SC - Herbs for spit-roasting meat?

[Stefan li Rous]

Thomas quotes (I think the new translation just recently mentioned):
> "A good stuffing.
> If you want to prepare a good dish, chop the same amount of parsley and
> sage, and fry it in butter. Beat raw eggs and mix that, and grate cheese
> and bread, and add it. Make a pancake, add melted butter, and put it on
> the fire. Cover the top with coal, too, and bake it. These are sooty
> cakes." (Adamson, Buoch ... p. 103).

"Cover the top with coal, too, and bake it." Ok, I assume this means
put live coals and embers on the top of the pot. But then we see: 
"These are sooty cakes". Huh? Why would they be sooty? I hope this
doesn't mean up coal dust on top of the cakes. Or even the burning
coals. What did the other translation(s) we were working with say
for these last two lines? I'm beginning to wonder if this last 
translation *is* any better than the ones she criticizes so harshly.

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****