French Wafers -- a Pinedo recipe

It is definitely time to play with the Pinedo book and to try a recipe.  (For more details on Pinedo's book and other recipes of hers I have tried, search this blog under the key word "Pinedo.")

Today I chose to make French wafers.  The recipe made me think this would be like a thin ice cream cone, like a sugar cone or a waffle cone.  

Her recipe:

Pages 28 - 29

My translation:

My redaction:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 beaten eggs

12 ounces whole milk

butter for the mold

powdered sugar for dusting

Start heating the mold over medium heat (5 of 10).  

Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl.

Beat eggs with a whisk until foamy and light.

Mix eggs, milk, and dry ingredients together.  You might need to adjust the amount of milk according to what your flour needs.  The result should be a thin batter.

Lightly butter both sides of the mold.  Pour a little batter into the center of the mold.  Close the lid and hold it closed until the squealing noises are through; holding it a little longer is fine as the batter is probably still spreading in the mold.

Continue to cook on that side for another 10 to 15 seconds.  Flip the mold and check the wafer's color -- if it is not a golden brown, flip it back and cook it for a few more seconds.  Cook the second side of the wafer until it is a good color, too. 

Remove the wafer and place it on a cooling rack if you want to keep it flat.  Or roll it around a dowel or other cylinder and place it on a plate.  Dust it liberally with powdered sugar.  Makes 30 or more wafers.

My Notes

Eggs are foamy

Batter is thin.

I have what I believe is a pizzelle iron, and I found using one tablespoon of batter worked quite well.  Adjust your quantity as suits your iron.

Just the right amount in just the right location.

It took me several tries to get the right amount of batter and placing it in just the right location on the iron.  I noticed that my original wafers were very thick on one side (the handles side) and very thin on the other (the hinge side).  That observation inspired me to hold the handles to resist the puffy batter from pushing the iron's sides apart.  It does still push it somewhat, but the difference in thickness was reduced and the batter spread out more across the iron.  This gave me a bigger, more uniformly thick wafer.

I love the scalloped edges, like fancy lace.

After I got the hang of putting in the batter and holding the handles, I paid more attention to how often I put butter on the iron -- every three or four wafers seemed right.  I used a silicone brush and put a very light coating of butter each time.

I also got a better sense of when the wafer was ready to be flipped and then removed.  A few times the thinnest part got too brown, and I could tell by the scent it had cooked too long.  It was worth it to check the wafer for doneness several times on both sides to get it right.

I tried rolling them with my fingers and was not satisfied with the uneven result.  So I used a dowel and that worked out much better.  Mine was about 1 inch in diameter.  I used both the uniform diameter part and the tapered part and liked both results.

Rolling on the tapered end of the dowel

My disappointment was that I fully expected them to be crispy and stay crispy -- just like a sugar cone for ice cream.  They were crispy for a short while but then got soft.  Just like my waffles, unfortunately.  But they did look good rolled and overlapped on a plate, and I dusted each layer with powdered sugar as I went along.

At one point I decided to keep them flat and I wanted them crispy, so I immediately put them on a cooling rack.  This worked well to keep their steam from making them soft.  

The Verdict

We tried them plain, and they were plain.  Notice there is no sugar or other flavorings like vanilla in the batter.  I think they are intended to be a neutral base to support and convey other flavors in the meal.

The powdered sugar made them better.

Buttering them wasn't really interesting, even though butter tastes good.

The best way of eating them was to spread them with jam first.  We tried pomegranate jelly (good), aronia berry jam (better), and Dorie Greenspan's Lemon Goop (best).  The goop does not have sugar in it, and the tartness of the lemon with its slightly salty background was just excellent.  

We declared it a success!  At least, we tried to say "success", but our mouths were full.  

I froze most of the flat ones with the idea of using them to accompany a savory stew (no powdered sugar) or to serve with ice cream.  You can see the way I served a stew with them below.

I'm not sure how to serve the wafers "very hot" because I could only make one at a time.  Perhaps they were all put on a tray in the oven until the batter was used up, then served.

