SC - meals for the eating of sins?
Liam Fisher
macdairi at hotmail.com
Thu Sep 30 08:26:59 PDT 1999
In a message dated 9/30/99 12:53:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Elysant at aol.com
writes:
<< I don't know what foods would be traditional or eaten in Period at this
time
of year specifically, >>
In the book, Irish Druids and old Irish Religions, they talk about All
Saint's Day and "Holy cakes , known sometimes as triangular bannocks, were
then eaten as Soul-Mass cakes"
I believe the triangular shape is related to the Druidic religious idea of
the Trinity, ie the three faces of the Morrigan, (one of the reasons the
Irish took so well to the Holy Trinity of the Roman Catholic Church)
Again, on the topic of Samhain (Sawan) or as we know it today Halloween, "The
people lighted the fire by the old fashion of friction with two pieces of
wood, and then ate the consecrated cake indulged in by the pagan Syrians. The
Scotch had the mixture of eggs, milk and oatcake. This was broken up , and
distributed among the assembly. Whoever got the black bit, hidden in the cake
was considered worthy of sacrifice to Baal, as the cailteach bealtine. He was
pushed into the fire, though soon rescued and afterwards had to leap three
times through the flames."
"Samhain (Sawan) or as we know it today Halloween," makes me think that that
recipes from "The Scots Kitchen" for Sowans, has some direct link. Now
according to the note in that same book, the name sowans is from Gaelic,
sugham pron. soo-an (Sowans-Nicht was Christmas eve when fiends gore gather
round a big bowl of sowans. Sowans cooked with butter is a traditional
Hallowe,en dish and whoever got the ring that was put in it gwas the first to
be married)
Here is the recipe as quoted from the above;
Sowans
"till buttered so'ns wi fragrant lunt (steam) set a'their gabs a steerin
(mouth watering) syne wi' a social glass o'strunt (any spiritous liquor) they
parted aff careerin' Fu blyhte that night- Burns: Hallowe'en
Traditional Method; Oatmeal sids, water, salt
Put a quantity of sids (the inner husks of the oat grain) into a small wooden
tub or jar, and pour on ot them twoe their bulk of lukewarm water. The sids
rise to the surface and must be pressed down with a spatula or spoon till all
are wet. Leave them for at least three or four days in a warm plac until
they are quite sour (another mehtod is to pour cold water over the sids and
leave them for a week in summer, and a few days longer in winter). The
preparation, before theacetous fermentation begins is called the serf. When
ready turn out on a fine sieve placed over a wide-mouthed jar, and let all
the liquor run through. Squeeze the seeds to get all the goodnes out of them,
adding a little more cold water in the process. Throw away the sids and let
the liquor you have obtained stand for a day or mor till the starchy matter
it contains sinks to the bottom. Ther more solid part is sowans, the liquid
part is swats. Wehn required for use the clear liqfuor is poured off and some
of the sediment is put into a pan with as much water as will thin it. Add a
little salt and boil it for 1 0 minutes or more, stirring it briskly until it
thickens. Pour into a bowl or deep plate and serve with milk separately.
It could be cooked like porridge, and this was "brownplate sowans". Or the
sowans was simply heated: this was gaun-'e-gither sowans. If somethign
lighter was desired "duochrea ws produced by pouring a quantity of the raw
stuff into boiling water and adding a touch of fresh butter.....From the
creamy deposit pancakes wer made and these were sowan scones" J . Horne, The
County of Caithness"
Hope that's not tooooooooo much information !!!
In service,
Hauviette
============================================================================
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".
============================================================================
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list