SC - Requested Recipes- Pork Roast/Warden Pie-LONG!!

[Maggie MacDonald]

I mentioned some recipes we used at the Maison deSteele Thanksgiving, and 
got requests for the recipes, sources, etc. THL Gillian of Lynnhaven 
provided me with the all of those tonight. Let me see if I can get them to 
look as pretty here as she has on the paper that she gave me.  Enjoy!
*************************************************************
Pork Roast with Apricot & Prune Stuffing
by THL Gillian of Lynnhaven

"Allowes de Mutton: Take faire mutton of the Buttes, and kutte hit in the 
maner of stekes; And then take faire rawe parcelly, and oynons shred smale, 
yolkes of eron sodden hard, and mary or suet; hew all thes smale togidre, 
and then case thereto pouder of ginger, and saffron, and stere hem togidre 
with thi honde, and ley hem vppe- on the stekes al abrode; and cast 
there-to salt, and rolle hem togidre, and put hem on a spitte and roste hem 
until the be ynough."    "Take a Thousand Eggs or More",  vol. 1, Cindy 
Renfrow, p. 107 (from the Harleian Ms 4016)

"A-nother manere: Take Fygys, Roysonys, and Porke, and a lytel brede 
y-ground y-fere; tak hym vppe, and purt Pepir y-now ther-to, and Maces, 
Clowys, and make thin in cofyn, and outte thin comade ther-on." "Take a 
Thousand Eggs or More",  vol. 2, Cindy Renfrow, p. 215 (from the Harleian 
Ms 279)

While not exact, the following recipe uses the same general idea of rolling 
a roast with fruit, spices and breadcrumbs.  There are other examples using 
apricots and prunes instead of figs and raisins.

1   3lb Pork Roast (loin or shoulder)
4 ft. Butchers string
  Stuffing:
¼ cup Apricots, dried and diced
2 Tbs. Prunes, dried, pitted and diced
3 Tbs. Triple Sec (orange liqueur)
3 Tbs. Onions, chopped
1 cup herbed dry Stuffing (Pepperidge Farm)
¼ cup Chicken Broth
3 Tbs. Butter, melted
2 tsp. Orange peel, freshly grated
½ tsp. Pouder Fort*

  In a large saucepan, combine apricots, prunes, orange peel and pouder 
fort with the Triple Sec. Heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Once 
boiling, remove from the heat and let it sit, covered, for a half an hour. 
Meanwhile, sauté the onion in one tablespoon of butter, until the onion is 
translucent. Transfer the onions to a large mixing bowl. Add in the fruit 
mixture and the dry stuffing crumbs. Mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the 
butter and the broth. Toss together until everything is moist.

Take the pork roast and lay it out on a cutting board. Cut the roast open 
and lay it out flat in a long rectangle. Spoon the stuffing evenly over the 
roast, leaving about a half inch bare at the edges. Roll the roast up with 
the stuffing within and tie it closed with butchers string.

Place the rolled roast in a pan and cover it. Roast in a 350 degree oven 
for about 30 minutes. Then uncover the roast and continue roasting it for 
another 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 170 degrees.

Serves 6

*Poudre fort is a medieval spice combination of pepper and sweet spices. To 
mix your own combine, 1/8 tsp. Black pepper, 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. 
Powered cloves, 1/8 tsp. Ginger, and 1/8 tsp. Mace. Adjust the amounts to 
taste. The flavor should be sweetly spicy but with a bite.

***************************************************************************

Warden Pie
by THL Gillian of Lynnhaven

Take the fairest and best wardens*, and pare them, and take out the hard 
cores on the top, and cut the sharp ends at  the bottom flat; then boil 
them in white wine and sugar, until the syrup grow thick; then take the 
wardens from the syrup into a clean dish, and let them cool; then set them 
into the coffin, and prick cloves in the tops, with whole sticks of 
cinnamon, and great store of sugar, as for pippins; then cover it, and only 
reserve a vent hole, so set it in the oven and bake it: when it is baked, 
draw it forth, and take the first syrup in which the wardens were boiled, 
and taste it, and if it be not sweet enough, then put in more sugar and 
some rose-water, and boil it again a little, then pour it in at a the vent 
hole, and shake the pie well; then take sweet butter and rose-water melted, 
and with it anoint the pie lid all over, and strew upon it store of sugar, 
and so set into the oven again a little space, and then serve it up. And in 
this manner you may also bake quinces*.  "The English Housewife", Gervase 
Markham, Edited by Michael R. Best, McGill-Queen's University Press, 
Canada,  1986, p. 104,  #130

3 hard Pears
1 cup white Port **
1 cup Water
1 cup Sugar
9 whole Cloves
2 whole sticks Cinnamon
1 tsp. Rosewater
2 Tbs. Butter, melted
2 pie crusts
1 pie pan
egg wash - 1 egg yolk mixed with 2 Tsp. Water

Peel and cut the pears in half and remove the core. Combine in a saucepan, 
the water, sugar and wine, with one stick of cinnamon and three cloves. 
Heat until boiling then reduce the heat until the syrup simmers. Add the 
pears to the syrup. Cook until the pears are just tender. Do not overcook. 
Remove the pears with a slotted spoon to a bowl and cool. Prepare the pie 
pan with the bottom crust.  Lay the pear half into the pie pan. Place one 
clove into each pear half. Break the cinnamon stick into pieces and spread 
over the pears. Roll out the top crust leaving a one inch hole in the 
center for a vent. Cover the pears with the top crust, pinch the edges and 
brush it lightly with the egg wash. Decorate the crust as desired. Bake in 
the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the crust is golden 
brown.  Remove the pie from the oven.

Continue to simmer the syrup until it is reduced in volume by half. Add the 
rosewater to the syrup and remove it from the stove. Spoon the hot syrup 
into the vent of the pie until it is moist but not overflowing. To the 
melted butter add a couple of drops of rosewater and brush the mixture over 
the top of the pie. Sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar, and return the 
pie to the oven for about 5 to 10 minutes to glaze the top.

Serve warm with whipped cream.  Serves 6 to 8

*Wardens refer to a hard and slightly sour type of pear. Choose a pear that 
is solid and slightly unripe to use in this recipe. It would also work with 
quinces, which are sour uneatable fruits until they are cooked.

**If white port cannot be found, use as sweet a white wine as can be gotten 
and increase the amount of sugar. The syrup should be very sweet and fragrant.

============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================