{"id":1585,"date":"2013-08-17T12:19:54","date_gmt":"2013-08-17T10:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/?p=1585\/"},"modified":"2019-12-09T12:05:31","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T11:05:31","slug":"divine-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/en\/divine-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"Divine wine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An exquisite drink from the seventeenth century<\/h2>\n

Straight to the recipe<\/small><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Bacchus<\/p>\n

During the\u00a0seventeenth century<\/span>\u00a0a meal was often concluded by drinking spiced\u00a0wine<\/span>\u00a0to stimulate the digestion.\u00a0Hippocras<\/a>\u00a0was such a drink, which was already known during the Middle Ages. But there were other kinds of spiced wine as well.\u00a0Vin des dieux<\/em>\u00a0(‘wine of the gods’) is such a spiced wine, and even today the recipe can be found on the (French) internet.<\/p>\n

The recipe of Fran\u00e7ois\u00a0La Varenne<\/span>\u00a0in\u00a0Le confiturier Fran\u00e7ois<\/em>\u00a0from 1660 is uncomplicated: wine, add slices of\u00a0russet<\/span>\u00a0apples and lemons, add sugar, strain and serve. On this page is a slightly more recent version that is probably the source of the modern internet-version, with cloves and orange blossom water added as extra ingredients. The recipe is from the third edition of\u00a0L’Escole parfaite des officiers de bouche<\/em>\u00a0from 1676. The first edition appeared in 1662.<\/p>\n

The appealing youngster on the left is the wine god\u00a0Bacchus<\/a>\u00a0or Dionysus as painted in 1595 by the Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi\u00a0Caravaggio<\/a>\u00a0(1571-1610).<\/p>\n

L’Escole parfaite des officiers de Bouche<\/em>(1662, reprinted until 1742)<\/h3>\n

The book\u00a0L’Escole parfaite des officiers de Bouche<\/em>\u00a0is actually a collection of texts that describe the several tasks pertaining to the table of the large household of standing. Several offices are described in the sub title: “contenant le vray maistre-d’hostel, le grand escuyer-tranchant, le sommelier royal, le confiturier royal, le cuisinier royal, et le patissier royal” (see title page below).<\/p>\n

\"Titlepage<\/p>\n

The\u00a0ma\u00eetre-d’h\u00f4tel<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0– He is the supervisor of the kitchen (la cuisine<\/em>) and the ‘cold kitchen’ (l’office<\/em>): the personnel, the equipment, the purchase of goods and foodstuffs as well as the organization of the meals belong to his tasks. This means planning the menus, laying and decorating the table, serving the dishes and making sure the eaters have clean hands. The ma\u00eetre-d’h\u00f4tel is indeed the master of the household, all persons described below answer to him.
\nThe carver<\/strong>\u00a0– This part teaches how to carve and serve all manner of fowl, meat, fish, game and some fruit. It is illustrated with engravings to make it more comprehensive.
\nThe\u00a0sommelier<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0– He is responsible for laying the table (with knives and spoons, there is no mention of forks!), folding the napkins in appealing forms, arranging the buffet, and making sure the wine is served cold.
\nThe\u00a0chef d’office<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0– He supervises the\u00a0office<\/em>, the ‘cold kitchen’. This is where the dishes for the last course, the dessert, are prepared: fruit, comfits, confectionery. The chapters in this part show the widely differing tasks from the cold kitchen: preparing compotes, fruit paste, marmalades, cookies, marzipan, dried conserves, wet conserves, fruit jellies, more dried preparations, cr\u00e8mes, syrups, distilled waters and spiced wines and how to make ice, the preparation of tea, chocolate and coffee, ratafia, perfumes, fragrant ‘candles’, hair powder and hair wash, make-up for skin and lips (pomades). The chef d’office appears to be a combination of a hairdresser, chemist, barman, ice-cream vendor and confectioner, all in one person.
\nThe kitchen chef<\/strong>\u00a0– This section presents the actual kitchen recipes, with the appropiate season and the place in the menu for all kinds of meat, fish and vegetables both on meat days (en gras<\/em>) and on fish days (en maigre<\/em>).
\nThe pastry baker<\/strong>\u00a0– The last part deals with baked food, especially the savoury dishes that are served during the first or main course. It begins with recipes for savoury and sweet dough, followed by recipes for cold and hot pasties and tarts either with meat or fish or with vegetables or nuts, and deep-fried pastry (fritters and choux). The final chapter gives suggestions for a formal meal and an\u00a0ambigue<\/em>, during which meat and dessert are served simultaneously.<\/p>\n

