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"A Spring Supper by the Seine" by Her Ladyship Katja Davidova Orlova Khazarina. A French Meal for The Coronation of TRM Morguhn & Meirwen

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Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 10:10:27 -0500

From: "Adler, Chris" <Chris.Adler at westgroup.com>

Subject: SC - AEthelmearc Coronation feast menu

I'm recovered from the weekend, so I figured I'd post my menu for the

Coronation feast I just did.

All in all, it came off pretty well, although I was frustrated by some

miscommunication and disorganization on *my* part during the first course

which meant the butter came out with the pitchers of drink a few minutes

before the bread, and that the very pretty salads came out *without*

dressing. Sigh. I've done over a dozen feasts on my own and helped with

dozens more over the years, but I'd never been head cook for a kingdom-level

feast... and yes, Virginia, it IS different! <grin> I learned a lot, and

everyone seemed to think the food didn't suck, so I'm relatively satisfied

with the results. At least I got my wish of having servers offer scented

handwashing water before the meal, and we had subtleties and entertainment

during the feast, as I'd hoped.

Now, off to prepare the food for a friend's medieval wedding in six weeks...

Katja

A French Meal for The Coronation of TRM Morguhn & Meirwen

"A Spring Supper by the Seine"

March 31, 2001

A.S. XXXV

The Cauldron Bleu Cooks Guild, Barony of Thescorre, AEthelmearc

Head Cook and Feast Researcher: Her Ladyship Katja Davidova Orlova Khazarina

Feast Menu

Scented Handwashing Water

PremierÈ Met

Hippocras (spiced grape juice)

Freshly Baked Bread Trenchers

Freshly Beaten Butter and Honey Butter

CivÈ de Veel (wine-braised beef)

New Peas (peas simmered in broth)

Brodo of Red Chickpeas (herbed chickpeas)

Saulse Cameline (cinnamon sauce)

Aulx Vers (green garlic sauce)

Jance de Gingembre (ginger almond sauce)

Moustarde (mustard)

Entremets: Presentation of Subtleties from the Subtlety Competition

Deuxi`eme Met

Chappons aux Herbes (chicken sautÈed with herbs and cumin)

Roman Cabbages (salad of red cabbage, herbs, and edible flowers)

Ris EngoulÈ (fancy rice for meat-days)

Entremets: Stories and Song

Troisi`eme Met

Coney (rabbit stew)

Funges in Pastry (mushroom tarts)

Leek Pourrey (simmered leeks)

Issue de Table

Candied Orange Peels

Gauffres (wafers flavored with ginger, lemon, or anise)

Dragees or Comfits (candied anise, coriander, fennel, and caraway seeds)

Well met, good gentles, and welcome to your meal! What we have

prepared for you tonight is an abbreviated version of a period feast. A

complete late-14th Century French meal would have included several kinds of

fish and many more kinds of fowl and meats, some fruit, and sausages in

addition to the roasted meat, vegetables, rice, and sweets I have chosen for

this feast. The following is an example of such a dinner from Le MÈnagier de

Paris, dated 1393. - Katja

Dinner for a Meat Day served in Thirty-one Dishes & Six Courses:

First course. Grenache & roasts, veal pasties, pimpernel, pasties,

black-puddings and sausages.

Second course. Hares in civey & cutlets, pea soup, salt meat & great

joints, a soringue of eels & other fish.

Third course. Roast: coneys, partidges, capons etc., luce, bar, carp & a

quartered pottage.

Fourth course. River fish `a la dodine, savoury rice a bourrey with hot

sauce & eels reversed.

Fifth course. Lark pasties, rissoles, larded milk, sugared flawns.

Sixth course. Pears & comfits, medlars & peeled nuts. Hippocras & wafers.

Recipes

To Prepare Water for Washing the Hands at Table, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Set sage to boil, then pour out the water & let it cool until it is just

warm. Or you may instead use camomile or marjoram, or you may put in

rosemary; & boil them with orange peel. And bay leaves are good too.

"The feast opened with a trumpet fanfare. The guests entered and

took part in a handwashing ceremony. As they held their hands over a basin,

herb-scented water was poured over them by a page who then proferred a linen

napkin." - Wheaton, Savoring the Past

Scented Handwashing Water: Chamomile, Orangeflower Water, water

Trenchers, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

"Now we shall talk about the quantities of the things spoken of above &

what goes with them & the prices, & who provides them & sells them. At the

baker's, ten dozen flat white bread baked one day ahead & costing one denier

each. Trencher bread, three dozen of half a foot in width & four fingers

tall, baked four days before & browned, or what is called in the market

Corbeil bread."

