Testing Recipe - Thus you must roast a pig.- The Registrum Coquine of John of Bockenheim

In order to determine which of the mustard sauces would best with the pork roast that will serve as the main dish of the second course of 12th Night, it has become necessary to interpret the recipe for it. This recipe can be found in the translation by Volker Bach here, The Registrum Coquine of John of Bockenheim.

I know I will not be roasting a whole pig, that would be entirely way too much meat for the expected 50ish people. The two proposed sauces with this dish are an apple mustard and a gingerbread sauce.

14 – Thus you must roast a pig. Take its organs, that is to say liver and lung, and chop them with a knife, and temper them with hard-boiled eggs, fat bacon (lardone), and parsley, marjoram, and raisins, and sweet spices. And then cut the pig along the side (per latus), and put it on a spit, and fill it with the mixture, and close up its side well, and draw one foot across the other, so that it stands well, and make it roast all through. And that will be for the rich.

Stuffed with this stuffing found in the Kuchenmaistrey

If you want to make a stuffing for a roast or poultry, hard-boil two eggs and chop parsley among them well, with a few Italian raisins and roast apples or pears. Knead it together with raw egg, add spices, a little saffron and salt, and fill it in. After you have reached through (hollowed out) the roast with your fingers or a piece of wood or a knife and have filled it, close it up with slivers of wood or sew the stuffing up with a thread so it does not come out. You can also put chopped bacon or butter into the stuffing if you want. (kuchenmaistrey 2.ix)

Ingredients

Pork Loin Roast
Opt. Liver and Lung (I can't get it where I live) sub ground pork?

Hard boiled Egg

Bacon

Parsley

Marjoram

Raisins

Sweet Spices

Roasted Apples or Pears

I plan on butterflying the pork loins and then stuffing them with the stuffing, rolling them up before roasting in the oven.  I know that there are at 8 people per table so the pork should be 2 1/2 to 3 pounds so that each person can get at least 1/4 pound of meat in this course.  I plan on garnishing the dish with apples stuffed with the same sausage mixture, so I will be using apples rather then pears in the stuffing. 

Here are my thoughts on initial recipe:

2 1/2 to 3 pounds pork 

1/2 pound ground pork 

2 hard boiled eggs

3-4 slices of bacon

2 tsp. each parsley and marjoram

1 tbsp. raisins

1 tsp. strong spice powder

1 roasted apple

Salt for modern taste

I plan on mixing the spices together and sprinkling them on the inside of the pork after it's been butterflied.  I also plan on adding salt and pepper on the outside of the pork. I plan on browning off the bacon and then mixing the remaining ingredients together (pork, chopped boiled eggs, chopped roasted apple, bacon diced, raisins and the spices) and stuffing the pork.  I plan on using kitchen twine to keep the roast together, lightly browning it and then I will cook it in a moderate oven (350)  until throughly cooked--I'm guessing a 40 t0 50 minutes. 

Now to test it :-)

Testing Recipes -- Om mosterdsaus te maken - To Make Mustard SauceNyeuwen Coock Boeck

Taken from Gent KANTL 15, volume 1: [Nyeuwen Coock Boeck, C. Muusers (trans.)]:

1.32. Om mosterdsaus te maken

Neem wat appelmoes en doe er wat mosterd bij met wat gemalen paradijskorrels. Meng dit samen goed.

1.32. To make mustard sauce 

Take some applesauce and add some mustard with ground grains of paradise. Mix this well together.

The first recipe to come together is this sweet mustard that will be served alongside the pork.  It reads very simply. I do feel that I should make a period "Apple Sauce" to add  the mustard to, in order to ensure that the flavor is as authentic as I can make it.  

Into the rabbit hole....

Ein Buch von guter spise is a logical source. It is dated between 1345 and 1354, a bit early for most of the reciepts that I will be using, but how much could a basic apple sauce change? 

The original recipe is located here: Ein Buch von Guter Spice

The recipe reads thus: 

(69.) Ein apfelmus.

Wilt du machen ein apfelmus. so nim schöne epfele und schele sie. und snide sie in ein kalt wazzer. und süde sie in einem hafen. und menge sie mit wine und mit smaltze und ze slahe eyer mit wiz und mit al. und tu daz dor zu. und daz ist gar ein gut fülle. und versaltz niht.

Google Translates offers this rather hilarious translation: 

Will you make an apple sauce.  so take beautiful apples and scold them. and cut it into cold wazzer. and south you in a harbor. and mix them with wine and with smaltze and ze slahe eyer with wiz and with al. and close it. and there is even a good fullness. and not oversalted. 

 

Pretty funny, right? Further research found that this recipe is rather common and has been translated from by multple sources whom I consider peers.  Dan Myer's offers this translation on his Medieval Cookery site. 

How you want to make an apple puree. So take fine apples and skin them. And cut them in a cold water. And boil them in a pot. And mix them with wine and with fat and also beat eggs with white and with all. And do that thereto. And that is a very good filling. And do not oversalt. [Ein Buch von guter spise]

My own interpretations for recipes of a similar nature can be found here: lxxix. Apple Muse - Apple Mousse &  .Cxxxiiij. Apple Moyle - Apple Soft.  

Ingredients for Applesauce 

Apples

Wine

Fat (butter or lard)

Eggs

Salt

I find these ingredients confusing, because the addition of fat and eggs means that the sauce itself will be thicker and richer and not what we traditionally think of when we think of applesauce. Traditional fats in medieval cooking were lard, oils, and when available butter. It reminds me a little bit of lemon curd recipes (eggs, sugar, butter and lemon zest and juice).  

