SC - manual de mujeres #62,73-76 and a question about pans

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

And it came to pass on 19 Jun 00,, that Dana Huffman wrote:

> Hi!
> Here's another chunk of Manual de Mujeres, complete with a
> minor mystery or two.

> [in], mix the dough with the milk in an earthenware bowl,
> and make the dough as is done for other(?) doughnuts.

My guess is that this is a variant on a traditional recipe.  The author 
tells you what ingredients go into the dough, and then assumes that 
you know how it is normally mixed.  Just as if I were to give you the 
ingredients for raspberry-walnut pancakes (it's just an example -- I don't 
have such a recipe), and then said, "and mix up the batter as you do for 
other pancakes".  Anyone but a kitchen novice would know what was 
meant.


> little of the said water.  And mix it all very well in a
> stone mortar with a handful of sticks?(1)
> 
> 1: lit. the hand of riding whip or the hand of
> prunings/sticks.  I cannot find a translation or definition
> of the phrase, but my out-of-the-blue guess would be
> something along the lines of a whisk or eggbeater.

The editor's note says that "fusta" refers to thin twigs or branchlets.  I'd 
be inclined to translate it as "a handful of twigs", which would function 
rather like a whisk. 
 
> 1: Another term I haven't found in any of the dictionaries
> I have available to me.  Mundice is a word in Portuguese,
> but the only definition I could find (something about
> cleanliness, or groups of pigs, sheep, or goats) didn't
> seem to fit.  Any ideas?

The editor says that she has been unable to find the meaning of this 
word.


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