[Sca-cooks] period date info?

[Kirrily Robert]

Stefan wrote:
>Anyone have any period recipes using dates? I have one brief
>mention in a late period recipe in the candy-msg file in the
>Florilegium.

I've got one from the English Huswife, 1615:

To make Date-Leach.

To make an excellent Date-Leach, take Dates, and take out the stones,
and the white rind, and beat them with Sugar, Cinamon and Ginger, very
finely; then work it as you would work a piece of paste, and then print
them as you please.

NOTE: THIS DID NOT WORK FOR ME! Some have suggested that it may have
worked OK with fresh dates, but I've never seen a fresh date and used
dried ones.  It totally gummed up my food processor and I couldn't get
it to be dry enough to mould.

Dates are also often used in Elizabethan meat dishes, especially with
capon.  Here are a couple from "The Good Huswife's Jewell" (1594),
which I've just started to transcribe:

To boile a capon

Put the Capon into the pouder beefe pot, and when you think it almost
tender, take a little potte and put therein halfe water and halfe wine,
marie, currants, dates, whole mace, vergice, pepper, & a little wine.

The boyling of a capon

Seeth the Capon itselfe in water and salt and nothing else, and to make
the broth Viz. Take strong broth made with beefe or mutton broth, so
that it be strong broth, and put into it, rosemarie, parselie & time,
with iiii leaves of sage, this let seeth in it a good while, and then
put into it small raysons and a few whole mace.  A quarter of an houre
before it be readie to bee taken from the fire, have readie sodden foure
or v. egges boyled harde, take nothing out but the yolks streyne the
egges with a little of the same broth and vergice, have a little marie
cut in small peeces and an apple pared, and cutte in small peeces, and
if that time of yeare do serve, take the best of lettice, cutting off
the toppes to the white and best, and take a fewe prunes with
two or three dates.

Thus let it seeth a quarter of an hour or more, and when it is ready to
take up, have your dish with soppes readie, and the water well strained
out of the capon, and then season the broth with a little pepper, then
take it and dish it and scrape upon it a little suger laying the prunes
round about the dish side.

To boile a capon in white broth with almonds

Take your Capon with marie bones and set them on the fire, and when they
be cleane skummed take the fattest of the broth, and put it in a little
pot with a good deale of marie, prunes, raisons, dates whole maces, & a
pinte of white wine, then blanch your almondes and strain them, with
them thicken your potte & let it seeth a goodwhile and when it is enough
serve it uppon soppes with your capon.

NOTE: I made the last of these last weeked and a camping event, and it
was really good :)


And here's a similar one, "To boil a capon with orenges and lemmons" from
"The Good Huswife's Handmaide for the Kitchen" (1594), on someone else's
website: http://www.bitwise.net/~ken-bill/medrcp03.htm


Hope that helps :)

K.


--
Lady Katherine Robillard  (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert)
katherine at infotrope.net  http://infotrope.net/sca/
Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere
"The rose is red, the leaves are grene, God save Elizabeth our Queene"