[Sca-cooks] fennel sauce

[Stefan li Rous]

Avraham replied to me with:
> > Okay, then what is wrong with "temper"? As I understand the term
> > "temper" it seems to fit here. I thought temper meant to make less
> > sharp. Here, to ease the sharpness of the pepper by mixing in
> > a little verjuice. To mellow it.
>
> "Temper" has two very specific meanings in modern cookery. It means to add a
> small amount of hot liquid to an egg mixture to warm it, before adding the
> eggs to the main pot, so as not to make scrambled eggs (as, for instance, in
> custard making), or alternatively, to heat and cool chocolate by turns to
> stabilize the cocoa butter crystals and keep the chocolate from blooming.

What is the medieval defintion of "temper"? Is that no longer a
valid defintion of it today?

If we're dealing with modern terminology only, then I'm not sure
"distemper" works either. Unless we are talking about dogs.

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****