SC - Medieval Ribs? Or Barbecue Beef?

[Cindy Renfrow]

Dear Bogdan,

You wrote:
>Anyone have a recipe???  I would prefer period, if it exists, but if not,
>I need one to make some for a friend.

The closest I can get to references for you now are these, per your
request for period Horehound candy. I thought for sure Le Menagier
has something, but it's nearly 11 pm in Michigan, I'm still at
work on a Saturday night (egads), and all my good references are at
home.

Nicholas Culpepper's 1652 book "The English physitian: or an
astrologo-physical discourse of the vulgar herbs of this nation" has this
reference to horehound syrup:

  "There is a Syrup made of Horehound to be had at the Apothecaries,
   very good for old Coughs, to rid the tough Flegm, as also to
   avoid cold Rhewm from the Lungs of old Folks, and for those that
   are Asmatick or short winded."


And the way to make the syrup hasn't changed much since then,
as far as I've been able to track it. My research hasn't been
all that extensive, though, so...

Here's my take on how to make it. For what it's worth, I seem to
remember Stefan's Flore..florig...flora...gemitxta pickles
recipe files, contains similar recipes for "stained glass candy"
but you'll have to check those yourself.

My Horehound Candy recipe is something like this (from memory):

To one cup of water, place two cups packed of fresh-picked, bruised leaves
and stems of horehound. Place this in a non-reactive saucepan, cover,
and simmer on low (with little bubbles coming up the sides of the
pan, but no big bubbles rolling around), for 1/2 hour.

Remove from heat and cool with cover on. When cool, uncover and
strain out the solid matter. Measure the liquid you have left.
For ever two cups of horehound liquid, add three cups of sugar
(trust me on this one, the stuff is nasty without tons of sugar).

Boil the sugar and horehound liquid together with about 4 tablespoons
of butter (I've only eyeballed this amount personally, it's
about enough butter to equal the size of an egg). Continue
boiling the mixture until a small drop in cold water turn into
a hard ball (or use a candy thermometer and boil until it
reads "hard ball stage").

Pour the mixture into a wide buttered pan and when the mixture
cools enough to hold a mark, mark even sized pieces, large enough
to suck on comfortably. Or, if you prefer, simply pour the mixture
into a buttered pan and break apart into random pieces when cooled.

Cautions: THIS STUFF STICKS LIKE BURNING TAR if you get it on
you skin. Be caref careful careful when you handle it and when
you're near it boiling. It spits like crazy if you get anything
that has water on it near the sugar mix. For that matter, it
spits like crazy even when you least expect it. I wear rubber gloves,
a long sleeve shirt, and safety glasses when I make it. Mostly
cause I'm accident prone in the kitchen.

It's late, I've written enough, and I should probably go home
and have some of that vegetable wine I made. I've toyed briefly
with finishing the tomato butter I started before being called in,
but gawd I'm tired. I'd probably kill myself in the kitchen.

Jasmine

Jasmine de Cordoba, Midrealm (Metro-Detroit area of Michigan)
jasmine at infoengine.com or g.walli at infoengine.com

"Si enim alicui placet mea devotio, gaudebo; si autem
nulli placet, memet ipsam tamen juvat quod feci."
- -- Hroswith of Gandersheim
============================================================================

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".

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