All the King's Cooks (27 page)

3.
 
Weigh the pulp, add its weight in sugar, and stir it all together with a wooden spoon over a gentle heat until very stiff. Then turn out into a lightly greased, shallow tin or flat plate, and allow to cool.

MARMALADE OF PEACHES OR APRICOTS
⁶⁴

1.
 
Chop and blend the fruit, or rub through a sieve to make a smooth purée.

2.
 
Put the purée, sugar and rosewater into a pan, bring to the boil while stirring with a wooden spoon, then boil rapidly, stirring continuously, until it stiffens and darkens to a dark-orange colour. Drip a few drops from the end of the spoon on to a cold plate to check that it is sufficiently boiled to set very firmly, then pour out on to a lightly greased, shallow tin or flat plate, and allow to cool.

TO MAKE MARCHPANE
⁶⁵

1.
 
Mix the almonds and rosewater in a bowl. Stir in the icing sugar and work them together with a pestle or the back of a wooden spoon until they form a smooth, very firm dough. Be careful not to work them too harshly, or the mixture will turn oily.

2(a).
 
For an authentic marchpane: the wafers were cut into large squares, their edges moistened and overlapped so as to stick together to form a sheet 20cm (8in) in diameter. The
dough was then rolled out inside a 1.3cm (½ in) deep hoop of green hazel placed on top of the wafers.

2(b).
 
For today: Line the base and bottom inch of a 17.5cm (7in) round loose-bottomed cake tin with the wafers or rice paper, place the dough inside, and smooth level with a spatula.

3.
 
Embed patterns of coloured comfits in the top of the marchpane dough.

4.
 
Mix the glaze ingredients together, and brush them over the top of the marchpane.

5.
 
Place the marchpane on a baking sheet, and bake at 80°C (175°F, low gas) for 30 minutes. Then remove and leave to cool. Repeat this stage, if necessary, until it is quite firm.

6.
 
For further decoration, stick some kissing comfits into the marchpane, and/or gild it.

For gold-leaf decoration, rabbits’-tails were used as ‘tips’, to lift up the leaf and to pat it down in place. The leaf may be cut into small squares and the place where it is to be set down dampened with a little water, the gold leaf lifted up by one corner, using a small, slightly moistened brush, put in place, and then very gently patted down using a very soft dry brush. Alternatively, a piece of thin paper was cut out as a stencil, bearing the name of Jesus, a deer, or any other suitable device. The centre of the marchpane was slightly dampened, the stencil laid over it, the gold leaf applied over the exposed areas and patted down. Then the stencil was removed to leave a neat golden motif on top of the marchpane.

SUGAR PLATE (PASTE)
⁶⁶

1.
 
Stir the gum tragacanth into the lemon juice and rosewater in a small basin. Leave overnight, or place in a pan of hot water until the gum tragacanth has dissolved, and leave it to cool.

2.
 
Stir in the lightly beaten egg white (and any required food colouring), then work in the sifted icing sugar, little by little, until it forms a dough. Turn this out on to a board with more icing sugar, and knead until completely smooth.

3.
 
Roll it into a ball, and closely wrap in a plastic food bag immediately, since the surface dries out to brittleness after only a short exposure to the air.

MUSCADINES, OR KISSING COMFITS
⁶⁷

1.
 
Divide a piece of sugar plate into three portions, colouring one red, another blue, and leaving the third one white.

2.
 
Roll out each piece of plate in turn on a smooth surface, dusting it with a little cornflour to prevent it from sticking, then cut it into small diamonds, if possible using a pastry jigger with a notched wheel. Place the shapes on a sheet of paper dusted with cornflour, and leave them to dry completely.

They would then either have been eaten in this form, or used to decorate marchpanes, for instance.

CARDS
⁶⁸

1.
 
Roll out a piece of white sugar plate on a smooth surface, dusting it with a little cornflour to prevent sticking. Then cut it out in the form of small playing cards, and set them aside to dry completely.

2.
 
Use liquid food colourings to paint each card with its suit, etc., to make a miniature pack of cards.

CINNAMON STICKS
⁶⁹

1.
 
Make a small batch of sugar plate, but incorporate 5ml (1 tsp) each of finely ground cinnamon and ginger to each 50g (2oz) of icing sugar so as to colour it a light brown.

2.
 
Take small lumps of this brown sugar plate, roll them out very thinly on a smooth surface, dusting it with more ground cinnamon to prevent sticking, and leave the edges in their untrimmed state.

3.
 
Roll each piece of plate around a pencil (originally a‘stick made of peeces of arrowes’) and leave it there until half dry. Then pull out the pencil and leave it to dry out to form a very realistic but completely edible cinnamon stick.

TO MAKE ARTIFICIAL WALNUTS
⁷⁰

For these, moulds of plaster or carved wood would be prepared, from which to make accurate imitations of half-walnut shells and half-kernels.

