Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - .lxxxx. Hennys in Gauncelye - Chicken in Garlic Cream Sauce

.lxxxx. Hennys in Gauncelye - Chicken in Garlic Cream Sauce

This dish is unusual and distinguishes itself from other similar dishes found in Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55 by Thomas Austin. The first difference is the use of the garlic in the sauce. It is one of a handful of recipes in the book that calls for it. Secondly, this is one of the few dishes that I believe could be served either as a soup or as a dish of meat with a sauce--that could be me putting modern thought into this dish.

Garlic is a member of the same plant family as onions and like onions, its cultivation is so old as to make its origins unknown. Garlic has been found in Egyptian temples, and it has a long history of medical, not culinary usage. Hippocrates and Dioscurides recommend garlic as a way to treat parasites, respiratory conditions and poor digestion.

Some other items of note in my quick research of garlic and its usage. According to ancient Egyptian records, slaves were given garlic to ward off illness. Pyramid builders were given beer, flatbread, onions and garlic. During the reign of King Tut a healthy male slave could be purchased for fifteen pounds of garlic!

Garlic was placed on piles of stones at crossroads for Hecate, and to protect from demons. It was believes that garlic would cause evil spirits to lose their way. Before going into battle, Greek soldiers would consume garlic as did Greek athletes before a competition. Roman soldiers also ate garlic; it was believed that consuming garlic would inspire them and give them courage.

Many European stories attribute the ability to ward of the "evil eye", the devil, or to protect from evil spirits to garlic. We all know that wearing garlic or hanging garlic in windows, doorways and chimneys will keep vampires away.

.lxxxx. Hennys in Gauncelye.—Take Hennys, an roste hem; take Mylke an Garleke, an grynd it, an do it in a panne, an hewe þin hennys þer-on with ȝolkys of eyron, an coloure it with Safroun an Mylke, an serue forth.

lxxxx - Hennys in Gauncelye. Take Hennys, an roste hem; take Mylke an Garleke, an grynd it, an do it in a panne, an hewe thin hennys ther-on with 3olkys of eyron, an coloure it with Safroun an Mylke, an serue forth.

90 - Hen in Gauncelye - Take hens and roast them; take milk and garlic and grind it, and do it in a pan, and chop your hens there-on with yolks of egg, and color it with saffron and milk and serve forth.

Interpreted Recipe                                                                          Serves 1 as main, 2 as side

1/4 pound of chicken (I used chicken breast that I had simmered)
1 cup milk, cream or half and half
2-3 cloves of garlic finely minced
1 egg, or 2 egg yolks
pinch of saffron
Salt and Pepper to taste

I say this phrase a lot, it couldn't have been simpler to put this together. I used a double boiler to heat the milk to a simmer along with the saffron, garlic salt and pepper. Once it was heated I tempered the egg yolks with a bit of the garlic cream and then continued to heat the sauce until it began to thicken. I added my precooked chicken to the sauce and continued to cook a few moments more.

Do not be hesitant with the garlic. I know it sounds like quite a bit, but the cream tempers it quite a bit. I had originally made this with 1 clove, afraid that I would keep away family members and vampires alike. It was ok, but amping up the garlic made the dish.

This could be served as a creamy soup, or, as a sauce on the side of a dish of chicken and therefore as a dish of meat served with a broth as opposed to a dish of meat served with a sauce. This makes the dish very versatile about where it can fit in the menu.

The taste testers and I both enjoyed this dish. I would serve this at a luncheon, a lunch tavern, or even at a feast. It has gone into my "must serve again" list.

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Du fait de cuisine (France, 1420 - Elizabeth Cook, trans.)

46. Now it remains to be known with what sauce one should eat the pilgrim capons: the pilgrim capons should be eaten with the jance, and to advise the sauce-maker who should make it take good almonds and blanch and clean them very well and bray them very well; and take the inside of white bread according to the quantity which he needs, and let him have the best white wine which he can get in which he should put his bread to soak, and with verjuice; and when his almonds are well brayed put in a little garlic to bray with them; and take white ginger and grains of paradise according to the quantity of sauce which he needs, and strain all this together and draw it up with the said white wine and a little verjuice and salt also, and put it to boil in a fair and clean pot.

And if the staffs are lampreys make lamprey sauce in the manner which is devised above under lamprey pasty.

And if they are eels, green garlic made with sorrel and verjuice.

Ancient Cookery [Arundel 334] (England, 1425)

Gaunsell Gaunsell for gese. Take floure, and tempur hit with gode cowe mylke, and make hit thynne, and colour hit with saffron; and take garlek, and stamp hit, and do therto, and boyle hit, and serve hit fbrthe.

