SC - Re: Rendering/Tallow - was help with words

[Rhonda New]

Greetings from Alys Katharine.  Here is the beginning of a brief 
article I started to write about sugar and the candying process.

The Candying Process

   As previously mentioned, the Italians, Spanish,and even the French, 
were a bit ahead of the English in producing candies and confections.  
By the mid-1600s, the French claimed to differentiate twelve different 
stages in boiling, or candying, sugar.  Modern cookbooks generally list 
only eight.  One problem with redacting period recipes is that the cook 
"knew" the correct height or temperature for the sugar.  "Cook to the 
height of Manus Christi," "Cook until it is the proper height," are not 
much help to today's beginning confectioner.  Fortunately, several 
modern redactors have worked out some temperatures which, together with 
descriptions from period recipes, may help the neophyte confectioner.

   Before you begin your own confections, invest in a good candying 
thermometer.  Follow the instructions to calibrating your specific one. 
 If you are making a hard candy, do so when it is dry and cool, 
otherwise the heat and humidity will make the candy sticky.  (one 
expert recommends cooking the syrup 2 degrees higher to alleviate the 
problem.)  Be sure to have a pan big enough so that the syrup at full 
boil does not run over the edge.
  Greasing the top two inches with butter can also prevent this.  
Crystals may form on the sides of the pan.  If you put on a lid for the 
first three minutes of cooking, the steam will prevent their formation. 
 Or, you can wipe them away with a damp pastry brush.  If you boil the 
syrup too far, add more water and start again.  (This works especially 
well with comfit making where the water is constantly being boiled 
off.)

   Period cookbooks instruct the cook to clarify the sugar.  This 
purifying process was necessary even through the early years of the 
twentieth century to produce a clean, and fine, enough sugar for making 
candies.  One process for clarifying sugar was to use the white of an 
egg.  The cook boiled up a thin syrup of sugar with water equal to 
about half the weight of the sugar.  The impurities rose in scum which 
was then removed with a skimmer.  Another variation was one egg white 
beaten into one cup of cold water.  Four cups of sugar were dissolved 
into one cup of water.  The egg white was added and the mixture was 
boiled on a gentle heat while one removed the scum as soon as it arose. 
 One could also use 1/2 ounce of gum arabic dissolved in a little 
boiling water and added to the same proportion (4:1) of sugar and water 
as above.  Another relatively modern suggestion for loaf sugar was to 
use the white of an egg to six pounds of sugar, but adding one 
tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to prevent graininess.  The cook 
needed to add small amounts of cold water as it boiled to prevent the 
syrup from boiling over.  Again, the scum was removed as it boiled up.  
For loaf sugar the process was repeated three or four times and 
strained through cheesecloth.

   Honey also needed clarification but today's honey usually does not, 
unless one is using honey directly from the hive.  There is a whitish 
"scum" that appears as one begins to boil today's honey.  I usually 
remove this as it appears.  

   Here are some of the "degrees" of sugar with corresponding farenheit 
temperatures, as well as documentation from period sources.  If any 
readers know of others, I would appreciate hearing from them.  Please 
note that cooks often tested the "doneness" with their hands.  A few 
modern cookbooks still give hints on how to accomplish this feat.  the 
candymaker dips the thumb and forefinger into ice water, then into the 
boiling syrup, and then back ito the ice water.  Or, the syrup can be 
raised out of the pot by a spoon so the cook can dip in his/her 
fingers.  A candy thermometer is certainly safer today.

   1. The Thread, also known as "lisse": A short, thin thread appears 
when the sugar is drawn out between fingers and thumb.  After a few 
seconds cooking a few seconds more, the thread can be drawn out to 
double its length without snapping.  Or, one can drop it from a spoon 
to spin a thread.  Karen Hess(Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery) 
gives the temperature as 215°F, "manus christi height," Recipe S5.  The 
Joy of Cooking gives the temperature as 230°F- 234.°F 

   2. The Pearl:  Sugar will form small pearl-like round bubbles.  A 
pinch of syrup can be drawn out between thumb and forefinger without 
breaking.  (Note the similarity of description above as is Hess's 
suggested temperature.)  At least one cooking authority says that this 
is "the proper degree for most kinds of candy making."  Hess suggests 
220°F, "candy height," Recipe S5.  The Ladies Cabinet, 1655, Recipe 95 
states, "...(to see when it is enough) it will stand on a stiffe purle 
when you drop some of it upon a Plate of silver..."  

   3. The Souffle or Blow and The Plume or Feather:  (Some authorities 
consider these as two different stages.  Others combine these into 
one.)  Dip a spoon with holes into the syrup and hit it sharply on the 
edge of the pan.  Blow through the holes.  If bubbles form on the 
opposite side one has reached the "blow."  If, when one dips the spoon 
and shakes it to release some of the liquid, the syrup flies in flakes 
or hangs in strings, it is called the "feather."  Hess identifies the 
temperature as 232°F, Recipe S6, "grand souffle or feather."  She 
states that the next stage is caramel and was considered to be "burnt."

   4. The Ball or "Boulet":  Drop a small amount into cold water.  If 
you can roll it between your fingers and thumb to form a small, soft 
(but not sticky) ball you have reached the "soft ball" stage.  The Joy 
of Cooking gives the temperature as 238°F.  At 244 degrees it can be 
rolled up and will hold its shape, the "firm ball" stage.  At 248°F the 
ball will be somewhat malleable but not yet rigid, the "hard ball" 
stage.  The Ladies Cabinet says, "boil it till it will roul between 
your finger and your thumb," Recipe 40.  In Recipe 60 THE LADIES 
CABINET again notes, "boil it til it roule between your finger and your 
thumb, then cast it into your standing Moulds..."

   Beyond these stages of syrup modern cookbooks list the "crack" or 
"snap" stage at 270°-300°F.  I have not yet seen any period 
designations for this temperature.  As Hess hinted at in Martha 
Washington's Booke of Cookery, stages beyond 232°F were considered 
unusable for candymaking.  The final modern stage is "caramel" which 
occurs at 310°-338°F.  The sugar begins to brown quickly, turn to 
black, and give off a burnt odor.


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

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".

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