Tench (Fish) Three-Ways

Originally published on Patreon Oct 7, 2022





After some debate, I placed all three interpretations from 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 Thomas Austin for tench in sauce or broth on the same blog post. My reasoning for this is that they have more similarities than differences. The Tenche in Cyueye includes onions, the Tenche in Bruette does not and the Rapeye can be made with various fishes (including tench) and includes different raisins and spices.

The Glossary of Medieval & Renaissance Culinary Terms defines cyueye in the following way:

cive, civey(e), ciuey, cyuey, ceue, cyueye = Ragout or stew (possibly derived from a word meaning 'onion' (Plouvier). (Viandier) - Among other modern usages, this is probably a derivative of civey, which was at one time named for, and characterized by, the possibility of thickening a sauce with finely chopped onion, cooked till very soft. Some medieval recipes for civeys (for example, hare in civey) also call for blood as an additional thickener; nowadays the dish, which is now sometimes called civet, is mostly characterized by thickening and enriching the broth with the reserved blood of the critter you're cooking. It will coagulate if boiled, and turn very dark, but if heated properly it will assume a velvety texture similar to a stirred custard, and acquire a deep russet shade almost like a mole-poblano-type sauce. (Troy)

I was intrigued by the instructions to scald or boil the fish before roasting it. Scalding is a method of cleaning and killing any microorganisms that might be harmful. It involves heating a liquid (in this case water) or milk to just below boiling. If you have a thermometer 180 degrees is best. If you don't you want to keep an eye on the side of the pan. You can remove your liquid when you see small bubbles forming around the side and steam starting to wisp off the pan.

Original Recipe

.lxxxxiiij. Tenche in bruette.—Take þe Tenche, an sethe hem & roste hem, an grynde Pepir an Safroun, Bred and Ale, & tempere wyth þe brothe, an boyle it; þen take þe Tenche y-rostyd, an ley hym on a chargeoure; þan ley on þe sewe a-boue

Interpretation

94. Tench in Broth- Take the tench, and boil him and roast him, and grind pepper and saffron, bread and ale, and temper with the broth, and boil it, then take the tench roasted, and lay him on a charger; then lay on the sauce above.

Ingredients - Serves 1 as Main, 2 as side

1/4 pound fatty firm textured fish such as carp, perch, tench, bluefish or bass
1/4 tsp. pepper
pinch of saffron
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
3/4 cup ale
3 tbsp. fish broth

Instructions In keeping with the instructions, I scalded the fish by placing it in a pot with just enough water to cover it. I then heated the pan until I saw small bubbles forming around the edge of it and steam starting to form. Due to modern methods of cleaning and butchering fish, I imagine you could have skipped this step without difficulty.

I removed the fish from the pan and placed it on a lightly oiled baking sheet and roasted it in the oven until it was done. While the fish was cooking in the oven I took a few tablespoons of the broth and added the saffron to it. Once the saffron had strongly colored the water, I added it to the ale (ok confession time--I used Sam Adams Summer Shandy made with lemon peel and grains of paradise) and then soaked the bread crumbs in it. Once the bread was soggy I put it in the pot and brought it to a boil until it formed a thick sauce. After the fish had finished cooking I plated and served it.

Original Recipe

.lxxxxv. Tenche in cyueye.—Take a tenche, an skalde hym, roste hym, grynde Pepir an Safroun, Brede an Ale, & melle it to-gederys; take Oynonys, hakke hem, an frye hem in Oyle, & do hem þer-to, and messe hem forth.

Interpretation

95. Tench in Civey - Take a tench, and scald him, roast him, grind pepper and saffron, bread and ale, and mix it together; take onions, hack them, and fry them in oil, and do them there-to, and mess him forth.

Ingredients - Serves 1 as Main, 2 as side

1/4 pound fatty firm textured fish such as carp, perch, tench, bluefish or bass
1/4 tsp. pepper
pinch of saffron
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
3/4 cup ale
3 tbsp. fish broth
3 tbsp. onions
1 tbsp. oil

Instructions

To make this dish, follow the instructions above. The additional step is to lightly brown the finely chopped onion in oil, and after plating, garnish the plate with it.

Original Recipe

.Cxxxiij. Rapeye.—Take Pykys or Tenchys, oþer freysshe Fysshe, & frye it in Oyle; þen nyme crustys of whyte brede, & Raysonys & Canelle, an bray it wyl in a mortere, & temper it vppe wyth gode wyne; þen coloure it with Canelle, or a litil Safroun: þan boyle it, & caste in hol Clowys & Quybibes, & do þe Fysshe in a dysshe, & þan serue forth.

