SC - Herbolade/Leche lardys

[LYN M PARKINSON]

Stefan, 

Just read that recipe this afternoon, in An Ordinance of Pottage.  There,
it is called 'leche lardys', recipe #19.  The traditional way was,
apparently, to divide it and color it, serving slices of the different
colors in the same dish.


To make leche lardys of iii colors

Take clene cow mylke and put hit in iii pottys.  Breke to everych a
quantyte of eyron as thu seist best is to do.  Coloure one rede colour
with saundres & anothyr with saveryn, the iii with grene herbys.  Puit to
everych a porcyon of clene larde of fat of bacon well sodyn & pertyd in
iii pottys; put to salt.  Boyle hem all at ones; stere hem well for
brennyng yn the boyling.  Take hem downe.  Cast hem into a cloth, everych
above other, and wynd the cloth togedyr & presse out all the juse.  Than
take hem out all hole and make leches of hem, and do iii or iiii leches
in a dysch, and serve hem forth.


Constance Hiett's Redaction:

Milk and egg curd, with bacon

4 eggs			for green colouring: a handful of parsley
and/or spinach, plus and other herbs 2 cups milk   		 which
appeal, e.g. summer savory
4 slices bacon
1/2 tsp. salt		for yellow: a pinch of saffron

For green coloring, grind the herbs as finely as you can, or boil them
for a minute or so and grind with a spoonful of the cooking water, so
they will be reduced to juice.  For yellow, you can either steep the
saffron in a small amount of boiling water or grind it.
	Cover the bacon with cold water and bring to a boil; then drain
and cut the bacon into small pieces.  If you prefer bacon slightly crisp,
fry these lightly.
	Beat eggs and milk thoroughly, and stir in the bacon.  Colour as
desired.  Cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until the
milk is thickly curdled.  This is one 'custard' which should actually
curdle.
	When the mixture is very thick, pour it into a cloth and set this
in a colander to let the whey run out; then fold the cloth and press down
firmly to get out more whey and to press the curd together.  Place a
heavy weight on top for a few minutes while the curd cools enough to be
handled; then wring it again in its cloth, pressing it firmly together,
before laying it on a board and slicing it.
	

Hieatt, Constance B. AN ORDINANCE OF POTTAGE. Prospect Book. 1988.   p.
132.


I'm including her recipe so that some of our newer members can see how a
professional redacts a recipe.
This is the culinary section of a 15th C. manuscript, now owned by Yale
University.


This would not have been a breakfast dish in period, but does fit modern
notions of what breakfast should be.  Not all of us are 'ready to play'
when we first stumble out of the tent.  ;-)  Interesting to compare this
with AM's two citations, isn't it?  


Probably, everyone is tired of talking about 'period creations', but when
I read a number of recipes like this, with the basic ingredients and a
few changes in herbs/spices/cooking methods, I believe we have some
rationale for the variations they did.  The detective work of
authenticity is fun, but so is creative cookery.


Regards,

Allison

allilyn at juno.com

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