[Sca-cooks] Cold soup recipe

Suey lordhunt at gmail.com
Wed May 16 12:01:39 PDT 2007


Francis wrote:
>> I've had a cold almond soup with grapes in it, made by a Western  
>> Cooking Laurel so I am sure it is period.
>>     
> Surely faith is a virtue, and the provenance you mention might  
> constitute a good argument for it, but it _sounds_ a little like some conjecture that modern Andalusian/Malaga gazpacho is a period dish(which it may very well be; I don't know).
>   
Are you confusing white garlic soup, the first "soup" to be called 
gazpacho which consisted of mashed garlic, water and olive oil and 
served cold? It is an excellent dish. My references are Murcia that is 
the province claims to have added grapes to gazpacho not Malaga but then 
everyone likes to claim good dishes.
    Actually there is such thing as "soup" at least in Spain until after 
the Middle Ages. We have broths, pottages or in this case gazpacho. I 
believe you are talking about Almond Milk consisting almonds mixed with 
broth and strained. I can't find any Spanish medieval recipe for almond 
milk being served cold in basic medieval Hispano manuscripts but as 
kitchens tended to be far away from dining halls it was probably cold by 
the time it got to the table (ha, ha)!
     Now Almond Milk is of Arab origin and came to England via the 
crusades.

Lorna J. Sass in  _To the King's Taste Richard II's Book of Feasts and 
Recipes Adapted for Modern Cooking_. New York: The Metropolitan Museum 
of Art. 1975,

claims the only known recipe for "Cold Almond Soup" is in a manuscript 
from 1467 in the Holkham collection. It  was printed in Mrs. Alexander 
Napier's "A Noble Boke off Cokery ffor a Prynce houssolde" in1862 as it 
was so commonly known that few bothered to transcribe it (p 116): 
p117:

Almonds may be steeped in heated broth or wine rather than in boiling water.

 ½ cup blanched almonds (see directions below)
ice water
1 cup boiling water
1 ½ teaspoons honey
dash salt

1.      To blanch almonds, boil the nuts in water for 2 to 3 minutes. 
Drain. Pour cold water over them. Pop off the skins.
2.      Grind almonds in blender or mortar, adding a few tablespoons of 
ice water during the process to prevent the paste from becoming oily. If 
you enjoy a crunchy texture, leave them coarse; otherwise pulverize them.
3.      Add honey and salt to 1 cup boiling water and dissolve.
4.      Pour liquid over almonds, Allow to soak about 10 minutes, 
stirring occasionally.
5.      Strain out almonds if smooth texture is desired.
6.      Store in refrigerator and use as needed. Will last about 3 days.
YIELD: 1 ¼ cups unstrained; 1 cup strained