The internet gives many opinions on how to get the wafers crispy and have them stay that way.  It suggests using non-stick cooking spray instead of butter on the iron.  Or to add sugar to the batter.  Or to cook it on a higher heat.  I'm not sure.  The original recipe does not state that the result will be crispy.  Perhaps they are supposed to be soft after they are rolled.  The result I got was somewhere in between a crispy ice cream cone and a softer crepe.  

Yum!  What filling should go inside there?

Savory stew with plain wafer.  Excellent!

I made a stew for dinner and served it with a single wafer.  After defrosting the wafer, I put it into the toaster oven for a very light toasting, which got it hot and made it crispy.  Not only did it look good, the wafer soaked up the stew's liquid base.  It also added a pleasant chewy starch to the meal.  

A Red Mulberry -- A Medieval Main Course

My mulberry tree is producing, and I am loving it.  Fresh mulberries!  They are excellent just on their own, and they are also good paired with gouda cheese and white wine.  

But I wanted to do something historical with them.  For this I returned to Cindy Renfrow's Take a Thousand Eggs or More, a collection of 15th century recipes for my inspiration.  I had previously made a recipe from it named "Tart de ffruyte".  Click here to see it.

ISBN 0-9628598-2-6

What appealed was on page 200, taken from the Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers:

Early English above, modern English below

My Redaction

I was not convinced that this was served as uncooked meat and eggs, and it looked to me like a fruit-and-spice meatloaf.  That is approach I took in redacting it.

2 pounds boneless beef round steak

1 pound, 13 ounces fresh mulberries

2 egg yolks

2 ounces dried bread crumbs

2 + 1 teaspoons poudre fines

2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place a handful of mulberries in the center of a damp cloth (I used a thin cotton cloth normally used for drying dishes), gather the cloth around them, then use your hands to squish the berries, letting the juice flow into a waiting bowl.  Twist the cloth around the berries, extracting more juice, until the mass feels firm and no more juice flows.  Discard the spent berries, then repeat until all the berries are juiced.  This gave me 1 cup of mulberry juice.

Cut the meat up into cubes then run them through the meat grinder.  (Or buy pre-ground beef.)

If the bread isn't already in crumbs, run them through the grinder after the meat.  Mix them into the meat.

Mix the meat mixture and the juice, then add the sugar and 2 teaspoons of spices and mix again.  Then mix in the egg yolks.

Shape the mixture into a loaf.  I made a round that was about 8 inches in diameter and 2 to 3 inches high.  Sprinkle the top with one teaspoon of the spices.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked all the way through.  Serve it forth.

My Notes

The poudre fines mixture I have contains cinnamon, cloves, ginger, grains of paradise, pepper, and saffron.  You can mix up your own version using most or all of these, and I believe you will still be mimicking the medieval time period well.

Meat and bread after grinding

A handful ready for juicing

Squeezed and twisted

Mulberry juice

Beginning to bake

Serve it forth!

The Verdict

It was cooked just right:  no pink left but everything was still juicy.  Also, the loaf was firm enough and held together when cut and served.  I would not change the number of egg yolks, although I usually use whole eggs when I make a meatloaf.  (I enjoyed the leftover whites for breakfast the next day.)

Don't ignore those juices!

The flavor was interesting!  The mulberry juice didn't taste like mulberries, but it added a lovely fruit element to the meat and spices.  The spices were a nice support for the juice and did not conflict with the meat.  

I think I would not put a full teaspoon of spice over the top; a half teaspoon would probably be better.  That was too strong.  But I liked the amount in the meat.  In fact, I think I could put in more and still enjoy it.

I'm glad I didn't put in much sugar.  I didn't taste it, and I was glad.  

My guest taster and I both enjoyed this meatloaf.  We found ourselves spooning the pan juices over the  top of our pieces just because they made it taste even better.  A piece of bread also did a good job sopping up the extra juice.

Success!  Definitely worthwhile repeating.  If I didn't have fresh mulberries available, I would try mulberry molasses diluted with water.  

When I make meatloaf, I typically soak the liquid (red wine!) in the bread crumbs for 10 to 15 minutes before mixing them into the meat.  I think I would do this with the juice if I did this recipe again.  It might disburse the flavor throughout the meat better, although you do not hear me complaining.  

Just in case you were worried, the juice did not stain the white cloth.  Most of the color left when I rinsed the cloth out in the sink, and the rest washed out in the laundry.