[Sca-cooks] Junket

[Ariane Helou]

So, I was reading this account of feasts in medieval Italy, and there's a 
description of a wedding banquet that took place on June 15, 1368 (Petrarch 
was among the luminaries attending).  There were 18 (!!) courses, 
consisting of gilded roasts and feathered peacocks and so forth...nothing 
I'd attempt to make, but I'm interested in this account for menu-planning 
purposes, to get a sense of the order in which foods were served and 
eaten.  In that respect, it's been pretty useful.

Here are the basics, for others who are curious about such things: each 
course seems to consist of fish and either meat or poultry (occasionally 
both).  The contents of the accompanying dishes are not always named, but 
include cabbage, beans, salted tongue, and some pastries.  ("Side dishes" 
are not that hard to figure out, since several of the vegetable or legume 
recipes instruct the cook to "serve with roast _____")  And lots of wine.

But the part that interests me at the moment is that the seventeenth course 
is "junket and cheese," and the eighteenth is "fruits, with cherries."  My 
cookbook has a recipe:

"Junket.
Take pure milk, clear, strained, and add kid or lamb rennet; and when it is 
curdled, wash it well, and put it between reeds, and give it to your Lord; 
or put it in cold water instead until it is time to eat."

I like to end my modern meals with fruit and cheese, so it's rather 
delightful to find that the same was done in the fourteenth century.  While 
I could probably substitute any kind of fresh, soft, sweetish cheese, I'm 
interested in trying to make the junket itself.

It sounds a little like cottage cheese to me.  I'm not sure what "put it 
between reeds" means -- pressing it, I suppose?  Which would mean it's much 
more solid than cottage cheese -- maybe more like farmer's cheese or 
something.  The alternate instructions to put it in cold water make me 
think that the curds can either be pressed and served later, or kept cool 
and served fresh the same day.

Since the meal I'm planning this for is at a camping event, I'd need to 
make the junket anywhere from a week to a day in advance, so the pressed 
version seems more appropriate.  On the other hand, if it's going to be 
very time-consuming or difficult, perhaps I ought to just buy more cheeses 
and devote my energies to the more substantial and central parts of the 
meal... which brings me back to the question of what a finished junket 
looks like, anyway. :-)

thanks,


Vittoria