[Sca-cooks] spice mixes

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

From: "Mercy Neumark" <mneumark at hotmail.com>
>  >James likes to give staff (cook staff or autocrat staff) bottles of
>  >Powder Forte, Powder Douce, etc. He's had people ask to work in the
>  >kitchen again with the "Are you giving out spices again?..."
>
>Do you all have any recipes for these mixes?  I've been TRYING to do
>research on period curries and this was mentioned on one of the websites.

We had quite a discussion on this a while back. I saved most of the
messages and put them in a table so i could compare them. Below is
what i saved.

As for curry - well, there really isn't such a thing in India. There
are different regional spice blends, there are different spice blends
for specific types of dishes, and there are specific spice blends for
specific main ingredients. I would never equate Medieval European
spice blends with Indian "curry powders".

Sure, there are yellow powders marketed in the US, China, and Japan
as "curry", but in my experience, while they don't all taste the
same, they are uniformly icky.

When i'm cooking Indian food, i generally blend the necessary spices
myself, depending on whether i need a masala or a paunch phora or
some other specific blend.

Note also that what is called "curry" in English on Thai menus is not
called "curry" in Thai. These are actually "Kaeng", sometimes
Romanized as "gaeng", such as Kaeng Kiew Warn (a hot and spicy green
paste) or Kaeng Mussaman (a mild spice blend of mostly "sweet"
spices). There is one exception, a bland and icky yellow seasoning
called Kaeng Kari used in a very limited number of dishes, which i
avoid. I blend my own Kaeng when cooking Thai.

Anahita

------- MEDIEVAL SPICE BLENDS -------

POUDRE DOUCE (Sweet Powder)

* The Medieval Kitchen, from Libro di Cucina del Secolo XIV
modern measure, the authors, (in parens, the Libro di Cucina)
2 rounded TB ground ginger (an onza of good ginger)
2 rounded TB ground cinnamon (an onza of fine cinnamon)
1 1/2  tsp ground cloves (a quarter of cloves)
2 heaping TB powdered bay leaves, or dried, ground to a powder in a
spice grinder to yield 2 heaping TB (the same quantity of leaf,
perhaps the Indian mint leaf related to patchouli)

* Francesco Sirene
1 oz ginger
1 oz cinnamon
1/4 oz cloves
1 oz malabathron (substitute bay leaves and a little more cinnamon,
or go to the Indian store and ask for "tejpat")

* Le Menagier de Paris
3 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 TB cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp grains of paradise
2 tbsp sugar

  Phillippa Venn-Brown
1 part ground ginger, opt
2 parts cinnamon
1/2 part ground cloves
1 part nutmeg
1 part ground galangal, opt
1 part ground sugar

  Source unknown Number One
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbs. grains of Paradise (opt.)
1 Tbs. ground cubebs (opt.)
2 tsp. ground galangal (opt.)
1 cup sugar

* Source unknown Number Two
1 TB ginger
1 TB cinnamon
5 TB + 1 tsp sugar

* Source unknown Number Three
[MY NOTE: i don't know if this is parts by weight or by volume]
1 part ginger
2 parts cinnamon
4 parts sugar

* Source unknown Number Four
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mace
4 tsp sugar

-------------------------------------------------------------
POUDRE FINE (Fine Powder)

* The Medieval Kitchen - i don't have it handy to check on their
references for their blend
2 rounded TB ground ginger
2 rounded TB ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cloves
2 rounded TB ground black pepper
1 1/2  TB saffron threads, loosely measure, crushed to a powder

* Le Menagier de Paris
1 TB ground ginger
1 1/2 TB cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp grains of paradise
2 TB sugar

* Francesco Sirene
1 1/16 oz ginger
1/4 oz cinnamon
1/8 oz cloves
1/8 oz grains of paradise
1/4 oz lump sugar
1 oz malabathron (substitute bay leaves and a little more cinnamon,
or go to the Indian store and ask for "tejpat")

--------------------------------------------------------------
POUDRE FORTE (Strong Powder)

* The Medieval Kitchen: Strong Black Spice Mixture
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 whole nutmeg, grated
1/4 cup ground black pepper
1/4 cup ground long pepper

* Francesco Sirene: Specia Negre e Forte per Assay Savore from Libro
di Cucina del Secolo XIV
1/8 oz cloves
2 nutmegs (about 1/3 to 1/2 oz)
2 oz pepper
2 oz long pepper

* Anne-Marie Rousseau of SCA-Cooks list
She says her recipe is based on Le Menagier (1390s Paris), Le
Viandier de Taillevent (14th c. France), and le Maitre Chiquart (1420
Savoy)
[MY NOTE: i've searched Chiquart and so far can't find a "recipe" -
in scanning most of the recipes, i'd say he used 3 or 4 basic spice
combinations]

1-1/2 T ground ginger
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp ground grains of paradise
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

--------------------------------------------------------------
DUKE'S POWDER

* Polvora De Duque, Roberto de Nola, Libro de Cozina (Spanish, 1525)
1/2 oz cinnamon
1/2 oz ginger
1/8 oz cloves
1 lb sugar

* Polvora De Duque De Otra Manera, 1525
1 oz cinnamon
2 oz white ginger
1 oz nutmeg
1 oz grains of paradise
1 oz long pepper
1/8 oz galangal
1 lb fine sugar

* Ruperto de Nola, Libro de Guisados (Spanish, 1529)
1/2 oz cinnamon
for pains in the stomach, cast in a little ginger
1/8 oz cloves
1 lb sugar

* Le Menagier
hippocras powder
1/4 oz fine cinnamon
1 oz selected string ginger, fine and white
1/6 oz nutmegs
1 oz grain of Paradise
1/6 oz galangal
1/8 oz fine flour (or flowers) of cinnamon (if flower, it may be cassia buds)

and for Duke's Powder	a good half ounce of hippocras powder plus
two quarters of sugar