SC - Marzipan recipe -- Found it!

[Cindy M. Renfrow]

Hello!  I checked several dozen refs last night & this morning & finally
found the one you're looking for in "John Evelyn, Cook", ed. by Christopher
Driver, pp. 159-160.

[This book contains a MS cookbook compiled by John Evelyn over the course
of many years. If I'm reading Driver's comments correctly, writing of the
book was begun by Evelyn's clerk, Richard Hoare, in 1649.  He wrote up to
recipe 127, & was sacked in 1653(?). The writing was then continued by
Evelyn and others. Evelyn published "Acetaria" in 1699. Many of the recipes
in this book were included in "Acetaria". So, this recipe, #298, was
written down between 1653 and 1699. But, as the custom was to solicit
recipes from friends and relatives, this recipe may be older. Driver does
not give the dates of the specific recipes. ]

298. To make royall Marchpane in round rings.
Take 2 pound of sweet Almonds and one handfull of bitter ones blanch them
in cold water over night drie them in a cloth beat them very well then with
the whites of three Eggs beat up with Orenge flower water put to them a
p[ound] and halfe of fine sugar sifted set it over a chafing dish with
charcoale in a bason or preserving pan stirr it till it is very drie and
will work up in to a past then lay it on a cleane board till allmost cold
then role it out shape them round let them lye till they are all made then
beat 2 or 3 whites of eggs to a froth tosse and wett them all over then
tosse them in fine sifted sugar then sift sugar on papers to lay them on
set them in an oven that will just couler the paper a qr of an hour will
bake them the oven must be so quick they may rise.

Notes:
- - qr (r is superscripted) = quarter
- - letters in brackets were added by Driver, recipes abbreviate pound with "p".
- - Driver cites a note by Karen Hess that this method of drying the
marchpanes over coals is French, & is used by Massialot.

Hope this helps!


Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
cindy at thousandeggs.com
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
http://www.thousandeggs.com



>Salut!
>The problem is this, I have about 7 recipes (some of the same ones from
>the TI article, though I think there were some really important points
>from her sources that she should have mentioned), but I can't find one in
>particular...  I once had a period recipe which used egg white as the
>binder, which greatly reduces the amount of rosewater you need to use.
>This recipe is therefore ideal for those people who don't care for
>rosewater.  I can't find it anywhere though, and I am starting to wonder
>about my memory...
>
>I have so far checked:
>Sabrina Welserin
>Platina
>To the King's Taste
>Miscelleny
>Collected Cookbooks (though it's possible I could have missed it)
>Take a Thousand Eggs or More
>Medieval Kitchens (Which is just like Platina's copy of Martino's recipe)
>Pleyn Delit
>Ein Kochbuch von Guter Speise
>
>I haven't skimmed Kochen Meisterei, but I didn't have that one at the
>time.  It's possible that it is in one of the books I checked and I just
>missed it.  I also seem to recall it being either Andalusian or Arabic,
>(but not the "Fruit Made of Sugar" recipe) but at this point... who knows.
>
>
>Cu drag,
>Bogdan