It's been ages since I made mom's lemon curd, but that is the recipe I first look up.  Here it is: 

Mom's Lemon Curd

Juice of 2-3 lemons ~1/3 cup

Zest of 1 lemon

4 egg yolks

2/3 cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp. butter

pinch of salt

This gives me an approximate idea of how much of each ingredient for the interpreted recipe I will need.  

Here are my guesses at interpreting the recipe: 

Wine would substitute for the juice of the lemon. 

Apples to replace lemon zest and lemon juice. 

2 Whole eggs instead of four egg yolks

No Sugar??

Keep salt to enhance flavor and please modern tastes

No Spices??? 

Interpreted Recipe

1-2 Apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks - Use a mix of apples - better flavor

2 whole Eggs

~ 1/3 cup wine  - use lemon juice in lieu of wine for more "child friendly" sauce

up to 6 tbsp. of butter

salt

*Opt. Sugar and Spices

Following the recipe, the apples should be peeled and cored and added to a pot with water.  The assumption is that you boil them until they are soft and then mix the softened apples with wine, butter and then the eggs to thicken it.  At the end of the recipe salt is mentioned so salt should also be added.  Noteably what is missing are spices!  You would expect to have spices in this sauce.  The only flavorings are the apples and the wine.  

Having made lemon curd in the past I know that I am going to use a double boiler to create this dish.  I know my first step will be to cook the apples until they are soft in either water or the wine/lemon juice, and since I want this to be a sauce, I know I will puree the apples before moving into the next step. 

The next step will involve heating the  pureed apples with the eggs,  sugar and the eggs  until the eggs are fully cooked --approximately two to three minutes - at which point I will add in the butter a tablespoon at a time until the mixture begins to thicken.  I assume that like lemon curd, apple curd can be stored in sterilized jars up to a month or so. 

I am wrestling with the idea that there is no sugar or spices, and after the first test, I may add sugar to it.  We will see.  The other recipe I found for applesauce in lent also foregoes sugar, so it may not have been used in this region during this period.

1.16. Appelmoes in de vastentijd

Neem appel, geschild en in stukken gesneden. Doe ze in een pot, neem de lever van kabeljauw of schelvis en laat deze met de appels koken. Roer het vaak. Wrijf saffraan fijn. Stoot dan [de saffraan] in [het appelmengsel] en vermeng het met amandelmelk. Pureer het als het klaar is, schep het op schotels en strooi er specerijen bovenop.

1.16. Apple sauce in Lent

Have apples, peeled en cut in pieces. Put them in a pot, take the liver of cod or haddock and bring this to the boil with the apples. Stir it frequently. Grind saffron finely. Pound [the saffron] in [the apples] and temper with almond milk. When it is ready purée it, serve it on plates and sprinkle spices on top.

Modern Adaptation: Medieval Apple Sauce

Day 2: Moving Forward and testing this recipe to make apple curd

Time to test making apple curd- because I do not have wine we will be using water and lemon juice to cook the apples. I only have medium eggs available, and I'm using three apples that are past their eating prime--yay me.  With those exceptions I will be using the recipe I created yesterday.  If it works, I will be adding mustard and grains of paradise to it.  I must confess that while I've made mustard from scratch in the past, I currently use a stoneground mustard that is pre-made.  

Test Results

I followed the recipe for the applesauce exactly as I wrote it.  It does create a soft pale colored sauce that is very "fragrant" with apples, however the texture is not what I would think of as  modern "Applesauce"--it is a sauce, similar to a gravy. With the savory flavoring of butter and egg so prevalent this dish could be offputting if it was not served correctly--as a sauce.  

If I were to serve this as a side dish, I would add some sugar or honey to enhance the sweetness a little bit more, and cut down on the butter and egg..maybe using half as much as the recipe called for, 

As a savory sauce--it is good, and it was a great way to use up older apples that were starting to go a bit mealy. That said, I moved ahead and prepared it with the mustard.  I was very aggressive with the seasoning for the mustard and veered off from just the grains of paradise.  I found a recipe for a traditional sweet german mustard and used just the spicing from that. 

The traditional german sweet mustard recipe can be found here. Bavarian Sweet Mustard (Bayerischer Süßer Senf)

For the mustard part of this dish I used stoneground mustard mixed 1/3 with dijon mustard.  

Spice Mix

4 Juniper Berries

1/2 tsp. Grains of Paradise

4 Cloves

8 Black Peppercorns

It is currently mellowing in the fridge so the flavors can meld together. I will test it next week.  The guinea pig enjoyed the mustard sauce and pronounced it good. 

No pictures as yet, because this is just a test run.  

On to the next rabbit hole.....

11/9/2021 - Update

I had to do more research on the applesauce...I thought perhaps I had misunderstood what kind of an apple sauce was needed. I may need to rethink the recipe above based on this recipe I found while rsearching "apple sauce". Sabrina Welserin suggests this as a proper sauce for game and small birds. 

8 To make a sauce with apples for game and small birds

Take good apples and peel them and grate them with a grater and put a little fat in a pan over [the fire] and let it become hot and put the apples in it and let them roast therein. After that put good wine thereon, sugar, cinnamon, saffron and some ginger and let it cook together for a while, then it is ready. One should boil the small birds first and then roast them in fat.

Instead of a smooth sauce I might be looking at a chunkier sauce of apples cooked with wine, spices and then mustard added?? Time to research the roast and to determine how much is too much on spicing. 

Yay!

Into the Rabbit Hole!

 I have been asked to try to document my process on creating the recipes I use for a feast.  This is difficult for me to put into words as I have been cooking since I was old enough to stand at a stool at the stove.  Sometimes my mind just *knows* how to put something together to make it work.  That being said...welcome to the Adventure. 

