SC - honeymoon sites

[Bronwynmgn@aol.com]

At 8:47 PM -0500 2/4/00, Aldyth at aol.com wrote:

>BTW, is there a problem with using apricots as a filling for cuskynoles?  I
>was wondering if there is a corelation between cuskynoles and the fried pies
>that my grandma made in Arkansas and Missouri.  She tried to tell me they
>were english food, from a bunch of people who moved to the south when they
>first colonized.  Any truth to this?

Cuskynoles are from a 14th-century English recipe; apricots are not 
mentioned in the cookbook they come from, nor in any of the other 
English 14th-century cookbooks collected in _Curye on Inglisch_. I 
don't remember any recipes using apricots in any of the other 14th or 
15th c. English cookbooks I've run across, either, although there are 
lots of references to other dried fruit. The earliest mention of 
apricots grown in England in Anne Wilson's _Food and Drink in 
Britain_ is 1548 (the writer described it as "an hasty peach", being 
like earlier-ripening peaches). The actual fruits and nuts specified 
in the cuskynoles recipe are pears, apples, figs, raisins, almonds, 
and dates.

For everyone who has been asking, here is the original recipe under dispute:

A mete that is icleped cuskynoles. Make a past tempred with ayren, & 
sothen nim peoren & applen, figes & reysins, alemaundes & dates; bet 
am togedere & do god poudre of gode speces withinnen. & in leynten 
make thi past with milke of alemaundes. & rolle thi past on a bord, & 
sothen hew hit on moni perties, & vche an pertie beo of the leynthe 
of a paume & an half & of threo vyngres of brede. & smeor thy past al 
of one dole, & sothen do thi fassure withinnen. Vchan kake is 
portiooun. & sothen veld togedere othe zeolue manere, ase theos 
fugurre is imad:
[the picture in question is a rectangular grid, five rectangles 
across and three vertically, with a dot in the center of each little 
rectangle]
& sothe boille in veir water, & sothen rost on an greudil; & sothen 
adresse. [thorns replaced by th's]

And for those who prefer their Middle English at least semi-translated:

A food that is named cuskynoles. Make a paste [dough] tempered with 
eggs, & so then take pears & apples, figs & raisins, almonds & dates; 
beat them together & do good powder of good spices within. & in Lent 
make thy paste with milk of almonds. & roll thy paste on a board, & 
so then hew it in many parts, & each part be of the length of a palm 
& a half & of three fingers of breadth. & smear thy paste all of one 
deal [half? portion?], & so then do thy filling withinn. Each cake is 
portion. & so then fold together of the self manner, as this figure 
is made:
[see note above]
& so then boil in fair water, & so then roast on a griddle; & so then 
dress [arrange for serving].

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook