[Sca-cooks] Dessert for tomorrow

[Barbara Benson]

Greetings,

>From The English Housewife by Gervase Markham first published in 1615:

A Norfolk Fool
Take a pint of the sweetest and thickest cream that can be gotten, and set
it on the fire in a very clean scoured skillet, and put into it sugar,
cinnamon, and a nutmeg cut into four quarters, and so boil it well: then
take the yolk of four eggs, and take off the films, and beat them well with
a little sweet cream: then take the four quarters of the nutmeg out of the
cream, then put in the eggs, and stir it exceedingly, till it be thick: then
take a fine manchet, and cut it into thin shives, as much as will cover a
dish bottom, and, holding it in your hand, pour half of the cream into the
dish: then lay your bread over it, then cover the bread with the rest of the
cream, and so let it stand till it be cold: then strew it over with caraway
comfits, and prick up some cinnamon comfits, and some sliced dates; or for
want thereof, scrape all over it with some sugar, and trim the sides of the
dish with sugar, and so serve it up.

The next recipt in line is also a familiar desert title but not what we
would think of:
A Trifle
Take a pint of the best and thickest cream, and set it on the fire in a
clean skillet, and put into it sugar, cinnamon, and a nutmeg cut into four
quarters, and so boil it well: then put it into the dish you intend to serve
it in, and let it stand to cool till it be no more than lukewarm: then put
in a spoonful of the best earning, and stir it well about, and so let it
stand till it be cold, and then strew sugar upon it, and so serve it up, and
this you may serve either in a dish, glass, or other plate.

I hope that these are helpful for you.

Glad Tidings,

--Serena da Riva

> I am making a Fool for dessert for tomorrow ;-), and have found a couple
references online to recipes originating in the 15th or 16th centurey for
Fools, but no sources were given. _Classic Home Desserts_, which is
wonderful for discussing the origins and variations of many lovely and
less-known desserts like flummery, is also vague about the origins of
specific recipes for Fool.
>
> Any thoughts or pointers to resources?