Writings: Katira al-Maghrebiyya (aka Kay the Innocent of Bel Anjou)

Wooden Spoon
Subtlety in Honor of our "King"
Beltane Coronation A.S. XXXIV
Entrant: Kay the Innocent of BelAnjou

Recipe: "Garlic Cupcakes" being a pun upon Garick Kopke, the name of our King

Documentation
Constance B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler Pleyn Delit (University of Toronto Press 1976). A collection of period recipes with a modern versions.

Morris, R., ed Liber Cure cocorum (London 1862). An early fifteenth century collection of recipes given in doggerel verse.

In Pleyn Delit, in the chapter on subtleties:
"While the term 'subtlety' can be applied to virtually any ingenious device or contrivance, in cookery it usually refers to an elaborate edible construction. the most notable exception occurs at the beginning of the Liber Cure Cocorum, where the ingenuity is directed towards practical jokes in the kitchen. We are given instructions for making cooked meat appear to be raw...and for making meat appear to be full of worms....they do share with more decorative subtleties the characteristic of a deceptive appearance, seeming to be other than what they are; and that is the essence of a subtlety. Though the most common festive subtlety is a representation in sugar of persons or objects, some were made of pastry or even of ground meat."

The idea for this was born before the contest was announced. One story I heard says that a herald actually announced "Garick Cupcake" another that someone swore the herald said "Garlic Cupcake". In any event, it just had to be done. My thanks to the Wooden Spoon for the most perfect opportunity to do it. To quote a well known Duchess: "Silliness is a virtue".

In essence, the result is an individual loaf of garlic bread already buttered with garlic butter, but looks like a frosted cupcake.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Plain bread dough (your own or commercial)
minced cooked garlic (roast it yourself or from the jar)
softened butter (margarine would do as well)

The dough is rolled out flat, spread with minced garlic, rolled up and cut to fit foil cupcake cups.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until brown. Cool completely.

Soften butter and mix in a liberal quantity of minced garlic. Frost the cupcakes and stand back.

Note: There was another entry of the same ilk (great minds think alike!!), though the person running the competition made it clear that she just didn’t get it. I think there was a Kingdom device and a chessboard among the other entries and I think the “device” was the winner.

Last updated 01/03/2007