puddings-msg

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puddings-msg – 5/13/06

Medieval puddings. recipes. custards.

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From: ELDREDGE at ucf1vm.cc.ucf.EDU (Catherine Elizabeth)

Date: 4 Jun 91 19:07:09 GMT

I have received a few replies asking for my pudding recipes. I am

including documentation information and author's and personal notes on

each pudding, so this is a longer posting than I usually like to send.

Source:

_Elinor_Fettiplace's_Receipt_Book:__Elizabethan_Country_House_Cooking_;

Spurling, Hilary; New York: Viking, c1986; ISBN 0-670-81592-6.

I highly recommend reading this book. The introduction alone (38 pages)

gives a wonderful feel for the both the foods and the period.

page 46:

"To Make a Bagge Pudinge

Take thicke Creame and make yt somwhat hotter then bloud warme, then

take hafe a dossen egges and beate them well and mingle them with yor

Creame then ad to yt a little parsely and winter savory cut very smale and

som nutmegges suger and a little salte then put to it as much Crumes of

bread and fine flower as will make yt thicker then Batter for pan-Cakes,

then wett yor bagge in cold watter and put yt in and when yor water boyles

put him into yt, yt must not bee boyled with meate but alone in fayre water"

3 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp flour (rounded)

1 cup fine white breadcrumbs

1 pint cream (warmed)

1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs

nutmeg (1 pinch grated nutmeg)

salt and pepper

Add the flour and breadcrumbs to the beaten eggs and beat together very well.

While stirring, add the warmed cream. Add the salt & pepper, chopped herbs,

and a generous grating of nutmeg. Grease a heatproof 1 1/2 quart dish and

pour in the batter. Cover with two layers of aluminum foil, securely tied.

Lower it into a saucepan containing enough boiling water to come half way

up the sides. Simmer it gently for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Serve at once

or the pudding will flop.

Mrs Spurling recommends half cream and half milk, all milk for a rich meal.

She also varies the herbs depending on the meat. Parsley & winter savory or

mint with lamb, chives and a sage leaf or two with pork, thyme and marjoram

with almost any meat.

I have NOT made this pudding, yet.

page 47:

"For a Pudding

Take twelve eggs & breake them, then take crumbs of bred, & mace &

currance & dates cut small, & some oxe suet small minced & some saffron,

put all these in a sheepes Mawe, & so boile it."

12 eggs

2 lb breadcrumbs

2 lb suet, minced

5-6 lb dried fruit

Mix the ingredients together. Line a *large* pan with aluminum foil and butter

the foil. Put the pudding mix into the pan and cover with more buttered foil.

(I let the foil touch the pudding.) Put the pan into another pan with about

1 inch of water in it. Bake at 350F for approx. 2 hours. (I start checking

I start checking at 1 hour and then every 15 minutes by sliding a butter knife

into the middle of the pudding until it comes out clean. Add water to the

second pan as needed to keep the level up. This recipe will serve 40. I serve

it with hard sauce (equal parts butter and sugar beaten to a cream with sherry)

I use 2 1-lb loaves of bread and make the crumbs in my food processor, I also

process the suet to make it as "small minced" as possible. You can use Crisco

instead of suet, but the taste and texture (at least on your tongue) are

completely different.

I made this recipe for Twelfth Night a few years ago.

page 211

"To make a pudding

Take the top of the morning milke, & a good deal of grated manchet and

some flower, but not so much flower as bread, then put in three egg yolks

& whites, some cloves & mace, & a little salt, some great Reasins, a good

piece of butter melted, so temper all this well together, let it bee somewhat

thicker than batter, so bake it, & serve it."

