A special holiday food: Wil
This is gingerbread, which is usually made special for feasts and other occasions, instead of gingercakes. I tend to like the cakes better, but I could always get them in market and fairly often if I knew where to look it. Gingerbread is something different, and special, and it has a lot of more expensive things in it. I can't say that I have had it in a few years, and I do start thinking about it around midwinter's day and christmas and St Stephen's feast day (my birthday, strangely enough. I will be sixeighteen).
Here are some tips for making it, if anyone's curious:
Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & throw ther-on; take grayted Bred, & make it so chargeaunt that it wol be y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, & straw ther-on y-now; then make yt square, lyke as thou wolt leche yt; take when thou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leves a-bouyn, y-stykyd ther-on, on clowys. And if thou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now."
...Er,translation for everyone here, yes:
1. Take a quart of honey and boil it and skim it clean.
2. Take saffroun, powdered pepper, and throw thereon.
3. Take grated bread and make it so stiff that it will be sliced.
4. Then take cinnamon powder and strew thereon enough.
5. Then make it square as though thou wouldst slice it.
6. Take, when thou slicest it, and cast box leaves above, stuck thereon in cloves.
7. And if thou will have it red, color it with sandalwood enough.
It's a bit of guesswork, I am told, and varies from cook to cook, but oh,it is delicious!