[Sca-cooks] pistachio marzipan?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Oct 13, 2006, at 5:46 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> 'Lainie mentioned:
> "Lessee what I can remember... Gyngerbrede, shortbread,
> marzipan, pistachio marzipan, White Torta, candied orange peels,  
> apricot
> roses, some almond and honey candy..."
>
> "pistachio marzipan"? I assume, since you also mention just
> "marzipan" that this is marzipan made using pistachios, rather than
> almonds?
>
> I don't seem to have any info in the Florilegium on "pistachio
> marzipan". Is there actually a period recipe or mention of this? Or
> is this just a modern variation? I assume part of the trick is to
> find unsalted pistachios. I've found them out of the shell, but I
> think these were salted.

I forget where I've seen this, but I definitely have seen a reference  
to [a] marzipan alternative[s] in earlyish period based on either  
pignoles, or pistachios, or both (separate entities, that is, if  
both). I know Chiquart mentions pine nut paste as an ingredient in  
his Tourtes of Parma, but doesn't define it or give a recipe for it,  
and I STR (but could be wrong) that pistachio "marzipan" is mentioned  
somewhere. If nowhere else finely ground pistachios appear in one or  
more of the Teste de Turte recipes.

Okay, after searching the inner depths of assorted hard drives (I had  
a major, catastrophic partial data loss a few weeks ago when the  
250GB backup drive, almost full, died on me), I find a reference to  
an actual marzipan variant called pignolat, made more or less as  
marzipan is, using pignoles, sugar, and rose water, in that 15th- 
century Milanese Wedding feast account found among, IIRC, the papers  
of Nostradamus.

Adamantius