2 pints thick creamy milk, or milk mixed with cream

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 tbsp flour (rounded)

3 eggs

1/4 tsp ground cloves (2-3 cloves)

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (mace, if you have it)

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter (melted)

1/4 cup raisins

brown sugar

Mix together the milk (less 2 tbsp) with the breadcrumbs in a saucepan over low

heat. Mix the flour and the reserved milk into a paste and add to the milk

mixture. Heat to a gentle simmer. Beat the eggs until they are thick and

frothy, and stir them into the warm mixture. Add the ground cloves and nutmeg,

salt, melted butter, and raisins. Remove from the heat and let stand 20

minutes. Bake in a well buttered dish 45 to 50 minutes at 350F. Dot with

butter and sprinkle with brown sugar as it comes out of the oven. Let the

topping melt and soak in a little before serving.

I have *not* made this pudding.

I hope this will help some of the gentles who are interested in a period

replacement for the ubiquitous potato. As a small note, don't forget the

turnip -- very nice mashed with milk and butter (yum).

--------------

Lady Catherine Elizabeth Anne Somerton Mrs Cynthia Eldredge

Barony of Darkwater, Trimaris Orlando, Florida

From: ELDREDGE at ucf1vm.cc.ucf.EDU (Catherine Elizabetj)

Date: 10 Jun 91 17:44:22 GMT

It has been brought to my attention, thank you Cariadoc, that I should

point out to inexperienced readers some facts about the pudding recipes

I posted last week.

1. The detailed recipes (quantities, times, & temperatures) are the

work of the modern editor.

2. Notes that start or mention "I" mean me, Catherine Elizabeth.

3. Also, you are free to interpret the original recipes (the ones in

quotation marks) by your own judgement. The editor has no special

information that make her versions authoritative.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Catherine Elizabeth Anne Somerton Mrs Cynthia Eldredge

Barony of Darkwater, Trimaris Orlando, Florida, USA

From: jtn at nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Feast Menus

Date: 17 Nov 1993 16:46:58 GMT

Greetings, all, from Angharad ver' Rhuawn.

Brother Crimthann asks,

>We're also

>talking about using the bread removed from the loaves to make bread pudding

>for dessert; I'm pretty sure that the pudding itself is period England

>(dates anyone?) but what about the ingredients: sugar, raisins, cinnamon,

>etc?

There are bread-based puddings, but they aren't much like

modern bread puddings. On the other hand, bread is one

of the three great thickeners of the high middle ages in

Europe (the others being ground almonds and rice flour).

Use it to thicken your stew, as Cariadoc suggested.

If you want pointers to period bread-based puddings, let

me know.

-- Angharad/Terry

Date: Fri, 1 Aug 1997 07:08:13 -0500

From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>

Subject: Puddings

Congratulations, Tibor. This looks yummy!

>It says make a stiff pudding. That means that I'd probably start with

>everything but the cream, and dilute as needed. I'd have to figure this by

>eye. Right now, I don't know how big a tench is! Do I need one cup, or one

>gallon of stuffing?

>I'd beat the yolks, gently, just to mix them up, add herbs and spices to

>taste, and the fruit. I'd probably grab about half as much bread, in volume

>as I have egg liquid (should be about a quarter cup with the currants and 3

>eggs) and add enough cream after it is all mixed, to make a dough that is

>just this side of runny. Pour that pudding into the fish belly, rub the

>fish with butter, season with the salt, pepper and a little nutmeg, and bake

>in a closed casserole dish. Probably 20 minutes at 300, or so. (I'd want

>a cooler oven, and a longer time, so the pudding can set. The fish is

>already parboiled, so it won't require much cookery.)

I seem to recall that older "pudding" recipes come in three consistencies:

Quaking, which means barely held together by starchy ingredients, so that it

is jiggly on the plate.

Semi soft, which would be more like what you think of a dessert pudding,

slightly more solid.

Extremely dense, such as Figgy Pudding or Cambridge Pudding.

Now that you brought it up, I am wondering which consistency was intended

here? I think you're right to err on the side of "light". I am extremely

fond or savory puddings. I must try your recipe redaction!

Aoife--now definately late.

Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 02:01:58 +0000

From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>

Subject: Re: SC - Re: White, Dafair, Flour & Semolina

And it came to pass on 4 Nov 97, that Christina van Tets wrote:

> 4) Is there a (period) semolina pudding (cold) which uses dates,

> spices and rosewater? I seem to be devising one but thought it not

> unlikely that a recipe already existed.

