[Sca-cooks] online glossary

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"Cindy M. Renfrow" wrote:
>
> The glossary file is now up to 228K.  I've started to note which citations
> (from recipes mixed in amongst the culinary collections) are for medicines
> & perfumes.
>
> Here are some more words for you to mull over:
>
> Rockes =
>
> (A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1636) - To make another sort of
> Marmelade... then powder the seeds of red Nettles, of Rockes, of each one
> dram... [MEDICINE]

Any possibility of the herb rocket?

>
> Cocks stones =
>
> (A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1636) - To make another sort of
> Marmelade...Cocks stones halfe an ounce, all steeped in honey twelve
> houres... [MEDICINE]
>
> I think this one is a plant.  IIRC, I saw Dogs Stones listed in Gerard.

Yes, I doubt, somehow, that testicles are being called for here.

> Coffins of plate =
>
> (A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1636) - To make Prince-bisket
> bread... then put it into your coffins of plate, or frames of wood...

Some kind of ceramic drying box punched full of holes? Marmalade recipes
often speak of special drying boxes, usually providing both ventilation
and an imprinted pattern in the bottom. Basically, a mold with air holes
punched into it.

> Cyprus and Calamus =
> (A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1636) - To make an especiall sweet
> Powder... Cyprus and Calamus of each halfe an ounce... [INEDIBLE]

Calamus may be sweet flag, a reedy plant native, I think, to Greece.
Cyprus could be any of several plants, but I think there's a cyprus or
cypress tree or shrub that has an aromatic root. Only your herbalist
knows for sure.

> Decoction =
> Digby (1669) White metheglin of my Lady Hungerford - This Proportion of
> Herbs is to make six Gallons of Decoction... take the clear Decoction
> (leaving the settlings)...

In this case, an infusion, like tea. Later recipes (primarily for German
beer, I believe) seem to distinguish between decoction as a means of
temperature control by adding measured amounts of boiling liquid to
measured amounts of other stuff, and infusion, which is a less
sophisticated method of adding a semi-measured amount of boiling water
to a measured amount of room-temp stuff to achieve a median "strike"
temperature which you then insulate with blankets and such. But Digby
seems to be making six gallons of herb tea and using that in his mead,
so in this case, it looks like a pretty simple infusion.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98