SC - Recipes for Powder Douce (long)

[Stefan li Rous]

Morgan MacBride asked:
> 
> I posted a question earlier this week asking what the ingredients in the
> spice mixture powder douce are and haven't got any answers yet.  Adamantius,
> Cariadoc, Ras -- anybody? I'm getting desperate.  I need to use it to redact
> a recipe I'm doing this Sat. -- yikes!

I had to look a bit, but the following was in Lord Ras' recipe for Compost in
my sauces-msg file. I hope this isn't too long or too much repetition from
previous messages.

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net
- ---------------------
> Powder douce:
> 1 cp sugar
> 1 tsp ground cloves 
> 2 tsp ground cinnamon
> 2 tsp ground ginger
> 1 Tblsp ground cubebs (opt.)
> 2 tsp groung galingal (opt.)
> 1 Tbsp grains of Paradise (opt.)

And the following is from a recent message by Adamantius, that is not in my
files, yet:

> As far as I know, we don't really know what was in most of the medieval
> pre-mixed spice powders, except for Hippocras powder (which I've occasionally
> used quite successfully in recipes calling for powder forte, BTW), and a fine
> spice powder recipe in Le Menagier de Paris. What we really have to go on,
> apart from a general knowledge of what Eastern spices were imported and used
> in the cookery of the medieval European nobs, is that powder forte should be,
> well, forte (strong), while powder douce should be douce (sweet), and powder
> blanche should be white, etc. Fine spice powder is, of course, fine ;  ).
> 
> So, we end up with the idea that, say, cloves, cinnamon, and maybe some nutmeg
> would be good in a powder douce, while pepper, galingale, grains of paradise,
> and cubeb might make a good powder forte. Since there are a limited number of
> things that would make a whitish combination, we assume things like Columbine
> ginger and refined sugar might be in blanche powder... .
> 
> I believe you do find some recipes for some of these powders in the very tail
> end of period, at which point the mixtures are largely obsolete anyway, and
> there's no guarantee that what is in them reflects closely what was in them
> in earlier centuries.

And two more messages from recently. Not sure if these are Poudre Douce or
other sweet spice mixes.

> Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 14:16:35 -0600 (MDT)
> From: Mary Morman <memorman at oldcolo.com>
> Subject: Re: SC - Poudre Forte and Poudre Douce
> 
> poudre douce is a "sweet powder" and is usually a mix of sweet spices such
> as sugar, cinnamon, and ginger.
> 
> elaina

- ------

> Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 01:01:07 -0500
> From: allilyn at juno.com (LYN M PARKINSON)
> Subject: Re: SC - Poudre Forte and Poudre Douce

> Redon, Odile. Sabban, Francoise. & Serventi, Silvano.  The Medieval
> Kitchen, Recipes from   France and Italy.   Translated, Edward
> Schneider, U of         Chicago Press,  Chicago & London, 1998.
> ISBN 0 226 70684 2.


> Sweet Spice Mixture
> 
> The best sweet spices you can make are good for lamprey in pastry and for
> other good freshwater fish cooked in a crust, and to make good brodetto
> and good sauces.  Take a quarter of cloves and an onza of good ginger,
> and take an onza of fine cinnamon, and take the same quantity of leaf;
> and pound all these spices together as you like; if you want to make
> more, use the ingredients in the same proportions; this is wonderfully
> good. [Fr 40]             They aren't sure that 'leaf' means bay leaf,
> but says use that until the Indian mint leaf related to patchouli is
> investigated.
> 
> 2 rounded tablespoons ground ginger [16 g]
> 2 rounded tablespoons ground cinnamon [16 g]
> 2 heaping tablespoons powdered bay leaves, or dried, ground to a powder
> in a spice grinder to yield 2 heaping tablespoons [16 g]
> 1 1/2  teaspoons ground cloves


> Scully, Terence & D. Eleanor.  Early French Cookery.  U. of Michigan,
> 1995.
> 
> Scully equates fine powder with sweet powder, and says it contains
> ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and grains of paradise.  Their redaction is
> from the Menagier, and includes sugar.  The quantities are not the same,
> from ms to ms.  Experiment with your own version, he says.
> 
> 3 tsp           ground ginger
> 1 1/2 tbsp      cinnamon
> 1 tsp           grains of paradise
> 1 tsp           ground cloves
> 2 tbsp          sugar
 
> Allison
============================================================================

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".

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