Does it have to be semolina? There's a Spanish pudding-like recipe

called "Ginestada" which is made with rice flour and almond milk (or

goat milk). When the mixture is half-cooked, add sugar, a little

saffron dissolved in rosewater, as well as pine nuts and quartered

(slivered) almonds and dates. Cook well. Egg yolks may be added

towards the end of cooking, but are not required. I did not add any

when I tried this dish, which came out rather like an Indian "firni"

- -- sweet, pleasant, and a little bland. The recipe says to sprinkle

the finished dish with sugar and cinnamon, but then, the "Libro de

Guisados" says to sprinkle nearly *everything* with sugar and/or

cinnamon, and de Nola comments in some other recipe that it can be

omitted, since food should be cooked according to your lord's taste.

The quantities listed for "five dishes" are: 2 ounces of rice flour,

one ounce sugar, almond milk from a pound and a half of almonds.

Amounts are not given for the other ingredients -- I opted for a

ginestada that was fairly thickly studded with dates and nuts.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain of Tethba

Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom

mka Robin Carroll-Mann *** harper at idt.net

Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 09:46:52 -0400

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Re: White, Dafair, Flour & Semolina

Christina van Tets wrote:

> 4) Is there a (period) semolina pudding (cold) which uses dates,

> spices and rosewater? I seem to be devising one but thought it not

> unlikely that a recipe already existed.

I have a vague recollection of an Italian blancmange sort of stuff made

by mixing still-warm, cooked semolina with hot stirred custard and dried

fruit, and poured into a mold to set. I further have a vague

recollection that something very similar is in either Epulario or

Platina, except that I currently have neither source on hand to check.

Anybody else want to look into this? Failing that, there is almost

certainly some sort of hulwah in one of the Islamic sources, that comes

pretty close to what you describe.

Adamantius

Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 20:48:14 -0400

From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Mortrewes

Christi Redeker wrote:

> Can anyone tell me what Mortrewes are? I have no references with me at work to look them up. Thanks!

> Murkial

Mortrews, mortrellus, mortrewes, are all spoonable dishes best described

as savory puddings made from boiled meat, poultry, or fish, ground in a

mortar (hence the name, apparently), mixed with some of the cooking

broth, and thickened with bread crumbs, or perhaps rice flour as a

substitute. Extra thick dishes, with bread crumbs added till the dish is

"stondyng" and/or could be sliced, would have been "Double Mortrews". In

my opinion this could be one of the dishes that gave rise to the myth

about excessively spiced medieval meat dishes. But darn it, it isn't the

meat, it's the %$# at #$% bread crumbs. I had similar experiences with

haggis, which just seems to eat up the seasonings without noticeable

effect.

Early in my time as an SCA cook, I was told by Baron Salaamallah (he of

mustard soup fame) that mortrews was perhaps the only medieval European

dish that it was impossible to make taste good. After finally having

mastered haggis (more or less) I might be willing to take it on.

From "The Forme of Cury":

"46 Mortrews. Take hennes and pork and seeth hem togyder. Take the lyre

of hennes and of the pork and hewe it small, and grind it all to doust;

take brede ygrated and do therto, and temper it with thr self broth, and

alye it with yolkes of ayren; and cast theron powdour fort. Boille it

and do therin powdour of gynger, sugar, saffron, and salt, and loke that

it be stondyng; and flour it with powdour gynger."

Normally the very idea of a standing pottage makes me want to spew; I

think in this case the thing to do is make it as Double Mortrews, which

should end up resembling the filling of some of the French white

puddings, and not too far from what haggis is supposed to be, either.

Adamantius

Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 09:47:00 -0600

From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>

Subject: SC - Yule Challenge

Well, it was MY challenge, so I guess I have to come up with something good.