According to Barbara Ketcham Wheaton (Savouring the past<\/em>, see bibliography<\/a>) the composer of\u00a0L’Escole parfaite<\/em>\u00a0has made ample use of older publications. She calls him a ‘plagiarist’ rather than a writer. The oldest source of\u00a0L’Escole<\/em>\u00a0dates from 1555 and is called the\u00a0Livre fort excellent de cuysine<\/em>. The success of\u00a0L’Escole parfaite<\/em>\u00a0was probably due to the combination of the different aspects of running a large and noble household in one volume.\u00a0L’Escole parfaite<\/em>\u00a0was reprinted several times between 1662 and 1742, but from 1708 onwards most obsolete recipes were left out. The recipe for ‘Vin des dieux’ survived this revision, and can also be found in later editions.<\/p>\n

The original recipe<\/h2>\n

This version of\u00a0vin des dieux<\/em>\u00a0is from the third edition of\u00a0L’Escole parfaite des officiers de bouche<\/em>\u00a0published in 1676 (p.239\/240). The first edition dates back to 1662, but I have not seen that text. The same recipe is used in\u00a0Das Kochbuch der Renaissance<\/em>by H-P von Peschke and W. Feldmann (see bibliography<\/a>), where it has been erroneously ascribed to La Varenne. La Varenne’s recipe, without cloves and orange blossom water, can be found in\u00a0Le confiturier Fran\u00e7ois<\/em>\u00a0(1660, recipe IV.6).<\/p>\n

Vin des Dieux
\nAyez deux gros Citrons, pelez-les & les coupez pat tranches, avec deux Pommes de Reynette pel\u00e9es & coup\u00e9es de mesme que les Citrons : mettez le tout dans un plat, avec trois quarterons de sucre en poudre, une chopine de Vin de Bourgogne, six Cloux de Girofle, un peu d’eau de fleur d’Orange ; couvrez bien le tout, & le laissez tremper deux ou trois heures ; passez-le dans une chausse comme l’Hypocras : si vous voulez, ambrez-le, & le musquez aussi comme l’Hypocras, & vous le trouverez excellent.<\/em><\/div>
Wine of the gods
\nHave two fat lemons, peel them and cut them in slices with two Russet apples, peeled and cut the same way as the lemons. Put everything in a dish, with three quarter pounds powdered sugar, a pint of Burgundy wine, six cloves, a little orange flower water. Cover all this well, and let it steep two or three hours. Pass it through a stocking like hypocras. If you like, add amber and musk, also like hypocras, and you will find it excellent.<\/div>\n
<\/div>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Modern adaptation of the recipe<\/h2>\n

For my adaptation I have taken half the amount of fruit, and left out the animal aromatics\u00a0ambergris<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0musk<\/a>. These aromatics are practically unavailable. Regarding straining through a stocking (or sleeve): you could use a nylon stocking for straining the wine.
\nFor\u00a01 bottle of wine<\/span>;\u00a0preparation in advance<\/em>\u00a015 minutes<\/span>\u00a0plus two hours waiting;\u00a0preparation<\/em>\u00a010 minutes<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"'Divine1 fles\u00a0wine<\/span>\u00a0(choose a simple Pinot Noir)
\n1 russet\u00a0apple\u00a0\u00a0(BE Bramley or AE Roman Beauty according to my dictionary)<\/span>
\n1\u00a0lemon<\/span>
\n100 gr (\u00be cup)\u00a0powdered sugar<\/span>
\n5\u00a0cloves<\/span>
\n\u00bd\u00a0dl (3 Tbsp + 1 tsp)\u00a0orange flower water<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparation in advance<\/h3>\n

Peel the apple, remove the core, and cut into slices.
\nPeel the lemon and make sure you also remove the pith (the white part under the thin yellow skin). Slice the lemon and remove the seeds.
\nIn the original text the fruit and wine steep in a shallow dish. But fruit floats, and there is a large surface for the wine to oxidise. You can prevent this by covering the wine directly with a sheet of plastic foil, or lessen it by using a carafe, with some cloves between them. In that case, divide the slices into quarters. Put alternating layers of apple and lemon in the dish or carafe, with sugar and cloves in between. Pour the wine over it, and the orange flower water. Let this rest in the refrigerator for two hours.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/h3>\n

