG wrote:

> I am wondering if this a piece of Victorian Fiction, or if it is a
> genuine revival of  older practices, or if this "tradition" went on
> pretty much uninterrupted in England throughout our period. I have a lot
> of sources for cooking, but only the modern ones make mention of Wassail
> Bowl recipes. I find that rather curious. Help, anyone?

Three Heugenots come to England and walk into a bar. They see Englishmen
everywhere, drinking a Christmas toast. They ask the bartender for three
jacks of that bier the men are drinking. Bartender sez, that's not bier,
that's ale! Heugenots, shocked, say, in unison, "Ale? WASSAIL?"

Ar. Ar. Ar.

Seriously, though, I suspect the deal is that wassail bowls simply
wouldn't have come under the jurisdiction of the kitchen staff in the
larger households, and that might be why you find no recipe references
to them. I seem to recall, though, a chapter on such practices and their
associated songs in Bickerdyke's "Curiosities of Ale and Beer". I will
check it and get back to you, OK?

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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