SC - compost again

[Seton1355@aol.com]

Since I've had a couple of requests, here are the recipes I used for the Girl 
Scout Leader class.  With the exception of the Shrympes, all of the modern 
versions are from published works.

(From Pleyn Delit (first edition), attributed to "Ancient Cookery", which is 
appended to the "Form of Curye" in the printed editions.)
"Chireseye
Take Chiryes at the Fest of Seynt John the Baptist and do away the stonys; 
grynde hem in a morter, and after frot hem wel in a sieve so that the Jus be 
wel comyn owt; and do than in a pot, and do therein feyr gres or Botor, and 
bred of wastrel ymyncid, and of sugur a god party, and a porcion of wyn; and 
wan it is wel ysoden and ydressed in Dyschis, stik therein clowis of Gilofre 
and strew thereon sugur.

Cherry Bread Pudding
2 cups fresh sour pie cherries; stoned, or 20 oz (2 cans) pie cherries, 
drained, plus the juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups breadcrumbs (we used wheat bread dried in the oven and crumbled)
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup red wine (or 1/2 cup wine plus 1/4 cup water or juice from canned 
cherries)
1 tbsp butter

The easiest way to make this is with a blender: if you have one, put in all 
the ingredients except butter and blend, then put in pan, adding butter.  If 
not, mash the cherries and force through a strainer, then mix with other 
ingredients before proceeding.  Cook, stirring constantly, over a medium fire 
for about 5 minutes, or until well thickened.  Pour into a serving dish, or 
individual dishes, and let cool - or chill in a refrigerator.  Sprinkle with 
ground cloves (sparingly), if you wish, with or without extra sugar.  This is 
particularly good served with cream - or with Creme Bastarde.
VARIATION
After stirring over heat for a moment or two, pour into a greased baking dish 
and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Serve hot or cold."  


Gyngerbrede
>From Harleian MS 279,  c. 1430, as redacted in Take a Thousand Eggs or More

Original:
Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, 
& throw ther-on; take gratyd Brede, make it so chargeaunt that it wol be 
y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, & straw ther-on y-now; then make yt 
square, lyke as thou wolt leche yt; take when thou lechyst hyt, an caste Box 
leves abouyn, ystykyd ther-on, on clowys.  And if thou wolt haue it Red, 
coloure it with Saunderys y-now.

Modern English:
Gingerbread.  Take a quart of honey, & seethe it, skim it clean; take 
Saffron, powdered Pepper, & throw thereon; take grated Bread, make it so 
stiff that it will be cut; then take powdered Cinnamon, and strewe thereon 
enough; then make it square, like as thous would cut it; take when thou cut 
it, and caste Box leaves above, stuck thereon, and cloves.  And if thou wilt 
have it Red, color it with Sandalwood enough.

1 cup honey
1 ¾ cup breadcrumbs
1 pinch saffron
dash black pepper
whole cloves
cinnamon powder
Box leaves for garnish

Put the honey in a 2-quart pot and slowly bring it to a boil.  Do not leave 
the pot unattended!  Skim the scum that rises to the surface.  When all the 
scum has been removed, add the saffron and pepper.  Stir.  Remove the pot 
from the heat.  Add breadcrumbs, and stir until thoroughly mixed.  Cool the 
mixture completely.

When the mixture has cooled, dust a large piece of waxed paper generously 
with cinnamon powder.  Place a lump of the honey mixture in the cinnamon.  
Sprinkle it with more cinnamon powder.  Cover the dough with another piece of 
waxed paper and roll the dough with a rolling pin to ¼-inch thickness.  Slice 
the dough into squares, or cut shapes with cookie cutters.  Remove the 
squares to a plate that has been dusted with cinnamon.  Repeat this procedure 
until all the dough has been used.  Store the squares in an airtight 
container that has been dusted with cinnamon.  Include a few whole cloves in 
the container also.


Koken van Honer
As redacted in Cariadoc's Miscellany


Original:
One should make a pastry shell of dough, and cut up into it a chicken, and 
add bacon (speck), cut as peas, pepper and cumin and egg yolks well beaten 
with saffron, and take the shell and bake it in an oven.  It is called "koken 
van honer".


