[Sca-cooks] What is a 'Latwerge'

[Volker Bach]

"Cindy M. Renfrow" schrieb:
>
> I believe the use of 'latwerge' was meant to indicate the similarity of the
> consistency of the final product to that of a true latwerge, since it is
> supposed to come out "*as* a latwergen". But I am speculating based on
> little information. Does anyone have a better dictionary that gives word
> history?

Sadly, no. But I hope to get to the library later
this week.

Talked too early. Latwerge (fem), also Latwerg
(neut), from Latin electuarium. Electuary, it
seems. The origin is medical, but medieval use has
it mostly as a kind of jellied compote.

> By 'luft', do you mean a drying cabinet? (A free-standing ventilated
> cabinet (schrank) with cloth 'shelves', that sometimes has a stove to warm
> the cabinet.)

That will have to be settled between me and a
Middle High German dictionary (I know I had to
look this up before and I think it denoted some
part of the house, but I'm not sure any more).
Trude Ehlert's redaction (Kochbuch des
Mittelalters, Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN
3-491-96003-7, not bad if you read German, though
she doesn't provide original texts) is unclear on
the matter. She agrees with the grammar
interpretation I have, but renders the sentence:

"Put it out in the air to dry. If you have no air,
put it out in a cool yard"

which, to me, sounds odd. Also, she refers to the
recipe as 'being' a Latwerge (the sentence seems
to allow that interpretation at first glance, but
I would have to recheck).

> >Very much like this. BTW, there's a minor
> >translation mistake in there. The mystery sentence
> >should read: "Place the board on (into) the 'luft'
> >(that is not 'air' in Middle German) until it is
> >dry. If you do not have one, put them out into a
> >cool yard"

Giano