SC - Tredure

[James L. Matterer]

I just submitted this recipe to the Misty Highlands for use in their
newsletter - thought I'd share it with all of you.

Tredure
from Forme of Cury, no. 17
   
"17. Tredure. Take brede and grate it; make a lyre of rawe ayren, and do
therto safroun and powdour douce, and lye it vp with gode broth, and
make it as a cawdel. And do therto a lytel verious."
                                                                        
My translation: Take bread and grate it; make a thickening of raw eggs,
and add saffron and cinnamon and sugar, and mix it up with good broth,
and make it smooth and thick. And add a little verjus.

My redaction:

2 eggs
1/2 - 1 c. bread crumbs
4 c. broth (3 c. chicken broth, 1 c. pork broth, seasoned with pepper,
cummin, saffron, and salt)  
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tbs. white grape juice vinegar

   Beat together the eggs and bread crumbs until mixture is smooth and
thick; set aside. Bring broth to a boil. Add egg mixture, spices, and
lemon juice, and while stirring vigorously with a wire whip, return to a
boil. Reduce heat, allow to cook for several minutes, then remove from
heat. Make sure that the final product is very smooth and thick. Serve
warm. Serves 4.

"Powdour douce" is defined by Curye on Inglish (from which this recipe
is drawn) as a mild mixture of ground spices, usually containing
cinnamon and sugar, which is what I have used.  The "lyre," or
thickening, of egg and bread not only ensures that the end result is a
"cawdel"- a smoothly thickened sauce or soup - but also makes an
excellent binding agent for the cinnamon. I've found that passing the
finished soup through a food processor or blender will provide you with
an excellant cawdel. Curye on Inglish also defines "verious" as being
the "liquid of acid fruits such as sour grapes and crabapples."

For the broth, I used "Hens in bonet" from Napier's Noble Boke of Cookry
as translated in W.E. Mead's The English Medieval Feast, p. 71: "This is
made by stewing hens and fresh pork together, grinding pepper, bread,
and cummin, seasoning it, tempering it with the hens' broth, colouring
it with saffron, adding salt, and serving it." When making the broth I
left out the bread crumbs, as they were added later on when making the
Tredure.

Bibliography

Hieatt, Constance B. and Butler, Sharon.  Curye on Inglish: English
Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth Century (Including the Forme of
Cury). London: For the Early English Text Society by the Oxford
University Press, 1985.

Mead, William Edward. The English Medieval Feast. New York: Barnes &
Noble, Inc.