SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #353

[Aine of Wyvernwood]

Elise Fleming wrote:

> Might I suggest transposing this into something more medieval or
> Renaissance?  From what I have seen, illusion foods recreated real
> foods with a surprise.  You really _might_ stuff an egg shell with
> custard and cook it to set.  You could take marzipan or sugar paste and
> make it look like a hard-boiled egg or even bacon.  But, I haven't seen
> any evidence that something mythological such as a roc's egg would have
> been mimicked.  Statues of gods and goddesses, yes; made of sugar, or
> marzipan, or sugar paste, yes.  To me, roc's eggs would belong to our
> modern version of what was done in the Middle Ages.  Now, if one wanted
> to do a roc's egg then one should look at what foodstuffs were
> available to make it from.  I would think that cantalopes, jellow, and
> cream cheese would be "right out."  But... the concept is interesting.
> What illusion foods can you "invent" that would fit into the medieval
> or Renaissance world and would avoid modern ingredients or forays into
> our modern fantasy world?
> 
> You already probably know of "apples" made from meatballs; hollow
> walnuts made of sugar paste with trinkets inside; and the
> above-mentioned bacon and hard-boiled eggs of marzipan or sugar paste.
> Can we invent something similar?
> 
> Alys Katharine

There actually is a late-period source with a recipe for a gargantuan
egg, made from about a dozen hen's eggs. I will try to locate the
source; it's one of the ones about three feet away from me as I thump da
keyboard. Essentially it calls for the raw eggs to be separated, and the
yolks to be boiled inside a clean bladder, with the boiling water being
constantly stirred in one direction until there is a little whirlpool
depression in the surface. This is intended to keep the yolks round as
they cook and set. This is then unwrapped and put inside another,
larger, bladder, with the raw whites, and boiled in the same way. This
time the stirring is not only supposed to make the egg roundish, but
also supposedly causes the yolk to settle in the center of the mass.
This is supposed to be peeled and eaten  in slices, presumably so that
any minor imperfections, like wrinkles in the surface, won't be
immediately visible.

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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