A Fryed Meate (Pancakes) in Haste for the Second Course (The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected, 1682)
A Fryed Meate in Haste for the Second Course — apple & curd pancakes finished with sugar.
Originally published 10/29/2017 - updated 9/17/2025
In late 17th-century English cookery, “meat” can simply mean food/dish, not specifically animal flesh. This recipe from The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected (1682) makes quick, delicate apple-and-curd pancakes scented with rosewater, sack (fortified wine), cinnamon, and nutmeg. It’s a natural fit for a brunch or as a sweet course between heavier roasts. I originally made these for our Curia Regis Brunch set—now updated to my modern format.
Take a pint of curds made tender of morning milk, pressed clean from the Whey, put to them one handful of flour, six eggs, casting away three whites, a little rosewater, sack, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, salt, and two pippins minced small, beat this all together into a thick batter, so that it may not run abroad; if you want wherewith to temper it add cream; when they are fried, scrape on sugar and send them up; if this curd be made with sack, as it may as well as with rennet, you may make a pudding with the whey thereof.
Notes: “Pippins” = firm cooking apples. “Sack” ≈ fortified white wine (e.g., dry sherry). “Curds” today map neatly to drained cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese.
Modern Recipe — Apple & Curd Pancakes (makes ~12 small)
Canabeys/Canabens in Harleian MS. 279 refers to cooked beans, most often the broad/fava beans familiar to medieval cooks, prepared plainly in broth or enriched with dairy and sometimes served with bacon. Combined with lekys (leeks), you get a humble, comforting pottage that fits beautifully on a fifteenth-century table—and on ours.
🥕 Dietary badge: Vegetarian as written; easily vegan. Gluten-free.
Sometimes a recipe resists easy interpretation, and this one has long puzzled cooks. “A Potage” from Harleian MS. 279 begins with an unusual step: cooking eggs in red wine before straining them with almond milk. At first glance, it might resemble wine clarification, but comparisons to similar recipes in Le Ménagier de Paris and other sections of Harleian MS. 279 suggest the intent was closer to a custard technique — lightly curdled eggs beaten into wine, strained, and then enriched with almond milk. The result is a sweet-savory almond custard-pottage, thickened with rice flour, colored red with sandalwood, and optionally garnished with chopped veal on flesh days. This dish sits somewhere between rice pudding, mincemeat, and almond custard, showcasing the medieval love of spice, fruit, and color in festive pottages.
Modern redaction of a 15th-century almond milk pottage, enriched with dried fruits, pine nuts, honey, and sweet spices.
The Original Recipe
Cxlix. A Potage.
Take an sethe a fewe eyron̛ in red Wyne; þan take & draw hem þorw a straynoure with a gode mylke of Almaundys; þen caste þer-to Roysonys of Coraunce, Dates y-taylid, grete Roysonys, Pynes, pouder Pepir, Sawndrys, Clouys, Maces, Hony y-now, a lytil doucete, & Salt; þan bynde hym vppe flat with a lytyl flowre of Rys, & let hem ben Red with Saunderys, & serue hym in flatte; & ȝif þou wolt, in fleyssℏ tyme caste vele y-choppid þer-on, not to smale.
Cxlix. A Potage.
Take and seethe a few eggs in red wine; then take and draw them through a strainer with a good almond milk. Then cast thereto currants, chopped dates, large raisins, pine nuts, powdered pepper, sandalwood, cloves, mace, honey enough, a little doucete, and salt. Then bind it up flat with a little rice flour, and let it be red with sandalwood, and serve it in flat. And if you will, in flesh time cast veal chopped thereon, not too small.
A Dynere of Flesche — John Russell’s Medieval Feast and the Logic of Digestion
Roasted peacock served “re-plumed,” a classic showpiece in late-medieval banquets. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Introduction
In the mid-fifteenth century, court official John Russell compiled the Boke of Nurture (Harley MS 4011), a manual of etiquette, service, and feasting. Among its most intriguing passages is “A Dynere of Flesche”—a model feast for a flesh day. At first glance it reads like excess: swan, peacock, venison, custards, jellies, fritters, sotelties. But beneath the display lies clear order, guided by humoral theory and the theory of digestion.
Humoral theory:
Foods are classified hot/cold, moist/dry.
The goal was balance — so heavy/dry meats might be paired with moist/sweet sauces, or cooling jellies follow heating roasts.
Theory of Digestion (stomach as a fireplace model):
Light, quick-digesting foods first (whet the appetite, “open the stomach”).
Heavy meats mid-meal (need the appetite at full flame).
Cooling or binding foods at the end (to “close the stomach” and aid digestion).
Spices and hippocras (spiced wine) seal the stomach and prevent putrefaction.
Feasting, Status, and Seasonality
Russell’s menu was a model feast—aspirational and didactic. It reflected both status and medical order:
Sotelties: allegorical sugar or pastry sculptures, more about piety and performance than eating.
Hierarchy: the high table saw the full spread; lower tables ate simpler portions.
Seasonality: autumn/winter hunting game + preserved foods (brawn, baked quinces, hippocras). Likely a winter festival setting—Christmas or Twelfth Night.
The Logic of the Courses
First Course: Awakening the Appetite
The feast begins with brawn of boar with mustard. Preserved brawn (salted/pressed) was hot/dry, paired with mustard (also hot/dry) to stimulate appetite. Then came pottages of herbs, spice, and wine (warm, moist, aromatic), followed by staples—beef and mutton, heavy and dry but softened by sauces. Showpieces—pheasant and swan with chawdron sauce, capons, pig, venison bake—balanced humors by variety. The course lifted with leches and fritters, hot/oily appetite stimulants, and paused with a sotelty of the Annunciation.
