SC - Bruet of Sarcynesse

[david friedman]

At 12:15 PM -0500 1/18/99, Margo Farnsworth wrote:
>    ...I would appreciate any feedback on my  redaction.

We have tried this recipe, but don't have a version we are fully satisfied
with yet.
>
>Bruet of Sarcynesse
>
>By Faoiltighearna Ingean Mhic Guarre
>
>For To Make a Bruet of Sarcynesse:
>
>Take the flesh of the fresh beef and cut it all in pieces and bread and
>fry  it in fresh grease take it up and dry it and do it in a vessel with
>wine and  sugar and powder of cloves, boil it together till the flesh have
>drunk the  liquor and take the almond milk and quibibs maces and cloves
>and boyl them  together, take the flesh and do thereto and mix it forth.
>(Ancient Cookery,  1381)
...
>Wine  I dont drink red wine, so I wanted to use the whole  bottle and not
>have any leftover

Even so, I wouldn't use this much.

>Sugar  It seemed to be about 4 cups of wine, so it was a random guess  at
>1 tbsp per cup

Again, I would use less. I don't have any solid evidence on how much sugar
would have been used in meat dishes at this time, but it tends to be listed
along with the spices, so I tend to use it in spice-type quantities.

>Spices  I know that cloves can be very strong, so I went easy on them.  I
>love black pepper, so I
>used more of that. Mace, I never cook with so I used a moderate amount.

I can't tell how much you used, since your symbols which are probably for a
half and a quarter are coming out on my email as funny versions of the
Greek letter pi. I take cloves way down--a quarter teaspoon or less for
this much beef. You say later you can't get cubebs.  If you or some of your
friends go to Pennsic, the Pepperer's Guild sells them there.

>Almond Milk  I had 1cup of almonds in the freezer. I did not strain  the
>milk, so the finished
>bruet had tiny bits of nut in it for added texture (and no  waste!)

Our version of almond milk is in the Miscellany (on-line at
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html
or in hard copy); we use more water relative to almonds, and we do strain.
>
>Here is my interpretation of the recipe:
>2 ½ lbs. beef (I used bottom round) chopped small by hand
>4 slices bread fried in 4 tbsp. butter

We assumed that the beef and bread were fried together.

[rest of procedure omitted]

Here is a parallel recipe from a 15th-c source, just for comparison; I've
replaced thorns by th's:

Bruette Sareson
Two 15th Century Cookery Books p. 19

Take Almaundys, & draw a gode mylke & flowre of Rys, & Porke & Brawen of
Capoun y-sode, or Hennys smale y-ground, & boyle it y-fere, & do in-to the
mylke; & than take pouder Gyngere, Sugre, & caste a-boue, and serue forth.

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook (still a couple weeks behind)


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