Part Two of the History of Baking

More for you Foodies to get your teeth into.

Part two - The History of Baking

The distinction between sweet and savory is quite recent, dating from the 19^{th century. The medieval baker pastrycook employed a very different range of flavors for cakes and pastries. Pies and pasties ( known around the Mediterranean region as pastilles, from the Roman word paste meaning pastry) have been around since before medieval times and are some of the oldest delicacies of European cuisine, dating back at least to ancient Greece and also some of the most exquisite, combining meat, wheat and the flavors of honey, nuts and flowers.}
The pasties described by La Varene (a master pastry chef from the 17th century) are made with meats like hare and goose seasoned with a sweet spice which consisted of two parts ginger, one part ground peppercorns, grated nutmeg, crushed cinnamon and cloves. The fever for spices in Europe originated with the Knights Templar who brought them back from the Crusades. They also brought back the beignet, or doughnut. In Syria, during one of the last Crusade battles, St Louis was given doughnuts flavored with cinnamon. Spices weren’t needed to preserve food, salt did the trick and though they added flavour, their real function was social prestige. (The original foodies!) A taste for spices was part of the new manners by which the metropolitan elite distanced itself from the peasantry.