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Autre Vele en Bokenade: Veal in Spiced Almond Pottage from Harleian MS 279
Autre Vele en Bokenade — veal in a saffron-colored spiced almond pottage. Original 2017 kitchen photograph.
There are old reconstructions that make me wince because I no longer agree with them, and there are old reconstructions that make me smile because I can see exactly what I was learning. Autre Vele en Bokenade belongs firmly in the second group.
I first cooked this dish in February 2017 on a gray, rainy day when I wanted medieval comfort food. Veal was expensive, so I used beef, put the meat directly into an almond-and-broth mixture with the spices and onions, and let everything cook together until tender. The result was delicious. The taste testers loved the warm ginger, galingale, cinnamon, mace, cubeb, saffron, onion, and currant combination, and I immediately put it on the list of dishes I wanted to serve again.
Nearly ten years later, the flavor judgment still stands. The method, however, needs correcting. Harleian MS 279 does not tell us to stew raw veal in the finished almond sauce. It tells us to cut the veal into gobbets and seethe it first. Then the cook makes a separate sauce from rich broth and ground almonds, thickens it with rice flour, seasons it with spices, onion, currants, and saffron, and only then returns the cooked veal to the pottage.
That changes the dish in an important way. This is not simply beef stew made creamy with almonds. It is cooked veal served in a carefully constructed, lightly thickened, aromatic almond-and-broth pottage.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
The flavor is wonderfully warm without being sharply acidic.
Veal, almond-enriched broth, onion, and currants create a savory-sweet base.
Ginger, galingale, cinnamon, mace, cubebs, and saffron give the dish a distinctly fifteenth-century profile.
The manuscript gives us a clear two-stage method: cook the veal first, then build the sauce.
It is substantial enough for a main dish but elegant enough for a first-course pottage.
Historical Integrity: Harleian MS 279 explicitly requires veal, rich broth, ground almonds, rice flour, ginger, galingale, cinnamon, mace, cubebs, minced onions, currants, and saffron. It also gives a clear sequence: the veal is cut into gobbets and cooked first; the almond-and-broth pottage is then prepared and thickened; the cooked veal is returned at the end. The manuscript does not provide quantities, exact cooking times, sauce thickness, or a specific broth recipe. The 2026 reconstruction below follows the manuscript sequence but necessarily supplies modern proportions.
Eyron en Poche: Poached Eggs in Sweet Ginger-Saffron Milk Sauce from Harleian MS 279
Eyron en Poche reconstructed from Harleian MS 279. Original 2017 kitchen photograph retained.
I learned to poach eggs from my grandmother. Her method used a swirl of water and a little vinegar to help the white gather around the yolk, and when I first reconstructed Eyron en Poche in 2017, that familiar kitchen habit came with me.
The medieval recipe itself is even simpler. Break eggs into hot water, cook them, and lift them out as whole as possible. Then make a sweetened milk sauce thickened with flour, warm it with ginger, color it with saffron, pour it over the eggs, and finish the dish with spice powder. The result is one of those wonderful medieval combinations that looks familiar until the first bite: tender poached egg under a golden sauce that is gently sweet, aromatic, and warming.
I originally presented this as a medieval breakfast dish. It certainly makes an excellent breakfast today, but the manuscript does not identify it that way. Harleian MS 279 places Eyron en Poche among its Potages dyuers, so this revision treats it first as a medieval pottage and egg dish, with breakfast moved to modern serving rather than historical classification.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
The ingredient list is short but unexpectedly elegant: eggs, milk, flour, sugar or honey, ginger, saffron, and spice powder.
The poaching technique is plainly described in the fifteenth-century source.
The sauce walks the medieval sweet-savory line without becoming dessert-like.
Saffron turns an otherwise pale dish golden, while ginger and blanche powder add warmth.
It works beautifully as a first-course dish, luncheon, dayboard item, or modern historical breakfast.
Historical Integrity Statement: Harleian MS 279 explicitly gives eggs cooked in hot water; a sauce of flour and milk sweetened with sugar or honey; powdered ginger; saffron; and a finishing spice powder, with blanche powder preferred. The manuscript does not specify quantities, egg doneness, milk type, flour proportion, sweetness, saffron quantity, or the proportions of the finishing spice blend. Vinegar, whirlpool poaching, salt, and pepper belong to the original 2017 modern adaptation and are not part of the manuscript-led reconstruction below.
Charlet a-forcyd ryally: Royal Enriched Pork Charlet from Harleian MS 279
Charlet a-forcyd ryally reconstructed from Harleian MS 279. Original 2017 kitchen photograph.
