[Sca-cooks] Re: Documentation for Presentation

[Johnna Holloway]

Plat also talks about moulding gingerbread-- from Delightes for Ladies

22. To make Ginger-bread

Take three stale Manchets, and grate them: dry them, and sift them 
thorow a fine sieve: then adde unto them one ounce of Ginger being 
beaten, and as much Cinamon, one ounce of Liquorice and Anniseeds beeing 
beaten together, and searced, halfe a pound of sugar; then boil all 
these together in a posnet, with a quart of claret wine, till they come 
to a stiff paste with often stirring of it; and when it is stiffe, mould 
it on a table, and so drive it thin, and put it in your moulds: dust 
your moulds with Cinamon, Ginger, and Liquorice, being mixed together in 
fine powder. This is your Ginger-bread used at the Court, and in all 
Gentlemens houses at festival times. It is otherwise called dry Leach.

23. To make dry Ginger-bread

Take half a pound of Almonds, and as much grated cake, and a pound of 
fine sugar, and the yolks of two new laid egges, the juice of a lemmon, 
and two grains of musk: beat all these together til they come to a 
paste: then print it with your moulds: and so dry it upon papers in an 
oven, after your bread is drawn.

The chapter "The Pastry Yard' in All the King's Cooks by Brears
has some material in it about this sort of thing.
There's a St. Paul's Cathedral covered in gold for one thing.

Johnnae


>Nichola reported that Nancy Kiel wrote:
>  
>
>>Out of curiosity, is there evidence for houses being made 
>>in such detail, perhaps as subtleties? I've heard of castles 
>>as subtleties of course, but did they do interior details?
>>    
>>
>
>The Andalusian _Manuscrito Anonimo_ of the 13th century has a recipe for
>"cast sugar" items which is boiled sugar poured into molds.  I can't lay my
>hands on the Charles Perry edition, but the prior one (my translation) ends
>with "Then decorate it [this refers to the molded item] with gilt...(snip)
>If you want to make a tree or a figure of a castle, cut it piece by piece. 
>Then decorate it room by room (section by section) and stick it together
>with mastic until you complete the figure you want, if God wills."  The
>title in that version was "Figures dressed in sugar".
>
>Alys Katharine
>  
>