I'm excited to be asked to cook for this event.  Our SCA is opening up after the pandemic and I must confess that the loss of the ability to share food which I have researched and prepared with friends had effected me more then I had expected.  I still cooked for family during this time, stretching my boundaries and making new and interesting dishes.  I've discovered that a new family favorite is Navajo Fry-bread.  I have fond memories of fry-bread from my youth and it was exciting to share what I consider a festival treat with my family on a regular basis.  But--these things are for modern day cooks, and not things I could write about in a blog I had designed for quick reads and immediate access to workable recipes. 

I must confess, that I have kept my toes in the pond by finishing up interpretations for the remainder of the pottage recipes in the HarlMS279. I also started combining similar recipes together, and I've decided to make changes on the blog to reflect my idea of how to create a "Modern Medieval Feast".  You may have noticed a new section in the blog "Index of Recipes by Category".  Here I am starting to index the work I have done, to fit into appropriate medieval appetizers, first course, second course and dessert dishes.  I am also working to create categories for Medieval Breakfast foods which are mostly the cereal based pottages, breads and pastries and drinks. Indexing the large body of work is tedious and slow--but it is getting done.  So I've not been entirely quiet during this time. 

Which brings me to the next feast.  Specific rules indicate that it can be served either potluck or tavern style.  Hopefully by January, we will have moved beyond the restrictions that I must create the menu within.  Either way, there will not be servers at this point.  My last 12th Night feast was extremely elaborate in terms of menu and food prep, and I have to confess, it is my preferred style of cooking. It consisted mostly of dishes I had interepreted myself and the style of the feast was using my "Modern Medieval Feast template".  

What is this template? The template is a method of serving food that closely follows the dietary regimen of the 15th Century based upon Greek Dietetics, the idea that food must be eaten in the appropriate manner to retain maximum health. When looked at this way, the layout of the feast is very easy--appetizers meant to awaken the appetite and open the stomach, brothy or saucy dishes, heavier roasted dishes, then foods meant to close the stomach and prepare it for digestion.  Yes, it is remarkably modern in design. It also makes it easy for me to create a menu that not only is cost effective, but easy to arrange. 

For this feast I am limited in what and how I can serve.  So I already know that I will be serving "Pot-luck" in two courses, because that is what fits my cooking preference the best. Tavern style means limited dishes in a two course settting.  I can't recall the last time I created a feast that had six dishes or less :-/ Part of the challenge for me is to expose my diners to as many dishes as I can to create the illusion of an elaborate feast for nobles. 

I know from my template that appetizers and pottages will create the first "course" and that roasted/baked and dessert dishes will create the second course. I know that I am cooking for a very limited number of people so I have room to play with fussier dishes if I want to.  I know that I have suggested to the Event Stewards that they should plan for 24-36 diners, and that they should consider limiting to tables of 6 versus tables of 8 to increase the space between diners and lower the possibility of infection rates.  I have also suggested that feast be reservation only.  I am still waiting the event stewards decisions.  Should the stewards take my suggestions there will be six tables with six diners each, or, if we keep to eight per table as usual, then I will be cooking for five tables and 40 diners. No servers, so I will not need to worry about cooking for servers, but there will be staff to help cook day of (masked and gloved of course), so one additional table of food to plan so everyone can eat.  

I reached out to a friend of mine, Volker Bach, who has been posting regularly in my "Historic Cooking" facebook group and asked permission to use their interpretations of manuscripts to create my own recipes.  I got a YES! This is the first of many attributions to Volker Bach you will see. This gives me a  direction to research in and a "style" of cooking to use, German/Dutch for 12th Night. 

To reiterate at this point in time where the rabbit hole is taking me: Pot-Luck Style, Two Courses, Multiple dishes--some can be very fussy!, and limited people to cook for.  Pandemic precautions in place in the kitchen. 

Some thoughts on things I might like to do: 

Pork Roast, stuffed with fruit and served with gingerbread sauce

Cheese Soup served in a pastry (the original recipe does not call for yeast, and is a mix of flours, wheat and rye) that is flavored with fennel and bacon--this may not work as I might want.  Thoughts include adding sour dough to ferment and raise the dough a bit, or just serve it to dip on the side. 

A Neat's Tongue (it sounds better then a cow's tongue doesn't it?) that has been first salted, then smoked, and served very thinly sliced 

Roasted Peas - looks fun, although flavor may be doubtful

A pickled component or two along with other cured meats to serve with the soup similar to a garnish then an actual dish..however, could be part of a salad if using "winter greens" like kale. 

Gingerbread to be made for the sauce

Roasted Milk - this dish seems to be a staple in this style of cooking and therefore is a must in the feast--it should technically be served either in appetizer or second course.

Herbed Dumplings or Rice Fritters for the starch component of the roast--it's up in the air at this point--both are easy to make-- rice fritters are fussier then dumplings and dumplings might add a needed "green" component beside the pork and gingerbread sauce. 

Mustard-found great recipe made with roasted apples and hot mustard...reflects fruit used in pork..might be a good accompaniment. --need to find recipe again... :-/ should have saved it--Found it!

Marchpane-- easy 12th Night Must Have Dish

Comfits and candied peels - chamber spices -- coriander and cinnamon? Maybe Anise..but may be too much "licorice" given fennel in the pastry and possibly sausages. Can Mint be saved from frost? Sugared mint leaves would make a nice background for the comfits.

Pears in wine to be served over a custard (cream pudding) for sweet dish--note..if using roasted milk do you want custard? That puts dairy in every course..cheese soup, roasted milk, custard.  Yeowches...perhaps funnel cakes instead? Serve with "Snow" fruit sauce (cherries?)

