SC - Waffres ala Master Huen

[Mordonna22@aol.com]

And it came to pass on 6 Feb 99,, that Tim & Dee wrote:

> My name is lachlan and i am from sunderoak in aethelmarc
> i was wounderin if some good and wise  gentle could tell me if carrot pie
> would be period or not  it is prepared similar to pumpkin pie any info or
> leads where to look or document would be greatly appreciated.

M'lord Lachlan,

The only carrot pie recipe that I know is late period Spanish.  
However, it does not greatly resemble a modern pumpkin pie.  Here 
is a translation of the recipe; perhaps it will be useful to you.

Torta of Carrot 
From: "Libro del Arte de Cozina", 1599

Wash and scrape the carrots, and remove them from the water and 
cook them in good meat broth, and being cooked remove them and 
chop them small with the knife, adding to them mint and marjoram, 
and for each two pounds of chopped carrots [use] a pound of 
Trochon cheese and a pound and a half of buttery Pinto cheese, 
and six ounces of fresh cheese, and one ounce of ground pepper, 
one ounce of cinnamon, two ounces of candied orange peel cut 
small, one pound of sugar, eight eggs, three ounces of cow's 
butter, and from this composition make a torta with puff pastry* 
above and below, and the tortillon [pie pan?] with puff pastry all 
around, and make it cook in the oven, making the crust of sugar, 
cinnamon, and rosewater.  In this manner you can make tortas of 
all sorts of roots, such as that of parsley, having taken the core out 
of them.

*The word used here for pastry, "ojaldre" ("hojaladre" in the modern 
spelling) means puff pastry according to my modern Spanish 
dictionary, and the etymology of the word (from hoja, "leaf") would 
seem to indicate that it is the period meaning as well.  There is a 
recipe for a veal torta in the same cookbook which calls for the 
same kind of pastry, and gives instructions for making it:

To Make Puff Pastry Pies of Veal Neck

Take wheat flour and knead it with egg yolks, tepid water, salt, and 
a little bit of pork lard, and make it in such a manner that the dough 
is more soft than hard, and pummel it very well on a table, and 
make a thin torta, but swiftly, longer than wide and anoint all of it 
with melted lard which is not very hot and begin to roll up the 
narrow part, and make a roll the thickness of an arm which will 
come to be solid, in such a manner that it can be cut, then cut a 
round slice two fingers in thickness, and have separately another 
firm dough well kneaded, made from wheat flour, egg yolks, water, 
and salt without lard, and make of it a pie bottom which is of the 
bigness of the pastry, and put in it a mixture made as in the 
preceeding chapter [ie., the veal filling from the previous recipe], 
keeping the same order to make the mixture high and pyramid-
shaped, because the cover that you make is of the same paste, in 
cooking it can better become puffed [literally, "leafed"], and before 
you put it in the oven anoint the pie with melted lard, which is cold 
and not hot, because it clings better to the paste, and then put it in 
the oven, which must be well swept, and clean, and level, and 
moderately hot, and especially the upper part, so that the said puff 
pastry can better puff, and as it begins to puff, anoint it with lard 
with a feather fastened to a small cane without removing it from the 
oven, which you will do two or three times, and being cooked you 
must serve it hot dusted on top with sugar, and if you wish you can 
put the broth which we have said in the previous chapter.  And be 
aware that if the ceiling of the oven is low, that will be better, 
because all the puff pastries want the fire hotter above than below.  
Which you must beware of in the other pies with puff pastry.

The recipe then goes on to discuss an alternate (and inferior) 
dough which is used in Rome, and other fillings that can be used 
with this pastry.

Note that while the veal pie has puff pastry only on the top crust, 
the carrot torta calls for puff pastry in the top *and* bottom crusts.  
The "crust" of sugar, cinnamon, and rosewater I would interpret as 
a sweet topping for the upper crust.  I haven't tried this myself, but 
it sounds tasty, and with the quantities given, it shouldn't be too 
hard to redact.  Remember that medieval eggs would be smaller.  If 
you're not a pastry-baker, ready-made puff pastry can be found in 
the frozen foods section of your local grocer.  

In service,
Brighid 

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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