"Item, two bread-slicers, of whom one will crumb the bread & make trenchers

& salt-cellars out of bread, & will carry the salt & the bread & the

trenchers to the tables, & will provide for the dining-room two or three

strainers for the solid leftovers such as sops, broken breads, trenchers,

meats & such things."

"There are no recipes for the making of bread in these early French

manuscripts. Baking was a separate and distinct craft in the Middle Ages.

However, here and there in these and other documents we may come across a

good many references to various types of bread and their uses... The

MÈnagier's trencher bread was made in relatively small flat loaves, turned

over in the oven in order to smooth both sides, dense and coarse in

substance, and with hard crusts; it was the thickness that could be sliced

horizontally in two so that with one of its tough crusts upwards it could

become two trenchers." - Scully, Early French Cookery

Bastons, Beinecke Manuscript, 15th Century

Make a stif bature of yolkes of eyron, & paryed flour, & sigure, a grete

dele, & a lytle yest of new ale. set hit by the fyre, or els in a pot

boylyng, that hit may take a lytyl hete. When hit is rysyd, sweyng hit well

togedyr that hit fall doun ayene. Loke thy oven be hote, & clene swepyd;

poure hit on the floure of the oven & bake hit as french bred.

Trenchers, Salt Cellars, and Breadcrumbs

26 C water (6 qt + 2C)

3-4 T yeast

1 C + 2 T honey

1 C + 2 T salt

9 lb. King Arthur white whole-wheat flour

16.25 lb. King Arthur all-purpose flour

Proof yeast in water with sugar. Add half the flours and let the

sponge/biga rise. Add the rest of the flours and knead until elastic. Let

rise until doubled. Shape into flat round loaves and let rise at room

temperature until doubled again. Bake at 375 for 35-40 mins.

As you can see and as Terence Scully explains, Le MÈnagier mentions

bread several times but offers no recipe. I selected an English bread recipe

from approximately the same time as the French dishes selected for this

meal. Note that it contains eggs and a lot of sugar, so it was intended more

as a biscuit recipe than a bread recipe. However, medieval bread recipes are

very scarce, so this is the best I could come up with from the time period!

- - Katja

Ris engoulÈ(Fancy Rice for Meat-Days), Viandier of Taillevent, 1370

Cull the rice & wash it thoroughly in hot water & set it to dry by the fire,

then cook it simmering cow's milk; then add ground saffron infused in your

milk, to lend it a russet colour, & greasy beef broth from the pot.

Rice

20-25 lbs. rice, water, saffron, salt.

Garnish with saffron threads.

I opted to do a fast-day version of this rice, without the meat

broth or milk, in deference to the vegetarian and lactose-intolerant gentles

at feast today. Rice boiled simply with water is quite period; see the

late-period English source, The Closet of The Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme

Digbie, Opened, for such a recipe. - Katja

As to new peas, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Sometimes they be cooked with sewe of meat & brayed parsley to make a green

pottage & that is for a meat day; & on a fish day, they be cooked in milk

with ginger & saffron therein. In new peas cooked to be eaten in the pod,

you must add bacon on a meat day: & on a fish day, when they are cooked, you

separate the liquid & add underneath melted salt butter, & then shake it.

Garden Peas in Broth

20 lb. fresh peas

2 qt. chicken stock

2 bunches fresh parsley

salt

Gently heat new peas in chicken stock for 10 minutes. Season with freshly

minced parsley and salt to taste. Garnish with parsley sprigs.

To Take The Salt Out Of Butter, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Put it in a bowl on the fire to melt, & the salt will sink to the bottom of

the bowl, & the salt thus obtained is good for stew, & the rest of the

butter is sweet. Another way, put your salt butter in sweet fresh water, &

beat it & knead it, & the salt will stay in the water.

