SC - German food in Period (OT)

[L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt]

> Gunthar, I really enjoyed the tart of Carrot & Parsnip. My toddler 
> daughter who doesn't eat vegetables (can spot one BEFORE tasting it 
> usually) even ate some.  Would you mind sending me the recipe?
> 
> Thanks, Clarissa
> 

Okay, here's what I have.

It's the recipe that was posted by Aiofe from Martha Washington's Boke of Cookery.
Although the book is dated 1749 the supposed cookbook she used to copy this is
estimated to date from the mid-1500's.

To Make a Tart of Parsnips and Scyrrets:

Seeth yr roots in water & wine, then pill them & beat them in a morter, with raw
eggs & grated bread. bedew them often with rosewater & wine, then streyne them & 
put suger to them, some juice of leamons, & put it into ye crust; & when yr tart
is baked cut up and butter it hot, or you may put some butter into it, when you 
set it into ye oven,  & eat it cold. Ye juice of leamon you may eyther put in or
leave out at yr pleasure.

Redaction by Ld Ragnar Keitelsson

3/4 lb carrots
3/4 lb parsnips
2 c. wine
2 T. butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup wine and/or rosewater
2 eggs
Juice of 1 lemon (optional)
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 deepdish pie crust
egg for glaze

Peel and chop roots. Boil in 1 qt water and the 2 cups wine until soft. Mash roughly
with 1 cup breadcrumbs, the eggs, the butter (melted), sugar, lemon juice, and the
rest of the wine/rosewater. A rough texture is fine. Put into a pre-glazed pie shell
and glaze the top with the remaining egg, put into a pre-heated 400 degree oven for
50 minutes.

We tested this recipe and found it a little too sweet and too "rosey" so we cut
down on the parsnips (this was also for economic reasons) to a 3/1 carrot/parsnip
ratio, used half the rosewater, and cut down on the sugar. Also we found a good
dry white wine worked better than the sweet dessert wine we first tried. We added
a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to the mix. Also we pureed the parsnip/carrot mixture
instead of the rough texture. These came out more like a rough pumpkin pie texture
than the original.

They were served cold at the feast and I actually got far more compliments on them
than I expected.

Yers,

Gunthar
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================