A Potage of Roysons: Medieval Apple and Raisin Rice Porridge from Harleian MS 279

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Cxxxvj. A Potage of Roysons – apple, raisin, almond milk, rice flour, ginger, and galangal

A Potage of Roysons – Medieval Apple and Raisin Rice Porridge

There are recipes that sweep into the medieval kitchen wearing gilt and peacock feathers, and then there are recipes like A Potage of Roysons. This one arrives quietly with apples, raisins, almond milk, rice flour, ginger, and galangal. It sounds simple. It is simple. But it is not nearly as plain as it first appears.

The original recipe is only a few lines long, yet those few lines give us several excellent little mysteries. Why do the raisins have “kernels”? What does the cook mean by temper? How thick is clene chargeaunt? And why, after all that careful instruction, does no one actually tell us to put the pot over the fire?

I first made this pottage in 2016 and served it at an SCA breakfast. It went over well, although one of the kinder verdicts was, “Tasty, but not delicious.” Honestly? Fair. I have made similar dishes with more sparkle, and I have never been a devoted member of the raisin fan club. Still, there was enough here to make me curious, and curiosity is usually where the good cooking begins.

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Apple Moyle, a warm apple and almond rice pottage reconstructed from Harleian MS 279, c. 1430

Apple Moyle: A Sweet Medieval Apple Porridge from Harleian MS 279

Apple Moyle is the sort of dish that makes a medieval manuscript feel suddenly close enough to touch. Ground rice and almond milk cook into a soft, creamy pottage; small pieces of apple settle into it; sugar, saffron, and sweet spices turn an armful of familiar ingredients into something warm, golden, and unmistakably fifteenth-century.

It is comforting without being plain and rich without being heavy. The apples are not puréed away. They remain as tender little morsels inside the smooth rice-thickened base, giving each spoonful a bit of orchard brightness. My testers liked this one enough that the final serving inspired what can only be described as a very polite spoon duel.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• It is warm, gently spiced, and deeply comforting.
• The ingredient list is short and naturally dairy-free.
• It works beautifully as a modern camp breakfast or a small pottage course.
• The rice flour thickens the almond milk without eggs, butter, or wheat.
• It reheats well with a small splash of almond milk.

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Historical Integrity Statement: The manuscript clearly names rice, almond milk, apples, sugar, saffron, and “good powder,” and it preserves the basic order of preparation. It does not provide quantities, cooking times, a final consistency, or the composition of the spice powder. The measurements below are my tested reconstruction. Fine rice flour replaces rice freshly ground in a mortar, Powder Douce is my interpretation of “good powder,” and salt is an optional modern addition.

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Hriðer Smeamete: An Anglo-Saxon Beef Reconstruction from Bald’s Leechbook to Pies of Paris

Hriðer Smeamete entered my kitchen more than twenty years ago as a sweet, spiced beef casserole from Mary Savelli’s Tastes of Anglo-Saxon England. Beef was browned, layered with apple, raisins, and dates, moistened with honey, wine, vinegar, and saffron, enclosed beneath breadcrumbs, and baked. It was rich, fragrant, and memorable. It also raised a difficult question:

How much of this dish can actually be traced to Anglo-Saxon evidence, and where do its later medieval features begin?

The answer is more interesting than a simple verdict of authentic or invented. A tenth-century Old English medical text preserves a genuine preparation of cattle meat cooked in vinegar and seasoned with oil, salt, dill, and leek. A sixth-century dietetic written by Anthimus gives a fuller beef casserole with vinegar, honey, wine, pepper, leeks, herbs, and aromatic spices. Later English cookery books document an increasingly elaborate tradition of meat combined with dried fruit, sweetness, spice, and pastry. By the fifteenth century, Pyej de parej, or Pies of Paris, had gathered many of those elements into a single baked dish.

Mary Savelli’s casserole stands where those trails meet. It is not a surviving Anglo-Saxon recipe, and it should not be presented as one. It is a modern composite reconstruction built from real but widely separated evidence. This article preserves Savelli’s original recipe, traces its ingredients and structure backward and forward through the sources, and offers a second reconstruction that begins with the directly attested Old English preparation.

Why This Article Matters

• It documents the complete evidence trail instead of presenting a modern redaction as a recovered recipe.
• It separates an Old English medical food from later comparative culinary evidence.
• It shows how translated Mediterranean knowledge became part of Anglo-Saxon literary and practical culture.
• It follows meat, fruit, honey, vinegar, wine, spice, and baked coverings into later English cookery.
• It preserves Mary Savelli’s influential reconstruction while making its assumptions visible.
• It provides a second, evidence-weighted version for continued kitchen testing.

Mary Savelli’s Recipe Give It Forth Reconstruction

Historical Integrity Statement:

No culinary recipe titled Hriðer Smeamete survives from Anglo-Saxon England. Mary Savelli’s title appears to be a modern construction made from genuine Old English vocabulary. The closest direct evidence is a brief dietary instruction in Bald’s Leechbook for hryþeren flæsc, cattle meat cooked in vinegar and seasoned with oil, salt, dill, and leek. Honey, wine, pepper, fruit, imported spices, breadcrumbs, and the baked casserole structure enter through comparative sources or modern reconstruction.