[Sca-cooks] Re: green ginger upon sirop

[Stefan li Rous]

Alys Katharine answered me with:
> Stefan asked:
> >Yes, just the "dainty" for a party of nobles. The fork was still not
> >very common in England at this time, as far as I remember. Just how
> >would you eat this dainty without them? Sounds a bit messy to pick
> >up with your fingers.
>
> Actually the sucket fork was in use by this time but only for the
> sweets.  It appears to have been a either two- or three-pronged
> affair, often with a spoon on the other end.  Two are pictured on
> the cover of C. Anne Wilson's _Banquetting 'Stuffe'_.  The forks,
> which look like the tiny kind used today for canapes, appear to have
> been smaller than the forks we know today.  Even the one with three
> tines is depicted smaller than the bowl of the spoon.  The fork
> would have been dipped into the syrup ("wet suckets") to remove the
> fruit or peel.  The spoon could be used to dip out syrup.  However,
> this use of the fork didn't seem to carry over to using forks as we
> use them for carrying regular food to the mouth.  And, I don't know
> if the fork was merely for extracting the fruit, then placing it on
> a plate, or for extracting the fruit and placing it directly into
> the mouth.  I would guess the former, but it's only a guess.

Thank you for these details! I had completely forgotten about suckets
and the special forks for these. I had saved the initial message as
"preserves-msg" because I couldn't figure out just how to charecterize
it. It didn't seem to be a marmalade but it wasn't a hard coating
like a comfit, either.  Suckets-msg will be much better. Now to find
some more such recipes to fill out the file.

Stefan

--
THLord 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 ****