A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)

To mak hennes in gauncelle tak and rost your hennes then tak garlik and mold it with mylk and put it in a pan then hew your henne and put ther to and mele it withyolks of eggs and colour it with saffron and boile it well and serue it.

Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen (Netherlands, ca. 1510 - C. van Tets, trans.)

To make a ganselsie outside fasting time. Take bread, garlic, raw egg yolks and saffron. One shall grind this all together and pass it through a strainer with wine or with sweet milk and one simmers it over the fire until it is thick. With this one serves fried/roast chicken; in the winter, goose or capons.

Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - lxxiiij - Arbolettys - Cheese Soup

lxxiiij - Arbolettys - Cheese Soup

It was snowing out today, grey and dreary, but a perfect day to cook up comfort food and what could be more comforting than something cheesy and warm? Again I veered off course from the planned dishes I had posted I was going to make to try another one that caught my interest from Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55 by Thomas Austin.  This dish is usually interpreted as a kind of a scrambled egg dish, and there are numerous interpretations posted online.  However, I chose to use the same interpretation as I did for Papyns, and instead created a luxuriously velvety cheese soup worthy to be served to any king. 

.lxxiiij. Arbolettys.—Take Milke, Boter an Chese, & boyle in fere; þen take eyroun, & cast þer-to; þan take Percely & Sawge & hacke it smal, & take pouder Gyngere & Galyngale, and caste it þer-to, and þan serue it forth.

lxxiiij - Arbolettys. Take Milke, Boter an Chese, and boyle in fere; then take eyroun, and cast ther-to; than take Percely and Sawge and hacke it smal, and take pouder Gyngere and Galyngale, and caste it ther-to, and than serue it forth.

74 - Arbolettys. - Take milk, butter and cheese, and boil in together: then take eggs, and caste there-to; than take parsley and sage and hack it small, and take powder ginger and galingale, and caste it there-to, and then serve it forth. 

Interpreted Recipe                                                         Serves 1 as main, 2 as side

1 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup or to taste cheese (I used a mixture of sharp and mild cheddar. Other period appropriate cheeses include; brie, camembert, cottage, emmenthal, gruyére, mozzarella; parmesan and ricotta)

2 eggs

1 tsp. each parsley and sage

1/8 tsp. ginger and galingale

**Salt and Pepper to taste - while not called for in the original instructions, modern tastes will appreciate the addition

As I have learned when cooking with milk based dishes it is always best to use a double broiler to prevent the milk from burning.  Add milk and butter to a double broiler and heat until the milk begins to simmer, add the cheese and stir constantly while the cheese melts into the milk and butter mixture.  Beat the eggs with the herbs and spices, temper with a little bit of the cheese mixture and return to the pan.  Cook until the soup has thickened to your desired consistency. 

One of my taste testers is a friend who very seldom says "This is delicious!" when it comes to testing food from this era.  Not only did I get that high praise, I also received instructions that this *MUST* be served at an event in the future. No fears there, I will be serving this again.  It was easy to put together and delicious.  Another taste tester has promised not to include this in the book he plans on writing on "How I Survived Being a Taste Tester". None of my teens were available--nobody complained it meant more soup for the adults.

I know that my interpretation is very different then what you will find if you research other interpretations.  Why? Because of the instructions themselves-we are told to boil together milk, butter and cheese and then to add eggs.  It does NOT specify how the eggs are to be added.  However, looking at similar recipes for papyns and cream boiled from the same manuscript led me to conclude that the end dish should resemble custard and not scrambled eggs. 

Papyns, which creates a sweet custard instructs us to "take the yolks of eggs drawn through a strainer and caste thereto" into a mixture of milk and flour that had been brought to a boil, and then allowed to cool. Similar instructions are found in the boiled cream recipe.  My conclusion then is that these three recipes should all yield similar consistencies with different flavors.  

20. Papyns - Take fair milk and flour, an draw through a strainer, an set it over the fire, an let it boil awhile: than take it out an let it cool: then take yolks of eggs drawn through a strainer and caste thereto; than take sugar a good quantity, an cast there-to, an a little salt an set it on the fire till it be somewhat thick, but let it not boil fully, an stir it well, an put it on a dish all broad, and serve forth running. 

13. Cream Boiled - Take cream or milk and bread of pandemain, or else of tender bread, an break it on the cream, or else in the milk, an set it on the fire till it be warm hot; and through a strainer throw it, and put into a fair pot, an set it on the fire, an stir evermore: an when it is almost boiled, take fair yolks of eggs, and draw them through a strainer, and cast them there-to, and let them stand over the fire till it boil almost, an till it be skillfully (reasonably) thick; than cast a ladle full, or more or less, of butter there-to, and a good quantity of white sugar, and a little salt, and then dress it on a dish in manner of mortrews. 

