Fun Idea for Food Workshop
From "Dining With William Shakespeare" by Madge Lorwin, page 401:
"At Christmas bread bakers sometimes added sugar and currants to bread dough and made little roly-poly figures, with currants for eyes, for the children of their customers. They were not supposed to do this sort of thing, for, according to the statues governing the various baking crafts, anything made with sugar and fruit was the preserve of the pastry cooks. There were numerous complaints against bread bakers who made the little 'Yulebabies' by pastry cooks, who, like all craftsmen, jealously defended their own jurisdictional rights."
I just love the idea of making 'Yulebabies' for an upcoming Yule event - or to hand out as samples at a food workshop. So cute! :)
EDIT: Another fun notion for Elizabethan and earlier feasting from 'Fabulous Feasts' by Madeleine Pelner Cosman, page 18:
"Sometimes small flat platters called roundels, made of porcelaine or stiff paper, were served with the last course of the feast. When the food was eaten, each guest turned over his roundel to find written on the reverse a text or poem of bawdy phrase which required an improvised setting and singing."
Apparently there is a 'delightful set' of these roundel that were created for Queen Elizabeth which are discussed by Curt Buhler in 'Renaissance News 9' (1956), 146f
"At Christmas bread bakers sometimes added sugar and currants to bread dough and made little roly-poly figures, with currants for eyes, for the children of their customers. They were not supposed to do this sort of thing, for, according to the statues governing the various baking crafts, anything made with sugar and fruit was the preserve of the pastry cooks. There were numerous complaints against bread bakers who made the little 'Yulebabies' by pastry cooks, who, like all craftsmen, jealously defended their own jurisdictional rights."
I just love the idea of making 'Yulebabies' for an upcoming Yule event - or to hand out as samples at a food workshop. So cute! :)
EDIT: Another fun notion for Elizabethan and earlier feasting from 'Fabulous Feasts' by Madeleine Pelner Cosman, page 18:
"Sometimes small flat platters called roundels, made of porcelaine or stiff paper, were served with the last course of the feast. When the food was eaten, each guest turned over his roundel to find written on the reverse a text or poem of bawdy phrase which required an improvised setting and singing."
Apparently there is a 'delightful set' of these roundel that were created for Queen Elizabeth which are discussed by Curt Buhler in 'Renaissance News 9' (1956), 146f