SC - Pastelade and Blaunderellys

RuddR at aol.com RuddR at aol.com
Thu Nov 5 10:08:52 PST 1998


I am planning a series of three dinners, each recreating a course of one of
the historic menus in Harleian MS 279, "In Festo Sancte Tinitatis in cena" (A
dinner on the Feast of the Holy Trinity), in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-
Books, p59.  I have found period receipts and prepared redactions for all the
menu items except two:  Pastelade and Blaunderellys.  Thomas Austin, the
editor, cannot identify these.  I have found no mention of them in any other
work on medieval cuisine I have read.  

Pastelade is the last dish in the first course, and Blaunderellys is the next
to last in the third course.  Pastelade is clearly a pastry of some sort, and
, based on its position in the menu, Blaunderellys is probably a pie or pastry
of some sort as well.  (The last dish in the third course is Strawberries,
and, since the Feast of the Holy Trinity is eight weeks after Easter, I assume
that this refers to fresh fruit in season.)  

I wonder if "Pastelade", like "cannonade" or "masquerade", does not refer to a
specific type of pastry, but to the act or process of serving perhaps a
variety of pastries. 

The name "Blaunderellys" might be a corruption of "blaunde de ryal" ("royal
white"), or a corruption of a diminutive of "blaunde" ("little blondies").
Another possibility is that it is a corruption of "blaunde daryoles" ("white
(or blonde) custards").  Based on other receipts with "blaunde" or "blanc" in
their names, the suggestion can be made that this pastry might have had
almonds or almond milk as a key ingredient.   

Has anyone ever encountered references to, or period receipts for, either of
these pastries, or anything that might be similar?  Anything from continental
sources, with which I am not as familiar?  Any pastries simply labeled
"pastelle"?  Any almond tarts, or the like, called "royal" something? 

If I am unable to find these specific items to fill the menu, I have ideas for
pastries that I feel may be plausibly substituted (with the appropriate
explanations, of course):

For Pastelade:  "Bake Mete" (pear custard pie), Harleian MS 279, III, xxxii,
has a generic name, and could be used as a substitute for just about any pie
or pastry.  (If I get serious support for the notion that "Pastelade" refers
to the act of serving pastries, I would simply serve several different pies
and pasties.)

For Balunderellys:  "Daryoles", Harleian MS 279, III, xl, (Cottage cheese and
marrow quiche), could be considered a "blaunde" daryole, or "Doucettes a-
forcyd", Harleian MS 279, III, xxxviii, (almond milk and marrow flan), which
could also be thought of as a type of "blaunde daryole", since the terms
"doucettes" and "daryoles" both seem to apply to similar sorts of custards.
(There is a Torta Bianca in The Medieval Kitchen which I have also
considered.)
 
Do these substitutions sound reasonable?  Does anyone have other ideas or
suggestions? The fact that these are substitutions for unidentified pastries
will be made clear to my dinner guests.

Rudd 
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