Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - Cxxij. A rede morreye

In the realm of medieval cookery, there's a curious coincidence found within the Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books: Harleian MS. 279 (circa 1430) and Harl. MS. 4016 (circa 1450), featuring extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, and Douce MS. 55 by Thomas Austin. It's the duplication of a recipe, each time bearing a different name but offering similar instructions on preparing the dish. Fortunately, I find myself in possession of mulberries, which seem to flourish abundantly in my locale, and are often treated as anuisances in my area.

Murrey, is similar to Rapeye, seems to denote a type of sauce, characterized by its red or reddish hue and its thick consistency. For instance, the recipe from the Forme of Curye, circa 1390, presents an early rendition of this recipe: 

MORREE [1]. XXXVIII.

Take Almandes blaunched, waisshe hem. grynde hem. and temper hem up with rede wyne, and alye hem with flour of Rys. do þerto Pynes yfryed. and colour it with saundres. do þerto powdour fort and powdour douce

and salt, messe it forth and flour it [2] with aneys confyt whyte.

[1] Morree. Ms. Ed. 37. murrey. Ibid. II. 26. morrey; probably from the mulberries used therein. [2] flour it. Flourish it.

Similarly, a recipe from MS Royal 12 (1340) offers diverse ingredients to accomplish the sauce:

32. Moree. rice flour or amidon, whichever can be found; that the color of sandalwood will be had, grind well in a mortar; and then it must be tempered in almond milk and well strained. And then put powdered cinnamon and of galingale. If it is a fish day, put in pears or chestnuts or salmon, or luce or perch; if a meat day, put in veal or goat, if you would have a good and royal meat.

The Online Etymological Dictionary gives the following information on the derivation of the word:

c. 1300, "tree of the genus Morus;" mid-14c. in reference to a berry from the tree; an alteration of morberie (13c.) from or cognate with Middle High German mul-beri (alteration by dissimilation of Old High German mur-beri, Modern German Maulbeere); both from Latin morum "mulberry, blackberry" + Old English berie, Old High German beri "berry." As mentioned earlier, I am lucky to have a mulberry tree growing in my yard. Each year I wait for the fruit to ripen so that I can make mulberry jam, or eat it on shortcakes either by itself or mixed with other berries.

Both of these recipes refer to a dish that is colored with mullberries. As has been discussed previously, color played a major roles in this time period. The color "red" held major significance; life force, love, lust and anger being only a few.  It also held religious significance, being the color of Christ's blood and the fires of Hell. I wonder what the significance held for this dish, if any?

Original Recipe

.Cxxij. A rede Morreye.—Take Molberys, and wrynge a gode hepe of hem þorw a cloþe; nym Vele, hew it & grynd it smal, & caste þer-to; nym gode Spycery an [supplied by ed.] Sugre, & caste þer- [leaf 22 bk.] to; take Wastilbrede & grate it, & ȝolkys of Eyroun, & lye it vppe þer-with, & caste gode pouder of Spycery þer-an a-bouen; & þan serue it forth.

Interpreted Recipe

122. A Red Morreye - Take mulberries, and wring a good heap of them through a cloth; take veal, cut it and grind it small, and cast thereto; take good spices and sugar, and caste thereto; take Wastel Bread (bread made from flour) and grate it, and yolks of eggs, and lay it up there-with and caste good powder of spices there-on, above; and then serve it forth.

Original Recipe

.Cxviij. Murreye.—Take Molberys, & wryng hem þorwe a cloþe; nym Vele, hew it, sethe it, grynd it smal, & caste þer-to; nym gode Spycery, Sugre, & caste þer-to; take Wastylbrede y-gratyd, [leaf 22.] and ȝolkys of Eyroun, & lye it vppe þer-with, & caste gode pouder a-boue y-now, & þan serue forth.

Interpreted Recipe

218. Murreye - Take mulberries, and wring them through a cloth, take veal, cut it, cook it, grind it smal and cast there-to; take good spicery, sugar and caste there-to; take wastel bread grated, and yolks of eggs and lay it up there-with, and cast good powder above enough now and then serve forth.


Ingredients 
To Serve 8

2 pounds cooked veal, pork or chicken, either sliced, or cut into bite sized pieces

2 cups mulberries

1 tsp. mixed spices (powder forte)

~ 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 egg yolk
*Opt*  1 tsp. lemon juice, vinegar, or wine

Instructions

1. We are instructed to "take mulberries and wring them through a cloth", to create mulberry juice.  To do this, add mulberries, spices, sugar, lemon juice (wine, vinegar) , and water (if needed) to a blender, and blend until smooth.

2. Strain your juice using a cloth lined sieve, to remove solids,  into a pan. 
3. Add bread and egg  yolk, and simmer, stirring constantly, until the bread has dissolved in the sauce. 
4. Add meat, and continue to cook until the mixture has reached your desired consistency. 

Thoughts

This recipe is found in the pottage section of the Harl. MS 279, meaning it is a dish that is cooked in a pot.  The instructions as written above, advise us to mix the meat with the sauce, and to cook it. We are left to our imagination to determine if this is a saucier dish that could serve as a "soup/stew" or if it could be served as a sauce along side, sliced meat, which would be a more modern interpretation.  Or a meat cooked in sauce, similar to a meaty pasta sauce, or a good braised meat. 

For the presentation, I chose to serve this dish as a braised dish, using slices of pork braised in the mulberry sauce over sops of bread (to catch all of the sauce!), and a side of boiled & buttered vegetables. This would be a delicious appetizer or a perfect first course dish.  I hope you enjoy. 

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

 The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi, 1570

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. This particular "salad" was first created for a luncheon for House Beauvisage. I needed something easy to put together, that would fit a vegetarian diet, and would be ok served cold or at room temperature.

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 package's directions. I have included the soup recipe here, along with the changes I made to convert this from a soup to a salad.

Original Recipe

Per far minestra di Lenti secche

Pulite le lenticchie dallo sporco e mettetele in una pentola con acqua tiepida; togliere quelli che galleggiano e far bollire il resto nella stessa acqua. Mentre cuociono, con un cucchiaio grande e forato tirate fuori quelli che salgono in superficie e metteteli in un'altra pentola: questo è fatto in modo che la sabbia che a volte entra nel loro buchino fuoriesca e cada sul fondo della pentola. In una pentola mettete delle buone lenticchie con l'olio, il sale, un po' di pepe, lo zafferano, l'acqua e una manciata di erbe fini sbattute; finire di cuocerli. Affinché il piatto sia buono, rendere il brodo piuttosto denso. Con essi si possono cuocere anche spicchi d'aglio, pezzetti di tinca e luccio.

My Interpretation

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.

ngredients

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

Instructions

NOTE: 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.

2. Bring water (or stock) to a boil. Add your seasonings, and then lower the heat to a medium-low and simmer your soup until the lentils are tender.

NOTE: You may add any herbs you wish. I usually add a handful of kale to this soup along with some onion, thyme, basil, and parsley.

3. 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. Can be served warm, room temperature, or cold.