This is the second of two charlet recipes that appear one after the other in Harleian MS 279, and it is much more elaborate than the first. The simpler Charlette cooks pork or veal in milk with eggs, saffron, and ale, lets the mixture curdle, presses it lightly, and serves it with broth. Charlet a-forcyd ryally takes that basic idea and dresses it for company.
Here the cook uses almond milk instead of cow’s milk, grinds the pork fine, mixes it with strained eggs, adds wine, saffron, ginger, galingale, and sugar, presses the curd twice, slices it, and serves it beneath a saffron-colored almond-milk-and-broth sauce finished with mace and still more sugar.
I first reconstructed this dish in January 2017. It worked mechanically: the almond milk and wine produced a fine-grained curd that could be pressed and sliced. It was also, by a comfortable margin, one of the least popular dishes with my taste testers.
Returning to the manuscript now gives me reason to reconsider that verdict. The old reconstruction got the essential idea right—curd, drain, press, slice, sauce—but it moved the ginger, galingale, and sugar into the egg mixture instead of seasoning the curd after the first pressing; it pressed the curd only once; and its sauce omitted both the fresh broth and the sugar specified by the manuscript. In other words, the dish we disliked in 2017 was not quite the dish the manuscript describes.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
It preserves a genuinely unusual medieval technique: meat and egg transformed into a sliceable pressed curd.
The manuscript gives us a clear comparison between an ordinary Charlette and an explicitly “royal” enriched version.
The dish combines savory pork with saffron, wine, ginger, galingale, mace, sugar, almond milk, and broth.
The double pressing is explicit and is easy to miss in a quick reading.
It offers a perfect example of why historical reconstruction should remain revisable when a closer source reading changes the method.
Historical Integrity: Harleian MS 279 explicitly gives good almond milk, tender pork, eggs, salt, saffron, wine, ginger, galingale, sugar, fresh broth, mace, and a second quantity of almond milk for the sauce. It explicitly instructs the cook to grind the pork, mix it with strained eggs, cook the mixture with almond milk, add wine, press the curd, break it apart and season it, press it again, slice it, sauce it, and finish it with mace and sugar. The manuscript gives no quantities, pressing times, pork-to-liquid ratio, wine type, or exact broth. The 2026 recipe below preserves the successful 2017 proportions where possible while correcting the order and steps to follow the manuscript more closely. The corrected version has not yet been separately taste-tested.
Arbolettys: Medieval Cheese, Egg & Herb Pottage from Harleian MS 279
Arbolettys reconstructed from Harleian MS 279. Original 2016 kitchen photograph retained.
Some recipes announce themselves as winter comfort food the moment you read them. Arbolettys is one of those dishes. Milk, butter, cheese, eggs, parsley, sage, ginger, and galingale do not sound like hardship food. They sound warm, rich, savory, and deeply soothing.
I first made this recipe in 2016 on a cold, gray day and described it as a cheese soup. That interpretation produced a delicious dish and earned enthusiastic approval from the taste testers. Returning to the source now, I still think the old experiment was onto something—but I would name it differently. Arbolettys is best understood as a soft, spoonable cheese, egg, and herb pottage, somewhere between a savory custard and a very thick soup.
The reason this matters is simple: this recipe is often interpreted online as a kind of scrambled egg dish. Yet the manuscript tells the cook to boil milk, butter, and cheese together first, then add eggs, herbs, and spices, and finally serve it forth. It never tells the cook to fry, bake, or dry the eggs into curds. That makes a soft pottage-style reconstruction more defensible than I realized when I first wrote about it.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
It is simple, fast, and genuinely comforting.
The manuscript ingredient list is short and vivid: milk, butter, cheese, eggs, parsley, sage, ginger, and galingale.
It sits in Harleian MS 279 among the Potages dyuers, which strongly supports a spoonable interpretation.
The title links it to a broader medieval family of herb dishes, but this version takes the idea in a richer dairy direction.
The original 2016 reconstruction was tested and loved by even a skeptical taste tester.
Historical Integrity: Harleian MS 279 explicitly gives milk, butter, cheese, eggs, parsley, sage, powdered ginger, and galingale. It tells the cook to boil the milk, butter, and cheese together, add the eggs, then the herbs and spices, and serve the dish. It does not give quantities, tell us whether the eggs are whole or separated, specify the cheese, or define the final consistency. The reconstruction below is a source-led working interpretation built from the manuscript sequence, the recipe's placement among the Potages dyuers, and comparison with related medieval herb-and-egg dishes.
