Behold the good old "elementary school science fair" version of my entry for the Barony of Ruantallan Arts and Sciences Championship, March 4, 2017. This was the only way I could think to display it and explain it so the judges wouldn't have to sit and read my long-winded full printed version of the project. For those who like to read long-winded projects, here is the "no holds barred" version:
The Trouble With Trifles
By Her Ladyship Isolda Fairamay
The trouble with trifles is the terminology origins,
diversity of recipes to weed through, and their convoluted history. The main purpose here is to explain in a
roundabout way how various period recipes from the Middle Ages and Renaissance
were all precursors to trifle as we know it today and to find a way to make
these recipes gluten free if not already.
What
is Trifle?
According to Linda Stradley in her article on Trifle History on her “What’s
Cooking America” website a definition for trifle is: “Trifle
(TRI-fuhl): The word “trifle” comes
from the old French term “truffle,” and literally means something whimsical or
of little consequence. A proper English
trifle is made with real egg custard poured over sponge cake soaked in fruit
and sherry and topped with whipped cream.” (Stradley, 2004-2016) Stradley also states that the first trifles
were very much like Fooles in that they were a mixture of pureed fruit with
cream. She also tells us that trifle was
a way of using up stale cake. The
mixture of cake, alcohol and custard began in the mid-18th century.
(Stradley, 2004-2016)
From my personal experience with trifle as the
daughter of British immigrants, Stradley’s description is pretty close to the heart
of the trifles I remember growing up.
Our trifles, obviously more modern, consisted of layers of fruit
(usually raspberries) mixed with cake and set in Jello with a layer of thick Bird’s
custard sauce and topped with sweetened whipped cream all presented in a large
glass bowl so one could see each layer. The sherry was only added for special
occasions…Harvey’s Bristol Cream of course!
Starting
in the Middle:
Custard dates back to the Middle Ages, the word being
derived from the mid-14th century crustade meaning meat or
fruit pie. (Harper, 2017) or a tart with a crust. (Davidson, 1999) Custard consumed on its own like a pudding became
more popular after the 16th century.
(The Nibble, 2014) With that
said, there are many types of custard, from baked custard (which is set) to
stirred custard (which is pourable) to modern day gelatin set custards and
cornstarch thickened custards. (The
Nibble, 2014) For my purposes, I am most
interested in pourable egg custard sauce and its relation to being part of the
precursor to today’s traditional English Trifle. A 15th century recipe for Crème
Boiled found in Two Fifteenth-century Cookery-books
, as my English Mum used to say, is “as
close as dammit is to swearing” to the custard used for the trifle we know
today. The original wording of the
recipe in period language:
Crème boiled. ¶ Take mylke, and boile hit; And þen̄ take yolkes
of eyren̄, and try hem fro the white, and drawe hem thorgℏ a streynour, and
cast hem into þe mylke; and then̄ sette hit on̄ þe fire, and hete hit hote, and
lete not boyle; and stirre it wel til hit be som̄-what thik; And caste thereto
sugur and salte; and kut þen̄ faire paynmain soppes, and caste the soppes
there-on̄, And serue it in maner of potage (Harleian,
1430-1450)
Most of the recipe I can easily translate into modern
English though I had some difficulty with some of the words. I was able to find a glossary of recipe terms
from renaissance and medieval times on a website by Ray Smith. His translations for my trouble words are as
follows: Paynemayn; Paynmain – corruption of Old French pain
demaine: bread of the manor, lordly
bread, the finest white bread Ben
– is, are, be Eyron; Eyren; Eyron;
Eyroun – eggs Try(id) –
separated; sifted Fayre (Faire) –
clean; nice; fairly good; fairly large; moderate-sized; pretty; fresh, etc. Soppes; Soppis; Soppys – sops, pieces
of bread “sopped” in roast drippings, broth, wine, and juices of any kind Potage; Pottage – a soup or a thick
blended dish (Smith, 2004).
Therefore my translation of the recipe is:
Crème
boiled: Take milk and
boil it; And take yolks of eggs, and separate them from the white, and draw
them through a strainer, and cast them into the milk; and then set it on fire,
and get it hot, and let not boil; and stir it well until it be somewhat thick;
and add sugar and salt; and cut good bread into pieces, and add the pieces into
it, and serve it in manner of potage (I interpret this as a thick blended
dish).
From what I can tell it seems like this recipe may be
an early bread pudding recipe but if you stop before adding the bread, it is
simply a custard sauce, which is also naturally gluten free! However, if you include the addition of the
bread, one could surmise that this addition evolved into the stale cake
mentioned in Stradley’s description of trifle.
