[Sca-cooks] Introduction and a request

[Christiane]

Hello, wonderful cooks!

I am a fairly recent newcomer to the SCA, having joined officially last October. But I've had a fair amount of activity so far, mostly music related. I have always been interested in cooking and food history, however, so a recent little project of mine has finally prompted me to do what I should have done months ago, and join this list.

Mundanely, I am of partly of Sicilian descent, and I have been doing more research about the culture and food of the island. I am fascinated that dishes created then, particularly sweets, are still being created now. But there have been modifications as new foods and spiced were introduced.

The pastry-making aspect of Sicilian cooking has fascinated me since I read "Bitter Almonds." The most elaborate dessert to have come out of Sicilian pastry making is cassata. Today's cassata has sweetened ricotta, candied fruit, marzipan, pan d' spagna, and chocolate bits. What I am trying to determine is what a late-period cassata would have contained. I contacted the food historian Clifford Wright who said my theory that a late-period cassata may have contained unsweetened chocolate bits could be valid, as the Bourbons had control of the island and the Spanish nobles had chocolate as a luxury item. But I am quite content if this theory was shot more full of holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese. I'm just looking for a period recipe, and even it's in Italian or Sicilian, I'd be quite happy to translate it myself.

Mille grazie!

Gianotta