Second Course: Heaviest Roasts & Entremets
The second course starts gently with blancmanger (chicken and almond, moist and white) and jellies (cooling, clarifying). Then came the heaviest fare: venison, kid, fawn, coney, bustard, stork, crane, peacock, heron. These were dry/hot meats, demanding the stomach’s “strongest fire.”
Between them: entremets—custards, pastries, sweet leches—moist refreshers, palate cleansers, and spectacles. A fritter revived appetite, and an angelic sotelty provided allegory and pause.
Third Course: Stepping Down
Cream of almonds and mawmany were restorative and nourishing. Smaller roasts—curlews, snipes, quails, sparrows—replaced great birds. Moist/cooling dishes returned: perch in jelly, crayfish. Quinces baked (astringent) helped close digestion, alongside sage fritters and spiced leches. A Magi sotelty provided solemn close.
Finale: Issue & Sendoff
The issue de table included pippins (apples) with caraway comfits, custard (blaunderelle), wafers, and hippocras. Apples (cold/dry) restrained excess; caraway (hot/dry) dispelled wind; hippocras (spiced wine) “sealed” the stomach.
Overall Temperament by Course
HotColdMoistDryAstringent
Course / Stage
Overall Temperament
Why this net effect?
First Course
HotDry(+Moist from pottages)
Opens with mustard & preserved brawn (hot/dry stimulants), then warm/moist pottages; heavy meats appear early but are sauced. Net effect = warming/activating with a slight dry edge to “open the stomach.”
Second Course
HotDry(+ moderated by Moist entremets)
Heaviest roasts (venison, crane, peacock) are hot/dry at peak digestion; custards/jellies (entremets) punctuate to moisten/refresh. Net effect = the feast’s hottest/driest point, tempered between platters.
Third Course
MoistCool(+ Astringent close)
Steps down with smaller birds and moist/cooling fish in jelly; baked quinces add astringency to begin closure; sage fritters give brief warmth without flipping the net trend.
Finale (Issue & Boute-hors)
CoolDry→ sealed by HotDry (hippocras)
Raw apples + caraway comfits = cool/dry & wind-dispelling; wafers are light/dry. Final seal with hippocras (hot/dry) “closes the stomach” and guards against putrefaction.
Show SCA stages with temperament
SCA Stage
Temperament
Notes
On Table / Entrance
HotDry
Mustard & brawn stimulate and announce status.
Pottages & Gentle Dishes
MoistWarm
Opens and soothes the stomach.
Great Roasts
HotDry
Peak heat/dryness; serve when digestion is strongest.
Entremets
MoistCool
Palate/digestion refreshers between roasts.
Lighter Birds & Fish
MoistCool
Step-down phase toward closure.
Dessert / Fruit
Astringent
Begins the “binding” close (quinces, etc.).
Issue
CoolDry
Raw apples + comfits; wafers light and crisp.
Boute-hors
HotDry
Hippocras seals the stomach.
Feast Planning with Russell’s Menu
For SCA feast planners, Russell’s feast maps neatly into modern service frameworks:
Beef, mutton, venison, swan, peacock, bustard, crane, etc.
Heaviest, driest meats; mid-digestion
Entremets
Custards, pastries, fritters, sotelties
Palate refreshers, visual allegories
Lighter Birds & Fish
Curlew, quail, perch in jelly, crayfish
Moist/cooling, easier to digest
Dessert / Fruit
Quinces baked, sage fritters
Astringent closure, sharpen digestion
Issue
Apples with caraway, wafers
Refresh and bind, dispel wind
Boute-hors
Hippocras
Spiced wine to seal digestion
Mythbusting Russell’s Feast
“Feasts were chaotic.” ❌ They followed medical choreography.
“Everyone ate the same food.” ❌ Hierarchy dictated portions.
“Peacock and swan were delicacies.” ❌ They were tough; value lay in spectacle.
“Sugar was common.” ❌ It was a costly luxury spice.
“Fritters were desserts only.” ❌ They appear in every course as stimulants.
“Fruit was always cooked.” ❌ The pippins at issue were raw, paired with comfits.
✅ Dos & ❌ Don’ts by Course
First Course
✅ Pair heavy meats with moist dishes (pottage, sauce)
❌ Don’t open with multiple cold/moist foods — they dull appetite
Second Course
✅ Interleave entremets between heavy roasts
❌ Don’t serve only hot/dry roasts back-to-back — digestion overload
Third Course
✅ Use cooling/moist dishes (fish, almond cream) to “calm the stomach”
❌ Don’t drop in new hot/dry meats here — it reverses the descent
Finale
✅ Always end with an astringent fruit + spiced closer
❌ Don’t pile sweets without balance — needs closure to “seal digestion”
Conclusion
Russell’s Dynere of Flesche shows that medieval dining was deliberate: humoral balance, digestive order, spectacle, and hierarchy all interlaced. What seems like excess was careful choreography. For modern readers—and especially SCA feast stewards—it offers both inspiration and a reminder: a medieval feast was an art of health and performance.
Why this matters today: Russell’s feast reminds us that medieval banquets were not chaotic indulgence, but carefully balanced systems of health, status, and art.
It’s a reminder that food has always been about more than eating—it shapes identity, power, and performance at the table.
