[Sca-cooks] Follow up on Marzipan question

[Olwen the Odd]

>Also sprach Anne duBosc:
>>On Saturday, December 21, Brighid wrote:
>>>The oldest recipe for marzipan (though it doesn't use that name) is
>>>an Arabic one.  I *think* it's from the 13th century Anonymous
>>>Andalusian Cookbook.  The oldest recipe which uses that name (or
>>>a variant thereof) is in the 14th c. Catalan confectionary manual:
>>>"Per Fer Mersepa".
>>
>>>Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
>>
>>Brighid, is this the recipe from The Anonymous Andalusian?  And
>>where could I get a copy of Per Fer Marsepa?
>>
>>>From Charles Perry's translation of An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook:
>>[62]Sukkariyya, a Sugar Dish from the Dictation of Abu 'Ali al-Bagdadi
>>Take a ratl of sugar and put in two šqiyas of rosewater and boil it
>>in a ceramic pot until it is on the point of thickening and sticks
>>between the fingers. Then take a third of a ratl of split almonds,
>>fried, not burnt, *****and pound well***** and throw the sugar on them and
>>stir it on the fire until thickened. Then spread it out on a dish
>>and sprinkle it with ground sugar.
>
>Isn't this more like praline than like marzipan? Even though there's
>a rosewater element involved, which what we think of , classically,
>as praline, doesn't, it's the whole cooking process which makes me
>think this. The sugar appears not to be cooked to a caramel, but then
>the almonds are slightly toasted. I always thought of marzipan as a
>dough, though, rather than as a cooked product. YMMV.
>
>Adamantius

****and pound well****...I think you missed that Master A.

Olwen the helpful

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