Ellyn
Veteran
I recently posted a link to the blog that now became the official cookbook of G.R.R. Martin's spectacularly detailed medieval fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire on which the HBO television series Game of Thrones is based.
One recurring special motif in the book series is how the princesses from the House of Stark just love their lemon cakes.
In our own world and history, citrus fruits could be difficult to come by. In Catherine, Called Birdy, a medieval high born lady is given a gift of a dried-up orange peel that her uncle had brought as a souvenir from the Crusades. She treasures it as this exotic thing, and he can only describe to her how a real orange tastes.
In the fantasy land of Westeros, they're fortunate enough to have a steady trade of lemons from the capital, the juice of which can evidently still be used. But I also wonder if part of the thrill of lemon cakes is its summery rarity to the princesses of the cold and unforgiving North. The latest season has more mention of these precious lemon cakes, almost as often as in the books. It's even in the text that a strawberry pie was only "almost" as good as a lemon cake! As a fan of strawberries, I certainly find that difficult to conceive but apparently easy to write! But then again, I live in the tropics. Strawberries are a treat, even when I can have fully-stocked grocery stories fly all sorts of produce in from who-knows-where on the planet!
Here is the official recipe from HBO, which is unquestionably modern.
The Inn At The Crossroads has a couple of versions, because the first two recipes that they tried proved to be disappointing.
These Elizabethan-era lemon poppy cakes can be brushed with lemon-juice flavored honey to glaze it, or topped with lemon curd (which they say is good but sounds a little gross to me because of the eggs... I'm going to cheat on the "historical" part a little and maybe modify BeeMee's peach and orange mousse recipe to become a lemon-flavored topping instead!
One recurring special motif in the book series is how the princesses from the House of Stark just love their lemon cakes.
In our own world and history, citrus fruits could be difficult to come by. In Catherine, Called Birdy, a medieval high born lady is given a gift of a dried-up orange peel that her uncle had brought as a souvenir from the Crusades. She treasures it as this exotic thing, and he can only describe to her how a real orange tastes.
In the fantasy land of Westeros, they're fortunate enough to have a steady trade of lemons from the capital, the juice of which can evidently still be used. But I also wonder if part of the thrill of lemon cakes is its summery rarity to the princesses of the cold and unforgiving North. The latest season has more mention of these precious lemon cakes, almost as often as in the books. It's even in the text that a strawberry pie was only "almost" as good as a lemon cake! As a fan of strawberries, I certainly find that difficult to conceive but apparently easy to write! But then again, I live in the tropics. Strawberries are a treat, even when I can have fully-stocked grocery stories fly all sorts of produce in from who-knows-where on the planet!
Here is the official recipe from HBO, which is unquestionably modern.
The Inn At The Crossroads has a couple of versions, because the first two recipes that they tried proved to be disappointing.
These Elizabethan-era lemon poppy cakes can be brushed with lemon-juice flavored honey to glaze it, or topped with lemon curd (which they say is good but sounds a little gross to me because of the eggs... I'm going to cheat on the "historical" part a little and maybe modify BeeMee's peach and orange mousse recipe to become a lemon-flavored topping instead!