[Sca-cooks] Powder Fort

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Personally, i haven't run across any information that would suggest
the use of cardamom in poudre forte, although i'm sure it tastes good
:-)

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I have made "Good Powder" - i'm not sure how different "Good Powder"
is from Poudre Forte... Anyone?

Good Powder

1 TB ginger
1 TB cinnamon
1 TB cloves
1 TB mace
1-1/2 tsp. black pepper
1-1/2 tsp. grains of paradise

Makes 3/8 cup, approx.

This is sort of a weaselly recipe, since i used more or less equal
quantities by volume of everything, but i like the taste.

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I've also made "Strong Black Spice Powder", inspired by the Specia
Negre e Forte per Assay Savore, from Libro di Cucina del Secolo XIV,
posted by Francesco Sirene. There's a similar recipe in "The Medieval
Kitchen". Lacking long pepper, i used 1/2 the quantity of cubebs and
half the quantity of grains of paradise, not that they really taste
like long pepper, but, well, they taste Medieval (ok, so i'm being a
bit silly).

Strong Black Spice Powder

1/4 oz ground cloves
2 whole nutmeg, ground
4 oz ground black pepper
2 oz cubebs, ground
2 oz grains of paradise, ground

I gave bags of this to people as Twelfth Night gifts. Gee, I never
asked what they did with it... Mine i use on cooked eggs mundanely,
since i don't like plain black pepper.

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Finally, below is a message i found long ago - in Stefan's
Florilegium, i think, since i wasn't on this list in 1998...

Anahita

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Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 09:00:31 -0700
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - poudre forte, was Spice cabinet-what do we stock?

Hi all from Anne-Marie:

we are asked:
>  For those us who are new, what does go into poudre forte?

Mine is a mix of my own devising, according to spices mentioned in the
poudre fortes and spice mixes of Le Menagier (1390s Paris), Chiquart (1420
Savoy) and Taillevent (14th century French).

Anne-Marie's Poudre Forte...

1-1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp grains of paradise, ground with a mortar and pestle
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Combine and store in an airtight container, away from heat and light.

It's a very spicy mix...great in mushroom pasties, paste en pot du mouton,
wardens in syrop, medieval pasta dishes, etc.

By the way, you can mail order this stuff ready made from Worldspice here in
Seattle at hill at worldspice.com

I'm famous! :)
- --AM

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NOTE: Worldspice now has a website
http://www.worldspice.com
of course

And they're still selling Anne-Marie's spice blends :-)