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Beren Briw: Reconstructing an Anglo-Saxon Barley Pottage from the Lacnunga to Mary Savelli
Beren Briw entered my kitchen more than twenty years ago as a barley “polenta” from Mary Savelli’s Tastes of Anglo-Saxon England. Whole barley was soaked, then simmered with butter, minced radish, beef broth, salt, and a whisper of cinnamon. It was mild enough to sit beside a richly seasoned beef dish, sturdy enough for feast service, and unusual enough to remain memorable.
It also left a question simmering at the back of the pot:
Where did the broth and cinnamon come from, and how closely does this recipe follow the Old English evidence?
The answer is more generous than a simple verdict of “authentic” or “invented.” The Lacnunga preserves genuine Old English instructions for thick briw made with barley meal, butter, radish, crop-leek, elecampane, salt, and prolonged cooking. Bald’s Leechbook assumes that cooks already knew how to turn fresh barley meal or groats into pottage. Later medieval and Renaissance sources then show barley flour or hulled barley entering preparations made with poultry broth, meat broth, beef-boiling liquor, almond milk, sugar, and cinnamon.
Mary Savelli’s recipe stands where those trails meet. It is not a transcription of one Anglo-Saxon recipe. It is better understood as a historically informed composite: an approachable modern dish built from a direct Old English core, later barley-pottage traditions, and the practical decisions required by a modern kitchen.
This article preserves Savelli’s recipe exactly as I received and cooked it, traces its evidence backward and forward, and offers a second reconstruction that begins with the ingredients and texture most securely supported by the Old English texts.
Why This Article Matters
- It preserves Mary Savelli’s influential recipe rather than quietly replacing it.
- It identifies the barley, radish, butter, salt, long cooking, and hot service that are directly supported by the Lacnunga.
- It explains why briw is better understood as thick cereal pottage than thin broth.
- It follows beef broth and cinnamon into later barley dishes without backdating them into the Anglo-Saxon source.
- It separates a medicinal text, ordinary cooking knowledge, comparative evidence, and modern reconstruction.
- It provides a conservative feast-table version for continued kitchen testing.
Mary Savelli’s Recipe Give It Forth Reconstruction
No complete culinary recipe titled Beren Briw survives from Anglo-Saxon England. The phrase is a modern descriptive title assembled from genuine Old English vocabulary and can be understood approximately as “barley pottage.” The closest direct evidence is a cluster of medicinal briw instructions in the Lacnunga. These support barley meal, butter, radish, crop-leek, elecampane, white salt, long cooking, a thick consistency, and hot service. Beef broth and cinnamon are not named in those passages. They enter through later comparative barley cookery and Savelli’s modern reconstruction.
