[Sca-cooks] Corn Bread

[Decker, Terry D.]

> Well, again I doubt corn, tomatoes possible, however, the
> Spanish did bring
> back "white" potatoes from Peru, according to an article I read in my
> Encarta96 Encyclopedia I have loaded in my computer.  My
> guess would be that
> if they did eat "white" potato, it was skinned and boiled.

According to  Reay Tannehill, the Hospital de la Sangre in Seville ordered
potatoes at the same time they did other stocks in 1573. This supports your
contention that the Spanish brought white potatoes back from the New World.
It also suggests that they were used as a foodstuff, although there is no
indication of how they were prepared or how common their use was.

> Also, I believe
> the Russians used potatoes in the late 16th century,

The white potato did not come into common use until the 18th Century.  From
what can be found, it appears the Germans were among the first to adopt the
potato, beginning in the late 16th Century.  While some Russians may have
used potatoes that early, but the general introduction of the vegetable in
Russia, according to several sources, was in the late 18th or early 19th
Century and required the use of troops to enforce the planting and use of
the vegetable.


A
> friend of mine from
> Clan O'Choda has a cookbook translation from around 1535
> which has a couple
> of potato recipes in it.  I am trying to contact him so I may get the
> information on the book so that I can try and get a copy.
>
> Kyle

I would be very interested to find out about your friend's translation.  The
earliest written references to the potato I know of are in Pedro de Leon's
Cronica del Peru of 1553.  I believe the earliest recipes for white potatoes
are found in Ein Neu Kochbuch of 1581.

Bear