SC - Books

[Elaine Koogler]

LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> 
> SFAIK, roux is a development of modern cookery. Vehling's flawed work on
> Apicius aside, certainly no references regarding the use of roux appear in
> any medieval manuscripts that I am aware of. There are possibly references in
> early modern works (e.g., post 1450 CE) but that is outside my current
> interest in medieval cookery.  others more knowledgeable in late period
> cookery (e.g., early modern) may be able to shed light on that specific time.
> Medieval thickening agents included rice flour, egg yolks and bread crumbs
> (which dissolve and thicken when used properly).

And then there's amydoun or wheat starch, which the Romans also used in
addition to their own breadcrumb variant, crumbled pastry. This is
probably a softish wheat product cooked in the form of cakes, like one
of those soaked emmer or spelt things mentioned by Cato.

Somewhere, I think perhaps in one of the Two Fifteenth-Century
Cookery-Books, there's a mention of flour being used to thicken a sauce
made from milk. Not a roux, more a slurry, as I recall. I think it
involved beating flour into milk and boiling till thick... 

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com