SC - Sugared Nuts and Cookbooks (was: Tiramisu)

[david friedman]

Someone asked about sugared nuts; from the Andalusian cookbbok by way of
the Miscellany:

Sukkariyya, a Sugar Dish from the Dictation of Abu 'Ali al-Bagdadi
Andalusian p. A-23

Take a ratl of sugar and put in two ûqiyas of rosewater and boil it in a
ceramic pot until it is on the point of thickening and sticks between the
fingers. Then take a third of a ratl of split almonds, fried, not burnt,
and pound well and throw the sugar on them and stir it on the fire until
thickened. Then spread it out on a dish and sprinkle it with ground sugar.
[end of original. ratl = ~lb, 12 ûqiyas = 1 ratl]

2 c sugar	5 oz = 7/8 c slivered or sliced almonds
5 T rosewater	1-2 T more sugar for sprinkling at the end

Toast the almonds in a hot (400°) frying pan for 3-5 minutes, stirring
continuously. Then crush them with mortar and pestle to something between
ground and chopped. Cook sugar and rosewater mixture on medium high until
it comes to a boil, reduce to medium and continue cooking to a temperature
of 275°, about ten minutes.  Combine syrup and nuts in a frying pan, cook
at medium to medium high, stirring constantly, for another nine minutes,
turn out on a plate and sprinkle with sugar. An alternative interpretation
of the original recipe is that you cook the syrup and nuts together only
long enough to get them well mixed; the binder is then sugar syrup rather
than carmelized sugar. Both ways work.

>While I'm at it with all of the questions, Cariadoc, Your Grace, what
>are all of the various cookery texts that you and your Lady Wife have
>out? And how may I get them- The clerk at the bookstore looked at me
>funny when I asked about the Miscellany, especially when I said it might
>be by David Friedman, or it might be by Cariadoc of the Bow. He said he
>finds no reference to it.

Our stuff includes the Miscellany, which includes our worked-out recipes,
all our SCA articles, cooking and otherwise, and Cariadoc's poetry (the
current edition is the 7th, one later than the webbed version); and the two
volumes of the cookbook collection, which have source materials rather than
worked-out recipes.  Volume 1 is everything Cariadoc could find in English
a good many years back without copyright problems; volume 2 has stuff we
have gotten translated, including Menagier, the Andalusian, etc. You get
them from us at a cost a little above copying plus postage.

>And, in reference to cookery books, how can I tell if a recipe is period
>or not? Cariadoc asked some questions about whether anyone could find a
>period recipe for the crispes recipe in Fabulous Feasts, but, the
>confusing thing is that the author represents (Or so I thought) these
>recipes AS period. Have I wasted my money on this book? I now see why it
>is so preferable to see the original text and source material.

You can't believe everything you see in print.  As far as period cookbooks
go, don't trust any book which does not give the period version of a recipe
as well as the modern author's worked-out version; ideally  it should also
give references so that you can look up the original source.  Fabulous
Feasts is, I'm afraid, notorious for bad scholarship (otherwise known as
making it up as you go); I am told by a reliable source that some SCA cooks
cornered the author at a conference some years ago and begged her to tell
them where she had found her parsley bread recipe, since they were having a
hard time finding any bread recipes at all.  After a good deal of hemming
and hawing she told them well, we know medieval people ate bread, and they
did like their food colorful...

Once you have read a lot of cookbooks for any particular cuisine, you get a
feel for what is likely and what isn't.  Turmeric, for example, is an
Old-World spice, but I have never seen it in the 14th-15th century
French/English cuisine.  Cilantro is common in Islamic medieval cookery,
but I haven't seen it in the 14th-15th century French/English cuisine
either.  If I see someone's worked-out recipes from that cuisine with these
ingredients in it, I want to be able to check it against the original to
see if it is really there, or if someone is making a interpretation which,
in my opinion, is stretching it.

>Any help, or further suggestions as to SCA period cookery books(titles
>and where to purchase!), or websites is most appreciated.
>Merci,
>Angelique
>P.S. I have the following books:
>Fast and Feast by Bridget Ann Henisch
very good.
>Pleyn Delit, 2nd edition, by Constance Hieatt,Brenda Hosington and
>Sharon Butler
also good.
>Fabulous Feasts by Madeleine Pelner Cosman
see above.
>and
>the Medieval Cookbook by Maggie Black
I don't know this one.

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook


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