Quystis Scun: Medieval Wood Pigeon Pottage from Harleian MS 279
AI-generated visualization of Quystis Scun for the 2026 revision. The original 2016 food photograph was deliberately retired because it did the dish no favors. This image is illustrative rather than documentary.
Quystis Scun is a fifteenth-century English pottage of wood pigeons cooked in a broth of beef or mutton, wine, and water. The birds are filled with whole pepper and marrow, cooked in the covered pot, then finished with ginger, verjuice, and salt. At service, the cook places a pigeon or two into each dish and adds a little of the broth "in the manner of a pottage."
I first reconstructed this recipe on November 17, 2016 because pigeon was difficult for me to obtain. I substituted a Cornish game hen, used prepared beef broth instead of beginning with a piece of beef or mutton, and used vinegar in place of verjuice. The result tasted much better than it photographed. The wine-stewed chicken skin became gray-purple and deeply unhelpful to anyone trying to imagine how good the dish actually was.
Nearly ten years later, returning to the source revealed a more important problem than the photograph. My original interpreted recipe accidentally omitted the marrow that is explicitly named in the manuscript. The 2026 revision restores that ingredient, returns the broth-making step to the manuscript sequence, separates verjuice from the vinegar substitution, and makes a clearer distinction between what I actually tested in 2016 and what the surviving evidence now supports.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
It is a compact but unusually informative recipe from Harleian MS 279.
The manuscript gives us the bird, cooking liquid, stuffing, seasonings, cooking method, and serving style.
Whole pepper and marrow are placed inside the birds rather than simply stirred into the broth.
Verjuice gives the finished pottage a bright sour edge against the wine and rich meat broth.
The original Cornish hen adaptation was genuinely delicious, even if its photograph was not.
Historical Integrity: The main recipe below is a source-led reconstruction of Harleian MS 279. The manuscript explicitly gives beef or mutton, wine, water, wood pigeons, whole pepper, marrow, ginger, verjuice, salt, covered cooking, and brothy service. It does not provide quantities, cooking times, wine type, bird size, marrow amount, or exact proportions. The original 2016 Cornish hen adaptation was tested and enjoyed. The fully restored 2026 version has not yet been cooked as a separate controlled test, so source-led corrections are identified as such rather than presented as new kitchen results.
A Potage of Roysons medieval recipe, medieval apple raisin porridge, Harleian MS 279, medieval rice pottage, almond milk pottage, galangal ginger medieval recipe, medieval fasting food, historical vegan recipe
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.
Apple Moyle medieval recipe, medieval apple porridge, medieval apple pottage, Harleian MS 279 recipe, fifteenth-century English cooking, almond milk porridge, rice flour pottage, historical apple recipe, medieval humoral theory, vegan medieval recipe, camp breakfast recipe
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.
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.
Venyson in Broth: Medieval Venison in Spiced Broth from Harleian MS 279
Venyson in Broth is a compact but revealing recipe from Harleian MS 279. Ribs of venison are washed, placed in their strained washing water, and boiled with parsley, sage, pepper, cloves, mace, vinegar, and a little red wine until done.
The receipt contains no bread thickener, almond milk, eggs, onions, or elaborate finishing sauce. The meat and its seasoned cooking liquid remain at the center of the dish. Herbs lend freshness, wine and vinegar provide acidity, and a restrained measure of warm spice gives the broth its medieval character.
When I first published this reconstruction in 2016, I combined it with the following receipt for furmenty. Returning to the manuscript makes the division clearer. Venyson in Broth is recipe xxij. Venyson with Furmenty follows as recipe xxiij and gives a separate method for preparing the wheat. They belong together at the table, but each deserves its own reconstruction.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
It places venison at the center rather than burying it beneath a heavy sauce.
Parsley, sage, wine, vinegar, pepper, cloves, and mace create a bright, aromatic broth.
The recipe demonstrates how medieval cooks balanced herbs, acidity, and warm spice.
It can be reconstructed with venison ribs or practical boneless stew meat.
It pairs naturally with saffron-colored furmenty, bread, or another mild grain dish.
Historical Integrity: The surviving receipt, historical interpretation, tested reconstruction, and modern food-safety accommodations are identified separately. The practical recipe uses fresh water rather than reusing raw-meat washing water.
