SC - RE: Ruzzige Cake

[Cindy M. Renfrow]

>
>52. Ein gut fülle (A good filling)
>
>Der ein gut köcherye machen wil. der hacke petersylien und salbey. glich
>vil. und brate sie in butern und tüftele eyer weich. und menge daz zu
>sammene. und ribe kese und brot dor in. und mache ein blat von eyern. und
>giuz butern dor under. und schüte diz dor uf. gib im flur oben uf. und laz
>backen. diz sint ruzzige küechin.
>
>He who wants to make a good dish chops parsley and sage, exactly as much.
>And fry them in butter and beats eggs soft.  And mix that together. And
>grate cheese and bread therein. And make a leaf from eggs. And pour butter
>thereunder. And pour this thereon. Give it flowers on top. And let bake.
>This is ruzzige cake.


Hello!

If y'all will pardon some fuzzy-brained late-night thinking here... This
Ruzzige küechin recipe sounds vaguely similar to this recipe for Sew trappe
- -- not in the specific ingredients, but in what's going on, i.e. making a
filled crêpe. (And yes, I know Sew trappe is making more of a crêpe
sandwich, but look at the two-pan method used.)


Harleian MS. 279 - Dyuerse Bake Metis
xxx.  Sew trappe.  Take .ij. lytel er[th]en pannys, & sette on [th]e colys
tyl [th]ey ben hote; make a dyssche-fulle of [th]ikke bature of Floure &
Watere; take & grece a lytel [th]at o[ther panne, & do [th]e bater
[th]er-on; & lat renne al a-bowte [th]e panne, so [th]at [th]e pan be al
y-helyd; take & sette [th]e panne a-[3]en ouer [th]e fyre of colys; do
[th]at o[ther panne a-boue [th]at o[ther panne, tyl it be y-baken y-now;
whan it is y-bake, [th]at it wol a-ryse fro [th]e eggys of [th]e panne,
take kydes Fleyssche & [3]ong porke, & hew it; take Percely, ysope, &
Sauerey [and hew hit]  smal y-now; & [th]row a-mong [th]e Fleyssche;  & do
it in a panne, & [th]e cofynne, do it to [th]e colys; hele it with [th]at
o[th]er panne, & do colys a-bouyn, & lat baken wyl; whan it is y-now, take
Eyroun, & breke hem; take [th]e [3]olkes, & draw [th]orw a straynoure:
caste to [th]e [3]olkys Hwyte Sugre, Gyngere, Canelle, Galyngale; sture it
wyl to-gederys; take al [th]is, & sette a-doun [th]e panne, & cast in
a-bouyn [th]e cofynne in [th]e panne:  sture it to-gederys; hele it
a[3]enward with [th]at o[th]er panne, & lay colys a-boue, & lat bake wyl
tyl it be y-now; take yt owt of [th]e panne, & do it out y-hole, or as
moche as [th]ow wolt, & [th]anne serue it forth.

30.  Sew trappe.  Take two little earthen pans, & set on the coals till
they are hot; make a dish-full of thick batter of Flour & Water; take &
grease a little that other pan, & put the batter thereon; & let run all
about the pan, so that the pan is all covered; take & set the pan again
over the fire of coals; put that other pan above that other pan, till it is
baked enough; when it is baked, that it will arise from the edges of the
pan, take kids Flesh & young pork, & hew it; take Parsley, hyssop, & Savory
[and hew it] small enough; & throw among the Flesh; & put it in a pan, &
the coffin, put it to the coals; cover it with that other pan, & put coals
above, & let bake well; when it is enough, take Eggs, & break them; take
the yolks, & draw through a strainer:  cast to the yolks White Sugar,
Ginger, Cinnamon, Galingale; stir it well together; take all this, & set
down the pan, & cast in above the coffin in the pan:  stir it together;
cover it again with that other pan, & lay coals above, & let bake well till
it is enough; take it out of the pan, & put it out whole, or as much as
thou will, & then serve it forth.

 >From Thomas:
>1. _a leaf from eggs_; the German _blat_ has a technical meaning in the
>old language: 'thin (piece of) dough'. Sure, German _Blatt_ in the
>modern language means 'leaf'; but as far as I can tell from my
>dictionaries, engl./am. _leaf_ alone is not used to refer to thin
>(pieces of) dough (please, correct me if I am wrong); thus, it seems to
>me, that one should translate the passage _ein blat von eyern_ with
>something like 'a thin (piece of) dough made of eggs'.
>
>2. _gib im flur oben uf_, 'Give it flowers on top'. The manuscript has
>the form _fiu:er_ (_fi¸r_), which is an old form of todays _Feuer_
>'fire'. Thus, there are no flowers around, but one must heat everything
>from the top (with coals). Speaking of cooking equipment, there is good
>evidence for heating something from the top, e.g. by putting hot coals
>on top of a cooking vessel.
>
>-- _ruzzig_ means 'russian' (Stopp; Martellotti/Durante); not very
>convincing, given the fact, that we (I) know of no russian influences in
>culinary matters in the 14th century so far.

Rûz , Rûze, Riuze  stswm. pl. Riuze, Riuzen, Rûzen:
   Russe, Ruthenus (Rusze, Rusche, Rutze, Reusz, Reusze, Reuse)
   DFG. 505a, n. gl. 323a. SCHM. Fr. 2,153. ungetriuwer Rûz
   HELMBR. 1809. Riuze WOLFD. B. s. 347b. Rûzen lant,
   Russland JER. 3742, ebenso der dat. pl. DFG. 504b, n. gl. 323a.
   ausz, in Reuszen FASN. 360,1. 477,10.

 rûzisch s.  riuzesch.

If we plug in Thomas' suggestions:

>He who wants to make a good dish chops parsley and sage, exactly as much.
>And fry them in butter and beats eggs soft.  And mix that together. And
>grate cheese and bread therein. And make a thin tyne/pancake/crêpe from
>eggs. And pour butter
>thereunder. And pour this [mixture] thereon. Give it hot coals on top. And
>let bake.
>This is ruzzig cake.

And if we plug in the word Russian in the last line, we get BLINY.

Very fuzzily yours,

Cindy