[Sca-cooks] Fwd: Cherry Pottage

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Mar 31, 2010, at 4:32 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Forwarded with permission.
> 
> Stefan
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: Raymond Wickham <insidious565 at hotmail.com>
>> Date: March 31, 2010 7:28:33 AM CDT
>> To: <stefanlirous at austin.rr.com>
>> Subject: Cherry Pottage
>> 
>> This was posted and I believe its in reference to the redaction by Gideanus Adamantius from Ostgardr in the East Kingdom you may want to inform them as thats a nice change to the recipe
>> 
>> 33.  To make a syrosye.  Tak cheryes & do out the stones & grynde hem wel & draw hem thorw a streynoure & do it in a pot. & do thereto whit gres or swete botere & myed wastel bred, & cast thereto good wyn & sugre, & salte it & stere it wel togedere, & dresse it in disches; & set thereyn clowe gilofre, & strew sugre aboue.
>> 
>> 33.  To make a syrose (cherry pottage).  Take cherries and stone them and grind them well and draw them through a strainer and place it in a pot and add white grease or sweet butter and good white bread and add good wine and sugrar and salt, and stir it well together, and put it into a dish and garnish (?) with cloves and "strew sugar about". (III.  Utilis Coquinario from Curye on Ingysch)
>> 
>> WHAT IS THE MISTAKE YOU ASK?
>> 
>> The mistake is in the translation of  "clowe gilofre" to read "cloves".  In Britain (and Australia) we have a little plant we grow in cottage gardens: it's common name is 'Pink", it is otherwise known as clove gillyflower or mini-carnation.  The online dictionary says "Clove gillyflower (bot.) any fragrant self-coloured carnation. The clove pink."  Maybe the French (Odile Redon et al) and the Americans (Constance Heiatt et al) don't call them clove gillyflowers...because the same error appears every time I see this recipe translated by SCAdians
>> 
>> Try re-reading the recipe translating 'clove gillyflower' as 'miniature carnations', makes much more sense...yes?
>> 
>> Cloves are  traditionally used to flavour apples.  Not traditionally used to flavour cherries.  In this recipe the 'clowe gilofre" is strewn upon the dish after cooking and before serving.  You need to cook cloves to infuse the dish with flavour.  So to strew little pink flowers upon your crimson soup would look ever so pretty and to my thinking is much more likely to be the desired effect.  It would also mean you don't have to "warn your guests that the cloves are there for decoration only" (Redon, et al, 1993)

I believe we've had this discussion here, and I've had it elsewhere, before.

Having established that there is a flower by that name, and also that there are numerous references to cloves gilofre in among spice powder ingredients, and studding other foods with cloves (the spice), how does this suggest that the interpretation as a flower garnish is more viable?

It's conceivable. 

Perhaps there are contemporary recipes in other languages (say, German?) which might provide a clue  by using different terms for the different items -- IOW, in German it's unlikely the flower would be called speissnageln, so it might be more clear which item is intended by that source, at least.

Adamantius






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