Furmenty (Frumenty): A Medieval Creamy Wheat Dish from Harleian MS 279
Furmenty, now more often written frumenty, is a wheat dish cooked until the grain becomes tender, swollen, and creamy. In Harleian MS 279, the wheat is cleaned, dampened, pounded, winnowed, boiled until it breaks, enriched with fresh milk, colored with saffron, and seasoned with salt.
It is a simple recipe, but not an insignificant one. Harleian MS 279 is a selected culinary collection, and furmenty was important enough to receive a distinct receipt and a defined method. Its inclusion beside venison reminds us that the grand medieval table did not rest upon spectacular meats and costly spices alone. It also depended upon cooks who understood grain, heat, texture, and timing.
When I first reconstructed this dish in 2016, I used Kamut-brand khorasan wheat. Its large grains produced a substantial, pleasantly nutty dish rather than a smooth modern breakfast cereal. Returning to the manuscript years later changed how I explain the recipe and where I place the saffron, but it did not change my conviction that furmenty deserves to be understood as a preparation in its own right.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
It uses a short ingredient list to create a rich and satisfying historical dish.
It preserves the texture of softened, broken wheat rather than turning the recipe into instant cereal.
It explains why a basic grain preparation mattered in a fifteenth-century culinary collection.
It can be served with venison, beef, fish, or another savory medieval dish.
It includes both the manuscript method and a clearly labeled practical reconstruction.
Historical Integrity: The manuscript evidence, historical interpretation, tested modern reconstruction, and practical substitutions are identified separately. The main household recipe uses soaking as a practical substitute for the manuscript's labor-intensive pounding and winnowing process.
Rede Rose: A Medieval Rose Custard from Harleian MS 279
Rede Rose is a delicate rose custard from Harleian MS 279, a fifteenth-century English culinary manuscript preserved in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. It belongs to a small family of medieval flower pottages made with almond milk, blossoms, sugar, and gentle thickeners.
Today, many readers would recognize Rede Rose as a medieval rose pudding or medieval rose custard, although the fifteenth-century manuscript simply calls the dish Rede Rose.
This is not simply a modern rose pudding with a medieval name pinned to its apron. It is a historical reconstruction built from a very short manuscript instruction, comparison with the related recipe for Vyolet, and repeated kitchen testing.
When I reconstruct a medieval recipe, I try to read the manuscript as though I am standing beside an experienced cook while another person records only the details worth remembering. Instead of asking, "What instructions are missing?", I ask, "What is the cook doing between the written lines?"
The result is velvety, lightly sweet, and fragrant without being overwhelming. Three taste testers and I fought over this custard, which is always a good sign that the medieval kitchen has sent us something worth keeping.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
It is a short, approachable recipe from Harleian MS 279.
It uses only four ingredients in the historical reconstruction.
It introduces medieval flower cookery without requiring rare equipment.
It can be served warm, chilled, or slightly loose as a sauce over berries.
It shows how a brief medieval recipe can become a confident, cookable reconstruction.
Historical Integrity: The main recipe below is the historical reconstruction. Modern adaptations are placed afterward and clearly marked, so readers can see what remains historically faithful, what is historically inspired, and what is a modern accommodation for allergies, dietary needs, or ingredient availability.
Brawn en Peuerade, a medieval pork pottage in pepper sauce from Harleian MS 279.
Originally published March 11, 2016. Updated June 24, 2026 with expanded historical notes, seasonality discussion, pottage classification, internal links, and a copy-friendly modern reconstruction.
Brawn en Peuerade is a fifteenth-century English pork pottage from Harleian MS 279. The dish combines pork, wine, onions, vinegar, pepper, ginger, and warming spices into a sharply flavored pepper sauce that the manuscript tells us should be "as potage shulde be."
That phrase matters. Although the modern title may sound like a meat dish with sauce, the original recipe gives us a strong clue about its intended texture and service. It should be neither too thick nor too thin, but spoonable, saucy, and substantial. For that reason, this recipe belongs among Pottages & First Course Dishes rather than among dry roasted, fried, grilled, or baked meats.
Auter Brawn en Peuerade, a medieval pork pottage with pepper sauce from Harleian MS 279.
Originally published March 14, 2016. Updated June 24, 2026 with expanded historical notes, feast placement discussion, color theory context, internal links, and a copy-friendly modern reconstruction.
Auter Brawn en Peuerade, or "another brawn in pepper sauce," is a fifteenth-century English pork pottage from Harleian MS 279. It combines pork, onions, broth, wine, vinegar, pepper, saffron, and warming spices into a richly colored dish that sits somewhere between a stew, a sauce, and a medieval pottage.
