Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - Cxxxvj. A potage of Roysons - Rice Porridge with Apples and Raisins

Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - Cxxxvj. A potage of Roysons - Rice Porridge with Apples and Raisins

Today's adventure in cooking from from the "Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55 by Thomas Austin" was a very interesting dish called Cxxxvj. A potage of Roysons. The end product was a kind of cream of rice cereal with chunks of apples and raisins in it. I would serve this as a camp breakfast, or even at an event which is offering breakfast.  

The taste testers declared it "tasty, but not delicious", which is a very fair assessment of this dish.  I have created similar recipes that I would prefer to serve over this one. Perhaps it is because I am not a fan of raisins?? 

.Cxxxvj. A potage of Roysons.—Take Raysonys, & do a-way þe kyrnellys; & take a part of Applys, & do a-way þe corys, & þe pare,*. [? peel. ] & bray hem in a mortere, & temper hem with Almande Mylke, & melle hem with flowre of Rys, þat it be clene chargeaunt, & straw vppe-on pouder of Galyngale & of Gyngere, & serue it forth.

Cxxxvj - A potage of Roysons. Take Raysonys, and do a-way the kyrnellys; and take a part of Applys, and do a-way the corys, and the pare, (Note: ? peel) and bray hem in a mortere, and temper hem with Almande Mylke, and melle hem with flowre of Rys, that it be clene chargeaunt, and straw vppe-on pouder of Galyngaleand of Gyngere, and serue it forth.

136 A Potage of Raisins - Take Raisins, and do away the kernels; and take a part of apples, and do away the cores and pare and grind them in a mortar, and temper them with almond milk, and mix them with flour of rice, that it be quite thick, and strew upon powder of galangal, of ginger, and serve forth.

Interpreted Recipe                                                              Serve 1 as main, 2 as side

1/2 apple, peeled, pared and cut into small dice
2 tbsp. raisins
1 cup almond milk
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. rice flour
1/2 tsp. good powder or ginger to taste
pinch of salt

Although the recipe does not tell us to cook the raisins and the apples, it does tell us to "temper hem with Almande Mylke", which leads me to believe that we are to add hot almond milk to the apple and raisin mixture.  The term tempering is defined as the process of gradually adding a hot liquid to food so that it can be incorporated into a hot sauce or soup without curdling.  The process of tempering is used to slowly raise the temperature of the food using small amounts of hot liquid, so that the mixture can become thick. Therefore, I believe that the use of hot almond milk would be used as the method of cooking the raisins and the apples. 

What is missing is the sweetness that I have found in similar recipes; lxviij - Bruet of Almaynne in lente, xx. Papyns, .Cxxv. Vyolette, .lxxxxj. Vyolette, .Ixxxv. Gaylede, Cxxvj. Rede Rose, .lxxix. Apple Muse and .Cxxxiiij. Apple Moyle, and . Based on these similar recipes I added honey to my interpretation of this recipe, otherwise, I believe it would have been bland.

I chose to cook the apples and the raisins in the almond milk that I seasoned with ginger and honey before adding the rice flour. It couldn't be simpler!