SC - Butter-oops

[Mark Schuldenfrei]

  This situation may have something in common with the recent
  fish-outside-of-Lent thread. I suspect one possibility might be that
  butter is something that the lower classes would have eaten whenever
  possible, while the rich, feeling that they had to resort to it on fish
  and/or fast days, might conceivably avoid it on those days when things
  like "greasy seme" of meat might be available.

On a mild tangent: here is a recipe I redacted that uses butter...  and note
that the call for cheese calls for a buttery sort of cheese.

	Tibor

Copyright Mark Schuldenfrei, 1995

Cheese and Saffron Tart	("Auter Tartus", Harleian MS 4016, #30)
Sources found in "Take a Thousand Eggs or More", Cindy Renfrow, 1991.

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Cheese and Saffron Tart

  "30 Auter Tartus. Take faire nessh chese that is buttry, and par hit,
  grynde hit in a morter; cast therto faire creme and grinde hit togidre;
  temper hit with goode mylke, that hit be no thikker (th)en rawe creme,
  and cast thereto a litul salt if nede be; And thi chese be salte, caste
  thereto neuer a dele; colour hit with saffron; then make a large coffyn
  of faire paste, & lete the brinkes be rered more (th)en an enche of hegh;
  lete (th)e coffyn harden in (th)e oven; (th)en take it oute, put gobettes
  of butter in the bothom thereof, And caste the stuffe there-to, and caste
  peces of buttur there- vppon, and sette in (th)e oven with-oute lydde,
  and lete bake ynowe, and then cast sugur thereon, and serue it forth.
  And if (th)ou wilt, lete him haue a lydde; but (th)en thi stuff most be
  as thikke as Mortrewes."

I considered several cheeses, and decided that brie was soft as butter, and
unsalted pretty much.  I chose to use a commercial pie crust, instead of a
coffin, partially for time reasons, and partially because I figured most
folks would be more comfortable with a tart in modern form, than a cheese
and butter spread that you would have to scoop out of an inedible coffin.
I chose regular creme instead of heavy creme, since from what I understand,
modern whole milk is thinner than untreated milk, and heavy creme is
extremely heavy in comparison to anything but the thickest cream. I chose to
eliminate the bottom layer of butter, since a commercial pie crust has more
fats in it than a period coffin would.

1 vegetarian pie shell			1 lb brie (or a bit less, not more)
1/2 pint cream				1/8 stick butter
TBSP salt				pinch saffron

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cut the crust off the brie, and chop into
small bits.  Grind the saffron in the salt, and heat the cream in a little
saucepan over low heat.  Add the saffron, and stir, until the cream gets
just too hot to place a finger in, or you get enough bright yellow color.

Place the pie crust on an edged cookie sheet, or something that can catch
the drippings (if any.) Fill the pie crust with the brie, and pour much of
the cream/saffron mixture in it.  Do not overfill the crust.  Thinly slice
about 4 pieces of butter, and cut them in half, and place on the top of the
pie.  Place in the oven, and bake 30 minutes, or until a really nice brown
develops on the top of the pie.  It will still be loose on top.  Remove
carefully from the oven, and let cool until it sets.