Interpretation

133. Rapeye - Take pike or tench, other fresh fish, & fry it in oil; then take crusts of white bread, and raisins and cinnamon, and grind it well in a mortar, and temper it up with good wine; then color it with cinnamon or a little saffron; then boil it, and caste in whole cloves, and cubebs and do the fish in a dish, and then serve forth.

Ingredients - Serves 1 as Main, 2 as side

1/4 pound fatty firm textured fish such as carp, perch, tench, bluefish or bass
1 tbsp. oil
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
1 tbsp. raisins
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup wine
3 tbsp. fish broth
Pinch of saffron
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. cubebs

Instructions

Prepare and serve as above.

Sources

"Glossary.Html". Thousandeggs.Com, 2022, http://www.thousandeggs.com/glossary.html#C. Accessed 7 Oct 2022.

"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 / Edited By Thomas Austin". Quod.Lib.Umich.Edu, 2022, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/CookBk/1:6?rgn=div1;view=fulltext. Accessed 7 Oct 2022.

Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - Trype de Motoun ix. & lx. Trype of Turbut or of Codlyng

Tripe of Mutton and Tripe of Turbot or of Codling

Caveat: I have not tested this recipe because I do not have access to the ingredients. If someone does move forward to test it, I would welcome feedback on tweaks that may be needed to improve the recipe.

Mutton Tripe

Offal is not something we eat a lot of in the states. Of the various kinds of organ meats that are offered tripe is one of the more commonly eaten ones. 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 contains recipes for two kinds of tripe, tripe of mutton, and tripe of fish. I present them below.

What is tripe? Tripe is the edible lining of an animal's stomach and comes from cows, pigs, goats or sheep. When I think of tripe, I think of the "honeycomb" tripe that comes from a cow's stomach. In fact, the honeycomb is only one of four different kinds of tripe found.

Plain tripe is the lining of the first stomach (rumen) of a cow and it appears flat and smooth. The second kind of tripe is the honeycomb tripe that is found in the lower part of a cow's second stomach (the reticulum). The third kind of tripe is book tripe, which contains many folds giving it the appearance of a book. It is found in the third stomach of a cow, the omasum, and is also known as bible tripe. The fourth kind is known as reed tripe and it is found in the cow's fourth stomach, the abomasum.

Lamb tripe is the lining of a lamb's stomach. It is smaller and thinner than the more familiar beef tripe. Straight from the stomach it is olive green in color and requires meticulous cleaning and some bleaching to become the pale color we are familiar with.

The tripe itself has a very mild almost neutral flavor, likened to a taste between liver and heart because it adopts the flavor of the surrounding organs. It is the texture that makes it special. When properly cooked it should be chewy, soft enough to bite through, and unctuous.

Fortunately, most tripe that is purchased today has already been cleaned and bleached. However, it still requires a few hours of preparation before it can be used. The process starts with washing the tripe and cleaning it to remove any remaining fat or fiber found in the folds. It must then be scrubbed with vinegar (or lemon) and salt, soaked in water, cut into small pieces, and then poached until tender. Once it is tender, it can then be cooked in whatever recipe you choose to use it in. Can you imagine how difficult this process would have been starting with the green tripe fresh from the slaughter?

Are there substitutes for tripe? Unfortunately, there is no direct substitute for tripe. However, I did discover recipes for Menudo which substituted pork chops, chicken, or beef, for the tripe component. I also found several recipes where oyster mushrooms were used in place of tripe. I personally am unable to purchase tripe in a small enough quantity to make a test recipe, so I have chosen to substitute lamb for the tripe component when I test the recipe below.

What is the difference between lamb and mutton?

Wikipedia offers a direct answer to this question.

Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, Ovis aries. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton.

Original Recipe

.ix. Trype de Motoun.—Take þe pownche of a chepe, and make it clene, an caste it on a pot of boylyng water, an skyme it clene, an gader þe grece al a-way, an lat it boyle tyl it be tender; þan ley it on a fayre bord, an kyt it in smale pecys of the peny brede, an caste it on an erþen pot with strong brothe of bef or of moton; þanne take leuys of þe percely an hew hem þer-to, an let hem boyle to-gederys tyl þey byn tender, þan take powder of gyngere, and verious, þan take Safroun [supplied by ed.] *. [Added from A. ] an salt, and caste þer-to, an let boyle to-gederys, an serue in.

My Interpretation

9. Tripe of Mutton - Take the paunch (belly) of a sheep, and make it clean, and cast it on a pot of boiling water, and skim it clean, and gather the grease all away, and let it boil till it be tender; then lay it on a fair board, and cut it in small pieces of penny bread, and cast it on an earthen pot with strong broth of beef or of mutton; than take leaves of the parsley and hew there-to, and let them boil together till they be tender, than take powder of ginger, and verjuice, than take saffron, and salt, and caste there-to, and let boil together, and serve in.