Baked oranges?? Sounds delish and easy --should be a stunning presentation if served as described

Things to avoid -- "expected dishes" like pickled beets and saurkraut..because..they are expected--this does not mean that beets and kraut won't show up, they may be components of another dish or serve as garnishes.  They won't be main or side dishes. 

Sotelty - Here be the bean and the pea - Sugar Paste Walnuts filled with sugar candies (Holliplen?), red and green ribbon - will need the reservations to ensure there are enough red/green walnuts to denote male/female for bean/pea. 

You are encouraged to visit Volker Bach's website here: Culina Vetus

Mustard Sauce Testing and Recipe Creation 

Insalata di arance tagliate a fette, servite con zucchero e acqua di rose - Sliced orange salad with rosewater and sugar

 This is a deceptively simple and easy to put together dish, and quite delicious.  I did not have rosewater, so I added orange flower water instead.  It was very refreshing, and lasted several days in the refridgerator, making it a terrific make ahead and serve feast dish.  Please Note: I neglected to copy the original recipe for this, but I'm looking for it!  This may be modern, vs. period. 

Insalata di arance tagliate a fette, servite con zucchero e acqua di rose - Sliced orange salad with rosewater and sugar

6 oranges
1-2 tbsp. rose water
squeeze of lemon juice

Opt:

2-3 medjool dates, halved lengthways

2-3 pistachio's finely chopped
3 tbsp. mint, finely chopped
icing sugar, to garnish

Peel the oranges with a sharp knife and remove any pith. Slice into very thin half moons. Try to capture the juice and pour into the serving bowl or platter.

Arrange the orange slices on a serving platter. Sprinkle over rose water and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Scatter over chopped dates and pistachio nuts.

Garnish with the finely chopped mint and, just before serving, dust over some icing sugar.

Per far minestra di Lenti secche - To prepare a thick soup of dried lentils

 

I love lentils! They are one of my favorite legumes and they have a very long history of cultivation dating back between 8000 and 10000 years ago.  When I found this recipe in Scappi's Opera I knew I had to try it.  It makes a delicious  (and inexpensive) soup, but an even better salad.  

I have to confess, I cheated and used canned lentils for the salad, but you could make this even less expensive and purchase dried lentils and cook them yourself according to your packages directions.  I have included the soup recipe here, along with the changes I made to convert this from a soup to a salad.

When/if the SCA allows us to cook feasts again, you will be seeing this soup at a future event. 

Per far minestra di Lenti secche - To prepare a thick soup of dried lentils

Clean dirt off the lentils and put them into a pot with warm water; remove any that float and boil the rest in the same water. While they are boiling, with a large, holed spoon lift out any that rise to the top and put them into another pot: that is done so that the sand that sometimes gets into their little hole will come out and drop to the bottom of the pot. Put good lentils into a pot with oil, salt, a little pepper, saffron, water and a handful of beaten fine herbs; finish off cooking them. For the dish to be good, make the broth rather thick. Cloves of garlic can also be cooked with them, and bit pieces of tench and pike.

1 ½ c. lentils
2 ½ c. water
2 T olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic chopped
3/4 tsp salt
¼ tsp. Pepper

Herbs to taste; basil, rosemary, oregano, fennel, thyme, parsley or sage  
Pinch saffron

Opt: Onion (for modern taste), additional olive oil, lemon

The beauty of lentils is that they do not need to go through a prolonged soaking period. Do make sure to rinse your lentils before you add them to your pot of water, and do make sure that as they cook you remove any that rise to the top, and any scum that forms while they are cooking. You can if you choose cook your lentils in vegetable stock but it is not a necessary step.  

Cook your garlic in your oil, add all other ingredients with the exception of salt.  Bring water to a boil, lower heat to a medium-low and simmer your soup until lentils are tender.  You may add any herbs you wish.  I usually add a handful of kale to this soup along with some onion (which I've cooked with the garlic), thyme, basil and parsley. 

To serve, garnish with a drizzle of oil and a squirt of lemon. 

To Make into a "Salad" -  Make a dressing using lemon juice or vinegar (about 1/4 cup), olive oil (about 3/4 cup), herbs and spices, and mix with your lentils while warm.  Serve warm or cold. 

A far morselletti Romaneschi - To make Roman style morsels

For more information on the role of biscotti in the 16th Century please visit the following: 

Little Morsels or Biscotti from the 16th Century Italy by Lady Helewyse de Birkestad who was the inspiration for my attempt to translate the "Roman Style" Morsels below.

A far morselletti Romaneschi

Ogni tre uova sbattute vogliono una libra di zuccharo di Madera pisto, & un’oncia di cannella fina pista & bene spolverizzata, con un grano di muschio, & far la casa nella farina, mettendovi ogni cosa dentro mescolandosi molto bene con mano farina che si può, facendosi in forma di morselletti, & deono cuocersi al modo delli biscotti, & ravioli con fuoco adagio. Si cuocerebbon meglio quando sfornato il pane si mettesser nel forno, quando saran cotti crepperanno.

To make Roman style morsels

For every three eggs beaten together you want a pound of Madiera sugar ground, and one ounce of finely ground cinnamon powder, with a grain of musk, and make a hole in the flour and put into it every thing, mixing everything very well with floured hands, make them in the form and morsels and put them to cook in the same way as biscotti and ravioli with a slow fire. They cook the best when one has just pulled out the bread from the oven and you put them then in the oven, they are cooked when they burst and crack.

Interpreted Recipe

3 eggs
2 ¾ cup flour
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon or anise seed


Mix all ingredients together and bake 350 degrees until lightly browned.  

These are delicious.  An excellent sweet that gets more flavorful as it sits.  

