Medieval Rabbit, Chicken, or Duck in Onion Sauce (Hen in Cyve – Harleian MS. 279)

Hen in Cyve – Medieval Chicken (or Rabbit/Duck) in Onion & Wine Sauce (Harleian MS. 279)

Conyng, Mawlard, in gely or in cyuey – Hen, Rabbit, or Duck in Onion Sauce (Harleian MS. 279)

What is “Cyve / Cyuey”? A savory medieval onion sauce thickened with bread and sharpened with vinegar and wine—balanced with warm spices like ginger, mace, cinnamon, and cloves. Wonderful with poultry, rabbit, or duck.

Updated 5/19/2026: This post now includes related recipes: .lxxiij. Conyngys in cyveye and .lxiij. Harys in Cyueye.

Medieval Stew in Onion Sauce

One of my favorite finds from The Ordinance of Pottage was “Hare in Cyve,” a richly flavored onion-based sauce that quickly became a feast favorite in my early SCA days. When I later discovered a related recipe in Harleian MS. 279 (c.1430), I knew it had to go on my cooking list.

Conyng means rabbit; Hare its larger cousin; and Mawlard means duck. The recipe offers flexibility—showing how cooks adapted this onion-thickened sauce (or cyuey) to whatever meat was available.

📖 A cyuey is a spiced medieval onion sauce thickened with bread and vinegar, balancing savory, sweet, and tart notes. It’s delicious with poultry, rabbit, or game.

Original Text (Harleian MS. 279)

.xlij. Conyng, Mawlard, in gely or in cyuey – Take Conynge, Hen, or Mawlard, and roste hem alle-most y-now, or ellys choppe hem, an frye hem in fayre Freysshe grece; an frye myncyd Oynenons, and caste alle in-to þe potte, & caste þer-to fayre Freysshe brothe, an half Wyne, Maces, Clowes, Powder pepir, Canelle; þan take fayre Brede, an wyth þe same brothe stepe, an draw it þorw a straynoure wyth vynegre; an whan it is wyl y-boylid, caste þe lycoure þer to, & powder Gyngere, & Salt, & sesyn it vp an serue forth.

Modern Translation

42. Rabbit, Hen, or Duck in Onion Sauce – Take rabbit, hen, or duck, and roast them almost enough, or else chop them, and fry them in good fresh fat. Fry minced onions and add all into the pot with fresh broth and half wine, along with mace, cloves, pepper, and cinnamon. Then take good bread, soak it in the same broth, and strain it with vinegar. When it is well boiled, add this mixture, plus ginger and salt. Adjust seasoning and serve hot.

Coleys (Chicken Cullis): Medieval Chicken Bone Broth & Restorative Soup

Coleys (Chicken Cullis): Medieval Chicken Bone Broth & Restorative Soup – Harleian MS. 279

Harleian MS. 279 (c.1430) — .xxvj. Coleys — Chicken Cullis

What is “Coley(s)” / Cullis? A medieval restorative made by cooking a capon until tender, then enriching the broth with the meat, bread, and the “liquor of the bones.” Think early bone-broth technique with a comforting, spoonable finish.

Originally published 5/12/ 2019 Updated 5/13/2026

In Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books (Harleian MS. 279), Coleys calls for not only the broth from boiling the capon but specifically the liquor of the bones—a clear nod toward longer extraction and collagen, much like today’s bone broth. French sources, including Du fait de cuisine, even frame coulleys as food for the sick: nourishing, mild, and easily digested.

This is not a clear soup. It is closer to a spoonable medieval chicken soup, a savory porridge, or a soft restorative broth thickened with bread. The result is mild, warming, and practical: a dish that uses the bird thoroughly and turns broth, meat, bones, skin, and bread into something sustaining.

Tudor Mince Pies (1591) – For Pyes of Mutton or Beefe from A Book of Cookrye

For Pyes of Mutton or Beefe (A Book of Cookrye, 1591)

Originally published: December 31, 2020 · Updated: November 15, 2025

🥕 Dietary Notes: Contains gluten, beef, and dried fruit. Suet may be replaced with vegetable shortening for a vegetarian-friendly option (texture and flavor will differ from period practice).

Kitchen Notes: For SCA feasts, I always post an ingredient-based menu on the kitchen door and tables, and I am happy to accommodate dietary needs with advance notice. Medieval dishes often contain ingredients modern diners may not expect, so clear labeling is essential.

A Note on Historical “Mincemeat”

Today, “mincemeat” often refers to a sweet mixture of fruit, spices, and sometimes spirits—but from the Middle Ages through the early modern period, mince pies always contained meat. The traditional mixture blended minced beef, mutton, or veal with suet, dried fruit, warm spices, and sometimes saffron.

These were hearty, savory-sweet hand pies served throughout the winter and were far closer to a spiced meat pastry than a modern dessert.

Original Recipe (1591)

For Pyes of Mutton or Beefe.
Shred your meat and Suet togither fine, season it with cloves, mace, Pepper, and same Saffron, great Raisins, Corance and prunes, and so put it into your Pyes.
~ A Book of Cookrye Very Necessary..., 1591

Modern English

Shred your meat and suet together fine. Season with clove, mace, pepper, and a little saffron. Add large raisins, currants, and chopped prunes, and place the mixture into your pies.

A Quick Story About Mincemeat & Misunderstandings

At one SCA event where I served these pies, a guest came into the kitchen distraught after eating a mince pie “with meat in it.” She had assumed they were vegetarian, not realizing that historical mince pies always contain meat. The menu—with a full ingredient list—was posted at the kitchen door and on the tables, but modern expectations can surprise people.

