Autre Vele en Bokenade: Veal in Spiced Almond Pottage from Harleian MS 279 (c. 1430)

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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.

Jump to the Recipe

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 (c. 1430)

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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.

Jump to the Recipe

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 (c. 1430)

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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.

Jump to the Recipe

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.

A Potage of Roysons: Medieval Apple and Raisin Rice Porridge from Harleian MS 279

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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.

Jump to the Recipe

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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.

Jump to the Recipe

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: 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.

Jump to the Modern Recipe

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.

Beef y-Stywyd | Medieval English Stewed Beef from Harleian MS. 279 (c. 1430)

Beef y-Stywyd | Medieval English Stewed Beef
Harleian MS. 279 (c. 1430)

Search Description: Discover Beef y-Stywyd, a richly spiced medieval English beef pottage from Harleian MS. 279 (c.1430), faithfully reconstructed for today's kitchen.

Beef y-Stywyd reconstructed from Harleian MS. 279 (c.1430).

Some historical recipes preserve forgotten techniques. Others surprise us because they taste remarkably familiar despite the centuries that separate us from the cooks who first prepared them. Beef y-Stywyd accomplishes both, and after years of historical cooking it remains one of my favorite medieval recipes to prepare whenever the grocery budget allows.

The first time I served this dish, nearly everyone at the table commented that it reminded them of Cincinnati-style chili. At first that comparison seems impossible. This recipe was written in England around 1430, centuries before Cincinnati existed. Yet once the cinnamon, cloves, vinegar, herbs, and slow-simmered beef come together, the resemblance becomes surprisingly understandable. Medieval cooks understood how to layer warm spices and acidity in ways that still resonate with modern palates.

Recorded in Harleian MS. 279, Beef y-Stywyd is a beautifully balanced beef pottage combining forequarter beef, onions, parsley, sage, imported spices, saffron, vinegar, and bread into a rich, fragrant dish. Although historically classified as a pottage, it is substantial enough to serve as the centerpiece of a rustic feast or tavern meal.

Wardonys in Syryp: Medieval Pears in Spiced Wine Syrup

Wardonys in Syryp

Medieval Pears in Spiced Wine Syrup from Harleian MS 279 (c. 1430)

Wardonys in Syryp, a fifteenth-century dish of pears simmered in a spiced red wine syrup until both poynaunt and dowcet: pleasantly sharp and sweet.

Wardonys in Syryp is a medieval pear dish from Harleian MS 279, a fifteenth-century English culinary manuscript preserved in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Firm cooking pears are first softened, then simmered in red wine with cinnamon, sugar, ginger, vinegar, and saffron.

Today, we might recognize the dish as a poached pear in red wine, but the manuscript asks for something more carefully judged than a modern dessert. The syrup is not meant to be merely sweet. Its final flavor should be both poynaunt and dowcet, sharp enough to awaken the palate and sweet enough to round the wine and spice.

This is not a modern poached pear wearing a medieval cloak. It is a historical reconstruction built from the surviving manuscript, comparison with related fifteenth-century pear recipes, the original kitchen testing behind this article, and the practical question that guides my work: What is the cook doing between the written lines?

The result is wine-dark, fragrant, warmly spiced, and brightened with vinegar. The pear becomes tender without losing its shape, while the syrup gathers cinnamon, ginger, saffron, sugar, wine, and acidity into something far more complex than the short ingredient list suggests.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It is an approachable reconstruction from Harleian MS 279.
• It uses familiar ingredients while preserving a distinctly medieval sweet-sour flavor.
• It introduces the period idea of a dish being both poynaunt and dowcet.
• It can be served as a pottage or first-course fruit dish, or as part of a banquet and final course.
• It may be prepared ahead, making it practical for a feast, class, dayboard, or modern dinner.

Jump to the Modern Recipe

Historical Integrity

The main recipe below is my historical reconstruction. Modern substitutions and dietary accommodations appear afterward and are clearly labeled, allowing readers to distinguish the manuscript-based dish from later adaptations.

Rede Rose: A Medieval Rose Custard (Medieval Rose Pudding) from Harleian MS 279

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.

Jump to Modern Recipe

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.

