[Sca-cooks] vinegar, caudles

[Stefan li Rous]

Last Thursday Mael Patraic mac Domnaill posted the link to his article 
on a Midrealm SCA feast:
> Greetings. This is Patrick O'Donnell/Mael Patraic mac Domnaill, the
> Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter who sought advice for a story on an SCA
> feast. Links to the story and accompanying fact boxes are below
>
> http://www.cleveland.com/cooking/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/
> 1115199000294380.xml

I finally got around to reading this article and several questions come 
to me.

For instance this pair of paragraphs:
>  Today's medieval re-creation cooks have to sort through recipes that 
> are vague, use long-defunct units of measurement or rely on 
> ingredients that either no longer exist or whose nature has changed 
> over the years.
>
>  Take vinegar, for example. In the Middle Ages, Engle said, the term 
> vinegar covered wine in varying stages of transformation. Countless 
> recipes call for it as a main ingredient in sauces. To make today's 
> vinegar closer to its forebears, he will add wine to it.

I know the original term "vinegar" meant soured wine, but I thought by 
the Middle Ages that vinegars from other sources were also known and 
used. Is there any evidence for period vinegars being used "in varying 
stages of transformation"? Just as wines can, and I believe were, made 
in various ranges from sweet to dry, I guess vinegars could be treated 
the same way, although I'm not sure how you keep a vinegar at a certain 
point. In a mead, you can do it by varying the amount of honey. 
Comments?

>  As with all SCA feasts, this one has its share of hits and misses. 
> The caudell and pumpkin risotto, for which Engle had high hopes, gets 
> the thumbs down from many feasters, whose tables return their pitchers 
> to the kitchen mostly full. The saffron-egg mixture is too much for 
> some to handle.

Has anyone else served a caudle at an SCA feast? How well did it go 
over?

for those wanting more details on caudles, see these files in the 
BEVERAGES section of the Florilegium:
caudles-art      (12K) 11/21/97   A medieval drink of warm wine or beer
                                      thickened with eggs by Tibor.
caudls-posets-msg (13K) 2/12/02   Caudles and Possets. Thickened 
beverages.

>  To some, it tastes medicinal, and others dislike its odd temperature, 
> neither hot nor cold

But then, considering the lack of an easy way to cool drinks and the 
logistics of keeping a hot drink hot if delivered from the outside 
kitchen, I'm not sure that much of the medieval drinks weren't served 
at this "odd" temperature.

Then again, I'm not sure a caudle would have been served at a feast.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****