This experience reinforced why I am meticulous about posting detailed ingredient-based menus and why I encourage diners to share dietary needs in advance. I can always accommodate those needs when I know about them, and it helps everyone enjoy feast day without worry.

Why Medieval Cooks Mixed Meat, Fruit, and Spices

To a modern palate, combining beef with raisins and saffron may seem unusual, but in the 15th and 16th centuries this combination reflected the height of good cookery. Medieval recipes often balanced warm and cold humors using meat, fruit, and spices to keep the body in proper “temperament.”

Dried fruits brought sweetness and moisture; spices like mace, clove, and pepper added warmth and helped “correct” the perceived coldness or dampness of certain foods. Saffron contributed both color and a sense of luxury. A pie like this was not a random flavor mashup, but a carefully considered dish grounded in medieval food philosophy.

Mince Pies at the Medieval Table

Pies were central to medieval and Tudor feasts. A well-made pie demonstrated the cook’s skill, the host’s wealth, and the kitchen’s organization. Small, hand-sized pies like these were easy to portion out in a noisy hall, could be served hot, and traveled well on trenchers or small plates.

Mince pies appear in banquet menus, civic feasts, and household accounts as part of winter and holiday fare. Rich with meat, fat, fruit, and spice, they signaled generosity as much as good taste.

Historical Background

In medieval and Tudor England, mince pies were part of a long tradition of mixing meat with fruit and warm spices. This blend of savory and sweet flavors created a rich, festive pie that was especially popular during winter months and holidays. The dried fruit added subtle sweetness, the suet added richness, and the spices—clove, mace, pepper, and saffron—brought warmth and luxury.

By the 18th and 19th centuries, mince pies evolved into the sweet-only versions we know today, but in 1591, they were still very much a savory meat dish with a delicate sweet note.

How Mince Pies Changed Over Time

In the 16th century, mince pies were hearty, savory dishes that happened to include fruit. Over the 17th century, the amount of sugar and dried fruit increased, and the spice blends became more elaborate. By the 18th and 19th centuries, many “mincemeat” recipes had lost the meat entirely, relying instead on suet, fruit, sugar, and alcohol.

This 1591 recipe belongs to that earlier, meat-forward tradition. If your only experience of mince pies involves modern Christmas desserts, these will be a completely different—and delightfully historical—experience.

What These Pies Taste Like

These pies are savory first, with gentle sweetness from the dried fruits. The spices and saffron provide warmth and fragrance without overpowering the meat. They’re rich, filling, and wonderfully medieval—best enjoyed warm, and very much a hand pie rather than a dessert.

Why Saffron?

Saffron was one of the most prized spices in Tudor England. It added not only a golden hue, but also warmth and gentle floral notes. Its presence in a pie signaled celebration, hospitality, and expense—saffron was never used casually. A pinch in the filling is a small nod to the luxury this recipe would have represented on a 16th-century table.

What Suet Adds to the Recipe

Suet is the hard, clean fat from around the kidneys of cattle or sheep. It has a higher melting point than butter, which gives medieval pies their characteristic light, crisp bite and keeps the filling rich without becoming greasy.

Rendered suet (tallow) also acted as a preservative fat in winter cookery. When mixed with dried fruit and spices, it produced a filling that stayed good far longer than fresh meat alone. For cooks working with cool pantries and open hearths, this made mince pies both festive and practical.

How to Serve These Mincemeat Pies

These pies are best served warm from the oven and make excellent hand food for feasts, holiday tables, potlucks, or outdoor events. Their rich filling and small size make them ideal for the first or second course of an SCA feast.

If you want to stay close to period service, consider pairing them with:

• a hot spiced drink, ale, or hippocras
• a simple salad of herbs or “sallet” greens
• a pottage or broth as a preceding course

Cook’s Notes

These little pies surprised me with how comforting and deeply flavorful they were. The saffron lifts the filling, the prunes add richness, and the suet gives the mixture the perfect texture. They remind me of other European holiday meat pastries, but with a distinctly medieval soul. If you enjoy this recipe, it pairs beautifully with other late 16th-century dishes and makes a fine addition to a winter or Christmas-themed board.

Still Life of Autumn Fruits and Vegetables — shared image for the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series, evoking abundance and the early-modern feast.

Home › Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series › Barberry Sauce for Roast Meats (1660)

Barberry Sauce for Roast Meats (1660) — A Tudor & Stuart Alternative to Cranberries

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series — exploring how early modern English cooks used tart, jewel-red fruits like barberries to brighten rich feasts in much the same way we use cranberry sauce today.

A Sharp, Scarlet Counterpoint to Roast Meat

Long before cranberries became iconic on American holiday tables, English cooks were using barberries to do a very similar job. These tiny, vivid red berries — the fruit of the shrub Berberis vulgaris — appear in 16th- and 17th-century English recipes as garnishes, pickles, and sharp, “cooling” sauces for goose, pig, pork, and rich pies.

In The Accomplisht Cook (1660), Robert May scatters barberries through pies and dressings, and suggests them in sauces for goose and other roasted fowl. Their bright acidity and ruby colour made them a perfect foil for fatty meats — a role cranberries would come to play later in colonial New England.

Barberries, Cranberries, and the Thanksgiving Table

Barberries in England: Barberries are native to Europe and western Asia. In early modern England they were valued both as a medicine and a culinary ingredient, especially for their sharp taste and striking colour. They were used in pickles, preserves, sauces, and as garnishes on rich dishes, and were common enough to appear repeatedly in British recipe books and household manuscripts.

Cranberries in North America: Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) are native to North America. Indigenous peoples in New England and the Canadian Maritimes harvested them for food, dye, and medicine. Seventeenth-century English accounts of New England describe “craneberries” being eaten with meat and as part of pemmican-like preparations.

