[Sca-cooks] whisk

[Stefan li Rous]

Aislinn asked:
<<< Does anyone know if whisks are period and if there are any extant  
examples?
Internet searches are bringing up nothing for me. >>>

Good question. I think horsehair strainers and such were often used  
to get a similar result as we often use whisks for.

However, I finally found this in the dairy-prod-msg file in the  
Florilegium:

<<< Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 20:09:47 -0400
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: Re: SC - Whipped Cream

 >I've just recieved my copy of Pleyn Delit, and I love it : )
 >There are a couple of question marks though - the authors  
repeatedly state
 >that medieval cooks did not whip either cream or eggwhite. Does anyone
 >know if this is really true?
 >I find it hard to believe
 >
 >Lady Uta

Hello!  I've got a recipe for Crustade Lumbard (Harl. 279, Dyuerse Bake
metis, #17) that says "Take gode Creme, & leuys of Percely, & Eyroun,  
[th]e
[3]olkys & [th]e whyte, & breke hem [th]er-to, & strayne [th]orwe a
straynoure, tyl it be so styf [th]at it wol bere hym-self..."

If the phrase "tyl it be so styf [th]at it wol bere hym-self..." is
referring to the cream, then this is the earliest mention of whipped  
cream
that I've found yet. (c. 1430)

There's an illustration from Il Cuoco Segreto..., 1570, showing a cook
whipping cream with a whisk.  I posted that illustration here:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food-art/cheese_and_butter.gif

Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net >>>

Although this may not be what you had in mind, there is also this  
notation on whisks taken from a period document on controlling flies.  
This can be found in the Pest-Control-art file in the ANIMALS section  
of the Florilegium:

<<< Have whisks [little flat shovels rather like today's fly-swats]   
wherewith to
slay them by hand...Have your windows shut full tight with oiled or  
other
cloth, or with parchment or something else, so tightly that no fly  
may enter,
and let the flies that be within be slain with the whisk or otherwise as
above, and no others will come in'. >>>

Another bit of info from the eggs-msg file:
<<< Date: 19 May 2004 08:22:49 -0000
From: "Volker Bach" <bachv at paganet.de>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Meringues?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

On Tue, 18 May 2004 12:43:49 -0700 (PDT), Huette von Ahrens
<ahrenshav at yahoo.com> wrote :
 > According to the Oxford Companion to Food,
 > "It sees to have been only in the 16th century
 > that European cooks discovered that beating egg
 > whites, e.g. with a whisk of birch twigs (in the
 > absence of any better implement), produced an
 > attractive foam.

I would dispute that statement, though 'rediscovered' might apply.   
Anthimus
'de observation ciborum', entry 34, describes a dish called 'afrutum',
apparently of greek origin or at least connections. he clearly states  
that
egg whites albumen de ovo) should be used to make it 'foamy' (quomodo
spuma) and that the result should be piled up in a dsh. THe dish looks
like a souffle, and I'd read it as clearly using beaten egg whites.

Giano >>>

Another from the utensils-msg filein the FOOD-UTENSILS section:

<<< Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 10:09:44 -0700
From: Curtis & Mary <ladymari at cybertrails.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Whisks

 > Does anyone out there know if whisks had been invented by the mid
 > sixteenth century?  I am getting ready to make egg tempera paints  
and I
 > know that it is vital to whip the white very well (a spoon will  
not do).

I beleive they used a twig or stick with the end split multiple times to
make a whisk.

Mairi, Atenveldt  >>>

Hope these tidbits help. I found lots of hits on "whisk", but only  
these few on the period use of whisks. Of course there might have bee  
a different term used for this in period.

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 ****