[Sca-cooks] seeds of paradise and Nostradamus (WAS Need some Help with Spanish Recipes....)

[vicki shaw]

oh great, thanks Phlip!  
Just picked up a book, The Elixirs of Nostradamus; Nostradamus' original recipes for elixirs, scented water, beauty potions and sweetmeats.....

Now, my problem with some of these recipes is not so much finding ingredients - altho the recipe for cleaning rotten teeth is rather esoteric since one needs a clay used to make bricks that turn white after firing, LOL (I dont have rotten teeth, but a friend in NZ does and I would love to send him a redaction of this recipe) - but figuring out how to use oven, stove top or even microwave to substitute for open fire, or cooking in clay vessels or using retorts (what is a retort aside from a quick witty answer), and finally measurements.  How much is a drachm?  And he mentions venetian glass containers....
Oh and his recipes for sweetmeats and marzipan, candied fruits and jellies [e.g., How to Make Superb Quince Jelly, which may be kept for a long time and is fit to be set before a king] and other yummies, look wonderful.  Maybe there is a book already out there of redacted versions of his recipes???
Vicki

Angharad 

> I have some- next time I get up there, I'll bring you a few of the odder
> spices we use in Medieval cookery. I also have cubebs and long pepper.
> 
> Saint Phlip,
> CoDoLDS
>