|
|
||||||
|
|
Medieval Desserts will add an exciting and SUCCULENT touch to your kitchen. AUTHENTIC recipes that are EASY to make. The most common French medieval desserts were custard tartes. Creamy and pure, they can be made in a variety of ways. If you would like to skip directly to these recipes go right ahead! Otherwise, here are a few interesting facts: Back in the day, custard tartes were the staple dessert, not only in France, but throughout Europe. Probably even more common than our chocolate chip cookie or brownie! Every banquet table was adorned with several of these creamy miracles. The basic ingredients were cream or milk, eggs and sugar. This mixture was then poured into a pastry shell, often referred to as a "coffin"! Conjures up quite a few medieval images, n'est-ce pas?! In fact, there is much discrepancy as to whether the pastry shell was actually eaten or not. Often, it served as a hard (not very tasty!) casing, more than a crust. Hence, we can guess at why the term "coffin" was coined. Rest assured, the crust recipe I've included is not only edible, but also excellent. There were also several varieties of baked and boiled custards (flans) that were prepared without a pastry shell. The French were very fond of adding cinnamon to their custards. Funny, since cinnamon is so rarely used in modern French cuisine! They also used quite a bit of nutmeg, ginger, saffron, and cloves, adding a very sensual taste! |
|||||
|
|
||||||