This recipe is especially useful because it appears alongside another version of Brawn en Peuerade. The earlier version is based more heavily on wine, while this "auter" version begins with a strong broth of beef or capon. Together, the two recipes show how medieval cooks could adapt the same flavor family to different ingredients, textures, and service styles.
Originally published January 23, 2016. Updated June 23, 2026.
This post has been updated as part of the 2026 Give It Forth recipe glow-up project, with expanded historical notes, revised feast placement discussion, improved formatting, internal links, and modern reconstruction guidance. AI-assisted editing was used for organization and clarity.
Gelyne in Dubatte, a medieval chicken dish finished in wine, broth, spices, vinegar, and bread-thickened sauce.
Some medieval recipes look simple at first glance, then open like a trapdoor into a much larger kitchen. Gelyne in Dubatte, from Harleian MS 279, is one of those dishes.
At its most basic, this is chicken cooked in broth, wine, spices, vinegar, and bread. Yet the recipe sits at the crossroads of roast meat, pottage, and sauce-making. The chicken is first roasted almost done, then cut into pieces and finished in a seasoned liquid thickened with bread. The result may be served as a brothy pottage, a spoonable stew, or a richer sauced dish laid over sops of bread.
When I first interpreted this recipe in 2016, I leaned toward a brothier version. Revisiting the title, manuscript placement, and Thomas Austin's glossary has made me appreciate how flexible this dish may have been. The sauce is not an afterthought. It may be the heart of the recipe.
Papyns: Medieval Custard for Breakfast, Babies, and the Infirm
First published January 4, 2016. Updated June 19, 2026.
Papyns with bread, a soft milk-and-egg pottage from Harleian MS 279.
Papyns is medieval comfort food: soft, warm, mild, and easy to eat. Found in Harleian MS 279, this fifteenth-century dish combines milk, flour, egg yolks, sugar, and salt into a smooth custard-like pottage served “rennyng,” or flowing.
Modern readers may think of it as a cross between custard, cream of wheat, and breakfast cereal. It is not flashy feast food. It is gentle food: the kind of dish that makes sense for children, elders, the sick, or anyone needing nourishment that does not ask too much of the teeth or stomach.
That simplicity is exactly what makes Papyns important. It gives us a glimpse of medieval food beyond roasts, pies, and elaborate subtleties. This is the food of care, recovery, and ordinary comfort.
Why this recipe matters: Papyns shows how medieval cooks made soft, nourishing foods for people who needed gentle meals. Its smooth texture and mild ingredients made it suitable for breakfast, children, the elderly, and the infirm.
Let Lory, also called larded milk, from Harleian MS 279
First Published: February 8, 2017
Updated: June 2026
Few medieval dishes feel as curious and unexpected to modern diners as Let Lory, sometimes called larded milk. Found in Harleian MS 279, dated to about 1430, this unusual English dish sits somewhere between a soft custard, a fresh cheese, and a delicate entremet. Milk scented with saffron is gently curdled with eggs, drained, and dressed with a warm sauce of sweetened yolks and warming spices.
To modern eyes, Let Lory may appear unusual, yet medieval cooks seem to have delighted in dishes of curdled milk and eggs. Similar preparations appear across Europe, from the English Forme of Cury recipe for Letelorye to French recipes for larded milk. These dishes blurred the line between custard, cheese, and composed delicacy.
Rather than a hearty pottage or broth of the first course, Let Lory feels especially at home among the entremets, the often-overlooked dishes served between courses to delight guests and shift the rhythm of the feast. Soft, rich, and lightly perfumed with saffron and spice, it makes an excellent conversation piece for historical dinners, reenactment feasts, or anyone curious about the stranger corners of medieval cookery.
Milke Rostys are one of the more delightful dairy dishes found in Harleian MS. 279, a fifteenth-century English cookery manuscript copied around 1430. The recipe begins with sweet milk, eggs, and saffron, cooked until thickened, strained, pressed, sliced, and then browned on a griddle. The result is somewhere between a firm custard, a fresh cheese, and a golden fried pudding.
This is not a modern custard baked gently in a dish. It is a cooked and pressed dairy preparation, firm enough to slice, sturdy enough to fry, and delicate enough to serve as a transitional dish between the heavier meats of a feast and the sweeter dishes that might follow. In feast terms, Milke Rostys works beautifully as an entremet: a refined, interesting dish that appears between larger courses and gives diners a change in texture, richness, and presentation.