The Singular Doctrine of ... D. Romoli known as Panonto; in which it is the Scalco office; of the seasoning of every dish, ... of making banquets of all times in princes ..., in the end a short treatise on the health system (reduced by the substance of medicine by R. Gropetio, etc.) ... Again ... reprinted & reprinted, etc By Domenico Romoli 1610

Vaccina salpresa alessata, servito con petrosemolo -Cold salted beef lightly spiced

To lightly salt and boil every cut of the said animal, chapter 4, Scappi

I find that the shoulder and breast of the said animals are more appropriate than the others. When the cow or bull is dead and skinned without being skinned, one cuts it into the said layers in many pieces, and one puts it in slat in a ceramic vessel or wood, the which has been well washed, because if the salt is not cleaned, and if it is full of dirt it will have a bad smell, and when the pieces are places one on top of the others one covers the vessel with a wood cover, adding above a weight that holds everything well pressed until it has made the salt solution, and the summer when it has been curing for four days, and in the winter for eight, one pulls it out of the vessel, as much as you want to cook, rinse it in fresh water, and put it to cook in water without salt, and make sure above all that it is well skimmed. When it is cooked one can serve it hot or cold at every time with garlic sauce or mustard in plates. And if you want to make it in the same day that the animal is killed, take a piece of the shoulder or another part, and put it to boil in strong salted water until it is well cooked. And serve this in the same way that it is said above.

Ingredients

2 Pounds beef brisket or flank steak 
1/2 C. salt
1/2 Tbsp. pink salt (sodium nitrite)

2 Tbsp.  coriander

2 Tbsp. cracked black pepper 

1 Tbsp. each garlic powder and crushed fennel

Trim and clean the beef, removing connective tissue and most of the fat. Prepared the dry rub by mixing together all ingredients.  Rub the cure over all of the meat surfaces and place in a ziplock back.  Refridgerate for 7 days, turning the bag daily. 

I chose to "brine" my meat instead and omitted the pink salt.  I placed the dry rubbed meat into a ziplock bag and then covered it with water.  I allowed it to sit for three days before cooking.  I rinsed the meat very well, dried it with a paper towel and then cooked it on a grill. 

Alternatively, you can cook your meat in a slow cooker on low overnight. Allow meat to cool, slice and serve garnished with parsley or on a bed of greens. 

An Onion Pottage, The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

An Onion Pottage

Fry good store of slic’t onions, then have a pipkin of boiling liquor over the fire, when the liquor bils put in the fryed onions, butter and all, with pepper and salt: being well stewed together, serve in on sops of French bread.

Interpreted Recipe

3 tbsp. olive oil
½ pound of onions peeled and sliced 1/4 “thick
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Melt butter in a large skillet, add sliced onions and sauté for about 10 minutes or until golden brown stirring occasionally. Bring broth to boil, add onions and cook over medium heat for ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Put toasted bread in individual bowls, pour broth over the onions and serve immediately.

To Marinate Salmon to Be Eaten Cold The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

To Marinate Salmon to Be Eaten Cold

Take a Salmon, cut it into joles and rands, & fry them in good sweet sallet oyl or clarified butter, then set them by in a charger, and have some white or claret-wine, & wine vinegar as much as will cover it, put the wine & vinegar into a pipkin with all manner of sweet herbs bound up in a bundle as rosemary, thyme, sweet marjoram, parsly winter-savory, bay-leaves, sorrel, and sage, as much of one as the other, large mace, slic’t ginger, gross pepper, slic’t nutmeg, whole cloves, and salt; being well boil’d together, pour it on the fish, spices and all, being cold, then lay on slic’t lemons, and lemon-peel, and cover it up close; so keep it for present spending, and serve it hot or cold with the same liquor it is soust in, with the spices, herbs, and lemons on it.

If to keep long, pack it up in a vessel that will but just hold it, put to it no lemons nor herbs, only bay-leaves; if it be well packed, it will keep as long as sturgeon, but then it must not be splatted, but cut round ways through chine and all.

To Marinate Salmon to be Eaten Cold

1 ½ -2 pounds salmon
4 tbsp. butter or oil
¼ c minced parsley
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. peppercorns
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
½ nutme g broken up
1 large piece whole mace
¼ tsp . each thyme, rosemary, marjoram, savory and sage
6 tbsp. wine vinegar
1 ¼ cup wine
1 lemon sliced thin and seeded

Rinse the salmon under cold water and pat dry with a towel. Cut into squares. Melt the butter in a pan, or heat the oil and saute the fish until it is cooked.

Heat the herbs, spices, vinegar and wine in a pot until it boils. Lower heat and cook for ten minutes.

Layer the salmon in a deep bowl and pour the hot marinade over the salmon. Arrange the lemon slices over the top, pushing a few down at the sides of the bowl. Cover and set aside until the marinade has cooled.

Refrigerate until needed. Serve cold with some of the marinade poured over it.

To Make a Made Dish of Curds, The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

To Make a Made Dish of Curds

Take some tender curds, wring the whey from them very well, then put to them two raw eggs, currans, sweet butter, rose-water, cinamon, sugar, and mingle all together, then make a fine paste with flour, yolks of egs, rose-water, & other water, sugar, saffron, and butter, wrought up cold, bake it either in this paste or in puff-paste, being baked ice it with rose-water, sugar, and butter.

Interpreted Recipe

1 cup cream
1 ½ cups cottage cheese or fresh made cheese
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp. rosewater
1 tbsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. currants

Beat eggs, sugar, rosewater, lemon juice, spices, salt and cream together in a bowl. Add cheese and currants and pour into your puff pastry shell. Bake 350 degrees until cooked through, and serve.

Soops of Turnips, Buttered Colliflowers, Buttered Wortes (Cabbage), The Accomplisht Cook

Soops or butter’d Meats of Spinage.