  Personally I don't use recipes when making almond milk just follow my 
instinct as variations are found in every household. I prefer grinding 
almonds in meat broth to grains such as barely water or wine. In general 
recipes call for sugar or honey but I don't recall sweetening my milk 
perhaps I haven't had any bitter almonds so far! I do add spices like 
nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger - those I like. For solid additions of fruit 
grapes are good as are melon, pomegranates and apples as per the season. 
Meats, poultry or fish can be added instead or vegetables, even legumes.  
    Almond milk is a free lance dish. If you like your creation of it 
then its good. Depending on the time of year I serve it hot or cold.
Suey
> Adamantius
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 00:06:39 -0400
> From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
> Subject: [Sca-cooks] Packing from the Nimatnama
> To: Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> Message-ID: <p06002025c2702f83efb9@[10.0.0.146]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>
> I've been going through the Nimatnama (1495-1505), and here are a few 
> selected items it recommends for hunting.  Sounds like a pretty good 
> packing list.
>
> Take plenty of water, provisions, rosewater and camphor...
> also female champions clad in armour and girt with swords...
> Take medicine... and all kinds of remedies...
> Take flowers and palanquins, with slave girls as palanquin bearers...
> Take musical instruments and singers of songs...
> Put camphor in shoes and fasten them up...
> Take along the likeness of the beautiful beloved.  Drink from hunting cups. 
> Agreeable women should come...
> Take along a goatskin to put under the feet.
> In order to be able to tell the time, take along the wheel of an astrolabe.
> Take eminently brave men.
> Take small curtains,
> take a sickle for use wherever it might be required,
> take a parasol to provide shade,
> Take a rug, a chair pillow, and a pusteen (fur jacket)...
> Take sharpeners
> There must be a traveling bath and readily available hot water
> Take along stones and flints to light fires
> Take beds and bedding and oil
> Take fish hooks and tackle
> Take along arrows, crossbows, swords, daggers,
> wax cloth, protection for light rain... lamps
> Take along chairs and juice and water and wine and potherbs
> Do not go near a village that has small chieftains, as it will be fortified
> Take a traveling throne
> Take basket of silver, hollow bamboo or needles, armlets, and beds
> Fold the bedding and make into a bundle
> Put shops in the hunting jungle and organize goods and the 
> manufacture of everything
> Organize.. purchasing milk... and the buying of food
> Fill empty skins with millet straw and use them as floating mattresses
> Take mattresses
> Fill a gourd with water in order to make the water cold
> Do not urinate near the place where wounded wolves may have fallen!!!
> Do not go out in wind and lightning.
> Take food for the royal court, galingale, cubebs, date sugar, cassia, 
> round pepper, pepper,
> water skins, large baskets, fine linen cloth, large kettledrums, 
> straight trumpets, and round trumpets.
> potherbs of all kinds, vessels of ghee and vegetable oil, rice, mung
> Put skewers everywhere, so they are readily available when required 
> and can be brought out and food cooked.
> Put goatskins of water before him and provide him with shade.
> Take sewing thread, thread for clothes
> a net for catching fish
> belts... suitable clothes
>
> Rani (Ranvaig)
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 21:11:26 -0700
> From: Susan Fox <selene at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Packing from the Nimatnama
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <C26FD27E.1F3B2%selene at earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> This is wonderful!  I'm forwarding it to my camping companions for Potrero
> war in 10 days.  
>
> I really would like some palanquin bearers but good help is so hard to find.
>
> Selene
>
> On 5/15/07 9:06 PM, "ranvaig at columbus.rr.com" <ranvaig at columbus.rr.com>
> wrote:
>
>   
>> I've been going through the Nimatnama (1495-1505), and here are a few
>> selected items it recommends for hunting.  Sounds like a pretty good
>> packing list.
>>
>> Take plenty of water, provisions, rosewater and camphor...
>> also female champions clad in armour and girt with swords...
>> Take medicine... and all kinds of remedies...
>> Take flowers and palanquins, with slave girls as palanquin bearers...
>> Take musical instruments and singers of songs...
>> Put camphor in shoes and fasten them up...
>> Take along the likeness of the beautiful beloved.  Drink from hunting cups.
>> Agreeable women should come...
>> Take along a goatskin to put under the feet.
>> In order to be able to tell the time, take along the wheel of an astrolabe.
>> Take eminently brave men.
>> Take small curtains,
>> take a sickle for use wherever it might be required,
>> take a parasol to provide shade,
>> Take a rug, a chair pillow, and a pusteen (fur jacket)...
>> Take sharpeners
>> There must be a traveling bath and readily available hot water
>> Take along stones and flints to light fires
>> Take beds and bedding and oil
>> Take fish hooks and tackle
>> Take along arrows, crossbows, swords, daggers,
>> wax cloth, protection for light rain... lamps
>> Take along chairs and juice and water and wine and potherbs
>> Do not go near a village that has small chieftains, as it will be fortified
>> Take a traveling throne
>> Take basket of silver, hollow bamboo or needles, armlets, and beds
>> Fold the bedding and make into a bundle
>> Put shops in the hunting jungle and organize goods and the
>> manufacture of everything
>> Organize.. purchasing milk... and the buying of food
>> Fill empty skins with millet straw and use them as floating mattresses
>> Take mattresses
>> Fill a gourd with water in order to make the water cold
>> Do not urinate near the place where wounded wolves may have fallen!!!
>> Do not go out in wind and lightning.
>> Take food for the royal court, galingale, cubebs, date sugar, cassia,
>> round pepper, pepper,
>> water skins, large baskets, fine linen cloth, large kettledrums,
>> straight trumpets, and round trumpets.
>> potherbs of all kinds, vessels of ghee and vegetable oil, rice, mung
>> Put skewers everywhere, so they are readily available when required
>> and can be brought out and food cooked.
>> Put goatskins of water before him and provide him with shade.
>> Take sewing thread, thread for clothes
>> a net for catching fish
>> belts... suitable clothes
>>
>> Rani (Ranvaig)
>> _______________________________________________
>> Sca-cooks mailing list
>> Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
>> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org
>>     
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 00:30:25 -0400
> From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Packing from the Nimatnama
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <p06002026c27037cfe1aa@[10.0.0.146]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>
>   
>> This is wonderful!  I'm forwarding it to my camping companions for Potrero
>> war in 10 days.
>>     
>
> The translation IS under copyright.  I think this is fair use, but I 
> should have credited the translation by Norah Titley.  Perhaps you 
> could add that.
>   
>> I really would like some palanquin bearers but good help is so hard to find.
>>     
>
> I liked the part about shops in the hunting jungle.
>
> Ranvaig
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 00:40:19 -0400
> From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Packing from the Nimatnama
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <CB91ABA1-5791-4F5C-94EC-8B81EAF80E60 at verizon.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
>
> On May 16, 2007, at 12:06 AM, ranvaig at columbus.rr.com wrote:
>
>   
>> I've been going through the Nimatnama (1495-1505), and here are a few
>> selected items it recommends for hunting.  Sounds like a pretty good
>> packing list.
>>     
>
> I think my lady wife wrote this...
>
> Adamantius
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 22:20:54 -0700
> From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Packing from the Nimatnama
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <200705160520.l4G5KgPO009784 at jade.aracnet.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> At 09:40 PM 5/15/2007, you wrote:
>
>   
>> On May 16, 2007, at 12:06 AM, ranvaig at columbus.rr.com wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> I've been going through the Nimatnama (1495-1505), and here are a few
>>> selected items it recommends for hunting.  Sounds like a pretty good
>>> packing list.
>>>       
>> I think my lady wife wrote this...
>>
>> Adamantius
>>     
>
> I forwarded it to James right off, with "I do NOT have too much 
> stuff!". Grumblegrmbmbls...
>
> 'Lainie
> ___________________________________________________________________________
> "It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than 
> our abilities."  -Albus Dumbledore
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 21:50:29 -0800
> From: Sharron Albert <morgana at gci.net>
> Subject: [Sca-cooks] OT: beer ad
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <p05010402c26efa15bf78@[24.237.153.60]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
>
> Greetings!
>
> Has anyone else noticed the recent Samuel Adams beer ad, referring to 
> their Summer Ale, with lemon and that 'traditional' brewing spice, 
> grains of paradise?
>
> I'd almost be willing to hunt it down and check it out...and I'm not 
> much of a beer drinker.
>
> Morgana yr Oerfa, usual lurker
>   




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