SC - mustard sauce

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Cindy Renfrow wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> 
> O.K., I suppose I didn't make myself clear, since you're all fixating on
> salt, & not the real issue here.

One of the issues (but not the only question, obviously) was whether
salt should be included in redactions of Le Menagier's mustard recipe,
even though he doesn't mention it.
> 
> That is: why is this Strong Black Spice Mixture (of  black pepper, long
> pepper (or additional black pepper), ground cloves, & nutmeg) being
> substituted for the mostly *sweet* spices called for by Le Menagier?

This is another issue. Yes, it does seem as if Redon et al have made
some kind of assumption, possibly along the lines that you'll be making
the spice mixture they redact elsewhere in the book, rather than using
any of the various spice mixtures Le Menagier specifies.
> 
> If you recall Le Menagier calls for
> (1) cinnamon, and more cinnamon, ginger, graine [of Paradise,] nutmegs and
> galingale, and sugar,

Hmmm. I'm with you up to the sugar. Le Menagier, as I recall, gives this
spice mixture for hippocras, then says to mix it with sugar and add it
to wine (and then strain it) for hippocras. He goes on to say the spice
mixture, already mixed with sugar, is called the Duke's Powder. How
would you feel about these spices being used without the sugar, which I
think is more likely, especially in a mustard sauce calling for honey as
well? Now, if you actually used this mixture _after_ it had been
strained out of hippocras, it would have some sugar (and some wine) in
it, but since the sugar is wine-soluble, while the spices aren't, sugar
would be only minimally present, I suspect. 

> or
> (2) cinnamon,  ginger, cloves, cardamom, mace, galingale, nutmegs,
> spikenard,and  sugar,
> or
> (3) saffron,ginger or galingale, grain of Paradise, mace, zedoary, cubebs,
> spikenard, bay leaves, and nutmegs.

But, Le Menagier says the spices are more or less optional, so I suspect
he doesn't care too much what they are. It seems to be more of an
economy expedient rather than a medical or gastronomic necessity. He
also says, for example, that one should bray the spices first, and then
the bread, to get all the spices out of the mortar, so I think he is
more concerned with eliminating waste than with getting any particular
effect.   

> Does Redon suggest this Strong Black Spice Mixture?

Yes. At this point we're looking at a tertiary source at best...Redon
has a redaction which he seems to have done from Ludovico Frati's 1899
"Libro di cucina di secolo XIV", but Frati's source is unknown. 
 
> And, btw, there are plenty of recipes that call for salt; even some that
> call for no sauce but salt.

Sure there are. There are also many that don't. The question is whether
it's viable to include salt in a recipe that doesn't mention it, like Le
Menagier's mustard sauce. I don't think we've established enough of a
pattern in which recipes do, and which don't, mention salt, to assume it
is not intended to be included in the recipes that don't mention it, or
at least would be seen as out of place if it were there. I know
Taillevent frequently speaks of "no sauce but salt", but then Ein Buoch
Von Guter Spise often tells us not to oversalt things, in recipes that
otherwise don't mention it. This suggests to me that salt would be added
discreetly _as needed_, whether the recipe mentions it or not (at least
in early 14th century German court cookery, FWIW), rather than
suggesting that since the recipe specifies not to use too much, and
doesn't use the magic words, "add some salt", none is added.

This is kinda like whichever Sherlock Holmes story it was that refers to
"the curious incident of the dog in the night", or some such. Dr. Watson
says there _was_ no dog barking in the night, and Holmes replies that
"that was the curious incident."  

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".

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