Freshly Beaten Butter

2 qts fresh heavy cream, pinch salt

Since this kitchen is blessed with a large industrial mixer, I

finally get my wish to churn fresh butter at an event! Although the French

source used to document this meal only stresses the important of unsalted

butter, later period sources, such as Gervase Markham's The English

Hous-Wife, describe the actual beating of fresh cream into butter. - Katja

How to make sundry sorts of most dainty butter with the saide oils,

Jewel-house of Arte & Nature, 1594

In the month of May, it is very usuall with us to eat some of the smallest,

& youngest sage leaves with butter in a morning, & I think the common use

thereof doth sufficiently commende the same to be wholsome, in stead whereof

all those which delighte in this heabe may cause a few droppes of the oile

of sage to be well wrought, or tempered with the butter when it is new taken

out of the cherne, until they find the same strong enough in taste to their

owne liking; & this way I accoumpt much more wholsomer then the first,

wherin you will finde a far more lively & penetrative tast then can be

presently had out of the greene herbe. This laste Sommer I did entertaine

divers of my friends with this kinde of butter amongst other country dishes,

as also with cinnamon, mace, & clove butter (which are all made in one selfe

same manner) & I knew not whether I did please them more with this new found

dish, or offend them by denying the secret unto them, who thought it very

strange to find the naturall taste of herbs, & spices coueied into butter

without any apparent touch of color. Ore, if by som means or other you may

not give a tincture to your creme before you chearne it, either with

roseleaves, cowslep leaves, violet or marigold leaves, &c. And thereby

chaunge the color of your butter. And it may be that if you wash your butter

throughly wel with rose water before you dish it, & work up some fine sugar

in it, that the Country people will go neere to robbe all Cocknies of their

breakfasts, unlesse the dairie be well looked unto.

De Obseruatione Ciborium (On the Observance of Food), 6th Century

"The same is true if anyone suffering from consumption eats fresh butter.

However, the butter should be unsalted, because it does a great deal of harm

if salted. The butter should be blended with a little honey, & the patient

should lie on his back & slowly lick this mixture. For those afflicted with

consumption I stress that this mixture is fine for those are not seized by

the condition for any length of time"

Freshly Beaten Honey Butter

2 qts fresh cream

1 C honey, warmed

The ubiquitous SCA condiment, honey butter, does not appear to have

been served in period as a bread spread; rather, it is documentable as

medicine in the 6th Century. In a late 1500s English source, I found the

above documentation for a butter spread sweetened with sugar and spices, but

not honey. Therefore, honey butter is not accurately period. - Katja

Moustarde (Mustard), Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Item, if you would make mustard in the country in haste, bray mustardseed in

a mortar & moisten it with vinegar & run it through the strainer & if you

would pepare it at once, set it in a pot before the fire. Item, if you would

make good mustard & at leisure, set the mustardseed to soak for a night in

good vinegar, then grind it in a mill & then moisten it little by little

with vinegar; & if you have any spices left over from jelly, clarry,

hippocras or sauce, let them be ground with it & afterwards pepare it.

Mustard

1/2 lb. mustardseed

1/2 lb. vinegar/water

1 T. salt, pinch sugar

Grind the mustardseed and mix with salt and watered vinegar to make a thick

slurry. Let mellow, unrefrigerated, for a month.

Cive' de veel (Veal Stew), Viandier of Taillevent, 1370

Roasted on a spit or on the grill, without overcooking, cut up into pieces &

fried in grease with chopped onions; steep burnt toast in wine & beef broth

or in pea puree, & boil your meat with this; then add ground ginger,

cinnamon, cloves, grains of paradise, & saffon for colour, infused in

verjuice & vinegar. It should be thick, there should be enough onions, the

bread should be dark & sharp with vinegar, & it should be yellowish.

Bruet of Savoy, Du Fait de Cuisine, 1420

To give understanding to him who will be charged with making this bruet, to

take his poultry & the meat according to the quantity which he is told that

he should make, & make ready his poultry & set to cook cleanly; & meat

according to the quantity of potage which he is told to make, & put to boil

with the poultry; & then take a good piece of lean bacon in a good place &

clean it well & properly, & then put it to cook with the aforesaid poultry &

meat; and then take sage, parsley, hyssop, & marjoram, & let them be very

well washed & cleaned, & make them into a bunch without chopping & all

together, & then put them to boil with the said potage & with the meat; &

according to the quantity of the said broth take a large quantity of parsley

well cleaned & washed, & brayed well & thoroughly in a mortar; and, being

well brayed, check that your meat is neither too much or too little cooked &

salted; and then according to the quantity of broth have white ginger,

grains of paradise, and a little pepper; and put bread without the crust to

soak with the said broth so that there is enough to thicken it; and being

properly soaked, let it be pounded & brayed with the said parsley & spices,

& let it be drawn & strained with the said broth; and put in wine & verjuice

according as it is necessary. And all of the things aforesaid should be put

in to the point where there is neither too little nor too much. And then,

this done, put it to boil in a large, fair, & clean pot. And if it happens

that the potage is too green, put in a little saffron, & this will make the

green bright. And when it is to be arranged for serving, put your meat on

the serving dishes & the broth on top.