Take fine young spinage, pick and wash it clean; then have a skillet or pan of fair liquor on the fire, and when it boils, put in the spinage, give it a warm or two, and take it out into a cullender, let it drain, then mince it small, and put it in a pipkin with some slic’t dates, butter, white-wine, beaten cinamon, salt, sugar, and some boil’d currans; stew them well together, and dish them on sippets finely carved, and about it hard eggs in halves or quarters, not too hard boil’d, and scrape on sugar. 

Soops of Carrots

Being boil’d, cleanse, stamp, and season them in all points as before (soops of butter'd Meats of Spinage; dates, butter, white wine, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and currants); thus also potatoes, skirrets, parsnips, turnips, Virginia artichocks, onions, or beets, or fry any of the foresaid roots being boil’d and cleansed, or peeled, and floured, and serve them with beaten butter and sugar.

Interpreted Recipe

1 ½ pounds turnips
4 tbsp. butter
1 ½ cups broth
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt

Peel your turnips and slice them crosswise ¼” thick. Bring the butter, broth, vinegar, and seasonings to a boil in a saucepan and add your turnips. Lower the heat and simmer until the turnips are almost tender, stirring them every 15 minutes.

Buttered Colliflowers

Have a skillet of fair water, and when it boils put in the whole tops of the colliflowers, the root being cut away, put some salt to it; and being fine and tender boiled dish it whole in a dish, with carved sippets round about it, and serve it with beaten butter and water, or juyce of orange and lemon.

Interpreted Recipe

1 pound  cabbage, turnips or cauliflower, cleaned and cut into bite sized pieces

Water

1 pound butter cut into pieces

Sugar to taste

Place turnips (or cauliflower) into a large saucepan and cover with water. On medium-high heat, bring turnips to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer about 30 minutes or until tender. Drain into a colander and set aside.

Bring 4 tbsp. water to a boil, immediately reduce the heat to low and whisk in the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Butter and water mixture will start to emulsify. Once the sauce has emulsified, you can continue to add remaining butter until all butter has been added to the mixture.

To serve: Pour butter over boiled vegetables, sprinkle with sugar to taste.

Note: Sauce may break if allowed to get too warm.

Buttered Wortes (Cabbage),  Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books, Thomas Austin

Take al manor of good herbes that thou may gete, and do bi ham as is forsaid; putte hem on þe fire with faire water; put þer-to clarefied buttur a grete quantite. Whan thei ben boyled ynough, salt hem; late none otemele come ther-in. Dise brede small in disshes, and powre on þe wortes, and serue hem forth.

Interpreted Recipe

1 head of cabbage
2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. unsalted butter

Bring a pot of water to a boil and season with salt. Add cabbage and parboil five minutes, drain, and then bring another pot of water to boil, add cabbage and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer until cabbage is tender. Drain and serve with butter.

Sausages, Otherways, The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

 

Otherways.

Mince pork with beef-suet, and mince some sage, and put to it some pepper, salt, cloves, and mace; make it into balls, and keep it for your use, or roll them into little sausages some four or five inches long as big as your finger; fry six or seven of them, and serve them in a dish with vinegar or juyce of orange.

Thus you may do of a leg of veal, and put nothing but salt and suet; and being fried, serve it with gravy and juyce of orange or butter and vinegar; and before you fry them flower them. And thus mutton or any meat.

Or you may add sweet Herbs or Nutmeg: and thus Mutton.

Interpreted Recipe

2 pounds ground pork for sausage
½ tsp. Ground pepper mix
½ tsp. Mixed spices (sage, clove, mace)
1 tsp. Salt
1 small onion grated

In a large bowl combine pork, spices, salt and onion and mix well.  Shape by rounded tablespoonfulls into balls, or, roll them into small sausage shaped logs the size of your finger. 

To serve: Cook until done, and serve with a sprinkling of orange juice or vinegar.  

Note: These make an excellent and economical way of rounding out a meat course.  

For Gusset that may be another potage, A Proper Newe Booke of Cookerye, Anonymous

 

Note: For this dish the chicken was poached in the seasoned broth.  Sliced and then served over sippets of bread.  It was very well received. 

For Gusset that may be another potage.

Take the broathe of the Capons and put in a fayre chafer, then take a dosen or syxtene egges and stere them all together whyte and all, then grate a farthynge whyte loafe as smale as ye canne, and mynce it wyth the egges all togeather, and putte thereto salte and a good quantite of safiron, and or ye putte in youre egges, putte into youre brothe, tyme, sauerye, margeron and parseley small choppd, and when ye are redye to your dynner, sette the chafer upon the fyre wyth the brothe, and lette it boyle a lyttle and putte in your egges and stere it up well for quaylinge the less. The less boylynge it hathe the more tender it wyll be, and then serve it forthe two or three slyces upon a dysshe.

Interpreted Recipe

4 C clear chicken broth
1 tbsp. Minced parsley
1 tsp. Salt
Pinch of saffron
⅛ tsp. each marjoram, thyme, savory
2 eggs
2 tsp . bread crumbs
3 slices hot buttered toast


Add parsley, salt, saffron,marjoram, thyme, and savory to chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes. Beat the eggs with the bread crumbs and stir them into the broth. Turn off the heat and let the broth simmer for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Divide the toast among individual soup bowls and pour the hot broth over it immediately.

An Oatmeal Pudding - Otherways, The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

An Oatmeal Pudding - Otherways.

Take good store of parsley, tyme, savory, four or five onions, and sweet marjoram, chop them with some whole oatmeal, then add to them pepper, and salt, and boil them in a napkin, being boil’d tender, butter it, and serve it on sippets.