My redaction for the sauce alone:
Custard Sauce:
Ingredients:
·
2 cups whole milk or cream
·
5 egg yolks
·
3 tablespoons sugar
·
Pinch salt
Directions: Heat milk in a sauce pan (if you have a
double boiler, use that) to a point when the milk begins to scald. Remove from heat. Beat egg yolks in a separate bowl with sugar
until thick and creamy. Very slowly pour
the milk into the egg mixture, stirring constantly until the eggs are tempered
so they do not coddle. Pour mixture back
into saucepan. Heat slowly on low to
medium heat, stirring constantly (do not boil) until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and strain the mixture through
a fine sieve into the serving bowl to filter out any egg that may have
congealed. Serve hot or cold. Yields just over 2 cups. *For a dairy free
option, this sauce has been attempted with So Nice For Coffee dairy free
alternative and the results were very tasty.
Let Them Eat Cake:
Stradley’s definition of trifle includes the use of
sponge cake. I believe Gâteau de Savoie fits
this description very well. Caro
Blackwell, in her A Taste of Savoie
website gives us a concise description of the origins of Gâteau de Savoie
(or Biscuit de Savoie) sponge cake. In
1358 Count Amadeus VI in Chambery asked his chef to make a cake “as light as a
feather” for a dinner with Charles IV of Luxembourg. Pierre de Yenne was the name of the chef who
came from Yenne, located in the Savoie region of France, and suffice to say
this is likely how the cake acquired its name. (Blackwell, 2013) Variations on flavouring such as lime,
cinnamon, orange and vanilla have been used over time. (Blackwell, 2013) Modern
recipes call for many combinations of flours used including wheat, corn, and
potato. (Blackwell, 2013) The corn and potato flour would be ideal
gluten free flours to create a light cake, but they are New World ingredients.
(Wise Choice Market Blog, 2015) A gluten
free ingredient available during the late Middle Ages was rice, with rice flour
being found in many recipes. (Adamson, 2004) The
most important ingredient in a sponge cake, however, is eggs. To create the “light as a feather”
consistency as Count Amadeus VI desired, air is the key, with the separation of
the yolks from the whites, beating them separately, then folding the two
together very gently so as not to lose any air volume. (Mommiecooks.com, 2010) For
my creation of an appropriate recipe for a gluten free sponge cake I researched
a modern gluten free version by Cecile Delarue from her French and Parfait blog:
Gluten Free and Dairy Free
Cake!
Ingredients
o
6 eggs, white and yolks divided
o
1 1/4 cup Cornstarch
o
3/4 cup sugar
o
Peel of one lemon
o
1/2 teaspoon salt
How to make it: Preheat
your oven at 400F. First whip the egg
whites with the salt. When they start to really get big, add 1/3 cup sugar.
Stop when they look like a bird’s beak (bec d’oiseau, when it’s very stiff ). Then
beat the yolks and the sugar together for at least 10 minutes ( it’s going to
change color and texture). Add the grated lemon peel. Mix again. Slowly mix the egg whites to the the mixture.
For each spoon of egg white, mix another spoon of cornstarch. Pour into a buttered regular cake mold. Bake for 5 minutes at 400F and then lower the
heat to 250F, for 35 minutes. (Delarue, 2016)
My personal redaction:
To make my cake “as light as a feather” while still being gluten free
and period I used rice flour I further ground in my blender to make it as fine
as possible. I also reduced the amount
of flour to 1 cup. For the sugar, I used
superfine sugar instead of regular granulated to increase the lightness. I also modified the flavour options. The result was light and delicious!
Gluten Free Gâteau de Savoie à la Isolda
·
6 eggs, separated
·
1 cup finely ground rice flour
·
½ cup superfine sugar
·
½ teaspoon salt
·
Orange zest or vanilla
Mix
the salt and ¼ cup of the sugar with the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks
form. Beat egg yolks and remaining sugar
in a separate bowl until it is thick and creamy. Add the orange zest or vanilla and beat
again. Slowly fold egg white mixture into
the egg yolk mixture, adding a bit of the rice flour each time until all is
gently mixed together. Gently pour into a cake pan lined with parchment. Bake at 400 F for ten minutes, then turn down
to 300 F and bake until centre comes out clean…35 or more minutes. Baking times may vary depending on the type
of cake pan used.
Gâteau de Savoie à la Isolda: There was absolutely NO cake left by the end of the day. Guess it was good!
When
Fooles Rush In:
Though Stradley talks of “Fooles” as pureed fruit
mixed with cream, there is some evidence that later versions were mixed with
pourable custard.