The word rostys may look like “roasts,” but in this recipe the final cooking is done on a greddelle, or griddle. The custard is not roasted in the modern oven sense. It is sliced and browned on a hot surface with fat, creating a crisp golden exterior and a tender interior.
When people think of medieval beverages, the first things that often come to mind are ale, beer, mead, and wine. Those drinks certainly belonged at many medieval tables, but they were not the whole story. Medieval cooks also prepared fruit syrups, herbal drinks, spiced waters, medicinal beverages, and cooling drinks that could be diluted with water when needed. These are the drinks that fascinate me as a feast cook, because they solve so many modern event problems while remaining beautifully rooted in historical practice.
This medieval spiced pomegranate drink is one of my favorite syrups to serve at feast. It is bright, tart, lightly spiced, beautifully colored, and always well received. It gives guests a festive non-alcoholic option that feels intentional rather than like an afterthought.
Feast Cook Wisdom: I love syrups for feast because they are inexpensive to make, easy to transport, and can be added to water to taste. A small bottle can flavor a surprising amount of beverage, and guests can decide whether they want a delicate hint of fruit or a stronger, richer drink.
This recipe is based on a pomegranate syrup from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century. The syrup is very similar in concept to grenadine, though homemade pomegranate syrup has a deeper, more complex flavor than most commercial grenadine available today. Where modern grenadine is often very sweet and brightly colored, this syrup keeps the tart edge of pomegranate and balances it with sugar and, in my version, a little warm spice.
Originally published 5/10/2015 - Updated 5/27/2026
Sugar plate looks simple at first glance: sugar, rosewater, a little water, and flowers. In practice, it is a small master class in medieval sugarwork. It asks the cook to understand heat, texture, timing, humidity, and the mysterious moment when syrup becomes candy.
When I first made this recipe, I worked from the version in Pleyn Delit. I originally associated it with Harleian MS. 279, but while revisiting the recipe for this update I traced the attribution more carefully. In the second edition of Pleyn Delit, the recipe is identified as GK13, which points to Goud Kokery, recipe 13, preserved in Harleian MS. 2378 and printed in Curye on Inglysch.
That discovery changed the way I read the recipe. The original Middle English text does not describe a modern hard candy in thermometer language. Instead, it tells the cook to test the sugar between the fingers, remove it from the fire, stir it, work it, and make the “plate.” That suggests a softer, worked confection may be closer to the historical method, though the hard-crack version is still beautiful for feast display.
Violet petals preserved in sugar plate. The clearer amber candy was cooked to hard crack; the paler version was cooked lower and beaten.
What Is Sugar Plate?
Sugar plate is a medieval confection made by cooking clarified sugar, flavoring it, and forming it into a sheet or slab. The word “plate” here does not mean a dinner plate. It means a flat piece, layer, or formed sheet of sugar.
This is different from sugar paste. Sugar paste is usually a kneadable mixture used for molded or sculpted sugarwork, often involving a binder such as gum tragacanth. Sugar plate, by contrast, begins as cooked sugar and is poured or worked into a flat confection.
In a medieval feast setting, sugar plate belonged to the same elegant world as comfits, preserved fruits, marchpane, wafers, and subtlety work. It was sweet, scented, decorative, and expensive enough to make a statement. A small dish of rose-scented sugar with flowers would have been both dessert and table ornament.
The Source Trail: From Pleyn Delit Back to Goud Kokery
This recipe began for me with Pleyn Delit, but the revised edition gives the source as GK13. That abbreviation refers to Goud Kokery, one of the Middle English recipe collections included in Curye on Inglysch. The printed source identifies the recipe as Suger plate, from Harleian MS. 2378.
Finding the original mattered because it changed how I interpreted the cooking process. The modern recipe gives a practical adaptation, but the Middle English instructions are more revealing about texture and technique.
Original source:Suger plate, GK13, from Goud Kokery in Curye on Inglysch, Harleian MS. 2378.
Modern interpretation: The Pleyn Delit version used for my original kitchen testing.
The original recipe gives several clues that are important for a modern cook:
It begins with clarified sugar.
The sugar is tested between the fingers, not with a thermometer.
The cook is told to avoid letting it become too stiff.
The sugar is removed from the fire and stirred.
Rosewater is added after cooking.
The sugar is worked or formed into a “plate.”
This makes me think the historical preparation was probably not a clear, glassy hard-crack candy in the modern lollipop sense. It seems more likely to have been a worked sugar confection, cooked to a stage where it could still be stirred, handled, flavored, and formed.
