Rastons: A Medieval Pastry Disguised as Bread (Harleian MS 279)

Rastons: A Medieval Pastry Disguised as Bread (Harleian MS 279)

Originally published November 4, 2015. Updated June 7, 2026.

Rastons, baked and sliced into sops. Image © Give It Forth.

Rastons are one of those medieval recipes that look simple until you begin asking what they actually are. At first glance, this dish from Harleian MS. 279 appears to be bread: flour, ale barm, eggs, and a loaf baked in the oven. But then the recipe takes a turn. The top is cut away like a crown, the crumb is scooped out, chopped, mixed with clarified butter, returned to the shell, covered again, and baked a second time.

So is it bread? Is it pastry? Is it a rich feast loaf masquerading as something ordinary? The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. Rastons are bread-shaped, bread-risen, and bread-used, especially when cut into sops. Yet the eggs, sugar, buttered crumb, and second bake push the dish into the world of enriched pastry and luxury baking.

When I first made this recipe, I used the loaf for sops and pottages. In hindsight, a simpler white loaf such as manchet may have been the more practical historical choice for everyday broth-soaking. Rastons are richer than ordinary table bread and more elaborate than they need to be for plain sops. But if I am being honest, this was a quicker recipe, and I cheated a little. It worked beautifully, and the result was so good that I preferred it to my usual manchet or French-style loaves.

Milke Rostys – Medieval Fried Custard

Milke Rostys – Medieval Fried Custard

Originally published October 20, 2015. Updated June 7, 2026.

Milke Rostys, a medieval fried custard from Harleian MS. 279. Image © Give It Forth.

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.

Sekanjabin: Medieval Persian Mint Drink (Sweet & Sour Sharbat Recipe)

Sekanjabin: Medieval Persian Mint Drink

Originally published September 14, 2015. Updated June 7, 2026.

Sekanjabin, also spelled sikanjabin, sekanjubin, or sikandjabin, is one of those wonderfully practical historic drinks that still makes perfect sense in a modern kitchen. At its simplest, it is a sweet-and-sour syrup made from vinegar and sugar or honey, then diluted with water before serving. Add mint, and the result is sharp, refreshing, fragrant, and very welcome on a hot day.

This is a drink many people first encounter at SCA events, camping weekends, and outdoor feasts. It is inexpensive, easy to make in quantity, and simple to transport as a syrup. The concentrate can be diluted as needed, which makes it especially useful for camp cooking or feast service. Vinegar in a drink may sound surprising at first, but when balanced with sugar and water, it becomes bright and cooling rather than harsh.

The recipe below is adapted from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century, translated by David Friedman. The historic recipe is for a simple sikanjabîn syrup, also called an oxymel, made from vinegar and sugar or honey. The mint version commonly served today is a modern adaptation inspired by this family of medieval sweetened vinegar drinks.