SC - Royal declared chocolate period (was: serrated knife blades)

[Sharon R. Saroff]

Francesca Barozzi wrote:
> 
> Greetings unto everyone,
>         I have a question.  I would like to have bread and olive oil in a
> dish for bread dipping for part of one course at a feast.  Did people in
> the middle ages dip their bread in olive oil the way we might today?  Has
> anyone found documention for this?  Also if they did dip bread in olive
> oil, would they ever put parmesan and pepper in the olive oil or did they
> season they bread and dip in olive oil.  Also, garlic has been around a
> long while, would people have roasted it and spread it on bread?  These
> are probably dumb questions, but I wanted to ask in a place where I can
> get a quick and accurate answer.  Thank you for your help!

So, uhhh, it sounds to _me_ like you're looking for some period spreads
for bread.

The short answer is that, so far as I've been able to document, bread in
peroid Europe is eaten either unsauced or as a sop (dunked in wine or
other beverage or served under a sauced dish or pottage, or as part of a
pudding-y thing such as wastels yfarced or rastons).

There may be some exceptions to this in period al-Islam, where bread
scoops might have been known (I'd have to look), but more likely it
would be eaten out of hand as an accompaniment to other foods, or
stuffed with fillings like a pasty, or used in a sort of breadcrumb
pilaf/pudding called tharid.

I do remember seeing _somewhere_ an English account of the odd practices
of immigrant Heugenots in the mid-17th century, among which are their
habit of sending their children out of the house in the mornings with a
chunk of bread smeared with butter in the Flemish fashion. This might
indicate a possible tradition of spreading butter on bread in period
Flanders, but we don't know how far back it really goes.

Re roasted garlic: I haven't seen an account of the practice of roasting
garlic and spreading it on bread, but there's an English dish called
aquapatys, it is garlic cloves boiled (in milk???) and served on toasts, IIRC.

I'm sorry that I've been unable to think of anything closer to what you
had in mind. It may turn out that there is some kind of period
bruschetta or focaccio made with olive oil, cheese, etc., on top, but
I'm not aware of it if there is...although it seems kind of logical.
    
Adamantius
Østgardr, East
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
============================================================================

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".

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