Parallel Uses, Different Histories: While there is no surviving English recipe that says “use cranberries where you would use barberries,” the two fruits occupy very similar roles:

• Both are small, tart, scarlet berries.
• Both were served with rich meats as a sharp, refreshing contrast.
• Both appear in sauces, relishes, and preserves.

In England, barberries remain the canonical choice in the 17th century; in colonial New England, cranberries fill the local niche. For modern historical cooks in North America, cranberries can be a practical stand-in when barberries are unavailable — as long as we are clear that the substitution is modern, not Tudor or Stuart.

Period Sources: Barberries in Robert May’s Kitchen

Sauce for a Goose — Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

The following comes from May’s “Sauce for a stubble or fat Goose”, which gives two forms. The second explicitly calls for barberries in a rich apple-based sauce.

Source: Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (London, 1660), “Sauce for a stubble or fat Goose.” The full text is available via Project Gutenberg and early modern facsimiles.

Sauce for a stubble or fat Goose.
1. The Goose being scalded, drawn, and trust, put a handful of salt in the belly of it, roast it, and make sauce with sowr apples slic’t, and boil’d in beer all to mash, then put to it sugar and beaten butter. Sometime for veriety add barberries and the gravy of the fowl.

2. Roast sowr apples or pippins, strain them, and put to them vinegar, sugar, gravy, barberries, grated bread, beaten cinamon, mustard, and boil’d onions strained and put to it.

To Pickle Barberries Red — Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660)

May also gives directions for pickling barberries, which provide the preserved fruit used in sauces throughout the year.

Source: Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (London, 1660), section on pickles and preserves (often titled “To pickle Grapes, Gooseberries, Barberries, red and white Currans” and related entries).

To Pickle Barberries Red.
When your Barbaries are picked from the leaves in clusters, about Michaelmas, or when they are ripe, let your water boyl, and give them a half a dozen walms; let your pickle be white-wine and vinegar, not too sharp, so put them up for your use.

Homemade Vegetable Stock Powder – DIY Bouillon with Historical Tips

Homemade Vegetable Stock Powder – DIY Bouillon & Historical Tips

Learn how to make vegetable stock powder, vegetable stock, and homemade bouillon from scratch. Perfect for medieval-inspired cooking, camp meals, and budget-friendly feasts.

Originally published: 8/9/2025  |  Updated: 10/30/2025

Dietary Notes 🥕: Vegan • Vegetarian • Gluten-Free. Low-sodium: see tips below. Allergen-friendly: no nuts, dairy, soy; skip nutritional yeast if sensitive and sub mushroom powder.

Fridayes Pye (1615): Meatless Chard, Apple & Raisin Tart from John Murrell

A Fridayes Pye made with greens instead of beet-root

Originally published 6/23/2015. 
Updated: October 20, 2025 – expanded with historical context on fish days, greens vs. root beet.

During research for large, serve-warm-or-room-temp banquet dishes, I fell in love with this meatless tart from John Murrell’s A New Booke of Cookerie (London, 1615). It’s a savory-sweet “Friday” pie—perfect for fast days—combining beet greens (i.e., chard) with apples, raisins, ginger, and a squeeze of orange.

Why “Fridayes” Pye?

In early modern England, Friday was on of the traditional "fish days" or fasting days required by the Church — meaning no flesh meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.) could be eaten. This custom was rooted in Catholic tradition and continued well into the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, even after England’s break from Rome. 

By the early 1600s, when John Murrell published A New Booke of Cookerie (1615), the observance of Friday and Lent fasts was still common across all social classes. Cooks compiled specific “Friday” or “Fish Day” sections in their books, filled with meatless dishes made from: 

• Fish, eggs, dairy, and vegetables 
• Pastries and pies enriched with fruit and spice instead of meat 
• Almond milk, butter, and oil as substitutes for animal fats 

So when Murrell labels this as a “Fridayes Pye,” he’s signaling that the recipe is appropriate for a fast day: 

• It’s meatless, using greens, fruit, butter, and spice instead of animal flesh. 
• It fits the pattern of “Lenten pies” — dishes made for observant days that were still elegant and flavorful. 
• The ingredients (greens, raisins, orange) reflect the seasonal spring diet tied to Lent and Easter preparation.

Fish Days and Fast-Day Cookery

In early modern England, “Friday” dishes like this one belonged to the long tradition of fish days—weekly abstinences from flesh meat inherited from the medieval Church. After the Reformation these customs never disappeared; instead, Elizabeth I and her Parliament re-cast them as patriotic observances that protected England’s fishing trade. On a fish day, cooks avoided beef, pork, or fowl but freely used fish, eggs, cheese, and butter. Only during the stricter Lenten fast were all animal products forbidden, replaced by almond milk or oil. Thus Murrell’s “Fridayes Pye,” rich with greens, fruit, and spice but still containing butter, fits the ordinary fish-day table perfectly—pious enough for Friday, but indulgent compared with true Lenten fare.

Historical note: The 1563 “Act for the Maintenance of the Navy” mandated regular fish days not for religion but to sustain England’s maritime economy. Observing fish days kept demand for sea-fish steady, ensuring a ready navy in wartime. Religious habit thus became state policy—a rare case where piety and politics shared the same table.

📌 Beet “greens,” not beet-root: In 16th–17th-c. English sources, “beetes” often means the leaf (chard). The line “picke out the middle string, and chop them small” points to de-ribbing greens. You can still make a beet-root version, but the period default is chard.

Why Greens, Not Roots?