1.
 
Prepare a small batch of white sugar plate and one of brown, as described in the previous recipe.

2.
 
Dust the inside of the walnut-shell mould with finely ground cinnamon. Work a little of the brown paste into a thin walnut-shell shape, dust its outside with ground cinnamon, then press it into the mould. Trim off the surplus with a small knife, always cutting from the centre towards the edge of the mould. Then knock the hollow sugar shell out on to the board and set it aside until fully hardened.

3.
 
Dust the kernel mould with a little cornflour, press a small piece of the white sugar plate into it, then trim off the surplus with the knife. Knock it out on to the board, and leave to dry.

4.
 
Mix together a little gum tragacanth and warm water, and use it to assemble the kernels in pairs, place these within one half shell, gum the edges, and place another shell on top, to produce a complete walnut, Small biscuits, caraway comfits or a ‘pritty poesie’ may be sealed inside the walnut shells instead of the kernel.

WHITE GINGERBREAD
⁷¹

1.
 
Knead the ginger into the marchpane and roll it out on a board dusted with icing sugar to about 7mm (¼in) in thickness.

2.
 
Divide the sugar plate into two, and roll out one piece into the same size as the marchpane. Dampen one side of the
marchpane, and place it damp side down on the sugar plate. Next, roll out the other piece of sugar plate, dampen the other side of the marchpane, place the sugar plate on top and smooth it down. Then roll the marchpane and sugar plate (white gingerbread) sandwich to around 7mm (¼in) in thickness.

3.
 
Cut the gingerbread into small diamonds with a pastry jigger. Or cut it into sections, dust with a little cornflour, and press the sections into moulds, trimming off the surplus with a knife, and leave to dry.

Any unused trimmings may be kneaded together until smooth, then rolled out and cut into diamond shapes as gingerbreads.

GINGERBREAD USED AT THE COURT
⁷²

1.
 
Dry the breadcrumbs under the grill or in the oven, without browning. Mix them with the remaining ingredients in a saucepan, and work with a wooden spatula over a gentle heat until they become a very stiff red dough. (This is a long and laborious process – hard stirring is required to prevent the mixture from sticking and burning.)

2.
 
Turn the mixture out on to a board dusted with ground ginger and cinnamon, knead until perfectly smooth, then roll out to about 7 mm (¼in) in thickness. Either cut into small squares, or press into moulds and turn out, then leave to dry on a wire rack.

COMFITS
⁷³

1.
 
Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and gently heat. Stir with a wooden spatula until the sugar has completely dissolved.

2.
 
Stop stirring, bring to the boil, and cook until the sugar reaches 110°C (225°F) on a sugar thermometer. Remove the pan from the heat and dip its base in cold water for a few seconds to stop it cooking any further.

3.
 
Place the seeds (or ginger, or nuts) in an omelette pan over a gentle heat, and stir until all are warm and dry.

4.
 
Add a teaspoonful of the syrup to the seeds and stir them with the fingers, being very careful not to burn them (or yourself!) by having the pan too hot, until all the seeds are separate and dry.

5.
 
Add a little more syrup to the seeds, continuing to stir them with the tips of the fingers until they are dry and separate once more, repeating this operation time after time for a few hours until they have acquired a sugar coating of the required thickness.

6.
 
For coloured comfits, slowly stir a little saffron (yellow), cochineal (red) or similar food colouring into the syrup used for the final coats.

7
 
When the comfits are large enough, usually around 3–4mm (
¹
⁄
₈
in) in the case of seeds, stop adding the syrup and stir them for 5–10 minutes in the pan to dry them off, then put them into sealed containers ready for use.

WHITE LEACH
⁷⁴

1.
 
Sprinkle the gelatin into the milk, and stir while heating to around 60°C (140°F), then stir in the sugar and rosewater. Pour into a lightly greased, shallow rectangular metal or plastic tray.

2.
 
When set, turn it out on to a freshly rinsed cloth, cut into cubes with a wet knife, and arrange on a serving dish.

HIPPOCRAS
⁷⁵

1.
 
Mix the spices in the wine and leave overnight.

2.
 
Filter the wine through a paper coffee-filter and run it through a second time if cloudy.

3.
 
Dissolve the sugar in the filtered wine, ready for use.

Meat Day for Servants in the Great Hall

DRY-SALT OR CORNED BEEF
⁷⁶

1.
 
Place the meat in a deep dish, rub in the sugar for 10–15 minutes, and leave in a cold place overnight. Then rub it again and leave it a second night.

2.
 
Rub in the salt and saltpetre, turning and rubbing the meat for 10–15 minutes each day for another four days.

3.
 
Rinse the meat, form it into a roll, and tie it in place with tape.