[Sca-cooks] "Custard" Crust?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Johnna Holloway:
>Way back in the dark ages-- PPC did a series of articles
>on bakewell tarts in PPC 2 and 5. I used those articles then
>as a basis for my first Period Palate column in 1980..... I guess
>a quarter century ago now. Given it was limited to one half page
>because that was all the room that TI could spare, it didn't really
>have the room to explore the subject in a thorough manner.
>Alan Davidson mentions another association besides those dishes mentioned
>by Master A. Caudles and possets both, Davidson notes, have 
>virtually been custards.
>
>Johnnae

I have the idea that if you look at every caudle recipe and every 
posset recipe there ever was in the whole wide world since the 
beginning of time, you may find that caudles and possets differ in 
that caudles tend to be thickened with eggs and possets with grain. 
Or I could be thinking of a very specific snapshot (say, November of 
1543) and forming a misimpression not supported by The Big Picture.

But certainly there are a lot of custardy items in the genres you 
mention. Not to mention stuff like zabaglione.

Adamantius



>
>Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
>
>>Also sprach Jessica Tiffin:
>>
>>>This is an interesting point. I've just done a research paper on 
>>>custards, and actually none of the recipes I looked at call 
>>>themselves "custards" until the late 16th century - they're egg 
>>>flans, darioles, doucetes, flathonys, whatever. snipped
>>
>>
>>Well, it seems fairly possible that at some point, presumably 
>>around 1600, the standard filling for crustades, which almost 
>>always seems to involve, in part, a liquid thickened with eggs or 
>>egg yolks, became the main identifying characteristic of the dish, 
>>whereas before, it might be said to be a pastry whose filling 
>>usually contained eggs. snipped
>>
>>So maybe the concept of identity shift isn't as rare and surprising 
>>as we might at first think...
>>
>>Adamantius
>
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