When early English cooks wrote of “beetes,” they almost always meant the leaves—what we now call Swiss chard or leaf beet. The swollen red root beet familiar today was a later development. Medieval and early-modern gardeners grew white and red beetes mainly for their greens, prized for winter hardiness and gentle sweetness. Continental varieties that emphasized the root (the forerunners of today’s beetroot) reached England in the later 17th century and did not become common until the Georgian period.

John Murrell’s instruction to “picke out the middle string, and chop them small” clearly describes de-ribbing leaves rather than peeling roots. In humoral terms, greens were considered more cool and moist, balancing the hot and dry spices like ginger and pepper—making this dish suitable for Friday fasts and Lenten abstinence alike.

Fun fact: The modern bulbous beet descended from chard-like ancestors. 18th-century breeders selected for thicker roots, giving rise to the sugar beet and the deep red garden beet we know today.

Original Recipe (1615)

Fridayes Pye. WAsh greene Beetes cleane, picke out the middle string, and chop them small with two or three well relisht ripe Apples. Season it with Pepper, Salt, and Ginger: then take a good handfull of Razins of the Sunne, and put all in a Coffin of fine Paste, with a piece of sweet Butter and so bake it: but before you serue it in, cut it vp, and wring in the iuyce of an Orenge, and Sugar.

— John Murrell, A New Booke of Cookerie, 1615; ed. T. Gloning

Medieval Rapeye (Harleian MS. 279) — Apple, Date & Almond Pudding Recipe

Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) — .Liiij. Rapeye — Date & Apple Pudding

Rapeye (Harleian MS. 279, c.1430) — Apple, Date & Almond “Pudding”

Originally published 3/26/2017 / Updated 10/1/2025

What is “Rapeye”?

The name can sound jarring to modern ears, but in Middle English it had an entirely different meaning. You’ll find it spelled rapeye, rapy, rape, or rapé across manuscripts like Harleian MS. 279, Forme of Cury, Liber cure cocorum, and A Noble Boke off Cookry. The most likely origin is the Old French rapé (“grated” or “rasped”), from the verb raper (“to grate, scrape”). This makes sense: most recipes called for grated or pounded dried fruit, thickened with rice flour or bread.

In practice, Rapeye could mean either a sauce or a fruit paste/pudding. Some versions are clearly sauces for meat or fish; others, like this one, stand as thick fruit dishes in their own right. The Forme of Cury has a “Rape” made of figs and raisins strained with wine; the Liber cure cocorum “Rape” is a raisin sauce sharpened with vinegar. Our apple–date Rapeye is more of a spoon dish or pudding, but the common thread is fruit grated or mashed, spiced, sweetened, and thickened until “chargeaunt” (stout or substantial).

Parallels exist in other European traditions: Latin glossaries sometimes link rapa (turnip) to grated preparations; Italian rappigliare means “to curdle or thicken.” While etymologies vary, the consensus is that Rapeye signified a grated fruit preparation that could flex between sauce, sweetmeat, or pudding depending on context.

Rapeye shows up multiple times in fifteenth-century English cookbooks and seems to be a flexible category—sometimes a sauce, sometimes a fruit paste, sometimes (like this one) a spoonable “pudding.” In Harleian MS. 279 the fourth Rapeye (.Liiij.) combines almond milk with minced dates and raw apples, thickened with rice flour and perfumed with ginger, cinnamon, maces, cloves, sugar, and a touch of saffron or sanders (sandalwood) for color. It’s comforting, gently spiced, and—per my taste testers—popular even with folks who “don’t like dates.”

Original Recipe & Translation

Middle English (Austin, UMich)

.Liiij. Rapeye.—Take almaundys, an draw a gode mylke þer-of, and take Datys an mynce hem smal, an put þer-on y-now; take Raw Appelys, an pare hem and stampe hem, an drawe hem vppe with wyne, or with draf of Almaundys, or boþe; þan caste pouder of Gyngere, Canel, Maces, Clowes, & caste þer-on Sugre y-now; þan take a quantyte of flowre of Rys, an þrowe þer-on, & make it chargeaunt, an coloure it wyth Safroun, an with Saunderys, an serue forth; an strawe Canel a-boue.

Modern-English 

Make a good almond milk. Mince dates finely and add plenty to the milk. Peel raw apples, pound them, and strain with wine or with the almond “draff” (the pressed solids), or both. Add ginger, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and enough sugar. Sprinkle in rice flour to thicken (make it chargeant), and color with saffron and sandalwood. Serve, strewing cinnamon on top.

Seasonal Note: With apples at their peak in autumn and the warming spices of ginger, cinnamon, mace, and cloves, this Rapeye fits naturally into a fall table. In the medieval calendar, it would have been equally at home during cooler seasons and fasting days when almond milk stood in for dairy. Today, it makes a wonderful harvest-time pudding.

Menu Placement

• Fish/fasting days (Lent-friendly): Made with almond milk (no dairy), fruit, rice flour, and spices—ideal as a pottage or spoon course.
• Entremet / Subtle “pudding”: Served warm and “standing thick,” dusted with cinnamon—works between savory courses or as a gentle sweet near the end.
• Breakfast tavern / camping: Holds well and reheats; can be made ahead and served warm or room temperature.

Humoral Notes

Medieval diners balanced dishes by qualities (hot/cold, dry/moist). Almonds were often classed as warming & drying; dates generally warming & moistening; apples tending cooling & drying. The spicing (ginger, cinnamon, mace, cloves) nudges the dish warmer; almond milk and gentle cooking temper dryness; rice flour adds drying/“binding.” Likely seen as moderately warm and tending moist—comfortable fare for cooler seasons.

See also: Rapeye of Fleysshe and Rapeye (.Liij.).

Comfits of Anise and Fennel – Medieval Candied Spices & Seeds (A Sweet Treat from the Past)

Comfits—candied spices & seeds—served as sweet digestives and table decoration in late medieval & Renaissance feasts.

