Sambocade Cheesecake

PERIOD: England, 14th & 17th centuries | SOURCE: Forme of Cury and The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby, Opened | CLASS: Authentic

DESCRIPTION: Cheesecake with elderflowers

ORIGINAL RECEIPT FROM FORME OF CURY:

179. Sambocade. Take and make a crust in a trap & take cruddes and wryng out þe wheyze and drawe hem þurgh a straynour and put hit in þe crust. Do þerto sugar the þridde part, & somdel whyte of ayren, & shake þerin blomes of elren; & bake it vp with eurose, & messe it forth. 

(For the translation, please refer to Sambocade)

- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

ORIGINAL RECEIPT FROM THE CLOSET OF SIR KENELM DIGBY, OPENED:

To Make Cheesecakes. Take 12 quarts of milk from the cow, turn it with a good spoonful of runnet. Break it well, and put it in a large strainer, in which rowl it up and down, that all the whey may run out into a little tub; when all that will is run out, wring out more. Then break the curds well; then wring it again, and more whey will come. Thus break and wring till no more come. Then work the curds exceedingly with your hand in a tray, till they become a short uniform paste. Then put it to the yolks of 8 new laid eggs, and two whites, and a pound of butter. Work all this long together. In the long working (at the several times) consisteth the making them good. Then season them to your taste with sugar finely beaten; and put in some cloves and mace in subtle powder. Then lay them thick in coffins of fine paste and bake them.

- Friedman, David and Betty Cook. A Miscellany. Published privately, 1988, 1990.

MODERN RECIPE:

This version of Sambocade is a combination of the recipes from Forme of Cury and The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby, Opened, posthumously printed in 1699.

• 1 nine-inch pie shell
• 2 Tbs. heavy cream
• 2 Tbs. dried elderflowers
• 3/4 lb. cottage cheese
• 3/4 lb. ricotta cheese
• 3 eggs
• ¼ lb. butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ¼ tsp. cloves
• ¼ tsp. mace
• 1 Tbs. rosewater (optional)

Elderflowers can be found at natural food stores, herb & spice specialty shops, stores that carry exotic teas, etc. I find them at my local food co-operative. Don't use a substitution - the flavor of elderflowers is unique and the taste of the final product depends on the real thing.

Rosewater is a remarkable liquid that can be found in Oriental, Indian, and other imported food stores. The rose aroma & flavor are strong and powerful - be sure to use the real thing and not a substitute.