Ingredients

1 pound tripe, prepared as above (sub pork, chicken, beef, or mushrooms)

4 cups beef broth

1 tbsp. chopped parsley

1/4 tsp. ginger (I used powdered)

1/2 cup verjuice (see below to make your own)

Pinch of saffron

Salt to taste

Opt: Pepper to taste

Instructions

Note: This recipe could be interpreted two ways, the first is to cut the tripe into pieces the size of "a penny loaf of bread", which is how I have read it. However, you could thicken the broth with bread crumbs if you prefer to have more body to the broth. I would suggest about half a cup of bread crumbs once the broth is brought to boiling.

1. Bring beef broth to boil with verjuice and seasonings.

2. Add tripe and cook until beef broth has slightly reduced.

3. Serve.

My suggestion for serving if you have not thickened the broth is to add a slice of bread to the bottom of the bowl and the tripe on top.

Original Recipe

.lx. Trype of Turbut or of Codelynge.—Take þe Mawes of Turbut, Haddok, or Codelyng, & pyke hem clene, & skrape hem, & Wasshem clene, and parboyle hem in gode Freysshe broþe of Turbut or Samoun, or Pyke; þan kytte Percely smalle, & caste þer-to, & kytte þe Mawys of a peny brede, & caste alle togederys in-to a potte, & let it boyle to-gederys; & whan þey bin soþin tendyr, caste þer-to Safroun, & Salt, & Veryous, & pouder Gyngere, & serue forth.

My Interpretation

60. Tripe of Turbot or of Codling - Take the stomach of turbot, haddock, or codling and pick them clean and scrape and wash clean, and parboil them in good fresh broth of turbot or salmon or pike; then cut parsley small and caste there-to, and cut the stomach of a penny bread, and cast all together into a pot, and let it boil together, and when they be boiled tender, cast there-to saffron, and salt, and verjuice, and powder ginger and serve forth.

Ingredients

1 pound fish maw (sub turbot, haddock, or cod)

4 cups fish broth

1 tbsp. chopped parsley

1/4 tsp. ginger (I used powdered)

1/2 cup verjuice (see below to make your own)

Pinch of saffron

Salt to taste

Opt: Pepper to taste

Instructions

Prepare as above.

The word maw actually means stomach or gullet, and, as such, the term for this product is a bit of a misnomer as it is really the ‘Swim bladder’ of certain bony (non-cartilaginous) species of fish. The swim bladder is a gas-filled sac that lies in the belly and allows the fish that possess them to maintain and control buoyancy at different depths (Sybaritica, Sybaritica & Sybaritica, 2021).

The fish maw is an ingredient that is still used in Asian cooking and is considered one of the four delicacies of the sea. Those who have eaten fish maw say that it has no taste on its own, but takes on the taste of the ingredients it is cooked with. Unfortunately, fish maw is not an item that I have easy access to. I would have to purchase it through Amazon, and it is available only in dried form. If you are interested in attempting this recipe fish maw can be purchased here: Palamaki Dried Fish Maw

Bonus Recipe - Verjuice

Ingredients

6 pounds of unripe grapes

Instructions

1. Rinse grapes very well

2. Place grapes (stems and all) into a large bowl

3. Using gloved hands, crush the grapes. You want to use gloves because unripe grapes are very acidic and may irritate your skin. Alternatively, you can crush it with a potato masher, or the bottom of a jar.

4. Strain juice through a fine mesh sieve, coffee filter, or cheesecloth.

5. Pour the juice into a mason jar and use it as needed.

Notes:

The juice can be stored for up to three months in yorefrigeratorter. It will separate and change color from green to yellow to brown. This is normal and does not affect the flavor.

Sources

Lamb And Mutton - Wikipedia". En.Wikipedia.Org, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_and_mutton. Accessed 18 Aug 2022.

Panch - Yorkshire Historical Dictionary ". Yorkshiredictionary.York.Ac.Uk, 1312, https://yorkshiredictionary.york.ac.uk/words/panch. Accessed 18 Aug 2022.

Sybaritica, D., Sybaritica, F., & Sybaritica, F. (2021). Fish Maw or 魚肚 - An Introduction. Retrieved 8 October 2021, from https://sybaritica.me/fish-maw-or%E9%AD%9A%E8%82%9A-an-introduction/

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 / Edited By Thomas Austin". Quod.Lib.Umich.Edu, 2022, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/CookBk. Accessed 18 Aug 2022.

Yusuf, Zerrin. "What Is Verjuice (Verjus) And How Do You Make It? - Give Recipe". Give Recipe, 2011, https://www.giverecipe.com/homemade-fresh-verjuice/#tasty-recipes-11467-jump-target. Accessed 18 Aug 2022.