Comfits – Medieval Candied Spices & Seeds (How to Make Historic Comfits)

Originally published 9/15/15 / updated 10/1/2025

Please note this correction: gum arabic and gum tragacanth are not the same substance. I originally conflated them—mea culpa, and thank you to the reader who flagged it.

Baronial 12th Night Comfits

Comfits were often served at the end of a feast as a digestive, to perfume the breath, and to decorate subtlety dishes and table settings. Aromatic seeds such as anise, fennel, or caraway were built up with repeated coats of sugar syrup—sometimes tinted with beet, spinach, or saffron. Almonds, ginger, and cinnamon splinters appear in later sources as well. You can still buy descendants of these sweets today (think Jordan almonds and pastilles), but handmade comfits are more delicate and—yes—tastier.

Chykonys in Bruette — Medieval Chicken in Ale-Broth with Saffron (Harleian MS. 279, c.1430)

Chykonys in Bruette — Chicken in Ale-Broth with Saffron (Harleian MS. 279)

Chykonys in Bruette — Chicken in Ale-Broth with Saffron (Harleian MS. 279, c.1430)

Originally published 12/21/2016 - Updated 9/10/2025

Bruet/bruette in Middle English generally signals a sauce or broth thickened with bread and seasoned with warm spices. In Harleian MS. 279, this dish is a straightforward, feast-friendly pottage: gently boiled chicken, chopped, then simmered in its own broth with ale, pepper, ginger, and saffron, thickened with ground bread. A related stream of recipes (Forme of Cury, Liber cure cocorum, Noble Boke) adds pork and cumin; this post presents the Harleian-only version first and notes the pork-and-cumin variant below.

Original Recipe

.lxxxxvij. Chykonys in bruette.
Take an Sethe Chykonys, & smyte hem to gobettys; þan take Pepir, Gyngere, an Brede y-grounde, & temper it vppe wyth þe self brothe, an with Ale; an coloure it with Safroun, an sethe an serue forth.

Gloss: Boil chickens; chop to gobbets. Grind pepper, ginger, and bread; temper (mix) with the same broth and ale; color with saffron; boil and serve.

Modern Recipe (tested)

Yield: 4 servings (pottage course) • Time: ~45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 lb (900 g) bone-in chicken (thighs or split breasts)
• Water to cover (or light chicken broth)
• 1 cup (240 ml) mild ale (low-bitterness)
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ¾–1 tsp ground black pepper
• Generous pinch saffron, crumbled
• ¾–1 cup (45–60 g) fresh breadcrumbs (or 35–45 g dried, finely ground)
• Salt, to taste

Method

1. Parboil: Cover chicken with water; bring to a gentle boil. Skim, then simmer until just cooked (20–25 min). Remove chicken; reserve broth. When cool enough, strip meat and cut into bite-size pieces.
2. Make the bruette: Measure 4 cups (950 ml) of the chicken broth back into the pot. Add ale, ginger, pepper, and saffron. Bring to a gentle simmer 3–5 minutes to bloom spices.
3. Thicken: Whisk in ground bread gradually until the broth lightly coats a spoon; simmer 3–5 minutes. Adjust thickness with more bread or broth.
4. Finish: Return chicken to the pot; simmer 2–3 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Serve hot.

Cook’s Notes: Aim for a spoonable, saucy pottage—not a paste. If your ale is bitter, cut with more broth. For a silkier texture, sieve the sauce before adding the chicken.

Diriola – Maestro Martino’s Renaissance Custard Tart with Rosewater & Cinnamon

Diriola – Maestro Martino’s Custard Tart (Libro de arte Coquinaria)

“The Feast in the House of Levi” (detail), Paolo Veronese. Used here as period context for Renaissance custard tarts like Martino’s diriola.

Maestro Martino da Como (c. 1465) was one of the most influential cooks of the Renaissance. His Libro de arte Coquinaria includes Diriola, a delicate custard tart scented with cinnamon and rosewater. The dish straddles the line between medieval spiced creams and the refined Renaissance custards we’d recognize today. Redon, Sabban, and Serventi’s The Medieval Kitchen (1998) provides a modern adaptation faithful to Martino’s cues.

Original Recipe (Martino, c.1465)

Italian (15th c.)

“…un poca d’acqua rosata, et volta bene collo cocchiaro. Et quando sarà fornita di prendere, sera cotta. Et nota che non vole cocere troppo et vole tremare como una ionchata.

Per la Quadragesima: Habbi del lacte de le amandole con del zuccharo, et dell’acqua rosata, et de la canella. Et per fare che si prenda gli mettirai un pocha di farina d’amitto, observando in le altre cose l’ordine del capitolo sopra ditto.”

Translation

“…add a little rosewater and stir it well with a spoon. When it begins to set, it is cooked. Note that it should not be over-baked; it should quiver like a junket.

For Lent: take almond milk with sugar, rosewater, and cinnamon. To make it set, add a little starch flour, following the same method as above.”

De la insaleggiata di cipolle – Renaissance Onion Salad with Spices

De la insaleggiata di cipolle – Renaissance Onion Salad (Redon, 1998)

“The Feast in the House of Levi” (detail), Paolo Veronese. Used here as period context for Renaissance spiced vegetable dishes such as onion salad.

Context: De la insaleggiata di cipolle is a medieval-to-Renaissance Italian onion “salad.” Onions are roasted in embers or a hot oven until sweet and soft, then sliced and dressed with wine vinegar, oil, and spezie forti (strong spices). These sharp, spiced starters were common on Italian banquet tables as appetite-whetting openers or vegetable accompaniments in the early courses.

