SC - SC: REC "White Mash" from the Harpestraeng MS

[Elysant at aol.com]

- -Poster: <Elysant at aol.com>

On November 11, Adamantius said: 
>> You'll have heard this spoken of under the generic name Harpestraeng,
>> author and/or early owner/copyist of an early 13th-century cookery
>> manuscript. Examples occur in Denmark and Germany, and, later, IIRC, in
>> Iceland (15th century?). 

To which Stefan responded:
>We recently had a fairly long discussion on this cookbook, including some
>of the recipes included in it and the various versions. I've made some of
>this available as this new file in the FOOD-BOOKS section of my Florilegium:
>Harpstrang-cb-msg (34K) 10/19/99    The Harpestraeng cookbook. The oldest 
>cookbook in the Western world.



Recently, I was asked to contribute a dish to a local canton event lunch 
board.  I decided it would be fun to take one of the recipes from the 
Harpestraeng manuscript - a dish Ana had mentioned a few months ago here on 
the list ("White 'Mouse'" or "Mash"), and to redact and serve it at the 
event.    

It's a really simple little dish, but I wanted to do it properly, and to 
provide documentation that would be educational as well as interesting.  So I 
contacted my friend Nanna and she provided me with the existing fragments of 
the recipe from the Danish (2 versions), Icelandic, and German (incomplete) 
manuscripts.  She also provided the English translations for me.  :-)  

I examined and worked from all four versions for the redaction, and also, out 
of interest, reviewed a modern Danish redaction of the recipe Nanna also 
included.  I passed the redaction by Lord Ras, did a trial run of the dish, 
made some minor adjustments, and then cooked it for the event.

The dish as well received.  It turned out to be a semolina type consistency, 
bland yet flavourful, and delicious served warm with butter and cinnamon.  In 
particular, two diabetic gentles were quite taken with it, as it has no sugar 
and they could eat a nice portion of it without any guilt.  The only thing I 
wish is that I could have encouraged more gentles to try it, and so I could 
share with them the history of the dish.  Sadly,  there were many more modern 
and richer dishes on the table (several OOP) alongside the "White Mash", and 
the gentles' eyes and appetites were unfortunately drawn to those vs this 
little dish. :-(

Here is the documentation. 


"White Mash"

This dish is one of the recipes from the surviving fragments of a manuscript, 
written probably in Provence or Languedoc, in France, in the early 13th 
century.  The actual origin of the recipes appears to be Mediterranean.  The 
manuscript was translated from French into Danish, German, and Icelandic 
during the Middle Ages.  The various manuscripts have 35 recipes combined, in 
various versions.

Here are the recipes for the dish from the three translations (there are two 
Danish translations included):

1.  Danish, around 1300, the manuscript written by Knud Jul, a monk at Sorø: 

"Quomodo temperetur cibus qui uocatur hwit moos 
Man skal takæ søtmiælk, oc væl writhet hwetebrødth. oc slaghnæ æg. oc wæl 
writhæt safran. oc latæ thæt wællæ til thæt warthær thiuct. Sithen lathæ thæt 
upp .a. dysk. oc kastæ .i. smør. oc strø .a. puluær af kaniæl. Thæt hetær 
hwitmoos."

Modern English Translation
(translation by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir - SCA-Cooks list member from Iceland)

"One shall take sweet milk and finely crumbled wheat bread and beated eggs 
and finely crushed saffron and let boil until thickened.  Then pour it on a 
plate and throw butter in and strew with ground cinnamon.  That is called 
white mash." 

1a.  Danish, 14th century:  

"Mæn sculæa takæ søøt mialk oc latæ thær i smulæth hwæth brøth. oc slaghæn 
æggæ. oc stampæth safran og latæa thæt siuthæ e til thæt thiukkæs. oc sættæ 
thæt sithæn vp. oc latæ thær smør i og latæ thær vp a puluær af cinamomum 
stithæn thæt cumær a disk. tha mughæ mæn thæt ætæ."

Modern English Translation
(translation by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir - SCA-Cooks list member from Iceland)

"One shall take sweet milk and add it to crumbled wheat bread and beaten eggs 
and pounded saffron and let it boil until thickened.  And then put it up and 
add butter to it and strew it with ground cinnamon when it is on a plate.  
Then one can eat it.


2.  From the German Wiswe manuscript - 15th century - (some pieces missing) 

62. Item me sal <adhg>nemen</adhg> de ghespeckede melk unde dech, de ghemaket 
sy van mele unde saffran unde eigere unde [...]. Dyt heytet gloide melk.


3.  Icelandic, late 15th century:

"Quomodo temperetur cibus dicitur hwit mos.
Madur skal taka sæta miolk ok vel stappat hveiti braud. ok slegit egg ok vel
malit. Sæfran. ok lata þat vella alltt saman til þess verdur þycktt. Sidan
lati þat upp aa disk ok kasti j smiorvi. þetta heitir hvitinos."

Modern English Translation
(translation by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir - SCA-Cooks list member from Iceland)

"Take some sweet milk and white bread well mashed, and a beaten egg (or eggs) 
and finely crushed saffron, and mix it and simmer until thickened.  Then pour 
into a bowl and add butter.  This is called white mash."
 
Redaction
Elysant de Holtham (Jean Holtom) 1999

4 cups milk
1 1/2 cups of white bread (crusts removed), and broken into small pieces.
2 eggs, beaten
2 strands or pinch crushed saffron 
Butter
Ground cinnamon

Place the saffron in a small amount of hot water and heat to boiling.  Put 
milk and bread into a saucepan, and combine well.  Add the saffron and stir 
in the beaten egg. Heat mixture to boiling, stirring constantly, then lower 
heat and simmer slowly until it thickens.  To serve, pour a little of the 
mixture into a bowl.  Add a knob of butter and sprinkle with cinnamon (This 
dish is served warm). 
 
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