SC - Re: Duel - Recipe Three

[Decker, Terry D.]

> Could "ew ardent" be "eau ardent", ie strong spirits?  
> 
> A question:  did period cooks ever set alcohol alight as in flambe?  A
> castle
> in flames would be quite a showpiece, indeed.
> 
> Just some guesses (some pretty far out, I'm sure).
> 
> Laurie
> 
IIRC, spirits with enough proof to light begin appearing commonly in the
mid-15th Century.  However, the first European distillation of brandy occurs
about 1300 in France and the Arabs had capacity to distill alcohol as early
as 800.  I don't believe freezing gets the distillates high enough to burn.

Bear
============================================================================

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".

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