Haricot, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Cut it into small pieces, then bring it just to the boil, then fry in bacon

grease, & fry with onions chopped small & cooked, & mix in beef stock, & add

mace, parsley, hyssop & sage, & put it on to boil together.

Wine-braised beef

75 lb. beef

5 lb. onions

4 bunches parsley

1 qt. wine

3 qt. beef stock

fresh marjoram

saffron

Marinate, brown, roast 350 degrees for 2 hours or until 155 degrees. Garnish

with marjoram.

Obviously, my recipe is a combination of the period beef dishes

cited above and not a strict redaction of a single dish. Since so many of

the meat and fowl dishes in the period French resources ALL contain

cinnamon, ginger, sugar, saffron, and vinegar, I tried to vary the tastes in

this feast by restricting each ingredient to only certain recipes (within

the parameters of the existing period recipes). I also combined the cooking

techniques - browning the meat, but using whole roasts and cooking them in

wine and stock. This, and the other two meat dishes, are purposely a little

less seasoned than the original period recipes suggest so that diners may

better enjoy the selection of sauces served tonight on these dishes. - Katja

Chappons aux herbes (Capons with herbs), Viandier of Taillevent, 1370

Set them to cook in water, bacon fat, parsley, sage, hyssop, dittany, wine &

verjuice; saffron & ginger are optional.

Comminee d'almandes (Cuminade of Almonds), Viandier of Taillevent, 1370

Thoroughly cook your poultry in water, quarter it & sautee it in bacon

grease; then grind almonds, moisten them in your broth & set them to boil

with your meat; add ginger & cumin infused in wine & verjuice.

Sauteed Chicken

35 lbs. chicken parts

1 qt. olive oil, 1 qt verjuice

freshly ground cumin, dittany of crete, salt

ground almonds

Pat dry, flour, saute in oil and season with herbs. Deglaze pan with

verjuice. Garnish with almonds.

Again, this redaction is a combination of the ingredients and techniques in

two different fowl recipes, and the chicken may be dressed with the sauces.

- - Katja

Coney Soup, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

First, Garenne coneys are known by the fact that the nape, that is to say

from the ears to between the shoulders, is of a color between brown &

yellow, & they are all white under the belly, & all four limbs on the inner

side to the feet, & they must have no other white spot on their bodies,

Item, you will know if they are in their first year, by a little bone on the

joint of the fore-leg closest to the foot, & it is sharp. And when they are

too old, the bones in the joint are united; & it is the same for hares &

dogs. Item, you will know if they are freshly taken by the eyes not being

sunken: you cannot open their teeth: they hold themselves straight on their

feet; & when cooked, the belly remains whole. And if they have been long

taken, they have sunken eyes: the mouth can easily be opened: you cannot

hold them up straight; & when cooked, the belly falls to pieces: in winter,

coneys taken eight days previously are good, & in summer, four days, as long

as they have not been in the sun. And when they have been well chosen &

skinned, then cut them into square pieces, & put them on to parboil, then

put into cold water: then on each piece, on each side, three bacon strips;

then put on to boil in water & in wine afterwards. Then grind ginger, grain,

a clove, & moisten in beef stock or in the rabbit stock, & with a little

verjuice, & put in a pot & boil till done.

Sops of Hares, Du Fait de Cuisine, 1420

At the beginning of the sops of hares it is necessary that the hares be

skinned well & cleanly, & scorch them over a fair clear fire, & then split

them well & carefully, & take out the refuse; & be advised that for those

which are whole one splits the gut & takes away the liver within, & removes

from it the gall, & washes them well in very good claret wine; & those which

are torn by dogs should be scorched & cleaned & washed in fair small casks

in fair fresh water, & those which are not torn should be cut up in fair

pieces & put in a fair & clean pot. And then take fair beef broth & also

take some of the wine in which one has washed the said hares, & strain it

through a fair strainer, & then pour it in with the said meat of hares, &

fill your pot as much with broth as with good claret wine. And take a good

piece of bacon from a good place & clean it & wash it very well & parboil it

a little, & then throw it in; & according to the broth which there is put in

whole sage well washed & verjuice, & salt in reason, the spices cinnamon,

ginger, grains of paradise, pepper, cloves. And let it boil until it is time

to dress it; and, if it would cook too much, let it be drawn back while

putting your meat out into fair & clean cornues. And you should have a great

deal of fine white bread, & slice a full bowl of it to make sops of hares.

