[Sca-cooks] non-sweet Elizabethan dishes

[Terry Decker]

>
>The Elizabethan cookery books have surprisingly few carbohydrate dishes,
>actually.  It's quite weird.  I haven't found a single straight-forward
>carb dish yet... it's all either pies (eg tart of rice, which is really
>more custard than anything), mixed stew type thing (eg duck with
>turnips), or sweet desserts (eg various sweet breads).  I would welcome
>counter-examples.
>
>Katherine

One needs to keep in mind the Elizabethans were the first Brits to have
sugar in really large quantities and that feeding the growing appetite would
take them into starting sugar plantations in enemy territory.  Elizabethan
dishes are heavy in sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger (or as I refer to
them, the Four Horsemen of Elizabethan cooking).

Here are recipes for three dishes which provided nourishment for our local
vegetarians.  They have sugar, but they are not necessarily "sweet,." and
the level of sweetness can be altered.

Fettiplace may be later than you want to use, but I think the recipe for
sweet potatoes is Elizabethan or Jacobean in origin.

Bear


Spinach Tart

A Spinnage Tart. Take a good store of Spinage, and boyl it in a Pipkin, with
White Wine, till it be soft as pap; then take it and strain it well into a
pewter dish, not leaving any part unstrained; then put to it Rose-water,
great store of Sugar and cinamon, and boyle it till it be thick as
Marmalade. Then let it coole, and after fill your Coffin and adorn it...

Gervase Markham
The English Hous-wife, 1615

1 pound spinach (fresh or frozen) cleaned and chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup water
1/3 cup sugar (or more)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Boil spinach in wine and 1/2 cup water until very soft.
Press through a colander or run through a food processor to mince large
pieces of spinach.
Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a pan and bring to a boil.
Stir in spinach and cinnamon.
Reduce heat to medium and cook until almost dry.
Put spinach into pie shell. Cool.
After cooling the tart can be adorned with fruit, powdered sugar, crystal
sugar, etc. One tester suggested sliced hardboiled eggs.

Notes:

One third cup of sugar sweetens the spinach without being cloying.  A cup of
sugar would make a thicker syrup and make the spinach closer to the
marmalade of the original recipe.

One teaspoon of fresh cinnamon provides a nice bite without being
overpowering.

Fresh spinach may require additional water or wine in the first boil. I used
frozen spinach for availability and speed. I used Malavasia wine, which is
fairly strong, and cut it with water for expedience. The spinach absorbed
much of the liquid.


Sweet Potatoes

To butter Potato roots. Take the roots & bole them in water till they bee
verie soft, then peele them and slice them, then put some rosewater to them
& sugar & the pill of an orenge, & some of the iuice of the orenge, so let
them boile a good while, then put some butter to them, & when the butter is
melted serve them. This way you may bake them, but put them unboiled into
the paste.

Elynor Fettiplace
The Receipt Book of Ladie Elynor Fettiplace, 1647

Note: Elynor Fettiplace was an Elizabethan lady who began compiling her
recipes in 1604 after many years in the kitchen.
The book was passed to her niece in 1647.

2 lbs sweet potatoes
1/2 cup water
juice of 1 orange (4-5 Tablespoons)
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon ground orange peel
1/2 cup butter

In a pan, cover the sweet potatoes with water and boil them until very soft,
about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Remove the sweet potatoes from the pan. Cool slightly.
Peel and slice.
Mix the water, orange juice, sugar and orange peel in a pan and heat
stirring.
After the sugar dissolves, add the sweet potato to the syrup, seperating the
slices.
Stir the mixture gently to prevent burning, turning the sweet potato to coat
the slices with the syrup. Add water if necessary.
When the syrup has cooked down, remove the pan from the heat and add the
butter. Stir gently until the butter is melted and blended into the sweet
potatoes.
Put the sweet potatoes into a serving dish and present to the table.

Notes:

Two pounds of sweet potato will fill an 8” or 9” pie pan.