Martha Washington’s Booke of
Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats gives us some insight
on the word “Foole”. “The oldest meaning
of fool in English cookery, long since obsolete, is a custard dish. There is some dispute over the derivation of
the word; a cook might opt for French fouler (to press or crush) … The word
fool came to be applied to a puree of fruit, typically raspberries or stewed
gooseberries, sweetened and mixed with custard…and finally, more often simply
with heavy cream.”(Washington, 1996)
This is further supported by Alan Davidson in The Oxford Companion to Food under
Custard: “In the 16th century ‘fruit creams’ became popular. These were sweet, made with eggs, cream and
pureed fruit. Early types of fool were
similar. During this time it became
usual to make custards in dishes and individual cups rather than in a pastry
case, though many types of custard tart continued to be popular” (Davidson,
1999) Davidson does go on to say that
early fools were made with un-whipped cream considering the work that would
have to be put in to whipping it. (Davidson, 1999)
I
tend to believe that fooles can be any combination of fruit and cream or egg
custard. With that said, my personal
recipe is as follows:
Fool’s
Paradise Foole:
·
2
cups frozen raspberries, thawed
·
2
cups sweetened egg custard, cooled
Gently fold the two together so as
to create a swirled visual effect.
You
Say Trifle I Say Mantiglia
Martha Washington’s Booke of
Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats also states that there
is some dispute over the meaning of the word
fool as the Oxford English Dictionary does not agree that the word fool came from the French “fouler” but
that it is actually linked to the word trifle. (Washington, 1996) A reference from 1598 by
John Florio in his Italian/English dictionary A Worlde of Wordes ties the word trifle to fool as a
clotted cream, with the Italian word being Mantiglia:
“a kinde of clouted creame called a foole or a trifle in English” (Florio,
1598) Further supporting the idea that the words trifle and foole are related, a recipe appears in the The Good Huswifes Jewell from 1596:
To
make a Trifle.
Take
a pinte of thicke Creame, and sea-
son
it with Suger and Ginger, and
Rosewater,
so stirre it as you would then
haue
it, and make it luke warme in a dish
on
a Chafingdishe and coales, and after put
it
into a siluer peece or a bowle, and so serue
it
to the boorde. (Dawson, 1596)
My translation:
To Make a Trifle: Take a pint of thick cream, and season it
with sugar and ginger, and rosewater, so stir it as you would have it, and make
it luke warm in a dish on a chafingdish and coals, and after put it into a
silver piece or a bowl, and so serve it to the board
The descriptions of “trifle” by both John Florio
(1598) and Thomas Dawson (1596) are very close, both describing a thick cream
with no mention of eggs. As it happens,
trifle of today described earlier by Stradley is topped with sweetened whipped
cream.
As a final word on the meaning and origin of the word trifle, I turn to the Online Etymology
Dictionary. Its definition of trifle as a noun is as follows: “trifle (n.):
c. 1200, trufle “fasle or idle
tale,” later “matter of little importance” (c. 1300), from Old French trufle “mockery”, diminutive of truffle “deception,” of uncertain
origin. As a type of light confection
from 1755.” (Harper, 2017) This definition is congruent with Stradley’s
definition giving trifle an old
French word origin for something
whimsical or of little consequence.
My
personal recipe for the perfect trifle topping:
Whipped Cream Trifle Topping: Whip 2 cups of whipping cream
with sugar to your taste until thick and fluffy. That’s all folks!
Top Left: Whipped Cream Trifle Topping Top Right: Custard Sauce
Bottom: Fool's Paradise Foole
Again, nothing was left by the end of the day!
Trifle
Evolves:
I would be remiss if we did not quickly discuss the
evolution of trifle between the Renaissance and today. The
Arts Of Cookery Refined and Augmented, published in 1654 by Joseph
Cooper (cook to King Charles I) contains
a recipe for Foole which describes layers of bread soaked in flavourings with
boiled egg cream poured on top. (Sweetooth
Design Company, 2014-2016) The Art of Cookery, published in
1747 by Hannah Glasse contains a recipe that included the fruit, alcohol, and
for the first time, jelly, which was made from bones of calves feet. (Sweetooth
Design Company, 2014-2016) And finally,
the custard one most associates with traditional modern English Trifle is made
from Bird’s Custard Powder. Alfred Bird
from Birmingham, England created the recipe for custard powder in 1837 for his
wife who could not eat eggs, with the main ingredients being tapioca or sago
starch and annatto to give it the golden colour. (Oulton, 2011) This was the brand of custard powder my
mother ALWAYS used, but I have to be honest here and say that after learning
how to make proper egg custard, I am officially converted!