Rabbit Stew

6 rabbits

1/2 lb. bacon

1 lb. onions, chopped

1/2 qt. red wine

1/2 qt. beef stock

fresh sage, grains of paradise

Cut rabbit into pieces, rinse, and dry. Saute onions in bacon, then add

meat. Deglaze with red wine, add stock to cover and seasonings, and simmer.

Garnish with sage leaves.

I've always wanted to serve rabbit or venison at a feast since

they're such period dishes, and I finally get my wish! As with the beef and

chicken dishes, this redaction is a combination of the ingredients in two

rabbit recipes and may be dressed with the sauces. Coney was very common in

Medieval cuisine, but we rarely eat it today in America, so please do try

this unusual dish. - Katja

Brodo of red chickpeas, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

To make eight platefuls, take a libra & a half of chickpeas & wash them in

hot water, drain them, then put them in the pot in which they will be

cooked. Add half an oncia of flour, a little good oil, a little salt, &

about twenty crushed peppercorns & a little ground cinnamon, then thoroughly

mix all these things together with your hands. Then add three measures of

water, a little sage, rosemary, & parlsey roots. Boil until it is reduced to

the quantity of eight platefuls. And when they are nearly cooked, pour in a

little oil.

Chickpea soup

15 lb. chickpeas (I used Indian blackish-red and beige ones)

water to cover

olive oil to taste

salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and sage

Simmer until cooked through, season with oil and seasonings. Garnish with

rosemary leaves.

This dish provides some non-lactose protein for vegetarians. - Katja

To Make Cameline Sauce, Viandier of Taillevent, 1370

Grind ginger, a great deal of cinnamon, cloves, grains of paradise, mace

and, if you wish, long pepper; strain bread that has been moistened in

vinegar, strain everything together & salt as necessary.

Saulse cameline (To make a Camelin Sauce), Viviendier of Taillevent, 1370

Get white bread toasted on the grill, set it to temper in red wine &

vinegar, & strain it, along with a good deal of cinnamon, & ginger, cloves,

grains of paradise, mace, long pepper & a little saffron. Finish it off

either boiled or not as you like. Some people put sugar in it.

Cameline

5 C breadcrumbs

4 C red wine vinegar/water

1/4 C spices (cinnamon, cloves, grains of paradise, long pepper, sugar)

I find it interesting that Cameline was very popular in both France

and England at the same time, but the English recipes include raisins or

currants and ground nuts. I prefer the English version, but made the French

version tonight in keeping with the rest of the menu. - Katja

Aulx vers, Viandier of Taillevent, 1370

Grind garlic, bread & greenery, & steep this together in verjuice.

Green Garlic Sauce

3 heads garlic

3 C breadcrumbs

1 C fresh minced parsley

4 C verjuice

Funges in Pastry, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Mushrooms of one night be the best & they be little & red within & closed at

the top; & they must be peeled & then washed in hot water & parboiled & if

you wishto put them in a pasty add oil, cheese, & spice powder.

Mushroom Tarts

10 lb. fresh mushrooms

1 qt. olive oil

4 C whole milk ricotta

1/2 lb. Reggiano parmesan

salt, cubebs

pie crust

Clean the mushrooms, either rinsing or peeling the skins. Dry thoroughly.

Slice or chop evenly. Heat a sautÈ pan and when hot add a few tablespoons of

olive oil. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the mushrooms and spread

out. Sprinkle seasoning over and let sit for a few minutes until the

mushrooms are starting to brown. Stir mushrooms around to thoroughly coat

them, then let them sit again and cook off the moisture. Pour into a dish

and let cool. Drain the ricotta if necessary, and mix with the parmesan. Add

the mushrooms, stir thoroughly, taste for seasoning, and refrigerate. Make

pie dough and fill pasties as turnovers, pillows, cut-out rounds, or however

you choose - just keep them roughly 2" in diameter. Bake in a preheated 350

oven for 40-45 minutes. Serves 8-12. Paint with fleur de lys.

To make the White Leek Sauce, Du Fait de Cuisine, 1420

Have him who is charged with them get his leeks & chop them up small, wash

them well & put them to boil. Then have him get a good chunk of salt pork

back, clean it very well & put it with them to boil; & when they have boiled

at length, take them out & put them on good clean wooden tables, & keep the

bouillon in which they have boiled. There should be a good mortarful of

white almonds; take the bouillon in which the leeks have boiled & draw out

your almonds in it, & if there is not enough of that bouillon, get beef or

mutton bouillon, & watch that it is not too salty. After that set your broth

to boil in a good clean kettle. Then take two good clean knives & chop up

your leeks, then take & grind them in a mortar; once they are ground, put

them into your broth, made of equal quantities of almonds & water, half

boiled. After they have boiled, when they get to the dressing table, place

your meat in good dishes & then pour some of that leek broth over top.

