[Sca-cooks] Re: Period Ices/Sorbets/Cold Treats?

[Decker, Terry D.]

Gelato is attributed to Bernardo Buontalenti, an architect and hydraulic
engineer performing services similar to those provided by Leonardo da Vinci
50 years earlier.  I haven't found any pointers to primary or solid
secondary sources, but the scope of the gentleman's works make the
attribution a distinct possibility.  The date given for his preparation of
gelato is 1565, which is during the period when Catherine de' Medici really
was altering French cusine.

However, the earliest recipe I've found (without having read David's work)
is from 1750.

"Take 12 pints* of cream and 4 pints of milk and let it boil with 3/4 pound
of sugar. Take 1/2 pound of chocolate that you melt in a pan of water set in
the fire, which you stir with a spatula or wooden spoon, and let it simmer
just to the point of boiling. You must add three egg yolks that you have
mixed well with the milk and cream. Pour it all into the pan with the
chocolate and mix together. Then you must place it in a terrine until you
are ready to place it on ice."

Menon, La science du maitre d' hotel.

Bear

> I'm carefully avoiding the (in my opinion) misused catch-all
> phrase that
> has been applied to stories for which there appears to be no
> foundation
> [presented], but can anybody _really_ document, as in contemporary
> recipe or historical description, etc., the existence of an ice-based
> sweet in period Europe? So far what we now seem to have is
> some evidence
> for them in Heian(?) Japan, and the assertion that we had some
> documentation on this list at some previous date, but which
> is currently
> unavailable.
>
> Can we get any closer?
>
> Adamantius