Vyolette: A 15th-Century Violet Almond Custard from Harleian MS. 279

Vyolette: A 15th-Century Violet Custard from Harleian MS. 279

Vyolette, a delicate medieval custard celebrating one of spring's most cherished flowers.

First published: April 20, 2016
Updated: June 26, 2026

Among the first flowers to announce the return of spring, few were as admired by medieval gardeners, physicians, and cooks as the fragrant March Violet. Long before edible flowers became fashionable in modern kitchens, sweet violets were cultivated for their beauty, preserved in syrups and conserves, infused into oils and honey, and transformed into elegant dishes such as this remarkable custard from Harleian MS. 279.

Unlike many modern floral desserts that rely upon extracts or artificial flavorings, Vyolette asks the cook to work directly with fresh blossoms. The flowers are gently cooked, pressed, and blended into almond milk before being thickened into a silky custard. The result is subtle rather than perfumed, allowing the delicate fragrance of the violet itself to remain the centerpiece of the dish.

Historical Context

The flower called for in this recipe was almost certainly the Sweet or March Violet (Viola odorata), a plant prized throughout medieval Europe for both its fragrance and its versatility. Writing in A Nievve Herball (1554), Rembert Dodoens distinguished the richly scented garden violet from its weaker wild cousin, describing the cultivated flower as possessing a "very pleasant and amiable smell." He notes that these violets flowered in March and April, giving rise to the familiar English name "March Violet."

The Sweet or March Violet (Viola odorata) from Rembert Dodoens' A Nievve Herball (1554).

By the early seventeenth century, John Parkinson observed that generations of careful cultivation had produced garden violets that were "fairer in colour, and peradventure of a better scent than when they grew wild." His descriptions of single, double, white, and purple March Violets reveal that these flowers were not merely gathered from hedgerows but intentionally grown in gardens for both ornament and household use.

Our companion article, Of March Violets: Medicinal and Culinary Lore, explores the rich botanical, culinary, and medicinal history of this remarkable flower, including period herbals, violet syrup, violet honey, and additional historical recipes.

Household Context

Fresh violets were among the earliest gifts of spring, making them a naturally seasonal ingredient. Le Ménagier de Paris, the late fourteenth-century household guide known in English as The Good Wife's Guide, instructs gardeners to lift violet plants into pots before winter and shelter them in a cellar or protected place during severe frosts. During mild days the plants were carried back into the fresh air and watered carefully before being returned indoors. Such advice demonstrates that prosperous households deliberately cultivated violets rather than relying solely upon wild flowers.

The same household tradition also records violets decorating elegant dishes. One recipe for aspic jelly directs the cook to garnish each serving with white violets, pomegranate, bay leaves, and colorful dragées before presentation. These references remind us that medieval cooks valued flowers not only for their flavor but also for the beauty they brought to the feast table.

Luxury household accounts likewise record the purchase of violets alongside costly imported sugar, mastic, and spices, illustrating that fragrant flowers were considered worthy companions to some of the finest ingredients available to elite kitchens.

The Manuscript

This recipe appears as .Cxxv. Vyolette in Harleian MS. 279, one of the most important surviving collections of fifteenth-century English cookery. Unlike the manuscript's other recipe for Vyolette, which combines violets with dried fruits, warming spices, and saffron to create a substantial almond pottage, this version is remarkably restrained. It allows the flower itself to remain the principal flavor, supported only by almond milk, a starch thickener, and sugar or honey.

The manuscript also offers an interesting choice between almond milk and "good cow's milk," reminding us that medieval cooks readily adapted recipes to both the liturgical calendar and the resources available in their own kitchens. Almond milk was especially common during fasting periods, while fresh dairy was equally acceptable when dietary restrictions permitted.

The Original Recipe

.Cxxv. Vyolette. — Take Flourys of Vyolet, boyle hem, presse hem, bray hem smal, temper hem vppe with Almaunde mylke, or gode Cowe Mylke, a-lye it with Amyndoun or Flowre of Rys; take Sugre y-now, an putte þer-to, or hony in defaute; coloure it with þe same þat þe flowrys be on y-peyntid a-boue.

Translation

Take violet flowers, boil them, press them, and grind them finely. Mix them with almond milk or good cow's milk, then thicken the mixture with amidon or rice flour. Add enough sugar, or honey if sugar is unavailable. Color the finished dish to resemble the violet flowers themselves.