Leeks Pourrey

6 lb leeks, white part only

5 cup vegetable broth

1/2 lb. bacon

1 cup ground almonds

1/2 C butter

1/2 C beef broth

Chop and clean the leeks well. 1/3 of them go into a saucepan with the 3/4

cup broth and bacon. Boil until the leeks are very soft and the liquid is

almost gone. Heat 1 cup of water to boiling, add the ground almonds, stir

and let sit. Strain. Combine in a Cuisinart the cooked leeks, bacon and

strained almond milk. Whiz until smooth,. Add spices to taste. Meanwhile put

the rest of the leeks into a large sautÈ pan with butter. SautÈ until just

soft. Add 1/4 more liquid and cover. Simmer until soft. Stir in the leek

I was blessed last year to attend an amazing SCA banquet in Colorado

and to taste this dish there. I asked the laurel who cooked it for her

redaction, and promised myself that if I ever did an early French feast that

I'd serve this. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. - Katja

To make powdered hippocras, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Take a quarter of very fine cinnamon selected by tasting it, & half a

quarter of fine flour of cinnamon, an ounce of selected string ginger, fine

& white, & an ounce of grain of Paradise, a sixth of nutmegs & galingale

together, & bray them all together. And when you would make your hippocras,

take a good half ounce of this powder & two quarters of sugar & mix them

with a quart of wine, by Paris measure. And note that the powder & the sugar

mixed together is the Duke's powder.

Take four ounces of very fine cinnamon, 2 ounces of fine cassia flowers, an

ounce of selected Mecca ginger, an ounce of grains of paradise, & a sixth of

an ounce of nutmeg & galingale combined. Crush them all together. Take a

good half ounce of this powder & eight ounces of sugar, & mix it with a

quart of wine.

Mock Hippocras

8 gals. grape juice

cassia chunks, freshly grated nutmeg

sliced fresh ginger root, galingale

whole grains of paradise

1/2 lb. sugar

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate, letting the mixture steep.

Strain out the spices before serving.

I can't serve alcoholic beverages at a feast, as per SCA Inc.

policy. Instead, I have flavored grape juice with the spices that commonly

flavored the wine known as hippocras. In this way, diners will have a

similarly tasting drink, albeit non-alcoholic, to what was commonly served

after a repast to settle the stomach and aid digestion. - Katja

Jance de gingembre, Viandier of Taillevent, 1370

Grind fresh ginger & almonds, but no garlic, infuse this in verjuice, then

boil it. Some people put white wine into it.

Ginger Jance

1 hand fresh gingerroot

1 lb. ground almonds

1 lb. bread crumbs

verjuice, bitter orange juice/water with a little sugar

Roman Cabbages, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

And when the heart of the cabbage, which is in the midst, is plucked off,

you pull up the stump of the cabbage & replant it in fresh earth, & there

will come forth from it big spreading leaves; & the cabbage takes a great

deal of room & these cabbage hearts be called Roman cabbages & they be eaten

in winter; & when the stumps be replanted, there grow out of them little

cabbages which be called sprouts & which be eaten with raw herbs in vinegar;

& if you have plenty, they are good with the outer leaves removed & then

washed in warm water & cooked whole in a little water; & then when they are

cooked add salt & oil & serve them very thick, without water, & put olive

oil over them in Lent.

Red Cabbage Salad

red cabbage, herbs, lettuces, olive oil, balsamic, salt

edible flowers

Gauffres (Wafers), Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Wafers (Gauffres) be made in five ways. By one method you beat up the eggs

in a bowl, then add salt & wine & throw in flour, & mix them, & then put

them on two irons, little by little, each time as much paste as the size of

a leche or strip of cheese, & press them between the two irons & cook on

both sides; & if the iron doth not separate easily from the paste, grease it

beforehand with a little cloth moistened in oil or fat. The second method is

like to the first, but you put in cheese, that is to wit you spread out the

paste as though to make a tart or pasty, & then you add the cheese in leches

in the middle & cover the two ends; this the cheese remaineth between the

two pastes & is this set between two irons. The third method is that of

Strained Waffles & they be called strained for this reason only, that the

paste is clearer & it as it were boiled clear, after the aforesaid manner; &

onto it one scatters grated cheese; & all is mixed together. - The fourth

method is flour made into a paste with water, salt, wine without either eggs

or cheese. Item, the wafer makers make another kind called big sticks, which

be made of flour made into a paste with eggs & powdered ginger beaten

together, & then made of like size & in like manner to chitterlings, between

two irons.

