[Sca-cooks] Re: rice pudding & marrow

[Decker, Terry D.]

During the Elizabethan period, much of England's sugar came out of Egypt and
the Levant where the price was dropping for the trade into Europe due to
Spanish and Portuguese imports from the Canaries, Azores, and West Africa.
The Caribbean trade was just beginning.  Elizabethan cooking is noted for
using sugar extensively.

In my adaptation of Markham's recipe, I used 1/2 cup sugar to 1 cup of
uncooked rice (which weighed in at 8 ounces, 1/2 pound under Elizabethan
measure).  I think the 1/2 cup is a good bet.

Rather than soak the rice overnight in milk, I partially cooked it in the
milk to accelerate the process, drained it and finished the cooking in
cream.

Bear



> Thanks for the summary of this, Adamantius. But I'm not sure what this
> has to do with the original question, about whether the use of half a
> cup of sugar is the correct redaction of this recipe. I don't
> remember the amount of rice used, but this sounds like it
> might be more
> sugar than the original recipe writer was thinking of.
>
> Stefan li Rous
> stefan at texas.net