SC - Mosserouns yflorys?

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Alys of Foxdale wrote:
> 
> > Now if only we could thresh out the whole mosserouns yflorys issue, I
> > could die a happy man ;  ).

> Well, now that we're clued in on cuskynoles, what the heck is the
> mosserouns yflorys issue, and why does it need to be threshed out?

The suspense was killing you, eh ;  ) ? I hadn't really expected an
answer on that one; it is arguably the most confusing and ambiguous
recipe in the Anglo-Norman 14th-century repertoire, I certainly can't
think of one offhand with more potential unanswered questions to be
attached to it (except, maybe, cuskynoles). The recipe is from MS. He.,
referred to in _Curye on Inglysche_ as "Diversa Cibaria":

"55.		Mosserouns florys: ...in rost ysih hou gentiliche & sone. Veorst
*ou schalt maken riht wel passen, & so**en in water cold cast larde
cold; make bringen & onelich hewen; *enne nym sone *e musseruns, lardes
coynteliche wi* larduns. Make as were vor to swerden & so**en aske a god
roste. Nou inoh is the mes in rost, of ayren do awet *e qwyt. Some on *e
gredil riht veyre floris speces. Nym & caste gilofre & kanel; wi*innen
meddlen."
			["*" is used in place of the Anglo-Saxon letter whose name is
pronounced "eth", roughly equivalent to the diphthong "th". I  figured
most folks wouldn't be able to pick up non-standard ASCII letters.]

So, as best as I can decipher, what we have is a dish whose method I
believe consists of washing/trimming the mushrooms, chilling some pork
fat for easier cutting, cutting the fat into small pieces, and carefully
larding the  mushrooms. They are roasted until done, at which point some
eggs are separated, the whites being discarded, and the yolks presumably
reserved for use.While still on the gridiron, the mushrooms are
sprinkled with finely powdered spices, the dish is mixed together, and,
I assume, served.

The main problem is the mention of eggs. The recipe doesn't say what to
do with them. If I had to guess, I'd say that the roasted mushrooms are
to be coated with the raw egg yolks, and, before the yolks are allowed
to set in the heat of the fire, the spices are sprinkled on, and they
stick to the outside of the coated mushrooms. Just how the egg yolks are
applied (if at all) is anybody's guess. One possibility that comes to
mind is that the griddle mentioned is more like a modern pancake griddle
or bakestone, rather than an open 
grill of metal bars. This would allow the egg yolks to be poured over
the mushrooms, the spices sprinkled on, and the whole thing stirred to
coat the mushrooms in spiced egg yolk glaze.

However, I'm pretty much clutching at straws here. If you've ever larded
foods, you'll have a fair idea of how difficult larding mushrooms might
be. Add to that the ambiguity regarding the eggs, and you see what I
mean about the recipe being confusing. And what's worse, this one hasn't
got a diagram :   )!   One possible solution would be to think of this
dish in terms of stuffed mushrooms, laying a small slice of fat inside
the upturned mushroom cap, roasting it, topping off the hollow cap with
egg yolk and spices, and finishing the cooking. This would probably give
you a fairly good approximation of how the dish is supposed to taste,
without necessarily addressing the question of how it is intended to be
structured, cooked, or served.

I tried this dish at a local event a few months ago, rather on the spur
of the moment (I'd gotten an excellent deal on Portabellos the night
before and showed up in the morning with two cases in hand). What with
one thing and another, I decided to do the dish with butter instead of
pork fat, which I still feel was an acceptable idea. The other, less
defensible change I made was to use beaten whole eggs, since I didn't
want to just throw away the whites, and had an exceedingly full menu
without having to come up with a use for them. It turned out all right,
but I've subsequently tried it with the pork fat and egg yolks, and the
dish was much better.

So, I suppose what I was hoping was that someone would look at this
recipe and notice whatever it was that I missed, and would point it out
to me.

Thanks for your time!

G. Tacitus Adamantius