Wafers

24 eggs

4 C sugar

1.5 lb. butter

8 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

To Make Candied Orange Peel, Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

Divide the peel of one orange into five quarters & scrape with a knife to

remove the white part inside, then put them to soak in good sweet water for

nine days, & change the water every day, then cook them in good water just

till boiling, & when this happens, spread them on a cloth & let them get

thoroughly dry, then put them in a pot with enough honey to cover them, &

boil on a low fire & skim, & when you believe the honey is cooked, (to test

if it is cooked, have some water in a bowl, & let drip into this one drop of

the honey, & if it spread, it is not cooked; & if the drop of honey holds

together in the water without spreading out it is cooked;) & then you must

remove your orange peel, & make one layer with it, & sprinkle with ginger

powder, then another layer, & sprinkle etc., & so on, & leave it a month or

more then eat.

Candied Orange Peel

3 oranges

2 C honey

powdered ginger

Rinse and peel the fruit. Bring the peels to a boil in a saucepan with 1

pint of cold water. Boil for 10 minutes, drain off the water, add a pint of

fresh water. Repeat this process twice. Drain, add another quart of water

and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain, cook 2 Cups water and 2 C honey down to a

syrup. Lower the heat and add the peel. Cook until soft ball stage, and cool

in a bed of sugar or on a rack.

Notice that this candied orange peel recipe specifies honey, while

ones in later-period English and French resources specify sugar. It's

interesting just how much of an influence sea transportation during the Age

of Exploration had on cuisine - sugar transported west via overland

merchants in earlier centuries was far more expensive, and thus used in much

smaller quantities in cooking. - Katja

The art of comfet-making, teaching how to cover all kinds of seeds, fruits

or spices with sugar, Delights........

First of all you must have a deepe bottomed bason of fine cleane brasse or

latten, with two eares of Iron to hang it with two several cords over a

bason or earthen pan with hot coales. You must also have a broad pan to put

ashes in, & hot coales upon them. You must have a clean latten bason onto

melt your sugar in, or a faire brasen skillet. You must also have a fine

brasen ladle, to let run the sugar upon the seeds. You must aslo have a

brasen slice, to scrape away the sugar from the hanging bason if neede

require. Having all these necessarie vessells & instruments, worke as

followeth. Choose the whitest, finest, & hardest sugar, a qarter of a pound

of Anniseed; or Coriander seeds, & your comfits will be great enough; & if

you will make them greater, take halfe a pound more of sugar, or one pound

more, & then they will be faire & large. And halfe a pound of Annis-seeds

with two pounds of sugar, will make fine small comfits. You may also take

quarter & a halfe of Annis-seeds, & three pound of Sugar, or halfe a pound

of Annis seeds, & foure pound of sugar Do the like in Coriander-seeds. Melt

your Sugar in this manner:viz. Put three pounds of your powder-sugar into

the bason, & one pint of cleane running water thereunto; stirre it well with

a brazen slice, until all be moist & well wet: then set it over the fire,

without smoke or flame, & melt it well, that there bee no whole gristie

sugar in the bottome, & let it seethe mildely, untill it will streame from

the Ladle like Turpentine, with a long streame, & not drop: when it is come

to this decoction, let it seethe no more, but keep it upon hot embers, that

it may run from the Ladle upon the seeds. To make them speedily, let your

water be seething hot, or seething & put powder sugar to them: cast on your

sugar boiling hote: have a good warme fire under the hanging Bason Take as

much water to your Sugar, as will dissolve the same. Never skim you sugar,

if it bee clean & fine. Put no kind of starch or Amylum to your sugar. Seeth

not your Sugar too long: for, that will make it black, yellow or tawnie.

