SC - Dyschefull of Snowe vs Apple Snow - a redaction question (Long)

[Lee-Gwen]

- ----- Original Message -----
From:  David/Cariadoc

> Does your source say where the original is from? Does anyone know of
> an Elizabethan source that happens to be dated 1572?

Well, curiously enough (and entirely coincidentally), I now have more
information about this dish.

As I told (well bragged at!) everyone a few months ago, my Lady ordered
"Dining with William Shakespeare" (by Madge Lorwin) for me  as a Christmas
present.  The package arrived yesterday and, since our daughter had already
seen it even though I had not, my lovely Lady said that I could open it
early.

WOW!  It is great!  I am really enjoying reading it.  Lots of interesting
recipes and  equally interesting  (although curious in a few places)
redactions.  There are even pictures of  sundry things - oh, and lots of
interesting information as well.

Anyway, I bring this up because the first recipe I saw in the book - opening
it at random, no less! - was "To Make a Dyschefull of Snowe".  The original
recipe is identical to the one I posted and it gives a source for it -
'Anonymous, "A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye" '.  Looking in the
bibliography, I found the following information:

"Proper newe Booke of Cokerye, declaryng what maner of meates be best in
season, for al times in the year, and how they ought to be dressed, and
served at the table, both for flesshe dayes, and fysshe dayes, A" John Kynge
and Thomas March.  No date (before 1575).  Edited by Catherine Frances
Frere.  Reprinted Cambridge, 1913.

Madge Lorwin's redaction seems to me to make a lot more sense than the Sara
Paston-Williams' does:

THE WORKING VERSION:

1 medium-size apple
one 8-inch sprig of fresh rosemary
1 egg white
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup whipping cream, chilled
1 tablespoon rose water
8 small butter cookies

Wash and dry the apple, pull off the stem, and slice a piece off the base of
it so that it will stand firmly .  Remove the lower leaves of the rosemary
to a height that will firmly anchor it in the centre of the apple.  Rinse
the rosemary in cold water and shake off all the moisture.

Chill a flat serving dish, place the apple in the center of it, and insert
the sprig of rosemary  down to the base of the apple.

Beat the egg white until it starts to froth, add the sugar, and continue
beating until the white is firm and glossy.  Whip the chilled  cream until
it is stiff and fold it into the egg white.  Stir in the rose water, a
teaspoonful at a time.

Shake several spoonfuls of the whipped mixture over the sprig of rosemary,
then pile the rest lightly over and around the apple and the lower section
of the rosemary.  Set the cookies upright into the  cream around the edge of
the dish and serve immediately.  To serve, spoon the cream into individual
serving saucers and garnish with the cookies.  The apple serves only to hold
the rosemary firmly.
********************************************************************

Now, the only real differences I can see immediately (I am rather assuming
that she has the ratio of ingredients correct, at any rate, it is clearly
more accurate than Sara Paston-Williams') are the method of beating the
cream and egg whites and the use of butter cookies where wafers are given in
the original.  I wonder if the original method of beating would give a
similar result to the more modern method given by Madge Lorwin.  She makes
the point that the lack of 'wire whisks or mechanical eggbeaters made
desserts like this difficult to prepare'.  She goes on to say that 'Robert
May suggests using a spoon to beat the egg whites and the cream; Rabisha
suggests a bunch of feathers, Kenelme Digbie "a bundle of white hard rushes
such as they make whisks to brush cloaks, tyed together," and Dawson and
Cooper let the cook worry about the problem."

As well, she adds these variations:

'Robert May ... says that it should be served on "a fine silver dish," and
instead of an apple he uses a "penny manchet, the bottom and upper crust
being taken away and made fast with paste to the bottom of the dish."  He
also suggests that musk and ambergris be added for flavoring and the whole
thing be flecked with gold leaf.  Joseph Cooper ... include[s] almonds,
"beaten fine," white wine, orange peel, and nutmeg' - all of which
(particularly Cooper's additions), sound like excellent ideas to me - mind
you, I do not know how ambergris tastes, or even if it is still available.

Lady Gwynydd of Culloden