Original Recipe (Libro della cucina, 14th c.)

Italian (Zambrini ed., 1863):
“Togli cipolle; cuocile sotto la bragia, e poi le monda, e tagliale per traverso longhette e sottili: mettili alquanto d’aceto, sale, oglio e spezie, e dà a mangiare.”

English (faithful translation):
“Take onions; cook them under the embers; then peel them, and cut them across into long, thin slices; put on a little vinegar, salt, oil, and spices, and serve.”

Redon paraphrase (1998)

“Roast onions in the fire until blackened. Peel, slice finely, and season with salt, vinegar, oil, and spices.”

This dish reaches us in three layers: the terse 14th-century text, Redon’s Renaissance-informed paraphrase, and the modern tested adaptation below.

Comparison: Medieval → Redon → Modern

Source	Text / Notes
Libro della cucina (14th c.)	“Cook under embers; peel; slice long and thin; dress with a little vinegar, salt, oil, and spices; serve.”
Redon (1998)	“Roast in the fire until blackened; peel; slice finely; season with salt, vinegar, oil, and spices.”
Modern (tested)	Gives exact quantities, 500°F oven option, spice blend measure, substitutions, and serving notes.

Modern Recipe (Redon-inspired; tested)

De Lasanis – Medieval Lasagna with Cheese, Pepper & Spices

De Lasanis – Fermented-Dough Noodles with Cheese & Pepper

“The Feast in the House of Levi” (detail), Paolo Veronese. Used here as period context for Renaissance pasta and cheese dishes.

Source: The Medieval Kitchen, Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi (1998)

De lasanis is one of the earliest references to pasta dishes resembling modern day cacio e pepe. The resemblance is striking — a simple but elegant combination of starch, cheese, and spice that became a cornerstone of Italian cookery. Redon's addition of yeast imparts a tang and complexity most modern cooks miss when substituting dried lasagna noodles. If you can, I recommend making your own—it’s surprisingly easy and richly rewarding.

“The Feast in the House of Levi” (detail), Paolo Veronese. Used here as period context for a Renaissance savory pie.

Del Brodo Saracenico – Saracen Chicken with Fruits & Almonds (Redon, 1998)

Del brodo saracenico appears in medieval Italian sources and in modern redaction by Odile Redon et al. (1998). It marries roasted capon or chicken with wine, tart “acid juices,” toasted bread, almonds, dates, raisins, and a gentle spice blend—classic agrodolce (sweet-tart) Renaissance vibes with an evident Mediterranean/Arabic influence.

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📜 Original Historic Recipe

Latin (Liber de Coquina, late 13^th c.)

De brodio sarracenio: pro brodio sarraceno, accipe capones assatos et ficatella eorum cum speciebus et pane assato tere bene, distemperando cum bono vino et succis agris. Tunc frange membratim dictos capones et cum predictis mite ad bulliendum in olla, suppositis dactilis, uvis grecis siccis, amigdalis integris mondatis et lardo sufficienti. Colora sicut placet.

English (modern translation)

“Saracenic broth: to make Saracenic broth, take roasted capons and their livers with spices and toasted bread, pound them well, diluting with good wine and acidic juices. Then cut the capons into pieces and cook in a pot with the ingredients mentioned before, placing on top dates, Greek raisins, whole peeled almonds, and sufficient lardo. Color as you like.”

Note: Source and translation discussion in the references below.

Polpettoni alla Romana – Renaissance Beef Skewers

Kitchen scene from Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera (1574). Library of Congress.

Polpettoni alla Romana – Renaissance Beef Skewers (Scappi, 1570)

Updated with historical context, vegetarian/vegan alternatives, and TOA interlinks.

At my Tournament of the Arts (2024) luncheon, these went fast. Adapted from Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera (1570), they’re not meatballs but “fingers”—chunky strips of lean beef, larded, marinated in sweet–sour must and rose vinegar with warm spices, then skewered with sage and bacon and roasted. They’re dramatic, portable, and perfect for camp kitchens, dayboards, or a roast platter. Think Renaissance barbecue—minus the smoke ring, plus saffron glaze.

Original Recipe (Scappi, Opera 1570)

Per fare polpettoni alla romanesca di lombolo di boue, o di uaccina
Get the leanest part of the tenderloin… sprinkle with ground salt and fennel flour or coriander with common spices. Set four lardoons of marbled salt pork in each piece. Place them in a press with that mixture and a little rose vinegar and must syrup for three hours. Then mount them on a spit with a rasher of bacon and a sage or bay leaf between each piece; cook over a moderate fire. When done, serve hot with a sauce of their drippings together with what exuded from them in the press, somewhat thick and saffron-coloured.

Tacuinum Sanitatis, Casanatense 4182 (14th c.): roasting meat at the hearth. Public domain. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / Biblioteca Casanatense.

Two Italian Sauces for Roasted Meat: Walnut & Green Herb (Medieval to Renaissance)

Updated with historical context & interlinks to the 2024 Tournament of the Arts lunch menu.

For the Tournament of the Arts (2024) lunch, I wanted condimenti that traveled well, didn’t need reheating, and made simple roast or cold meats sing. These two Italian sauces do exactly that: a nutty, velvety Savor di Noci alla Fiorentina (Walnut & Garlic) and a sharp, herb-forward Salsa viridis (Green Sauce). Think of them as a historical alternative to mustard—great for camp kitchens, feasts, and picnic trays.

Flavor contrast at a glance: Walnut sauce = rich & earthy · Green sauce = bright & piquant. Serve both so diners can choose their adventure.

