Prince Biskets

Small bread-like biscuits with a lot of caraway seeds

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City/Region: England

Time Period: 1602

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Biscuits were originally the twice baked, incredibly dry and hard sea biscuits, or hardtack (clack clack) given to sailors. Today, in the UK and Australia a biscuit is a small, dry sweet baked good, while in the US it’s a type of quick bread often served with sausage gravy. None of these versions are quite like what Sir Hugh Plat, a true renaissance man, describes.

This was the first episode I ever made for Tasting History. I made this at the same time as the Medieval Cheese video (the actual first episode released), and after feedback from friends and family, I realized I had to change the way I was doing the show. This original first episode never aired, and I decided to give it another shot over a year later.

These biscuits look kind of like small cakes, but they’re super chewy like a bread due to the long mixing time. There’s no leavening, so they’re also unpleasantly dense. The caraway flavor is very strong, which I like, but the texture reminds me of the dry marshmallows in Lucky Charms, which I’m not a fan of. Other recipes from the time whip the eggs separately, then add the other ingredients, and I think that would make for a lighter, better biscuit.

“To make prince bisket.
Take one pounde of verie fine flower, and one pounde of fine sugar, and eight eggs, and two spoonfuls of Rosewater, and one ounce of carroway seeds, and beat it all to batter one whole hour, for the more you beat it, the better your bread is, then bake it in coffins of white plate, beeing basted with a little butter before you put in your batter, and so keepe it.”

— Delights for Ladies, to Adorne Their Persons, Tables, Closets, and Distillatories; with Beauties, Banquets, Perfumes, and Waters by Hugh Plat, 1602

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Ingredients:

• 7 eggs
• 3 cups (360 g) flour
• 1 3/4 cup (360 g) sugar
• 2 teaspoons rose water
• 3 tablespoons (20 g) caraway seeds

Instructions:

1. Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl. Sift in the flour and sugar and stir to combine. Add the rose water and caraway seeds and mix.
2. Mix for 1 hour by hand, or mix in a stand mixer for 12 to 15 minutes
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
4. After copious amounts of mixing, the batter should be a pale yellow. Grease your molds or tins well with butter. I used small oven safe saucers, but you could use a madeleine pan or a small muffin tin. Spoon or pipe the batter into the molds, filling them most of the way.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Let them cool, then serve them forth.

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