[Sca-cooks] Easter Observances
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at att.net
Tue Mar 17 15:55:12 PDT 2009
I'm always happy to provide references if I have them. For simnels, there
isn't much to go on, but let me provide a few additional ones to round out
my comments.
Other than the paper I did for CooksCon 3, the only serious work on simnels
of which I know (found with Johnnae's marvelous help) was C. Anne Wilson's
"I'll to Thee a Simnel Bring," Petit Propos Culinaires 19, 1985, 46-52.
There is also some information in David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery.
Wilson's title is from Robert Herrick's To Dianeme (1648?);
"I'll to thee a simnel bring,
'Gainst thou go a-mothering:
So that, when she blesses thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me."
They are mentioned in the Assize of Bread (which is why I think it is likely
a fine yeast bread), which was first formulated in 1266 and in John de
Garlande's Dictionaries (Paris 13th Century), simineus or simnenels were the
equivalent of the Latin placentae.
Simnels are definitely period, but they have evolved over at least seven
centuries and the earliest references I've leave a lot of room to speculate
on what a Medieval simnel actually was. It is definitely not the modern
version of the Simnel cake and it probably isn't much like Chamber's
version.
Bear
> Thank you Bear, that is very interesting. I first heard of Simnel cakes
> and
> Mothering Sunday in that early SCA standard "How To Cook Forsoothly". I
> have read other apocryphal descriptions, so it is nice to see some
> concrete
> references.
> Christianna
>
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