[Sca-cooks] Apple Mush

[Patrick Levesque]

Was working tonight on the Amplummus, # 17 from the Vivendier (Scully's
edition and translation. Just got it in the mail today. Yay!)

It's actually a fairly easy recipe to adapt and prepare, but I had a few
questions regarding the recipe, which I'll present after the redaction.

Original: Pour faire un amplummus, prenez pommes pelleez et copez par
morceaulx, puis mis boullir en belle esve fresce; et quant il sont bien
cuis, purez l'esve hors nettement, puis les suffrisiez en beau bure fres;
ayez cresme douce et moyeulx d'oels bien batus, saffren et sel egalment; et
au dreschier canelle et chucqure largement pardessus.

Scully's Translation: To make an Apple Sauce. Get peeled apples, cut into
pieces, then set to boil in pure fresh water. When they are thoroughly
cooked, drain off all of the water and sautee them in good fresh butter; get
fresh cream and well beaten egg yolks and saffron and salt judiciously. On
dishing it up, cinnamon and sugar generously over top.

My take on it:

-2 apples
-1/2 pint 35% cream
-2 egg yolks
-1 tablespoon butter
-1/2 teaspoon saffron
-salt
-lots of sugar (to sprinkle over)
-a little cinnamon (to sprinkle over)

optional: a baguette of bread.

Peel and quarter the apples; dump in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. In the
meantime (or before), beat the egg yolks, add the cream, salt, saffron. Melt
the butter in a pan. When apples are cooked, pull out with a perforated
spoon, drain well of water. Add the quarters in the pan, fry them in butter
for a minute or two. Put the apples and cream in a pot and warm up while
stirring constantly, so the apple slowly disintegrate in the cream. (one
could puree the apples for a smoother texture. I prefer it lumpy.)

I served this in slices of baguette bread, fried in what butter was left
from frying the apples. I immediately added sugar until the cream would stop
absorbing it (nicer color) and sprinkled some cinnamon on top.

-----

My first question, regarding this dish, is whether or not the apples should
be mashed with the cream. The recipe mentions to 'neatly press the water
out'; once fried, the apple quarters be served whole with the cream on top.
You have to be a bit more careful with the apples, but there is no great
difficulty in doing so.
Scully relates this recipe to other apple sauces and dishes for the sick
(the Vivendier does not explicitly categorize the dish as 'for the sick');
yet, even in whole quarters, the apple would be soft enough to be eaten by
anyone. 

My second question is, regardin a hypothetical feast, and notwithstanding
period service customs, I would tend to see this more as a light interlude
between more substantial dishes, than a dessert. I am far too ignorant of
period service (and should probably take a good look at the Florilegium :-))
to say how that would be placed in a period meal.

Petru