Interpreted Recipe

1 cup whole milk
2 cups steel cut oats
1/4 cup butter
1 onion chopped
1 tbsp. parsley
3/4 tsp. dried thyme, marjoram and savory
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. pepper
2 eggs

Soak oats overnight in milk and butter that has been heated to a simmer. The next day add remaining ingredients, and boil as for Eisands.

A Hash of Beef, Otherways, The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

A Hash of Beef Otherways

Stew it in Beef gobbets, and cut some fat and lean together as big as a good pullets egg, and put them into a pot or pipkin with some Carrots cut in pieces as big as a walnut, some whole onions, some parsnips, large mace, faggot of sweet herbs, salt, pepper, cloves, and as much water and wine as will cover them, and stew it the space of three hours.

Interpreted Recipe

2 pounds chuck roast cut into slices
1 medium onion
2 carrots
2 parsnips
1/2 tsp. each thyme marjoram and winter savory
1 tbsp. parsley
2 cups red wine
1/8 tsp. mace
Salt and Pepper to taste

Lightly fry slices of beef in butter and then stew beef in a pan with water for about an hour and then skim it clean. Add salt, pepper, clove, mace, carrots, parsnips and whole onions and cook till tender. Add Parsley, thyme, sweet marjoram, spinach, sorrel and winters savory and some when then dish it up on sippets serve it hot.

Pickled Mushrooms, The whole Body of Cookery Dissected, William Rabisha

 

Take a bushel of mushrooms, blanch them over the crown, barm them beneath; if they are new, they look read as a Cherry; if old, black; this being done, throw them into a pan oif boyling water, then take them forth and let them drain; when they are cold, put them up into your Pot or Glass, put thereto Cloves, Mace, Ginger, Nutmeggs, whole Pepper; Then take white wine, a little Vinegar, with a little quantity of salt, so pour the Liquor into your Mushrooms, and stop them close for your use all the year.


Interpreted Recipe

1 pound small mushrooms
½ cup water
1 ½ - 2 tsp. salt
1 tsp peppercorns
5 cloves
1/2 tsp. mace and nutmeg
1 slice of fresh root ginger
1 ½ Cups white wine
2 tbsp vinegar

Clean the mushrooms and slice or quarter as you desire. Place mushrooms in a pan and cover with the water. Add salt. Bring mushrooms to a boil; boil for approximately two minutes and then drain. Place the mushrooms in your jar, add the remainder of spices, wine and vinegar. If you find that you do not have enough liquid to cover the mushrooms, add more wine. Once a day invert the jar. Note: The mushrooms were made several weeks prior to the event. I canned them. I did reheat the mushrooms to remove the alcohol content prior to serving. This was a very good make ahead dish. 1 pound of the mushrooms made 2 jars of pickles.

To make a grand Sallet of minced Capon, Veal, roast Mutton, Chicken or Neats tongue, The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

 

To make a grand Sallet of minced Capon, Veal, roast Mutton, Chicken or Neats tongue.

Minced capon or veal, &c. dried Tongues in thin slices, lettice shred small as the tongue, olives, capers, mushrooms, pickled samphire, broom-buds, lemon or oranges, raisins, almonds, blew figs, Virginia potato, caparones, or crucifix pease, currans, pickled oysters, taragon.

How to dish it up.

Any of these being thin sliced, as is shown above said, with a little minced taragon and onion amongst it; then have lettice minced as small as the meat by it self, olives by themselves, capers by themselves, samphire by it self, broom-buds by it self, pickled mushrooms by themselves, or any of the materials abovesaid.

 

Garnish the dish with oranges and lemons in quarters or slices, oyl and vinegar beaten together, and poured over all, &c.

Interpreted Recipe

2 chicken breasts, roasted (alternately you could use veal, pork or tongue)
Loose leaf lettuce

2 tbsp. Olives
2 tbsp. Capers
4 tbsp. Pickled mushrooms
2 tbsp. Raisins
2 tbsp. Almonds
6 black figs
2 tbps. Baby peas boiled till tender
4 tbsp. Pickled Asparagus (for Samphire)
4 tbsp. Artichoke hearts

Dressing:

¾ cup Oil
2 tbsp. wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

To make a Crystal Jelly and Other Jelly for Service of Several Colours, The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

To make a Crystal Jelly.

Take three pair of calves feet, and scald off the hair very clean, knock off the claws, and take out the great bones & fat, & cast them into fair water, shift them three or four times in a day and a night, then boil them next morning in a glazed pipkin or clean pot, with six quarts of fair spring water, boil it and scum it clean, boil away three quarts or more; then strain it into a clean earthen pan or bason, & let it be cold: then prepare the dross from the bottom, and take the fat of the top clean, put it in a large pipkin of six quarts, and put into it two quarts of old clear white-wine, the juyce of four lemons, three blades of mace, and two races of ginger slic’t; then melt or dissolve it again into broth, and let it cool. Then have four pound of hard sugar fine beaten, and mix it with twelve whites of eggs in a great dish with your rouling pin, and put it into your pipkin to your jelly, stir it together with a grain of musk and ambergriese, put it in a fine linnen clout bound up, and a quarter of a pint of damask rose-water, set it a stewing on a soft charcoal fire, before it boils put in a little ising glass, and being boil’d up, take it, and let it cool a little, and run it.

Other Jelly for service of several colours. 

