[Sca-cooks] Trdelnik query

[Terry Decker]

Trdelnik is Baumkuchen of which Rumpolt's recipe is possibly the earliest on 
record.  In Hungary, the same class of pastry is Ku:rto~skala'ks (place the 
diacritical marks over the preceding vowel) which is thought to have 
originated in Transylvania, where there is a large population of Hungarians. 
Rumpolt, being of Hungarian origin, suggests that this might be a treat from 
home which he brought with him.  It is a Central European dessert that has 
spread into a number of European cultures and was even introduced in to 
Japan (from Germany) around WWI.  I've spotted a couple of references that 
it is still spreading through Asia.

This one is fascinating, although I have no idea how to document the 
cultural transfer.

Bear


> Could it be related to spit cake?  This recipe is from Rumpolt, but there 
> are others.  I find it interesting that the dough is wrapped around a 
> roller, not a spit.  It doesnt say what the roller is made of, but 
> probably wood.  Walger is the same word used for the tool to roll out 
> dough.
>
> Gebackens 20. Take warm milk and beat eggs with it/ mix a dough with fair 
> white flour/ take little beer yeast and butter to it/ let it stand a while 
> behind the oven/ that it rises/ make it again into a ball/ and salt it a 
> little/ then roll it out cleanly/ throw black raisins over it. Take a 
> Walger (roller)/ that is warm/ and rubbed with butter/ and lay it on the 
> dough/ wrap the dough over/ and tie it together with a twine/ so it does 
> not fall off/ lay to the fire and turn slowly/ like this will it roast 
> cleanly. And when it becomes brown then take a brush/ and put it into hot 
> butter/ and coat the cake with it/ like this it will be a beautiful brown. 
> And when it is roasted/ so take it off the roller spit/ and put into both 
> holes with a clean cloth/ that the heat remains/ let it remain like this/ 
> until it is cool so give cold on a table/ so it becomes tender and good. 
> And one calls it Spiesskuchen (spit cake).
>
> Ranvaig