Harleian MS. 279 (ab. 1430) - .xvij. Garbage - Stewed Chicken Offal

Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430) - .xvij. Garbage - Stewed Chicken Offal

Baronial 12th Night - Garbage - stewed chicken offal (hearts, gizzards, livers, feet, neck) Harl. MS 279, 1430

I veered a bit off course recently from the recipes that I was planning on testing, and found myself with two roasting hens and giblets. This prompted me to try a dish from from "Two fifteenth-century cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55" by Thomas Austin. The dish is (appropriately) named garbage and it consists of those bits of the animal that most of us would not normally eat, but would end up in the garbage. I happen to like offal, the extremities and non-skeletal meat of animals, and was willing to give this recipe a try. I can say that it was not a favorite of the taste testers and they were very good sports about trying this.

As already mentioned, offal is any non-skeletal meat of an animal, this includes blood, brains, caul, ears, eyes, feet, giblets, heads, hearts, intestines, kidneys, liver, lungs, marrow, spleen, sweetbreads, tails, testicles, tongues and tripe. Offal is difficult to keep well, so it must be prepared to be eaten almost as soon as the animal has been slaughtered.

Eating offal has a very long history, but the kinds of offal that are eaten and the types of offal eaten are cultural based. Dietary law also restricts the usage of offal. We tend to be a bit squeamish about eating some parts of the animals (head, eyes, testicles and wombs or udders) because they remind us of our food sources or are too strong in taste (Kidneys, gizzards, livers).

.xvij. Garbage. — Take fayre garbagys of chykonys, as J^e lied, J^e fete, ]ie lyiierys, an ]>e gysowrys ; washe hem clene, an caste hem in a fayre potte, an caste }7er-to freysshe brothe of Beef or ellys of moton, an let it boyle ; an a-lye it wyth brecle, an ley on Pepir an Safroun, Maces, Clowys, an a lytil verious an salt, an serue forth in the maner as a Sewe.

xvij - Garbage. Take fayre garbagys of chykonys, as the hed, the fete, the lyuerys, an the gysowrys; washe hem clene, an caste hem in a fayre potte, an caste ther-to freysshe brothe of Beef or ellys of moton, an let it boyle; an a-lye it wyth brede, an ley on Pepir an Safroun, Maces, Clowys, an a lytil verious an salt, an serue forth in the maner as a Sewe.

17 - Garbage - Take fair garbage of chickens, as the head, the feet, the liver, and the gizzard; wash them clean, and caste them in a fair pot, and caste there-to fresh broth of beef or else of mutton, and let it boil; and mix it with bread, and lay on pepper and saffron, mace, cloves, and a little verjuice and salt, and serve forth in the manner as a stew.

Interpreted Recipe Serves 1 as main, 2 as side

1/4 pound of mixed chicken parts, I used a giblets package and added additional livers (feet and heads are difficult to come by in my area)
1 c. beef broth
2 tbsp. bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. pepper
pinch of saffron
1/8 tsp. each mace and clove
1 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt


This was very easy to put together. I retained the giblets from two roasting chickens and then added additional livers. Be sure to clean your gizzards, removing the silverskin as it is inedible. Cook the giblets in the broth, with pepper, saffron mace and clove. While the meat is boiling you will want to soak the bread crumbs in the vinegar, it will become a kind of paste. Once the meat is cooked remove it from the broth and cut it into smaller pieces. Add the breadcrumbs soaked in vinegar a little bit at a time to the broth, and boil until it is thickened to your taste. Return the meat to the gravy, and season with the salt. Serve.

Unfortunately, I think this dish is going to be added to the "too period to serve" list. It was good, if you like to eat offal. I do, so I enjoyed it. However, several of my taste testers are not, and voiced a very loud "NO" when asked if they would try it at a feast. That being said, this could be a "found" dish that can be served at an event if you are using whole roasting chickens. There is no reason to throw out the giblet bags, serve it up like this. Adventurous feasters will try it, and you might find someone like me who enjoys offal, who will gobble up as much as they can get.

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Garbage - Dan Myers Interpretation

Enseignements qui enseingnent a apareillier toutes manieres de viandes (France, ca. 1300 - D. Myers, trans.)

To make false guernon - If you want to make false guernon take the livers and the gizzards, then chop small, grind bread and temper with broth, and put to boil, and after add beaten egg yolks and saffron, temper with wine, and then fry, and add milk, and chop meat in the crest, and put to boil, and stir all day, and then add the eggs and saffron, and mix in a bowl, and add ground cinnamon, ginger and cloves thereon.

