[Sca-cooks] breadcrumbs & grain disheswas:gingerbread

[David Friedman]

>Oh, and it also reminded me of this Italian hot grain + fat dish:
>XXIV Maize dish (Frumenty) good and very useful.
>If you want to make frumenty, take the wheat berries, and grind/beat 
>it well until the husk lifts, then wash it well.  Put it to boil in 
>water, but don't boil it too much, then pour away the water.  Then 
>add inside the fat of whichever animal you wish, and you want to 
>make sure that you don't add too much.  Add sweet and strong spices, 
>and saffron, and if you don't have wheat then you can take rice, and 
>it will be good.
>
>With rice being offered as an alternate, I've made this before for 
>gluten intolerant folks.
>
>From Helewye's translation of Libro Cuchina:
>http://www.geocities.com/helewyse/libro.html#III

Now I'm curious. Why is it called a Maize dish? Did the word have an 
earlier meaning?

Checking the Italian text, the answer is that it isn't called a maize 
dish. So the question is why Helewyse called it that. Was the Italian 
word in the original ("Formentra") something that modern dictionaries 
gives as a maize dish?

In case she doesn't notice, I'm copying this to her.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com