I choose Cambridge Pudding. Yum! Perfect for very cold, blustery days,

economical, fairly easy, and gets served in my house with single cream (not

for the artery-clog conscious folks---sorry Tibor!). Ragnar will recognise

this one---his lady wife Rowan redacted it last year. We made her do it

blind, but I've given a "professional" redaction here. Rowan chose to use an

entire stick of butter in the middle, which I musy say I preferred. Cutting

this at the table gives you a chicken-kiev-like experience, when the butter

rushes out and puddles on the platter.

A New Booke of Cookerie, J. Murrell, 1615 (Yes, for you purists it's 15

years too late. It's close enough for ME, however. In my book---as I was

taught when I joined years ago, the SCA covers to 1650).

Cambridge Pudding

Searce grated Bread through a Cullinder, mince it with flower, minct Dates,

Currins, Nutmeg, Sinamon, and Pepper, minct Suit, new Milke warme, fine

Sugar, and Egges: take away some of their whites, work all together. Take

halfe the Pudding on the one side, and the other on the other side, and make

it round like loafe. Then take Butter, and put it in the middest of the

Pudding, and the other halfe aloft. Let your Liquor boyle, and throw your

Pudding in, being tyed in a faire cloth: when it is boyled enough cut it in

the middest and so serve it in.

Cambridge Pudding--Early American Cooking, Peter Pauper Press, White Plains NY

2 cups bread crumbs

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flower

1 cup minced dates

1 1/2 cups currants

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

3/4 cup chopped suet (chopped very fine)

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup milk, warmed

2 eggs

3 tablespoons butter

Mix the breadcrumbs, flour, dried fruits, spices, and suet until well

blended. Beat the eggs and milk together, pour over the bread mixture, and

work lightly with a spoon until well combined. Seperate the mixture into 2

halves, and form them both into rounds resembling bread loaves. (Here it

leaves out the step of putting the ball or lump of butter against the bottom

of one of the dough balls). Press the bottom side of the remaining loaf

against the first, so that the butter is now at the center of the ball.

Place the pudding ball in the center of a large round (20") cheesecloth.

Wrap the pudding loosely, binding the ends at the top with a string.

Meanwhile bring a 4 quart pot of water to a rolling boil. Drop the pudding

in the pot, cover, and cook for 1 1/4 hours. Remove from water, unwrap

immediately, slice and serve. Serves 8

NOTE: I find I'd rather have it steamed (an hour is fine), but that's not

quite a period practice. Also, we found it served rather more than 8. It is

extremely rich, and very very good.

Aoife

Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 17:38:07 EST

From: melc2newton at juno.com (Michael P Newton)

Subject: SC - redaction challenge

to get back on the subject of cooking:

I found a pudding recipe copied from A New Booke of Cookerie, by

J.Murrell, 1615 (a little opp, but not by much)

Cambridge Pudding

Searce grated Bread through a Cullinder, mince it with flower, minct

Dates, Currins, Nutmeg,Sinamon, and Pepper, minct Suit, new Milke warme,

fine Sugar, and Egges: Take away some of their whites, worke all

together. Take halfe the Pudding on the one side, and the other on the

other side, and make it round like a loafe. Then take Butter, and put it

in the middest of the Pudding, and the other halfe aloft. Let your Liquor

boyle, and throw your Pudding in, being tyed in a faire cloth: when it is

boyled enough cut it in the middest and so serve it in.

Redaction Please!

Lady Beatrix

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 13:51:34 EST

From: melc2newton at juno.com (Michael P Newton)

Subject: SC - Cambridge Pudding revisited

Having a period potluck to go to (we have one every quarter in our

Shire), I went ahead and used the redaction challange I put up on list to

get people talking about cooking agian. The pudding went over very well,

with several people asking me if it was going to cooked for a feast soon.

The redaction I used was the one which came from The Plimoth Plantation

Cookbook

Cambridge Pudding

2 cups bread crumbs (I used grated white)

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 cup wheat flour (Used just 1 cup of white flour, instead)

1 cup minced dates

1 1/2 cups currents (I couldn't find currents here in Springfield, so I &nbs