In cooking for 160 people, rather than try to mash the sweet potatoes by
hand, I whipped them slightly in a Hobart


To Make an Artichoak Pye.  Take the bottoms of six Artichoaks Boyled very
tender, put them in a dish, and some Vinegar over them.  Season them with
Ginger and Sugar, a little Mace Whole, and put them in a Coffin of Paste.
When you lay them in, lay some Marrow and Dates slices, and a few Raisons of
the Sun in the bottom with a good store of butter.  When it is half baked,
take a Gill of Sack, being boyled first with Sugar and a peel of Orange.
Put it into the Pye, and set it in the oven again, till you use it.

attributed to Hugh Platt, The Accomplisht Ladys Delight

1  8 or 9 inch pie shell
1 14 ounce can quartered artichoke hearts
2 Tablespoons of cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ginger
4 Tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon mace
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped or sliced dates
2 Tablespoons of butter
1 Tablespoon of marrow (optional)
1 Cup Dry Sherry

Blind bake the pie shell 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Mix vinegar, one tablespoon of sugar, ginger and mace in a bowl.
Drain and rinse the artichoke hearts.  Add to the vinegar mixture and turn
to coat thoroughly.  Let stand for a half hour.
Put the Dry Sherry, three tablespoons of sugar, and the orange peel in a
small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Cook to form a thin syrup.
Mix the date and raisins and spread them in the bottom of the pie shell.
Add the marrow.
Spread the artichoke hearts on top of the dates, raisins and marrow.
Dot the top of the pie with butter.
Pour the Sherry syrup over the artichokes.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Notes:
Pie shell was a standard 3-2-1 dough.
Canned artichokes were used because they were available.
I had ground mace available.  It was a little old.  Fresh mace might require
less.
The marrow was left off, as I was preparing the pie for a vegetarian.
I am considering making the syrup thicker.
I am considering baking the fruit for fifteen minutes then adding the syrup
to see what changes occur in the texture.
The aluminum foil keeps the crust from burning and helps the pie retain
moisture.
The dish is palatable cold, but I prefer it warm.


Artichoke Pie

To Make an Artichoak Pye.  Take the bottoms of six Artichoaks Boyled very
tender, put them in a dish, and some Vinegar over them.  Season them with
Ginger and Sugar, a little Mace Whole, and put them in a Coffin of Paste.
When you lay them in, lay some Marrow and Dates slices, and a few Raisons of
the Sun in the bottom with a good store of butter.  When it is half baked,
take a Gill of Sack, being boyled first with Sugar and a peel of Orange.
Put it into the Pye, and set it in the oven again, till you use it.

attributed to Hugh Platt, The Accomplisht Ladys Delight

1  8 or 9 inch pie shell
1 14 ounce can quartered artichoke hearts
2 Tablespoons of cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ginger
4 Tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon mace
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped or sliced dates
2 Tablespoons of butter
1 Tablespoon of marrow (optional)
1 Cup Dry Sherry

Blind bake the pie shell 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Mix vinegar, one tablespoon of sugar, ginger and mace in a bowl.
Drain and rinse the artichoke hearts.  Add to the vinegar mixture and turn
to coat thoroughly.  Let stand for a half hour.
Put the Dry Sherry, three tablespoons of sugar, and the orange peel in a
small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Cook to form a thin syrup.
Mix the date and raisins and spread them in the bottom of the pie shell.
Add the marrow.
Spread the artichoke hearts on top of the dates, raisins and marrow.
Dot the top of the pie with butter.
Pour the Sherry syrup over the artichokes.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Notes:
Pie shell was a standard 3-2-1 dough.
Canned artichokes were used because they were available.
I had ground mace available.  It was a little old.  Fresh mace might require
less.
The marrow was left off, as I was preparing the pie for a vegetarian.
I am considering making the syrup thicker.
I am considering baking the fruit for fifteen minutes then adding the syrup
to see what changes occur in the texture.
The aluminum foil keeps the crust from burning and helps the pie retain
moisture.
The dish is palatable cold, but I prefer it warm.