Bringing
It All Together:
It seems clear that terminology evolves over time and trifle gives us an excellent example of
that. Throughout the various recipes and
research on this dessert I believe today’s trifle is a weird and wonderful
mixture of everything that gave birth to it in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. With a tiny bit of recipe tweaking, each part
can be easily made gluten free and still be considered period for the purposes
of the SCA. I am excited to have learned
how to make historically accurate ingredients that are also gluten free for one
of my favourite desserts. These new
discoveries inspire me to delve into even more of the recipes of my British
heritage to bring to the SCA table.
Seriously, folks, this was the yummiest Arts and Sciences project I've ever made!
References:
Adamson, Melitta Weiss. Food In Medieval Times. Page
5. Greenwood Press, Westport, Copyright 2004.
Blackwell, Caro. “Biscuit de Savoie.” A Taste
of Savoie. April 7, 2013. Accessed February 18, 2017. http://tasteofsavoie.com/2013/04/07/biscuit-de-savoie/
Davidson, Alan.
The Oxford Companion to Food. Pages 237, 313. Oxford, New York. Copyright 1999.
Dawson, Thomas.
The Good Huswifes Jewell. Transcribed by Daniel Myers Dec 20, 2008
for MedievalCookery.com. Accessed
February 18, 2017. http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/ghj1596.txt
Delarue, Cecile.
“Gluten Free and Dairy Free Cake!” French
and Parfait. Sept 13, 2016. Accessed February 18, 2017. http://frenchandparfait.com/gluten-free-and-dairy-free-cake/
Florio, John. A Worlde of Wordes. Page 384. Copyright 1598. Accessed February 18, 2017 on Google Books. https://books.google.ca/books?id=d4bX1NQXNzsC&pg=PR22&lpg=PR22&dq=john+florio+trifle+a+worlde+of+words&source=bl&ots=0AGdaON1on&sig=BW3rlARNZZJ6aTNqFIYHtYtYda4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj88eL0i6fSAhUCPxoKHX2UBToQ6AEIOTAE#v=onepage&q=john%20florio%20trifle%20a%20worlde%20of%20words&f=false
Harper, Douglas.
Online Etymology Dictionary. Words looked up: custard and trifle. Accessed February
18, 2017. Copyright 2001-2017. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php
Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab.
1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud Ms. 553, & Douce MS. 55
Edited by Thomas Austin. Two fifteenth-century cookery-books. Oxford University Press, London, 1888. Page 92.
Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. Accessed February 18, 2017. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/CookBk?rgn=main;view=fulltext
Mommie Cooks.
“Beyond the Basics: The Science
of Sponge Cake.” MommieCooks. August 3,
2010. Accessed February 18. Copyright 201. http://www.mommiecooks.com/2010/08/03/beyond-the-basics-sponge-cake-recipe/
Oulton, Randal. "Custard Powder." CooksInfo.com. Published 10 May 2004;
revised 14 February 2011. Accessed
February 18, 2017. <http://www.cooksinfo.com/custard-powder>.
Smith, Ray.
“Recipe Terms Glossary:
Renaissance and Medieval Recipe – Glossary of Terms.” All
About Renaissance Faires. 2004.
Accessed February 18, 2017. http://all-about-renaissance-faires.com/recipes-cookbooks/recipe_terms_glossary/
Stradley, Linda.
“Trifle History.” What’s Cooking America. Accessed February 18, 2017. Copyright 2004-2016. https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/Trifle.htm
“Trifle.” Sweettooth Design Company. Accessed
February 18, 2017. Copyright 2014-2016. http://www.sweetoothdesign.com/cake-trifle
“Types of Custard:
A Custard Glossary.” September
2006, updated May 2014. The Nibble. Lifestyle Direct, Inc. Copyright
2005-2017. http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/desserts/all-about-custard.asp
Washington,
Martha, Martha Washington’s Booke of
Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats.
Columbia University Press. Copyright 1996. Accessed February 18 2017. https://books.google.ca/books?id=srKZtR13JlYC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=foole+and+trifle+1598&source=bl&ots=szB6nGEF7w&sig=E99AbJ7WFHDfJhL2TIJsiGy7N6M&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiu09aKl5DSAhWC14MKHaAnAX4Q6AEIRDAH#v=onepage&q=foole%20and%20trifle%201598&f=false
Wilson, Edna B.
“7 New World Foods That Changed Europe Forever.” Wise
Choice Market Blog.
October 15, 2015.
Accessed February 18, 2017. http://www.wisechoicemarket.com/blog/7-new-world-foods-that-changed-europe-forever-/
