SC - Re: Lombardy Custard

[L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt]

Mistress Sincgiefu quizzes us:
>Does anyone have any insight into these instructions to "streyne hem all
>[th]orgh a straynour till hit be so thik that it woll bere him self" ?  I
>tried beating all together, but it never got as thick as described.  Could
>this mean we are to make "whipped" cream, "so thik that it woll bere him
>self", and then fold in the beaten eggs?  Has anyone tried this? (I ran out
>of cream before I ran out of interpretations...)
>
Adamantius once gave us a concise explanation of "beating" egg whites by
ladeling them a teacupful at a time through a fine mesh strainer. I would
guess that this, using the entire egg, is the equivalent of eggs beaten
until thick and lemon-colored. In a pinch (or now that I give this a
once-over, I'd try this first anyway), I would beat the yolks only, which
can get quite light and thick on their own. It would then be possible to
fold them into beaten egg whites, but I fail to see how this would then make
a custard. It would be more like a soufle. But that puts us in approximately
the correct area of the world, right?

>Harleian MS. 279, c. 1430, - Dyuerse Bake Metis
>xvij.  Crustade lumbard.  Take gode Creme, & leuys of Percely, & Eyroun,
>[th]e yolkys & [th]e whyte, & breke hem [th]er-to, & strayne [th]orwe a
>straynoure, tyl it be so styf [th]at it wol bere hym-self; [th]an take
>fayre Marwe, & Datys y-cutte in .ij. or .iij. & Prunes; & putte [th]e Datys
>an [th]e Prunes & Marwe on a fayre cofynne, y-mad of fayre past, & put
>[th]e cofyn on [th]e ovyn tyl it be a lytel hard; [th]anne draw hem out of
>[th]e ouyn; take [th]e lycour & putte [th]er-on, & fylle it vppe, & caste
>Sugre y-now on, & Salt; [th]an lat bake to-gederys tyl it be y-now; & gif
>it be in lente, lef [th]e Eyroun & [th]e Marwe out, & [th]anne serue it
>forth.

Must have been a severe form of lenten observance, for Eggs to be left out.
Marrow I can understand, but:  eggs are verboten, cream allowed?

>
>Harleian MS. 4016
>27 Custard lumbarde.  Take good creme, and yolkes And white of egges, and
>breke hem thereto, and streyne hem all [th]orgh a straynour till hit be so
>thik that it woll bere him self; And take faire Mary, And Dates, cutte in
>ij. or iij. and prunes, and put hem in faire coffyns of paast; And then put
>[th]e coffyn in an oven, And lete hem bake till thei be hard, And then
>drawe hem oute, and putte the licoure into [th]e Coffyns, and put hem into
>[th]e oven ayen, And lete hem bake till they be ynogh, but cast sugur and
>salt in [th]i licour whan ye putte hit into [th]e coffyns; And if hit be in
>lenton, take creme of Almondes, And leve the egges And the Mary.

After reading both, and thinking about it a little while, I think this
recipe calls for two layers in your coffin (Is it or is it not a "Tarte"?):
First prepare the "licuor", which is the custard: Beat the eggs until very
thick with the cream and parsley if you like green custard, use heavy cream,
and if it won't beat sufficiently to become incorporated, you'll have to try
beating them seperately, and then combining them. I think you need to
ananlyse how you're doing the beating. Failing the ability to strain as
indicated, I think I'd go to the next most voluminous method: Copper bowl,
room temperature ingredients, and a very large hand-held whisk.  

Put the dried fruit, marrow, etc. into the coffin and give them a
preliminary bake, until it forms a crust or skin. Then, pour on your
'licour' or custard mixture, to which has been added sugar and salt at the
last minute. Then return to the oven.

This would give you a "black-bottom pie" effect, with a sweet heavy bottom
layer and a light, fluffy custard layer.  Since there is no mention of a
'lid', I'll assume it's a tarte. Either way, I can see why you'd like to
make the recipe work.

Is this, by any chance, a future addition to a new volume to be published?
Just curious.


Aoife


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