SC - Gingerbread

[Uduido@aol.com]

>Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 20:40:52 -0700 (PDT)
>From: rousseau at scn.org (Anne-Marie Rousseau)
>Subject: Re: SC - SC-Gingerbread Advice Needed
>
>Aoife asks about period gingerbrede.
>
>First off, congratulations on using a real medieval recipe, instead of 
>saying "gingerbread is period, so I'll use my gramma's gingerbread cake". 
>As you've discoverd, it's a very different animal!
>
>There's a gal in our barony who makes a killer medieval gingerbrede, the 
>kind with the bread crumbs in it. It ends up with a chewy, but slightly 
>sticky consistency, and the spices are strong enough to make you sit up 
>and take notice The stuff is positively hot, there's so much pepper in 
>it. YUM!
>
>I don't have her recipe, but you can email her at avagard at halcyon.com. 
>Her name is Leticia, and she has reams of documnetaion for her work, if 
>that's what you want (as I would! :))
>
>- --Anne-Marie


Thanks, I may do just that. I didn't mean to sound like a cooking rube. I've
been at this for about 12 years now, and prefer to only work from original
sources when possible. But, I'm not a candy maker. One of my recipes sounded
like taffy, and I wondered if this could be true (no bread or flour in it at
all). Another esteemed cook contacted me and said that other cookbook ms.
support this version of gingerbread, too. Some of those recipes have meat in
them! So, gingerbread can be taffy, or it can be starchy. both are acceptable.

Since I posted, I went back and cheated a little. I looked up gingerbread in
Pleyn Delit. They use my exact source, and their proportions are: 1/2 cup
honey to 1 entire loaf's worth of 4 day old breadcrumbs (not dry, however).
That's not what I had in mind, and I'm not sold that it's what was intended
by the original. Next I'll look at the Miscellany online, I suppose, to see
how that redaction interprets the originals. I really wanted something that
could be served in small portions and had sweetness and bite. Ergo, exactly
what you described.

Thanks for your help.


Aoife.



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