[Sca-cooks] Dredge?

[Sandra Kisner]

>>In doing research I came across the following recipe in The Good
>>Huswife's Handmaid:
>>http://www.uni-giessen.de/gloning/ghhk/
>><recipes cut>
>---------------- End original message. ---------------------
>
>Actually, I think it is exactly as simple as it looks. The mixture used is 
>called the dredge, in this case the sugar, cinnamon and ginger, in verb 
>form it means to coat something in a dry mixture (as in to dredge in flour).
>
>These recipes make fruit pies, the sugar cinnamon and ginger will combine 
>with the juices from the fruit during baking to produce a flavorful syrup 
>that will (hopefully) thicken and set from the pectin in the fruit as the 
>pie cools. Modern recipes often add a starch to the dredge to improve the 
>thickening action but if you have good, properly ripened fruit, it really 
>should not be an issue.
>
>I'd suggest a slight modification to the recipe instructions by coating 
>the fruit in the dredge and then placing in the crust. It will be better 
>distributed and should give a much better result.
>
>Dragon

But the recipe doesn't call for just coating the fruit, it asks you to 
"fill vp your coffins," which is, I suspect, the confusing part.  Unless 
you have very small pieces very closely packed, you're going to end up with 
a *lot* of "dredge" in your coffin.

Sandra