SC - Cuskeynoles
david friedman
ddfr at best.com
Fri Feb 11 18:46:43 PST 2000
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
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