[Sca-cooks] Blancmange

[Saint Phlip]

From:

http://www.soupsong.com/bhistory.html


Dilligrout soup commemorates 1066 English coronation and beyond:
Following his victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the
Conquerer, Duke of Normandy, had himself crowned at English King at
Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day. But he held the celebration,
waiting until he was joined by his Duchess, Matilda of Flanders. When
she arrived, he had her crowned queen and followed the coronation
ceremony with a lavish banquet prepared by the Royal cook, a Norman by
the name of Tezelin. Tezelin specially created a simple white soup
called Dilligrout and served it to the Royal couple. King William was
so pleased that he presented Tezelin with Edistone manor at Addington.
But not the end of story. This gift created a precendent that
continued to be honored through the history of the realm: with each
new monarch, the Lord of the Manor of Addington would present the soup
on the occasion of the coronation. The name stayed the same, but the
soup sure changed, progressing from "a mixture of almond milk, brawn
of capons, sugar and spices, chicken, parboiled and chopped, etc." to
"an herb pudding boiled in a pig's caul" for George IV, which was the
last time it was served. When Frederick English, a diamond millionaire
from South Africa took possession of Addington Manor in 1898, he
applied to serve the Dilligrout at the coronation of Edward VIII but
was turned down on the grounds that the custom had been discontinued.



On 7/3/07, Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius1 at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> On Jul 3, 2007, at 7:29 PM, Suey wrote:
>
> > Phil replied:
> >> It may simply be an attempt on the part of non-cooks to recreate some
> >> of the flavors they encountered in the Middle East, with perhaps an
> >> incomplete understanding of those cuisines.
> >>
> > Perry is a non-cook??? After looking at all that you people produce I
> > think I fit in that category although people do compliment me  and are
> > fascinated cause I can always produce something novel but man my
> > mistakes are just as novel. Killed the eggplant the other day as I
> > still
> > cannot conquer when to add the mint! Anyway if Perry is a non-cook why
> > do gobble up all he writes? He fascinates me because he is so clear.
>
> I have no issues with Perry. I was referring to the theoretical
> Returning Crusaders who had eaten chicken, rice, and almond dishes
> with sugar in the Middle East, may not have known exactly how they
> were made, but could conceivably have asked their cooks to produce
> something similar. I then compared this possibility to the pretty
> well-known scenario of 19th century English empire-builders returning
> home with a vague idea of some of the spices eaten in India, to
> create things like "curries" that were jellied and eaten cold, or
> based on cream sauce with curry powder added, and, of course,
> Worcestershire sauce ("from a recipe of a nobleman of the County").
>
> I don't imagine Charles Perry would have done that, either ;-).
>
> > I said:
> >>>         Is this in reference to mehallaiyyah or mehalabeya? I do not
> >>> think of medieval blancmange as a pudding but as a pottage and I
> >>> don't
> >>> see it becoming a dessert until the 17th Century.
> >>>
> > Phil answered:
> >> Well, what _does_ become a dessert prior to the 17th century, unless
> >> perhaps you mean wafers, confits and hippocras? ;-)
> >>
> >>
> > Ha ha ha! Fascinating material but this is another subject. I shall
> > send
> > another message concerning this titled Hispano-Muslim desserts.
>
> Well, I wasn't sure what relevance the view of blancmange as a
> dessert had; in the Middle Ages, although there were sweet dishes,
> very few of them appear to have filled the modern niche that a
> dessert does, unless it was wafers, comfits and hippocras.
>
> Incidentally, regarding earlier incarnations of blankmanger under
> other names, we may need to consider a dish about which very little
> is known: dillegrout. It has been alleged (I think by Leonard
> Wibberley, in a book about English Coronation ceremonies) that
> dillegrout was a traditional Coronation dish, and that it may have
> been a porridge similar to blankmanger. As I recall (I have no access
> to any more information than what I am telling you now; don't even
> bother asking ;-)  ), this was supposed to have been a throwback to
> old English (as in pre-Norman) Coronation feasts; it may have been
> intended to add legitimacy to the claims of Norman kings that they
> "ate like Englishmen". Anyway, I vaguely recall reading that
> dillegrout has been served at several English coronation feasts, some
> relatively recently (say, Edward VII), and that there is alleged to
> be a family with a hereditary title of Royal Dillegrout Pottager (or
> some such). You might look in the Florilegium for more info on
> dillegrout, possibly dilligrout.
>
> It's possible Johnnae or Bear may have some info on this.
>
> Adamantius
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>


-- 
Saint Phlip

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Priorities:

It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.

Blessed be the self-righteous, for they shall inherit themselves.