That does not make the hard-crack version wrong as a modern feast interpretation. It is beautiful, dramatic, and useful for display. But if I were choosing the version that feels closest to the manuscript process, I would choose the softer worked sugar plate.
Medieval Sugar Stages for Modern Cooks
Modern candy recipes usually give temperatures. Medieval recipes usually do not. Instead, cooks judged sugar by appearance, texture, behavior, and touch. That is why older confectionery language includes terms such as thread, pearl, feather, ball, and crack.
The exact temperatures below are modern approximations. They are useful for home cooks, but historical cooks would have relied on experience and physical tests.
Stage
Approx. Temp.
What It Does
Modern Use
Thread
223–235°F
Forms thin threads from spoon or fingers
Syrups, preserves
Pearl / Blow
230–240°F
Thick syrup, bubbles, stronger strands
Candied fruits, soft sugarwork
Soft Ball
235–240°F
Forms a soft ball in cold water
Fondant, fudge-like candies
Firm Ball
245–250°F
Forms a firmer but pliable ball
Caramels, chewy candies
Hard Ball
250–265°F
Holds shape but remains chewy
Nougat, divinity-style candies
Soft Crack
270–290°F
Forms flexible brittle threads
Taffy, butterscotch
Hard Crack
300–310°F
Sets hard and glass-like
Lollipops, brittle, clear candy
Caramel
320°F and above
Sugar browns and develops caramel flavor
Caramelized sugar
For this recipe, the manuscript clues point most strongly toward the thread, pearl, or soft-ball range rather than hard crack. In testing, about 230°F produced a softer, paler sugar plate that could be beaten and worked before setting.
Humoral Notes: Sugar, Rosewater, and Flowers
Medieval sweets often lived at the border between food and medicine. Sugar was valued not only for sweetness, but also for its usefulness in medicinal preparations, preserves, and digestive confections.
Rosewater adds another layer. Roses were associated with cooling and comforting properties, especially for the heart and stomach. Violets were also often understood as cooling and soothing. A rose-scented sugar confection served at the end of a meal therefore made sense as both pleasure and digestive finish.
For a modern cook, this helps explain why such a small sweet could matter. Sugar plate was not meant to be eaten by the handful. It was a fragrant, elegant closing bite: sweet, floral, and showy enough to belong on a banquet table.
Modern Recipe: Sugar Plate with Edible Flowers
I am including two modern approaches below. The softer worked version is the one I now think is closest to the manuscript process. The hard-crack version is a useful feast-table adaptation when you want clear, dramatic candy with flowers suspended inside.
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
Enough water to thoroughly wet the sugar
2 tablespoons rosewater
1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional, to help reduce crystallization
Edible flowers or petals, such as violets, roses, pinks, calendula, borage, or lavender
Confectioner’s sugar, rice flour, or lightly oiled parchment for preventing sticking
Equipment
Heavy-bottomed saucepan
Reliable candy thermometer, preferably digital
Heat-safe spatula
Parchment paper or a marble slab
Rimmed baking sheet or shallow candy molds
Safety note: Hot sugar syrup is dangerous. It sticks to skin and burns deeply. Keep children and pets away from the stove, use care while pouring, and do not taste until fully cooled.
Version 1: Softer Worked Sugar Plate
This is the version I now favor as the more historically plausible interpretation. It produces a pale, opaque, rose-scented sugar confection rather than a clear hard candy.
Method
Prepare your work surface. Line a baking sheet with parchment, or prepare a clean marble slab. Dust very lightly with rice flour or confectioner’s sugar if needed.
Prepare the flowers. Use only edible, unsprayed flowers. Remove stems and green parts. Petals are easier to use than whole blossoms.
Dissolve the sugar. Place the sugar in a heavy saucepan with just enough water to wet it thoroughly. Add lemon juice if using. Heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Cook the syrup. Increase the heat and cook to about 230°F. This is in the thread to soft-ball neighborhood, not hard crack.
Remove from heat. Let the syrup cool slightly, then stir in the rosewater carefully. It may steam or bubble.
Beat and work the sugar. Stir with a heat-safe spatula as it cools. The sugar will begin to thicken and turn paler.
Add flowers. When the sugar is no longer violently hot but still workable, fold in the petals.
Form the plate. Pour or spread the sugar onto the prepared surface before it becomes too stiff.
Cool and serve. Let set fully, then cut or break into small pieces.
The result is softer and more delicate than modern hard candy. It is also more sensitive to humidity, so store it carefully between layers of parchment in an airtight container.
