[Sca-cooks] Gourds, pumpkins was 2002 Cook's Symposium

[johnna holloway]

Actually it's not that simple. There are recipes that call for pumpkins
prior to the discovery of the new world squash. The translation of
pumpkin has commonly been used for curcurbitas, says Harvey in Mediaeval
Gardens. What the Pepperidge Farm cookbook did was use the new world
pumpkin and jump into a 15th century recipe calling for a what would
have been probably a bottle gourd that was translated as "pumpkin".
Milham translates it as "Gourd Pie" in her rendition.

Of course in the late 16th century when a recipe appears in the Epulario
calling for gourds or pompeons, one might very well use the North
American pumpkins.

Johnna Holloway  Johnnae llyn Lewis

Sue Clemenger wrote:
 Nice idea,
> bad scholarship?
> (Reminds me of the really-bad 1950s redactions of some period recipes
> that I've got in an old Pepperidge Farm cookbook....She takes a recipe
> for some sort of gourd tart [I'm guessing bottle gourds? She uses the
> word "pumpkin"--no original recipe provided, just some sort of
> translation] made of cooked, sieved gourd, rich fat, cheese, sugar,
> eggs, milk, saffron and cinnamon, and turns it into a modern pumpkin
> pie. Now, the pumpkin pie looks perfectly nice, but it bears only a
> passing resemblance to the original inspiration!)
> --maire