[Sca-cooks] Strawberye

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

>
> My take on the recipe is that it's supposed to be a sort of strawberry
> pudding.  The strawberries I've seen in period paintings were
> substantially smaller than modern ones.  I'm not sure whether straining
> them means you're separating out the wine to discard, or using the
> cloth to remove the seeds from cooked strawberries.  I've seen a number
> of contemporary recipes that have you cook fruit in wine and then press
> it through a strainer (e.g. gooseberry tart).  I don't recall seeing
> any that have you just rinse the fruit in wine.

Hm... Could I use   white grape juice instead of wine?

> That being said, almond milk tends to thicken when cooked.  Adding
> either amidon (wheat starch) or rice flour to it will further thicken
> it to the point where it closely resembles pudding.  The currants and
> saffron in connection with the thickened almond milk suggest to me that
> the recipe is related to "lenten slices" or "gaylede" (see
> http://www.medievalcookery.com/recipes/lenten.html ) which is a almond
> milk based pudding with fruits and the like added.
>
> All in all, I can see leaving out the wine and making it as a pudding
> sort of thing, but since it says to "make it chargeaunt and lat it
> boyle" I don't think the recipe is describing something sauce-like.

Hm... well, in any case, it will be a strawberry glop. I never do manage
to get these things thick enough. (Not enough real pudding making in my
background, I guess-- the only puddings I made were Jello instant.)

Sweet, spicy strawberrry glop with Pain Perdu-- I'm in favor of it.

-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika   jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with
floaties and teach us how to swim." --Linton Weeks, Washington Post 1/13/01.