SC - cuskynoles

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Cindy Renfrow wrote:
> 
> Hello!  I'm wondering if anyone has checked the O.E.D. for the word
> 'cuskynoles'?  If there is another occurance in the English corpus, it
> should be listed.

I don't have access to an O.E.D. most of the time. I do know, though,
that in the glossary to Curye on Inglysch, Hieatt and Butler say
something to the effect that the name is a variant on (or having common
ancestry with) the word "rissole". Frankly, I feel this is pretty much
of a guess, based on I can't imagine what. But then this is part of a
series of notes that also interprets the instruction to cut a hole in a
capon's skin, insert a pen, and blow air under the skin, as meaning to
baste it with a feather, so obviously we all have our bad days. COULD be
true...!

So far, the only even remotely believable link I have encountered is the
Spanish reference to cosquinos.

> *IF* this is in fact a fruit ravioli, then I agree in theory with Gunthar's
> 'cook-em-all-together' interpretation.  It would be a far easier way to
> prepare, esp. in bulk, than cutting the portions apart before cooking.

Perhaps, but it makes the cooking more difficult, basically since a
large sheet of these guys will have a harder time supporting their own
weight, especially when being removed from their boiling pot. You are
also more likely to tear a large sheet in the frying process. Also, what
price the line about hewing it into many parts? Yes, I'll wait til the
next line comes around on the git-tar...
> 
> But, *what if* the phrase 'hew hit on moni perties' does *not* mean 'cut it
> in many parts', but rather 'hue it (color it) in many parti(colors)?

It's possible, I suppose. I'm not aware of any other case of the word
"hue" being used as a verb, though, in the entire medieval English
corpus. Coloure, yes. Usually even that is a noun, though, as in "if
thou would give it  a red coloure..."
 
> 'Veld togedere' may not mean 'fold together', but 'throw together' or
> 'cover together'. 'Veld'  is perhaps a variant spelling of 'held', meaning
> 'throw' or 'cast', or 'y-helid / helyd', meaning covered.

Agreed. Basically it means to wrap, even by the modern dictionary
definition.
 
> What we would have then is a large multicolored fruit tart, with the
> coloring on the inside (since it is to be boiled & the color would wash
> away otherwise).  The figure would then be representing the checkerboard
> appearance of the pastry.

An interesting idea. Kinda fun, too. I'm concerned about how well it
holds up, though, in view of the difficulties of moving or even picking
up the sheet, without tearing it. As for the color issue, that would
seem to be a pretty unique approach. Have you ever seen another recipe
where colors are added to the inside of dough to protect the colors from
leeching out into the water? I guess the color is intended to be visible
through the pasta, huh? I mean, the filling is rather a dark brown.
Also, what is to keep the color from leeching out of the pasta and into
the moist filling? Not that it would change much of the filling's basic
brown color, anyway. Once you've got brown, the only other color you can
get to by adding more color, is black, as far as I can tell.
 
> Just a reminder - a portion may not mean a single person's share.  It could
> mean enough to feed one table.

Sure. I'd be inclined to go with the idea that a portion would be for a
cover of two persons, but anything's possible.

> I came across 2 recipes that bear a slight similarity to the cuskynoles
> recipe (ravioli interpretation), in the assembly, but not in the
> ingredients. Note that other recipes from these MSS. use the rim of a
> saucer to seal the edges of dough/pastry together.
> 
> Also note that both of these recipes neglect to add flour & liquid to the
> paste - this is a frequent omission in these MSS.

More an assumption that it will be taken as read, I would say. Remember
that the word "paste", in period usage, is more inclined to equate to
dough of some sort, rather than simply being something of a pasty
consistency, where some word like pap might be used.

  ([th] stands for
> 'thorn', 'th';  [3] stands for 'yogh', a g or y sound.)
> 
> Harleian MS. 279 - Leche Vyaundez
> liij.  Lesynges de chare.  Take fayre Buttys of Porke; hewe hem, & grynd
> hem, & caste [th]er-to Raw [3]olkys of Eyroun, & [th]en putte it in-to a
> fayre Vesselle; & take Roysonys of corauns, & dates myncyd, & pouder of
> Gyngere, Pepir, & Safroun, & Sugre, an melle all [th]es to-gederys; & make
> fayre past of Sugre & Safroun, & Salt; temper [th]er-in, & make .ij. fayre
> flat cakys [th]er-of, & lay [th]e stuf [th]er-on al a-brode on [th]e cake
> al flat; & [th]an take [th]at o[th]er cake, & lay hym al a-brode [th]er-on;
> & [th]an kytte [the] cakys [th]orw with an knyf in maner of lesyngys; &
> [th]an make fayre bature of Raw [3]olkys of Eyroun, Sugre, & Salt, & close
> [th]e sydys of [th]e lesyng[3] [th]er-with, & [th]an frye hem in fayre
> grece, & serue forth.

Okay. Gotcha. Fried stuffed losenges. Cool!
 
> Harleian MS. 4016
> 76 Losinges de chare.  Take faire buttes of porke, and hewe hem, and grynde
> hem, and caste there-to yolkes of eyren rawe, and take it vppe into a faire
> vessell; and take reysons of Corance, and myced dates, and pouder ginger,
> peper, saffron, and sugur, and medle al this to-gidre; and make faire paast
> of sugur, saffron, and salte, and temper therein; And make thereof ij.
> faire cakes, and ley the stuff therein al abrode on [th]e cakes all flatte.
> And [th]en take ano[th]er Cake, and ley him al abrode thereon, and [th]en
> kutte [th]e Cakes thorgh with a knyfe, in maner of losinges; And then make
> faire bater of rawe yolkes of eron, sugur and salt, and close [th]e sides
> of [th]e losinges therewith, and then fry hem in fressh grece ynow, And so
> serue hem forthe.

Again, fried meat-stuffed losenges. Sounds good.

What would really thrill me, though, in this whole search, would be
another cuskynoles recipe that would be close enough to the one we're
dealing with to provide some real insight. Now that I think about it,
given that there are various other fruit rissole recipes that clearly
ARE for fruit ravioli, I'm led to suspect that the Cariadoc method of
interpreting this recipe, as a small sheet of little cells of stuffed
pasta, could be correct, simply because it appears to have failed to
evolve to the point where it survived to another generation of recipes.
If the cuskynoles-as-fruit-ravioli method were correct, then why aren't
any of the other fruit raviolis called cuskynoles. I'm on the verge of
inferring that this indicates that cuskynoles and fruit ravioli are
different animals, and that only the latter survived.

Adamantius, kidding only slightly
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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