Take four pair of calves feet, a knuckle of veal, a good fleshie capon, and prepare these things as is said in the crystal jelly: boil them in three gallons of fair water, till six quarts be wasted, then strain it in an earthen pan, let it cool, and being cold pare the bottom, and take off the fat on the top also; then dissolve it again into broth, and divide it into 4 equal parts, put it into four several pipkins, as will contain five pints a piece each pipkin, put a little saffron into one of them, into another 203 cutchenele beaten with allum, into another turnsole, and the other his own natural white; also to every pipkin a quart of white-wine, and the juyce of two lemons. Then also to the white jelly one race of ginger pare’d and slic’t & three blades of large mace, to the red jelly 2 nutmegs, as much in quantity of cinamon as nutmegs, also as much ginger; to the turnsole put also the same quantity, with a few whole cloves; then to the amber or yellow color, the same spices and quantity.

Then have eighteen whites of eggs, & beat them with six pound of double refined sugar, beaten small and stirred together in a great tray or bason with a rouling pin divide it into four parts in the four pipkins & stir it to your jelly broth, spice, & wine, being well mixed together with a little musk & ambergriese. Then have new bags, wash them first in warm water, and then in cold, wring them dry, and being ready strung with packthread on sticks, hang them on a spit by the fire from any dust, and set new earthen pans under them being well seasoned with boiling liquor.

Then again set on your jelly on a fine charcoal fire, and let it stew softly the space of almost an hour, then make it boil up a little, and take it off, being somewhat cold run it through the bag twice or thrice, or but once if it be very clear; and into the bags of colors put in a sprig of rosemary, keep it for your use in those pans, dish it as you see good, or cast it into what mould you please; as for example these.

Interpreted Recipe

To make clear Jelly:

2 cups clear stock
1 cup white wine
1 cup water
Juice of ½ a lemon
½ tsp. ground mace
1-2 slices of fresh ginger
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. rose water
4 packets unflavored gelatin

To Make Yellow Jelly

Add a pinch of saffron to the above

To Make Red Jelly

Substitute red wine for white
Add 2 tsp. ground nutmegs and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon sticks to the above

Note: 2 packets unflavored gelatin + 2 cups liquid will make about 20 -1 ounce servings

Bloom the gelatin in the water. Heat the stock, wine, lemon juice, spices and sugar until boiling and pour into a bowl, add the gelatin and stir until completely dissolved. Add the rosewater. Put into your mold or pan and allow setting.

Note: You may need to strain the gelatin into your pan to remove undissolved gelatin and spices.

To make Mustard divers ways, The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May

To make Mustard divers ways.

Have good seed, pick it, and wash it in cold water, drain it, and rub it dry in a cloth very clean; then beat it in a mortar with strong wine-vinegar; and being fine beaten, strain it and keep it close covered. Or grind it in a mustard quern, or a bowl with a cannon bullet.

Otherways.

Make it with grape-verjuyce, common-verjuyce, stale beer, ale, butter, milk, white-wine, claret, or juyce of cherries.

Mustard of Dijon, or French Mustard.

The seed being cleansed, stamp it in a mortar, with vinegar and honey, then take eight ounces of seed, two ounces of cinamon, two of honey, and vinegar as much as will serve, good mustard not too thick, and keep it close covered in little oyster-barrels.

Mustard of Dijon, or French Mustard

The seed being cleansed, stamp it in a mortar, with vinegar and honey, then take eight ounces of seed, two ounces of cinamon, two of honey, and vinegar as much as will serve, good mustard not too thick, and keep it close covered in little oyster-barrels.

To make dry Mustard very pleasant in little Loaves or Cakes to carry in ones Pocket, or to keep dry for use at any time.

Take two ounces of seamy, half an ounce of cinamon, and beat them in a mortar very fine with a little vinegar, and honey, make a perfect paste of it, and make it into little cakes or loaves, dry them in the sun or in an oven, and when you would use them, dissolve half a loaf or cake with some vinegar, wine, or verjuyce.

Interpreted Recipe

Mustard of Dijon, or French Mustard
Makes approximately 3 cups

1 Cup Mustard Seeds
1 ½ Cups Mustard Powder
¼ cup cinnamon
¼ cup honey
½ cup vinegar
1 ½ cups water



Grind the whole mustard seeds for a few seconds in a spice or coffee grinder, or by hand with a mortar and pestle just enough to crack. Pour the seeds, mustard powder, honey and cinnamon into a bowl and then add COLD vinegar and water. Wait at least 12 hours before using. Seeds can be a mix of brown, black or white. Black offers the most “heat”.

Note: I purchased prepared whole grain mustard and stone ground mustard mix in lieu of making the mustard. To these I added the cinnamon and honey. This dish was prepared almost a month in advance of the feast.

To Pickle Grapes The whole Body of Cookery Dissected, William Rabisha

 

To Pickle Grapes

Let not your grapes be fully ripe; their pickle is white wine and sugar

Interpreted Recipe  

Pickled Grapes

2 pounds seedless grapes
1 1/2  cups water
2 cups white wine
½ tsp salt
1 cup sugar (or to taste)

Make syrup by combining sugar and water together and simmering until dissolved. Let cool.

Wash and dry the grapes, cutting into small bundles of grapes and removing bad grapes. Place grapes into sterilized jars filling them about ¾ full.

Add wine to syrup and fill each jar with liquid. Additional spices can be added at this point. Leave to steep, shaking jars once or twice a week.

Similar Recipe From Accomplish't Cook

To pickle Capers, Gooseberries, Barberries, red and white Currans. Pick them and put them in the juyce of crab-cherries, grape-verjuyce, or other verjuyce, and then barel them up.

Interpreted Recipe

2 pounds seedless grapes

2 cups verjuice (or apple cider vinegar)

1/2 cup water

*opt for modern taste  up to 2 cups sugar  

Wash grapes, and cut into small bunches. Combine verjuice, water and sugar and bring to a boil, put grapes into a clean and sterilized jar and pour the hot verjuice over them. Let sit until cool.  Allow to marinate at least 24 hours, but longer is better.