[Sca-cooks] Lemonwhyt?

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

Someone posted to rec.food.historic, asking about a dish called
"lemonwhyt".  It was clear in context that she's a SCAdian in
Lochac.  She said that the dish was very popular at feasts in her
group, and she would like to document it.

After a little web-searching on a variant spelling, I found that it was
a rice dish with lemon peel and currants.  This rang a a bell in the
dim recesses of my memory, and sure enough, I found
"Lemonwhyt" in _Fabulous Feasts_.

I posted a reply, telling the lady where the recipe was from, and
adding that I didn't think it was period.  I haven't seen a recipe like
that in any of the period sources, and lemon peel seems rather
unlikely in a pre-Renaissance English recipe.

Then again, it's possible that this is an altered medieval recipe -- I
believe other dishes in _Fabulous Feasts_ have substitute
ingredients.

Anyone with a better knowledge of the Anglo-Norman canon want
to weigh in on this question?


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net