SC - Translating measurements

[LrdRas@aol.com]

And it came to pass on 27 Jun 00,, that Nina Lisa Tomlinson wrote:

> My name is Rachael d'Amour, and I reside in the Principality of Oertha,
> Kingdom of the West.

Greetings!

> So I made a dessert I got out of (I think) a "period" book many
> years ago when I first joined the SCA, and of course have long since lost,
> if indeed I owned it and it wasn't borrowed.  I vaguely seem to recall the
> actual subject of the book was castles, and it had some supposedly period
> recipes in it, including one for Peppermint Rice, which is the only other
> recipe I vaguely remember from it.

Peppermint Rice is a recipe that appears in a book called "Medieval 
Holidays and Festivals" by Madeleine Pelner Cosman.  Although she is 
a medieval scholar, her "medieval" recipes are questionable.  She does 
not identify the original sources, and some of her recipe adaptations 
contain blatantly non-period ingredients.
 
> The dessert I made was extremely simple (which is why I remember it):  you
> slice a cucumber, arrange on a dish, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  I
> remember telling people I got it from a period recipe, and when I got home
> I decided to try to research it on the internet, with little to no
> success.  Has anybody on this list ever heard of this dish, or what it
> might be called, whether or not it really is period, and what the book
> might really be, because I'd like to get another copy of it if it can be
> found.

I have never heard of such a dish, but perhaps someone else has.  The 
library where I work has a copy of "Medieval Holidays and Festivals".  If 
it is in, I will try to remember tomorrow to check to see if it has a copy 
of the cucumber recipe.

The book is out-of-print.  Checking on www.bookfinder.com, I found only 
one used copy for sale, at a price of $59.95.

If you are interested in other sources that have more authentic recipes, 
you might want to look in Stefan's Florilegium at 
http://www.florilegium.org.  There are files with recipes adapted by 
SCAdian cooks, as well as bibliographies of recommended medieval 
cookbooks.

Also, if you are looking for period dessert ideas, just tell us what kind, 
and the members of this list will surely have suggestions.  Something 
hot?  Cold?  Baked?  Sticky?  Cookies, candy, fruit?


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net