SC - Cameline Sauce from the Vivendier

[Michael F. Gunter]

Adamantius wrote:
<<< This recipe is actually fairly similar to the one in the earlier
Viandier, as previously posted. >>>

Thanks for pointing to this recipe. I missed that. The recipe, given in
the earlier post, seems to be a translation of #155 in the VAT- or the
BN-Version (the manuscripts now in the Biblioth$BoR(Jue Nationale and
the
Vatican): 'Cameline Sauce. Pound ginger, plenty of cinnamon, cardamon,
mace [=BN], long pepper if you wish, then squeeze out bread soaked in
vinegar and strain it [=VAT] all together and salt it just right. (Le
Viandier de Taillevent, from Food in History, p. 219).'


<<< It's worth noting, however, that Scully, in _his_ translation of le
Viandier, notes the reference to mastic in one of the manuscripts, and
the several references to mace in the same recipe in other manuscripts,
>>>

In case we are both speaking about #155: four of the five manuscripts
only have the passage with _macis/mastic_: three of them have _mastic_,
only one of them has _macis_: the manuscript in the BN. In the oldest
version, the Valais manuscript, this part of the recipe lacks.

<<< and concludes, rightly or wrongly, that a scribe misspelled or
misread "macis" as "mastic". >>>

The evidence indicating an error (and not the work of a gourmand), he
mentions, is, that the dictionaries show only medical uses of mastic,
that mastic is "extremely rare in mediaeval European cooking" (p. 220 n.

3), and that an error was easily possible because of many variant
spellings. Thus: "Its presence [i.e. of mastic] in the _Viandier_
remains doubtful". "Doubtful", this is a cautious conclusion. Anyway,
the translation has "mace".

Scully's notes point to several other recipes for a cameline sauce (e.g.

Harpestraeng, Sent Sov$B!)(J Magninus, Libre del coch). It is a
pleasure to
work with such a rich edition!

Cheers,
Thomas



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