[Sca-cooks] Dredge?

[Barbara Benson]

Dragon > 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).

I hesitate to assume that they are using the modern concept of
'dredging' here, which is why I am inquiring of this list if there are
other ideas.

Dragon> 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.

Peaches are an incredibly low pectin fruit and I doubt they will leach
enough to set up this volume of sugar.

Dragon> 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.

Assuming we know what the intended result is. I try very hard to go
into redacting recipes without any preconceived notions of how it will
turn out. This way I can avoid skewing my results towards a more
modern dish and instead attempt to get something as close to the
period as possible.


Sandra > 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.

That was my initial reaction also, the cutting instructions seem clear
that you are to cut the fruit in two and remove the pit with minimal
"breaching" or breaking of the peach. I believe the halves are
intended to go into the pie as intact as possible. This leaves an
awful lot of room for "dredge". Of course, period peaches were
probably much smaller, but their rounded nature will leave a goodly
amount of head room.

Thank you all for your feedback.

Ciao!
Serena