A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)

To mak a garbage tak the heed the garbage the leuer the gessern the wings and the feet and wesche them and clene them and put them in a pot and cast ther tobrothe of beef poudere of pepper clowes maces parsly saige mynced then step bred in the sam brothe and cast it to pouder of guingere venygar saffron and saltand serue it.

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (England, 1485)

Garbage. Tak fleysch & wasch it & do it to the fyer take percely & brek yt with thin honds & do in spices and saffron & wyn let it boyle wel non other lite but salt

Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen (Netherlands, ca. 1510 - C. van Tets, trans.)

To make a subbelet for organ meats [usually liver and stomach] of the goose or for venison or for meat of a wether. Take bread softened in the broth and ground up then passed together through a strainer and put it in the pot, then add to it wine, a little vinegar spices that belong to it and saffron with salt. Then let this all boil well together; so you shall lay it in the salted organ meats. So it is done.

Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) -.xv. Bowres - Braised Fowl

Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) -.xv. Bowres

This recipe came as a suprise! It was delicious and I am surprised that more people have not prepared it in the past.  I found it in "Two fifteenth-century cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55" Thomas Austin. It can be intrepreted in two different ways.  I chose to use the second interpretation of this dish, duck or goose served as a soup with a broth made of ale, seasoned with sage and salt.  However it was the first interpretation that leads me to do some brief research on the use of offal in the middle ages.

Offal references those parts of an animal that are not skeletal muscle, for example, brain, heart, kidneys, livers and gizzards. It also refers to giblets, "humbles", "umbles", "numbles", and the extremities of an animal such as tails, feet, testicles, ears and tongue.  Offal is an excellent source of protein but it does not keep well. Although it is not visible, we eat a lot of offal in processed food.

One point of interest I did find was that the church in Spain did not consider offal to be meat, so it was allowed to be eaten during lent and also on other meatless days along with bacon.

.xv. Bowres.—Take Pypis, Hertys, Nerys, Myltys, an Rybbys of the Swyne; or ellys take Mawlard, or Gees, an chop hem smal, and thanne parboyle hem in fayre water; an þan take it vp, and pyke it clene in-to a fayre potte, an caste þer-to ale y-now, & sawge an salt, and þan boyle it ryȝth wel; and þanne serue it forthe for a goode potage.

xv - Bowres. Take Pypis, Hertys, Nerys, Myltys, an Rybbys of the Swyne; or ellys take Mawlard, or Gees, an chop hem smal, and thanne parboyle hem in fayre water; an than take it vp, and pyke it clene in-to a fayre potte, an caste ther-to ale y-now, and sawge an salt, and than boyle it ry3th wel; and thanne serue it forthe for a goode potage

15 Bowres - Take lungs, hearts, ears, spleen and ribs of the swine; or else take mallard or geese, and chop them small, and then parboil them in fair water; and then take it up, and pick it clean into a fair pot, and caste thereto ale enough, and sage, and salt, and then boil it right well and then serve it forth for a good pottage.

Interpreted Recipe                                                         Serves 1 as Main, 2 as side

1/4 pound fowl of your choice (duck, goose, chicken etc.)

water to cover

1 cup ale

1/2 to 1 tsp. salt or to taste

1 tsp. sage

Take your meat, in this case I used a Cornish hen, and cut it into chunks.  Cover it with water and allow it to cook until cooked completely through.  Remove it from the heat and allowing it to cool.  When cool, clean it and place it in a pot with your ale, salt and sage.  Cook till broth has reduced a little and alcohol has cooked off. 

This was a surprisingly simple to make recipe. It was quick to put together and as I've stated before delicious! I have been asked to make it again by the taste testers and that seldom happens.  Did I mention that they squabbled over who would get to eat the rest of it? It would be a very economical dish and it has an added benefit of creating a stock that can be used in another dish--do not throw the stock away!

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Liber cure cocorum [Sloane MS 1986] (England, 1430)

For bours. Take porke and gese, hew hom þou schalle On gobetes, with powder of peper withalle. Hom sethe in pot þat is so clene, With oute any water, with salt, I wene. Fro Martyn messe to gode tyde evyne, Þys mete wylle serve, þou may me lene, At dyner or soper, if þat hit nede. Þou take gode ale, þat is not quede, Þer in þou boyle þo forsayde mete Þo more worship þou may gete

Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)

Bourreys. Take pipes, hertes, neres, myltes, and of the rybbes of the Swyne, or elles take (if thou wilt) Mallard or Goos, and choppe hem small, And then parboile it in faire water, And take it vp, and pike it clene, And putte into a potte, And cast there-to Ale ynogh, Sauge, Salt, And lete boile right ynowe, &then serue it forth.