SC - Almond Cream (Was Blown Eggs& Chocolate)

[cclark at vicon.net]

Cadoc MacDairi wrote:
>Doesn't seem curdled to me, the starches are boiled from the almonds in the 
>same way as almond milk and allowed to settle and then drained with a peice 
>of linen.  Then they use the resulting paste in the rest of the recipe.  Or 
>at least that's how it reads to me.

The most detailed recipe I know for "Fried creme de almondes" (in Harl.
4016), instead of "draw it up," says "drawe hem [th]orgh a streynour." It
then continues to refer to the strained almonds in water as "hem" (them). I
would assume that this means that the other recipes may be interpreted as
calling likewise for strained almond milk, although the straining process is
sometimes referred to only by such phrases as "draw it up."

I am not aware that almonds contain any significant amount of starch (though
I haven't got exact nutritional info handy), but they (and their milk)
contain a good deal of protein. Boiling causes some thickening of the
proteins by coagulation. In some recipes, a little vinegar is added to
promote further coagulation. When the uncoagulated proteins with the excess
liquid (whey) are drained out, what remains is a kind of curd. Even though
the almond milk is not cooked to the point of lumping and separating in the
pot, it may still be reasonably described as having been curdled.

So the way I interpret it, froid creme de almandes is a drained curd of
almond milk, usually salted and sugared, sometimes mixed with other
ingredients such as wine and currants. The times that I've made it, it's
come out to a texture vaguely similar to whipped cream.

Alex Clark/Henry of Maldon

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