German-Eggs-art - 1/2/15

"German Eggs" by Lady Anne du Bosc, known as Mordonna the Cook.

NOTE: See also the files: eggs-msg, egg-whites-msg, eggs-stuffed-msg, pickled-eggs-msg, egg-storage-msg, Scotch-Eggs-msg, Mrdonas-Ktchn-art.

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                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: Pat <mordonna22 at yahoo.com>
Date: April 22, 2005 3:54:49 PM CDT
To: SCA Cooks <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>, Stefan li Rous <stefanlirous at austin.rr.com>
Subject: German Eggs from Mordonna's Kitchen

This is for my next "From Mordonna's Kitchen" article for the Chronus Draconus.  The new editor asked me to resume the series.

German Eggs
by Mordonna the Cook

From Take a Thousand Eggs or More second edition, volume 2, by Cindy Renfrew
Recipes are from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books edited by Thomas Austin.
 
Harleian Ms. 279 – Leche Vyaundez
 
(1)  Hagas de Almaynne(1).   Take Fayre Eyroun, th(2)e yolke & the Whyte, & draw hem thorw a straynour; than take Fayre Percely, & parboyle it in a potte with boyling brothe; than take the yolkys of Eyround hard y-sote, & hew the yolkys & the percely smal to-gedrys; than take sugre, pouder Gyngere, Salt, & cast ther-to; then take merow, & putte it on a straynourys ende, & lat hange in-to a boyling potte; & parboyle it, & take it vppe, & let it kele, & than kytte it in smal pecys; than take the drawyn Eyroun, & put hem in a panne al a-brode, & vnnethe ony grece in the panne, & cowche ye yolkys & the Percely per-on in the panne, & cowche ye yolkys & the Marow pecys ther-on & than fold vppe eche kake by-nethe eche corner in .iiij. square, as platte, and turn it on the panne oney; let lye a litel whyle; than take it vp & serue f[orth]­(4).
 
Harleian Ms. 4016
 
(84)   Hagas de almondes(1).  Take faire yolkes of eyren, and the White, and drawe hem thorgh a Streynour, and take faire parcelly, and parboyle hit in a potte, & parboylingge brothe; And then take yolkes of yren, sodde hard, and hew the yolkes and the parcely small togidre; And [take(4)] sugur, pouder of Gynger, and salte, & cast to yolkes and parcelly; And take mary, and put hit in a streynour, And let hong yn to the boyling potte, and parboile; and take hit vppe, and lette hit kele, and kutte hit then in smale peces; And then take the drawen eyren, and putte hem in a pan al a-brode, (And vnneth eny Greece in the pan,)  And then couche the yolkes and the parcelly there-on in the pan.  And then couche the peces of the mary thereon; And then folde vp the kake byneth every corner, to eche corner foure square al flatte, And tuerne hit on the pan; And lete hit lye awhile, and then take it vp, and serue hit forth.
 
My translation:

German Hagas.  Take fair yolks of eggs and the white, and draw it through a strainer.  And Take fair parsley and boil it in a potte, and boiling broth.  And then take yolks of hard boiled eggs and mince the yolks and the parsley small together.  And take sugar, ginger powder, and salt and cast to yolkes and parsley.  And take marrow and put it in a strainer and let it hang in the boiling pot, and let it boil; and take it up and let it cool, And cut it then in small pieces; And then take the drawn eggs, and put them in a pan, all abroad, (and scarcely any grease in the pan).  And then sprinkle the yolks and the parsley on in the pan, and then sprinkle the pieces of the marrow thereon.  And then fold up the cake beneath every corner, eo make each corner foursquare and all flat.  And turn it in once in the pan, and let it sit a while, and then take it up, and serve it forth.

My recipe:

German Eggs

4 whole eggs
1 cup beef broth or bouillon
1 bunch fresh parsley, or 2 Tablespoons dried parsley
Yolks of 2 hardboiled eggs
1/4 cup marrow or bacon (4) pieces
parsley
1 half teaspoon sugar
1 eighth teaspoon ginger
salt to taste
2 Tbs. lard or Olive oil

Beat and strain the whole eggs and set aside.  Bring the broth to a boil.  Put the parsley in the boiling broth and suspend the marrow or bacon in a strainer in the broth.  Let boil until done (about 1 or 2 minutes.)  Remove the meat, set it aside, and let it cool.  Strain the parsley and let it cool.  Add the hard boiled yolks to the parsley and mince it all fine. Add the sugar, ginger, and salt.  Cut the meat into small pieces.   Put the fat into a medium hot pan.  Scatter the raw eggs in the pan.  Sprinkle on the parsley and eggs and the chopped meat.  Turn the corners under to make a square.  Turn it once and let it sit a while to set the eggs.  Take it up and serve it forth.

Notes:  Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books is a transcription of several 15th century manuscripts on cooking edited by Thomas Austin, published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, first published in 1888, then reprinted in 1964 by Vivian Ridler, Printer to the University.   Harleian MS. 279 and 4016 appear to be, in the main, two versions of the same original transcribed by two different scribes.

(1) In the first MS, the original editor (Thomas Austin) translated this phrase as "German Haggis."  In the second MS, the same editor translated it as "Almond Haggis".  Since the second MS is a later version of the first, and there are no almonds, I believe it should be German (Allemande) and I would translate hagas as eggs, since the haggis is a couple of hundred years later than the original recipes, and in a different direction.

(2) A lot of words in the original use the thorn and the yogh, letters that my keyboard doesn't show.  Instead, I have used th and y, because I'm lazy, and to make life a little easier for my readers.

(3) Words or letters added by the original editor.

(4) I chose to include bacon as an alternative to marrow, because marrow is sometimes difficult to find, and because most of my readers will be more accustomed to the taste and texture.

Pat Griffin
Lady Anne du Bosc
known as Mordonna the Cook
Shire of Thorngill, Meridies
Mundanely, Millbrook, AL

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