Moove the seeds in the hanging bason as fast as you can or may, when the

sugar is in casting. At first coate put on but one halfe spoonefull with the

ladle, & all to move the bason, move, stirre & rubbe the seeds with thy left

hand a pretty while, for they will take sugar the better, & drie them well

after every coate. Doe this at every coat, not onely moving the bason, but

also with the stirring of the comfits with the left hand, & drying the same,

thus dooin you shall make good speed in the making:as, in everie three

houres you may make three pound of comfits. And as the cofits doe increase

in greatness, so you may take more Sugar in your ladle to cast on. But for

plaine comfits, let your Sugar be of a light decoction last, & of a higher

decoction first, & not too hote. For crips & ragged comfits, make your sugar

of a high decoction, even as high as it may runne from the ladle, & let fall

a foothigh or more from the ladle, & the hotter you cast in your sugar, the

more ragged will your comfits bee. Also the comfits will not take so much of

the sugar as they will upon a light decoction, & they will keepe their

raggednesse long. This high decociton must serve for eight or ten coates in

the end of the worke, put on at every time but one spoonefull,and have a

light hand with your bason, casting on but little sugar. A quarter of a

pound of Coriander seeds & three pound of sugar will make great huge, & big

comfets. See that you keepe your Sugar alwaies in good temper in the bason,

that it burne not into lumpes or gobbets: & if your sugar bee at any time

too high boyled, put in a spoonefull or two of water, & keep it warily with

the ladle, & let your fire alwaies bee without smoke or flame. Some commend

a Ladle that hath a hoel in it to let the sugar run thorow of a height: but

you may make your comfits in their perfect forme & shape, onely with a plain

Ladle. Wehn you comfits be make, set your dishes with your comfits upon

papers in them, before the heat of the fire, or in the hot Sunne, or in an

Oven after the bread is drawne, by the space of an houre or two: and this

will make them to be very white. Take a quarter of a pound of Annis-seeds, &

two pound of Sugar & this proportion will make them very great: & even a

like quantity take of Carroway-seeds, Fennell seeds & Coriander seeds. Take

of the fines Cinamon, & cut it into pretty small stickes beeing dry & beware

you wet it not, that deadeth the Cinamon: And then worke as in other

comfits. Doe this with Orenge rindes likewise. Worke upon Ginger, Cloves, &

Almonds, as upon other seeds.

Le Me'nagier de Paris, 1393

First, for five hundred walnuts, take a pound of mustard-seed & half a pound

of anise, a quatrain & a half of fennel, a quatrain & a half of coriander, a

quatrain & a half of caraway seed, which is a seed eaten in dragees...

Dragees (sugared seeds)

1 cup fine sugar

1/2 C coriander, anise, caraway, and fennel seeds

1/2 C hot water

Cook a sugar syrup to the soft ball stage. Spoon some over dry seeds and

stir them around with a fork. Keep adding syrup and stirring the seeds to

build up layers of candying. Let cool between layers.

Note that the French source calls these sweet "dragees," while the later

source (which actually explains the process) calls them "comfits." - Katja

Research Sources for Redactions and Feast Service

Le MËnagier de Paris (The Goodman of Paris): A Treatise on Moral and

Domestic Economy by A Citizen of Paris, 1393; translation by Eileen Power,

Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, 1928.

Janet Hinson translation available on-line at

http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

The Viviender: A 15th Century French Cookery Manuscript - A Critical

Edition with English Translation, Terence Scully, Prospect Books, 1997.

Early French Cookery: Sources, History, Original Recipes and Modern

Adaptation, D. Eleanor Scully and Terence Scully, University of Michigan

Press, 1995.

The Viandier of Taillevent (Guillaume Tirel, the Provisioner) : An

Edition of All Extant Manuscripts (c. 1370), edited by Terence Scully,

University of Ottawa Press, 1988.

Du Fait de Cuisine (On Cookery), Maistre Chiquart Amiczo, 1420;

translation, Terence Scully, Vallesia, 1985. Elizabeth Cook translation

available on-line at

www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Du_Fait_de_Cuisine/Du_fait_de_Cuisine.

html

Savoring the Past: The French Kitchen and Table from 1300 to 1789,

Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, Simon & Schuster, 1983.

For bread and spiced butter recipes (non-14th Century French sources):

Jewel-house of Arte & Nature, Hugh Plat, 1594, English.

De Obseruatione Ciborium (On the Observance of Food), Anthimus, 6th

Century Greek, Mark Grant translation, 1996.

Yale University's Beinecke Manuscript, 15th Century English recipes,

from An Ordinance of Pottage, Constance B. Hieatt, Prospect Books, 1988.

For the dragees (non-14th Century French source):

Delights for Ladies, to adorne their Perfons, Tables, Clofets, and

Diftillatoriess, With Beatuies, Banqvets, Perfumes & Waters, 1609