[Sca-cooks] Duke's powder

[Cindy M. Renfrow]

So how is this for a glossayr entry?
Cindy


Duke's Powder, POLUORA DE DUQUE , pouldre de duc = A spice mixture.

    "Barbara Santich suggests that this recipe title is a misnomer, and an
indication of Italian influence on Catalan cooking. A very similar blend of
spices minus the sugar -- is found in
an anonymous Venetian cookbook of the late 15th century. It is called
specie dolce, "sweet spices". Several recipes in that cookbook call for
dishes to be topped with sugar and
unspecified spices before serving. Santich theorizes that specie dolce was
the spice blend which was sprinkled with the sugar. The Italian name specie
dolce, "sweet spices", may have
been mangled in translation to become the Catalan polvora de duch, "powder
of the duke". The Libre del Coch has a second recipe for this spice mix, De
altra polvora de duch, which
contains 2 oz. ginger, 1/2 drachm galingale, 1 oz. cinnamon, 1 oz. long
pepper, 1 oz. grains of paradise, 1 oz. nutmeg, 1/4 oz. fine sugar. The
Libre de Sent Sovi gives yet another
recipe: 1 pound sugar; 1/2 oz. cinnamon; 3/4 oz. ginger; 1/4 oz. total of
cloves, nutmeg, galingale, and cardamon.  Santich's point is that the
recipe in the 1529 Nola is closer to the
Italian tradition than to its Catalan predecessors.  She does not mean...
that the anonymous Venetian is the first appearance of this recipe. Santich
goes on to discuss other similarities
in Nola to Italian recipes.  So, if I dare summarize her reasoning: this
spice blend is similar to the Italian version; its name may be a corruption
of the Italian name.
    Perhaps *all* such blends were originally "sweet powder", or perhaps
there were two different blends (duc/dolce), each with its many variations.
To confuse matters further, the
Menagier's blend is for making Hypocras.  Nola has a different blend
entirely for that purpose, and uses "Duke's Powder" in cooking."
(Carroll-Mann)

    "Nicole Crosley-Holland in Living and Dining in Medieval Paris which is
an examination of Le Menagier de Paris says that "pouldre de duc" "comes
from the Catalan treatise
Sent Sovi; polvora de duch, or powder of sweetness according to
Thibaut-Comelade (262, 121) who gives the components: fine sugar, ginger,
cinnamon, pepper, clove, mace, nutmeg
and saffron. ...The Menagier probably heard of this powder when he served
in Languedoc and transcribed as duc the sound duch." [pages159-160]
(Holloway)

              (Le Menagier de Paris, c. 1393, found in Goodman of Paris, E.
Power, tr., 1928) - Hippocras..."And note that the powder and the sugar
mixed together is
              [hight] the Duke's powder."  Pichon's edition says: "...Et
nota que la pouldre et le succre meslés ensemble, font pouldre de duc." Le
Menagier's spice
              mixture calls for 1 quarter of very fine cinnamon, 1/2
quarter fine flour of cinnamon, 1 ounce fine white string ginger (gingembre
de mesche), 1 ounce grains
              of paradise, 1/6 [ounce?] nutmegs and galingale mixed
together. His Duke's Powder consists of 1/2 ounce of this mixture added to
2 quarters of sugar.
              (de Nola, 1525 edition) - "POLUORA DE DUQUE -- Duke's Powder
- Cinnamon, half an ounce; ginger, half an ounce; cloves, one eighth;
sugar, one
              pound; all this well ground and strained through a hair sieve
so that it should be quite delicate and subtle, or at least just like the
one for the sauces."
              (de Nola, 1525 edition) - "POLUORA DE DUQUE DE OTRA MANERA -
Duke's Powder in another manner - White ginger, two ounces; galangal, one
              eighth of an ounce; cinnamon, one ounce; long pepper, one
ounce; grains of paradise, one ounce; nutmeg, one ounce; fine sugar, one
pound; all this should
              be well ground and strained through a delicate hair sieve."
              (de Nola1529 edition) -"POLVORA DE DUQUE - Duke's Powder -
Half an ounce of cinnamon; an eighth of cloves; and for the lords cast in
nothing but
              cinnamon, and a pound of sugar; if you wish to make it sharp
in flavor and [good] for pains in the stomach, cast in a little ginger."
(Carroll-Mann)
              Slightly different translation: (de Nola,  1529 edition) -
"Polvora Duque (Duke's Powder) Cinnamon half an ounce; cloves half a
quarter; and for lords
              only add cinnamon ["y para los senores, no se echa sino sola
canela"], and a pound of sugar; if you wish it to have a sharp taste and
make it good for
              passions of the stomach add a little ginger."

       ANALYSIS of de Nola's phrase: "y para los senores, no se echa sino
sola canela"

       "This appears in the Logrono editions (Castillian translations), but
not in the first edition of Nola (1520, published in Catalan). Neither
recipe in the first edition gives
       an instruction like this, just the measure of the ingredients and
brief instructions on mixing them up. So, this class distinction is
something introduced by the
       Aragonese mayor of Logrono, in his translation. Where he got it, I
don't know. I suspect the wide variation in recipes for this powder is at
least as much a matter of
       preference as it is a matter of economics. I would caution against
over-interpreting this through the filter of political power. Yes, it was
conspicuous consumption, but
       I think it was food, first. For REALLY conspicuous consumption, look
at the recipes for Fine Spice powder (Salsa ffina), which called for a
half-pound of saffron in
       a pound of powder...

       The earliest reference to Duke's Powder I have found in the Iberian
cuisine is the Barcelona copy of the Libre de Sent Sovi (Biblioteca
Universitat de Barcelona MS
       68, ca. 1450). It also gives no indication of a class distinction in
the composition of the powder. That recipe follows. I am not as convinced
as Dr. Santich that this
       powder is of Italian origin. The Aragonese/Catalan empire had
tremendous influence on the Italian cuisine of the 15th century, and the
culinary influences flowed
       both ways. The Italian influence may be over-rated, and as much a
product of academic bias as of fact.


              (Libre de Sent Sovi , ca. 1450) - "Si vols ffer polvora de
duch que sa ffina se ffa axi per una liura Primerament tu pendras una liura
de sucre
              blanch Canella mige hunsa que sia ffina Gingebre que sia bo
un quart e mig Giroffle nous noscades garangal cardemom entre tot un quart
E tot aso
              picaras E pessar ho as per sadas."


       Translation (the punctuation is mine): If you wish to make Duke's
Powder that will be fine, it is made in this way for one pound. First you
will take one pound of
       white sugar, Cinnamon half ounce that will be fine, Ginger that will
be good one quarter [ounce] and a half [so, three quarters of an ounce],
Cloves, nutmeg, galingale,
       cardamom between all one quarter [I interpret this as "of each"
because a 16th of an ounce of any of these spices in a pound of powder
would hardly be detectable
       and thus would serve neither palate nor politics]. And all this you
will pound. And you have to pass it through [a] sieve." (McDonald)