Gelo in bocconcini di piu colori piatti - Jelly in small bites, of many colors - Scappi

Gello Among the Roasts: A Sweet Surprise at 12th Night By Yonnie Travis, Culinary Historian and Historical Food Blogger at Give It Forth 

Yule log with a golden egg that when cracked open poured out a wealth of golden coins with gryphons on them.

As a culinary historian specializing in medieval and Renaissance foodways, I bring historical jelly dessert recipes from manuscripts to modern tables. At the 12th Night 2024 feast, one such showpiece made its dramatic return—a shimmering, layered jelly known in the kitchen as "gello." This dish paid tribute to a Renaissance feast jelly dish found in Scappi's Opera and Romoli's banquet menus. This post examines the 16th-century gelatin preparation and its cultural significance. It offers a modern version of Scappi's gelatin recipe for you to try at home.

Historical Context: Jelly as Prestige in Renaissance Banquets

To understand why jelly appeared mid-feast, we must look at the structure of Renaissance menus—particularly those outlined in Romoli's La Singolare Dottrina. His January banquet is a masterclass in culinary pacing: it opens with bread and sugared pastries, flows into savory pasta, braised vegetables, and roasted meats, and interlaces confections and jellies throughout. Each phase of the meal is carefully balanced—sweet beside salty, cold beside hot—often with overlapping sensory contrasts on the same plate.

Romoli organized his menus into over ten structured services, including antipasti, allesso (boiled meats), arrosto sottile (delicate roasts), arrosto grosso (larger roasts), torte, and frutte stufate (stewed fruits). Each course reflected a deliberate visual, humoral, and seasonal logic. Rather than isolating dishes by flavor profile, he arranged them to follow a rhythm of richness and relief. This approach created striking moments—such as serving jelly alongside roast game or poultry—not as a dessert but as a cooling, spiced counterpoint. English and French feasts of the same era also adopted this multi-layered service style.

The preparation of Renaissance jellies involved tools and techniques that differ significantly from modern convenience methods. Cooks relied on collagen extracted by slow-boiling the feet of calves, wethers, or lambs. This process took hours and required precise timing. They clarified the resulting broth with egg whites and filtered it repeatedly through spice bags made from muslin or linen. Specialized copper or ceramic pots helped regulate temperature, while ornate molds or even hollowed eggshells shaped the final presentation. This method demanded not just labor but culinary judgment, as no pre-measured gelatin powder ensured success.

In Renaissance cuisine, jelly wasn't an afterthought—it was an edible spectacle. Found amidst roast courses, molded jellies represented Renaissance edible art and embodied the culinary hierarchy of the time. They required rare ingredients (such as spices, wine, and sugar), gelatin-rich bones, and hours of labor-intensive clarification. These elaborate creations symbolized refinement and control over nature, appearing in both Italian and English feast menus as palate cleansers and visual centerpieces.

The growing accessibility of ingredients like sugar and spices during the 16th century helped elevate jelly dishes from medicinal curiosities to prestigious banquet fare. As European trade with Asia, the Middle East, and the New World expanded, elite kitchens gained increased access to cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and pepper—ingredients that enhanced the flavor, aroma, and perceived sophistication of jellies. Sugar, in particular, shifted from a rare pharmaceutical ingredient to a hallmark of wealth. Dishes like jelly allowed hosts to signal economic power and global reach through taste and spectacle.

Bartolomeo Scappi articulates this concept in his Opera (1570), where he presents detailed instructions for constructing layered jellies composed of alternating colors, spices, and almond milk dividers. Likewise, Domenico Romoli, in La Singolare Dottrina (1560), integrates jelly into the arrosto course by pairing it with roasted wild boar cheeks, thereby demonstrating the culinary rationale for employing sweet jellies to moderate the heat and richness of roasted meats.

The Arrosto Course on the 12th Night of 2024 - Areinterpretation of Romoli's January menu included:

• Carré di costolette di manzo – Spit-roasted rack of beef ribs (we substituted brisket)
• Cipolle brasate in quaresima – Braised whole onions, Lent-style
• Salsa di noci e aglio – Walnut and garlic sauce
• Salsa di mostardo amabile – Sweet mustard sauce
• Minestre di zucche Turchesche – Turkish squash
• Tortelletti d’herba alla Lombarda – Lombard-style herb tortellini
• Gelo in bocconcini di più colori – Jelly in small bites, of many colors (the centerpiece!)

Original Italian (Scappi, Opera, 1570)

Scappi’s Cap. CCXLI – “Per fare gelo in bocconi di più colori”

Per fare gelo in bocconi di più colori. Cap. CCXLI.

Piglia piedi di castrato, & di vitella, & se fora del mese d’Aprile, o di Maggio, in loco de quelli di castrato pigliar quelli d’agnello, nettandoli del pelo, & d’ungnie, & cavandone l’osso; lavisi in più acque, & mettanosi a bollire in un pignattone di rame con tanto vino bianco, & acqua che gli stia sopra; schiumi spesso, & facciasi bollire tanto, quanto sarà giusto, acciocché il decotto che se n’hà da formare faccia buona gelatina. Se vogliono accrescergli di bontà, & arte faccian bollire con detti piedi colli di castrato, o vitella, o d’agnello ben netti. Quando detto decotto fia cotto al giusto, cavinsi detti piedi, cavandone la midolla, & passisi per stamegna. Levandone ogni grasso, mettasi in una pignatta con tre ottavi di aceto forte ben chiaro, due libre di zucchero, sei albumi d’ova fresche battute. Facciasi bollire. Quando sarà prossimo a levarsi da fuoco, mettasi in una sacca di panno lino con pepe grosso, cannella, noce moscata, zenzevero, & altri aromati, se piace, & così colisi più volte, acciò sia ben chiaro. Quando detto gelo sarà colato, & schiarito, pongasi in vasi di vetro, o di terra, o in scorze d’ova, facendo li colori a parte. Se si vuole mettere un colore sopra l’altro, aspettisi che l’uno raffreddi, & rassodi prima di mettervi l’altro sopra. Fra uno, & l’altro colore si può mettere gelatina bianca fatta con latte di mandorle. Si può ancora fare con detti colori alcuni modi di frutti in forma, & piante, & animali in forme di cera, o stagno. Pongansi in luogo fresco, & si manterranno.