Version 2: Clear Hard-Crack Sugar Plate
This version is less likely to be the exact historical method for GK13, but it is beautiful and practical if you want a dramatic display candy. Flowers suspended in clear amber sugar look like tiny stained-glass windows.
Method
Line a rimmed baking sheet with lightly oiled parchment.
Scatter edible petals across the parchment, or have them ready to add just before pouring.
Cook the sugar syrup to 300°F.
Do not stir once the sugar has dissolved, as stirring can encourage crystallization.
Pour quickly over the petals or into molds.
Let cool completely before breaking into pieces.
This version sets rapidly. Work quickly, and do not try to handle the sugar while it is hot.
Kitchen Testing Notes
My first two attempts at hard-crack sugar plate were unsuccessful. I tested using the cold-water method, but both batches resulted in a soft, gummy candy. After that, I bought a digital thermometer, and the third attempt finally produced the clear amber candy I had been trying to make.
The lesson was immediate: sugarwork rewards accuracy. Humidity, pan size, water amount, heat level, and thermometer reliability all affect the finished candy. Medieval cooks would have learned these stages by experience. Modern cooks can absolutely learn the same skills, but a thermometer makes the learning curve less sticky.
I also tested the lower-temperature version because the manuscript wording seemed to suggest a pourable but not overly stiff candy. That batch was cooked to about 230°F and beaten as it cooled. I added petals of violets and pinks after the sugar began to turn pale.
Both versions were beautiful, and both were approved by my team of test teenagers. I had dim hope there would be leftovers based on the amount consumed by the test subjects. There were not many leftovers. This is, in my opinion, a successful sign.
Which Version Should You Make?
If you are making sugar plate for the first time, I recommend starting with the softer worked version. It is closer to the manuscript clues and gives you a better sense of how medieval sugar cookery worked by texture.
If you are making this for a feast display, a dessert board, or a dramatic final-course sweet, the hard-crack version is lovely. It may be less historically exact, but it creates a beautiful edible decoration.
Version
Temperature
Result
Best Use
Worked sugar plate
About 230°F
Pale, softer, opaque
Historical reconstruction, small sweets
Hard-crack flower candy
300°F
Clear, amber, brittle
Feast display, decorative shards
Flowers for Sugar Plate
Edible flowers turn sugar plate from simple candy into feast art. Use only flowers that are safe to eat and have not been sprayed with pesticides or florist preservatives.
Good Choices
Violets
Rose petals
Pinks or dianthus petals
Calendula petals
Borage flowers
Lavender blossoms, used sparingly
Delicate petals may discolor in very hot sugar, so add them late. For the hard-candy version, scattering petals onto parchment and pouring the syrup over them may preserve their shape better than stirring them into the pot.
For SCA Feasts, Classes, and Historical Demonstrations
Sugar plate is a useful recipe for teaching historical cooking because it shows how much older recipes depend on observation. The original does not give a thermometer reading. It gives behavior: test the sugar, watch the texture, stir it, and do not let it become too stiff.
For a class: Make both versions and let people compare texture.
For feast service: Serve small pieces with wafers, comfits, preserved fruit, or marchpane.
For display: Use the hard-crack version for dramatic translucent shards.
For historical discussion: Use the softer version to talk about sugar stages before thermometers.
For transport: Pack pieces between parchment and keep dry.
For humid weather: Store airtight and avoid leaving the candy uncovered for long periods.
Dietary Notes 🥕
Vegetarian: Yes
Vegan: Yes, assuming vegan sugar is used
Gluten-Free: Yes
Dairy-Free: Yes
Egg-Free: Yes
Common Allergens: None inherent, but confirm flower safety and possible cross-contact
Serving Suggestions
Serve as part of a banquet or final course with comfits, wafers, marchpane, and preserved fruits.
Break hard-crack sugar plate into irregular shards and arrange them on a small plate.
Cut or mold the softer worked version into small pieces once it has set.
Use rose petals for a romantic final-course sweet, or violets for a spring feast.
Package small pieces in paper twists or tiny dishes for an event treat.
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Sources
Hieatt, Constance B. Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks. 2nd ed. University of Toronto Press, 1996. See “Sugar Plate,” p. 175, attributed to GK13.
AI Assistance Disclosure: Historical transcription, formatting, and redaction support were provided with the help of AI tools for research and editing. Some images were created or edited with AI tools. All historical interpretation and final text are curated and verified by the editor of Give It Forth.
