Gilded Sops
original recipe to come
"Book III (Lean Dishes) from Terence Scully's translation of "The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi" (1570)
Gilded Sops:
Method:
- Toast almonds and grind (they should be golden not browned)
- to every pound of almonds add: 6oz raisins, 3 of muscatel raisins (I just used what I had), 2 of mostaccioli (muscat wine, I often substitute with various wines and good sherry, for this a good sweet wine will do), 1 of cinnamon and 1 of candied orange peel.
- ground this together in a mortar with 1 1/2lb of sugar moistened with sweet orange juice, malmsey (or use the closest thing you have to madeira wine) and verjuice
- Strain this (should be a runny mixture... if not, add some more of the liquids... I had to!)
- bring to a boil while stirring... (this is where it did not stay completely liquid... so I added even more liquid as it rapidly became candy without even getting it to an actual boil)
- Sautee toast in good olive oil (this really makes the dish, do not skip this and just use plain toast, though I used old/dry bread and made it into toast in the oil) and make your sops.
- (suggest this could be served over braised, boiled or grilled fish, this is what made me decide to pare this with the cod)
(very sweet!, we quartered the recipe and found it could serve 4, or more)
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