[Sca-cooks] Melons in England

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Fri Aug 1 15:32:15 PDT 2008


Johnnae gave a melon recipe:

<<< Here's instructions for a tart of Roman melons

This is an excerpt from *Ouverture de Cuisine*
(France, 1604 - Daniel Myers, trans.)
The original source can be found at MedievalCookery.com
<http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/ouverture.shtm>

To make a tart of Roman melons. Take a melon that is not at all
overripe, & wash it well within & without, & finely chop, then take four
ounces of good fat cheese, two ounces of sugar, a quarter ounce of
cinnamon, & a nutmeg, & make the tart like the others, when cooked,
sprinkle sugar thereon, & color with nutmeg. >>>

What kind of melon is this likely to be?

Maybe I'm being too literal, but this seems to chop up the rind along  
with the fruit portion. ie: "wash it well within & without, & finely  
chop". Or is it assumed that the melon is already peeled?  But if the  
latter, what is the "within & without" about?

Also, the "color with nutmeg" means sprinkle with ground nutmeg,  
right? Nutmeg won't act as a dye and actually color the entire top of  
the tart would it?

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 ****





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