madbaker | A late Resolution Recipe

I actually made this last week. But it was a redaction of a medieval recipe that I didn't make until Thursday, because I was cooking it for the SCA event over the weekend. So I didn't get around to posting it until now.

Also, it was my entry in the cooking competition (Lenten Food). It tied for first!

German [Almond] Bacon

Take a pound of peeled almonds, and grind very thin, adding a bit of rose water, half a pound of sugar mixed with some almonds, then put it on the fire in a cauldron or frying pan, and turn it over well with a wooden ladle so much and such a long time that the almonds become like dough which is manageable, then mix always the almonds with the hand until they are cold, then take half of your almonds, and make a cover [rolled-out like a pie crust] the size of a hand. Note that it is necessary that half of the almonds be made red with rosette of Paris, until you see that they are red enough for your taste, then you will take this cover put the one on the other firstly the white and the red, after thus following until all are the one on the other, then flatten the dough with the hand all beautifully, in order that they stick the one to the other, then cut it into slices the thickness of a half finger, and put it on some paper in an oven [to cook] slowly without being too hot. (Ouverture de Cuisine, 1604)

8 ounces blanched almonds
3 Tbsp rose water
4 ounces turbinado sugar
2 1/2 tsp saunders

Grind almonds as finely as possible. Mix in rose water and sugar. Turn mixture into a small saucepan and cook over very low heat, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon or ladle for 15 minutes. (Mixture may be crumbly, but will stiffen as it cools.) Cool, continuing to mix and knead by hand.
Split dough in two; color one half with the saunders. Roll each half out to a 6-inch wide and 1/8 inch thick rectangle. Thinner is fine too, as long as it doesn't break. Stack one on the other and fold, accordion-style, to alternate layers. Flatten the stack lightly by hand to meld. Slice on a 45° vertical angle to produce long, streaky strips resembling bacon. Set strips on parchment and bake at 200° for 10 to 15 minutes, until set.

I chose this as a Lenten recipe because it contains no meat or animal products; and as a subtlety, it resembles the abstained-from meat.

The term "German" is probably a scribal error for almonds ("Allemand" for "Almand"). A pound in Liège was 467.1 grams, or 1.03 American pounds; I rounded for simplicity. This makes a lot of almond bacon, so I reduced the quantities while keeping the proportions.

Rosette of Paris is a red dye. I substituted the more-easily available saunders, also used in late-16th century recipe collections, such as The Good Huswife's Iewell, published in 1596.

I used turbinado sugar as it is not as fully refined as modern sugar, and is closer to most period sugars. There is not much taste difference, but it makes me feel better.

I omitted additional almonds mixed with the sugar. The original recipe reads: "...demye libure de succre meslé auec des amandes", which Prescott translated as "with some almonds". However, it could also be "with the almonds". I can't see any reason to mix extra almonds with the sugar before adding to ground ones – whole or coarsely ground almonds will prevent rolling out thinly. If they're ground, they won’t mix any more thoroughly. So I treated this as a mistranslation.

What worked: I had to make this twice; the first effort, I added the rose water dribble by dribble, which kept the almonds crumblier; dumping it all in at once is the way to go. The first time I also flattened the roll too much, and it didn't look like bacon. So I junked it and made another batch, which came out really really well. Some of the slices even curved nicely, like real bacon! I served it on a metal platter with tongs, and on a cotton towel that I'd drizzled with a bit of olive oil for versimilitude.

What didn't: um... I was pretty happy with it the second time around. roswtr thought it didn't taste enough like rose water, but I think that's because her nasal passages have been destroyed by her other rose water.

Will I make it again? yeah, probably. Not regularly, but it was tasty and pretty. One of the judges was Jewish - I'll be able to tease her for years about making her eat and enjoy bacon.