Strain the wine through a stocking, cloth or a coffee filter into a decorative carafe, or back into the original wine bottle, and keep in the refrigerator. You can also leave the fruit in, and strain the wine through a tea sieve directly into the glass.<\/p>\n

To serve<\/h3>\n

Chilled as aperitif or digestive.<\/p>\n

Waste is a sin<\/h3>\n

The apple slices can be nibbled. But, being drenched in wine, they are not suitable as a children’s snack. The apple pieces can also be used to make an apple pie or apple fritters. I do not think many people will want to eat the lemon.<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/h2>\n

All descriptions of ingredients<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\"Ambergris\"Amber<\/h4>\n

Not to be confused with amber that is a resin. Just like\u00a0musk<\/em>\u00a0(a secretion of the gonads of the musk deer and some other animals), ambergris was used in medieval Arab dishes, but now they are mainly ingredients for perfumes. You could say ambergris is a pellet of the sperm-whale. It is a waxlike substance in which indigestible remains like the beaks of squid are encapsuled. From time to time the sperm-whale emits large pellets, just to be rid of them. \u2018Fresh\u2019 ambergris smells of shit (manure, if you think that sounds better) and has a dark colour. Influenced by sunlight, salt water, and air the ambergris matures. It looks lighter, grayish, and the smell gets to resemble isopropanol (that is what\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0says). Ambergris is one of the ingredients of Chanel no.5.
\nYou can find ambergris washed ashore on ocean beaches, or fish it up from the sea. If you are lucky. If you want to buy some, prepare to pay a lot. There is a vegetable substitute,\u00a0labdanum resinoid<\/em>, the purified resin of the cistus rose (Cistus labdanifer<\/em>), that can be used instead of ambergris (this also happens in the perfume industry).<\/p>\n

<\/a>Hypocras<\/h4>\n

Spiced wine. In the Middle Ages hippocras was served as a digestive at the end of a meal. There are many different recipes for hippocras, one of which is this\u00a0French recipe for hippocras from the fourteenth century<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Musk<\/a>Muskus<\/h4>\n

Aromatic substance from animal origin that is now used mainly in perfumes and fragrances. The Arab cuisine made use of it in the kitchen during the Middle Ages as a spice. In Europe musk was in culinary use during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is practically impossible to buy musk, and that is a good thing. Musk is obtained by killing the musk deer, which is now almost extinct. So the industry now mainly uses synthetic musk, and the kitchen can do well without it.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Pinot Noir<\/h4>\n

In the fourteenth century Burgundy wine was improved because the duke of Burgundy,\u00a0Philippe le Hardi<\/a>\u00a0(Philip the Bold<\/a>, 1342-1404) ordered all vineyards to replace the Gamay grape by Pinot Noir. In Bordeaux it is Arnaud de Pontac from\u00a0Haut-Brion<\/a>\u00a0was the first who, from 1660 onward\u00a0systematically chose quality above quantity. His wines became so popular (and expensive) that other vineyards in the Bordeaux followed suit: Lafitte, Latour en Margaux. Later other wine regions in France followed the same example. The recipe prescribes a Burgundy wine, but I would use a simple Pinot Noir wine and definitely not a Grand Cr\u00fb Class\u00e9, with the lemon and sugar. By the way, the classification of Bordeaux wines dates from 1855 (wiki<\/a>), of Burgundy wines from the twentieth century.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Renet or russet apples<\/h4>\n

The renet family is large, there are many varieties. According to the\u00a0French Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0the oldest mention a\u00a0Reinette<\/em>\u00a0dates from 1540. There are two theories about the meaning of the name. Either it simply means ‘queen of apples’ (from French\u00a0reine<\/em>, ‘queen’), or the name is derived from\u00a0ranette<\/em>, a diminutive of\u00a0rana [de grenouille]<\/em>, the spots on the belly of a frog. Indeed, renet apples have a speckled skin.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Bibliography<\/h2>\n

The editions below were used by me. Links refer to available editions.<\/p>\n