English Translation:

To make jelly in bites of many colors. Chapter CCXLI.

Take the feet of a wether and a calf; if it is not the month of April or May, substitute lamb’s feet for the wether’s. Clean them of hair and hooves, remove the bones, and wash in several waters. Boil them in a large copper pot with enough white wine and water to cover them. Skim frequently, and boil until the broth reduces to the appropriate level, forming a good jelly. For added flavor and refinement, you may boil clean necks of wether, calf, or lamb along with the feet.

When the broth is ready, remove the feet and extract the marrow. Strain the liquid through a cloth (stamegna), removing all the fat. Place it in a pot with three-quarters of strong clear vinegar, two pounds of sugar, and six beaten egg whites. Bring it to a boil.

When it is almost ready to remove from heat, pour it through a linen bag containing whole pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and any other desired aromatics. Strain it several times until very clear.

Once filtered and clarified, pour the jelly into glass or earthenware containers—or into eggshells. Make each color separately. If you want to stack one color atop another, allow the previous layer to cool and set before adding the next. Between colored layers, you may add white jelly made with almond milk.

🦚 Curious about the full feast?
Explore the complete menu from the Flaming Gryphon 12th Night Feast 2024 to see all the dishes and historical inspirations behind this event.

You may also shape colored jellies into forms of fruits, plants, or animals using wax or tin molds. Store in a cool place and they will keep well.

Early modern cooks employed this historical jelly recipe to layer color, spice, and visual complexity into a refined banquet offering. By gelatinizing richly seasoned broths, they transformed a functional preservation method into a performative culinary art. Within the framework of Renaissance banquet culture, such jellies signaled wealth, aesthetic discernment, and mastery of technique. Their cooling properties, often accentuated by ingredients like almond milk or vinegar, also reflected humoral principles—tempering the heat and dryness of roasted meats to restore bodily balance.

Scappi Gelatin Recipe Modern Version 

Prep Time: 20 minutes active, 4–6 hours chilling time

Yields: One 9" mold or several smaller servings

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Ingredients 

6 cups clear stock (vegetable for vegetarian) 

2 cups white wine (or lemon juice) 

Juice of 1 lemon (or vinegar) 

1/2 tsp ground mace 

1/2 fresh ginger root, sliced 

1 lb granulated sugar 

1 tbsp rosewater 

4 tbsp powdered gelatin (or agar for vegan)

Yellow Variation: Add a pinch of saffron

Red Variation: Use red wine instead of white; infuse with two whole nutmegs and two cinnamon sticks

Step-by-Step Instructions: How to Make Renaissance Jelly

Simmer base: Combine stock, wine, sugar, and spices in a pot. Simmer until flavors meld.

Dissolve the gelatin: Stir it in after removing the pan from the heat and continue stirring until it has fully dissolved.

Strain: Use cheesecloth or fine sieve for clarity.

Layer 1 – Red: Pour the mixture into the mold and chill until it has set completely. 

Layer 2 – White: Mix almond milk with gelatin and rose water; pour over the red layer and chill.

Layer 3 – Yellow: Infuse base with saffron; pour and chill.

Unmold: Dip in warm water briefly to release jelly.

While modern cooks lack access to veal feet and 16th-century spice routes, they can still evoke the elegance and complexity of Renaissance jellies. Infusing broths or white wine with whole spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg replicates the warming and aromatic profiles found in Scappi's recipes. Clarifying with egg whites, a technique still used in consommé preparation, offers both historical fidelity and visual clarity. Almond milk layers provide a subtle nod to humoral theory, while soft floral notes, such as rosewater, enhance historical authenticity. These adaptations prioritize flavor harmony and visual drama—just as the originals did.

Vegetarian or Vegan Adaptation

To make a Renaissance banquet jelly recipe vegetarian or vegan, substitute clear vegetable stock for the meat broth. Use agar-agar (1 tsp per cup liquid); boil to activate. For the white layers, blend almond milk with agar and rose water. Agar creates a firmer set than gelatin; reduce the amount slightly for a softer texture that mimics historical gelatin.

FAQ: Medieval Jelly Food History

Was jelly served with meat in the Renaissance? Yes. Scappi and Romoli describe serving jelly in roast courses, where it balances hot, rich meats with cool, spiced elegance.

What made jelly a prestige dish? It required costly ingredients—such as sugar, wine, and exotic spices—as well as time, skill, and precise presentation. It signified wealth and artistry.

How long did 16th-century gelatin preparation take? Up to 24 hours. Boiling bones, reducing broth, clarifying, and then molding took a full day or more—often split among kitchen staff.

What is the easiest way to try a Scappi jelly today? Follow the modern adaptation above using stock, wine, gelatin (or agar), and layering in molds. It's a faithful tribute to Scappi's gelo.

Sources & References

Romoli, Domenico. La Singolare Dottrina. Venice, 1560. Google Books

Scappi, Bartolomeo. Opera dell'arte del cucinare. Venice, 1570.

Scully, Terence. The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570). University of Toronto Press, 2008.

May, Robert. The Accomplisht Cook. London, 1660.

To assist the writing process, I used these Grammarly AI prompts: Prompts created by Grammarly

- "Identify any gaps"