½ chicken: 1 ½ lb or ¾ lb boned
3 pieces of bacon
6 egg yolks
4 threads saffron
¼ tsp cumin
1/8 tsp pepper
9" pie shell

Bone and cut up chicken, put in pie shell; add bacon, cut small; sprinkle on 
spices.  Beat egg yolks with saffron and pour over.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 
degrees.


Pies of Parys
>From Harleian MS 4016, c. 1450, as redacted in Pleyn Delit

Take and smyte faire buttes of porke and buttes of vele togidre, and put hit 
in a faire potte.  And putte thereto faire broth, And a quantitie of Wyne, 
And lete all boile togedidre til hit be ynogh; And then take hit fro the 
fire, and lete kele a litel, an cast ther-to raw yolkes of eyren, and pouudre 
of gyngeuere, sugre, and salt, and mynced dates, reseyns of corence; make 
then coffyns of feyre past, and do it ther-ynne, and keuere it & lete bake 
y-nogh.


Pastry for a 9-inch pie pan (top and bottom) or ca 24 tart shells
1 ½ pounds mixed ground meat, including at least two of pork, veal, beef
1 cup each meat stock or broth, red wine
3 egg yolks or 1 whole egg plus one yolk
½ tsp. each ginger, sugar, and salt
¼ cup each minced dates, currants
optional: pinch of ground pepper or cubebs, and/or mace, ground clove

Put the ground raw meat in a saucepan and cover with the wine and water; 
bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.  Then drain all the cooking juices 
into a heatproof container, setting aside the meat.  Let the cooking liquid 
cool (preferably in the refrigerator or freezer) until you can remove all the 
fat from the top.
   When you are ready to assemble the pie, line a pie dish with pastry.  Then 
bring the defatted juices to a boil; beat the egg yolks (or egg and yolk) in 
a bowl and beat in a littleof the hot (but not quite boiling) stock.  Beat in 
the rest, still off the heat; then mix together meat, dried fruits, spices, 
and sauce and stir over low heat for a few minutes to thicken slightly.  Put 
in the prepared pie shell and cover with a top crust (unless you are making 
individual tarts).  Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour 
(less for individual tarts).  As the mixture may tend to be pretty sloppy at 
first, be sure to slit the top crust to allow steam to escape; and it may 
also be wise to put a cookie sheet or a piece of foil under the pie pan.


Cameline Sauce
>From Le Menagier de Paris, as redacted in Cariadoc's Miscellany


Original:  
Note that at Tourney to make cameline they bray ginger, cinnamon and saffron 
andhalf a nutmeg moistened with wine, then take it out of the mortar; then 
have white bread crumbs, not toasted but moistened in cold water and brayed 
in the mortar, moisten them with wine and strain them, then boil all together 
and put in brown sugar last of all; and that is winter cameline.  And in the 
summer they do the same but it is not boiled.


Sweet:
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 medium pinch saffron
1 whole nutmeg
2 Tbsp wine
3 Tbsp bread crumbs
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 cups cold water

Spicy:
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 medium pinch saffron
½ whole nutmeg
½ cup wine
2 Tbsp bread crumbs
1 tsp brown sugar
1 cup cold water

Sweet and spicy:
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 medium pinch saffron
½ whole nutmeg
½ cup wine
2 Tbsp bread crumbs
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 cup cold water

Grind smoothly until well ground, add bread crumbs, grind smooth, add water 
and wine, bring it to a boil, simmer until thickened, and add the brown sugar.


Rost Bef with Sauce Aliper
>From A Noble Boke of Cookry, as redacted in Pleyn Delit


Original:
To mak sauce aliper for rostid bef take brown bred and step it in venygar and 
toiste it an streyne it and stampe garlic and put the to pouder of pepper and 
salt and boil it a little and serue it.


Roast beef
2 slices wholewheat bread
2 tbsp wine vinegar
Wine and/or stock, in quantities to produce desired consistency
2 cloves garlic, crushed
¼ tsp each freshly ground black pepper, salt


When roast beef is almost ready to serve, toast the bread, then crumble it 
into a small bowl and pour the vinegar over it.  Let this sit and soak for at 
least 5 minutes.  Mash and put through a strainer, or blend in a blender.  If 
you wish to make a boiled sauce (like a very thick gravy, with about 1 tbsp 
to be served with each slice of beef), add about 1 cup of beef stock and/or 
red wine; if, however, you wish to serve this as a very thick relish - rather 
like a modern horseradish sauce for beef - add only enough wine to make the 
paste of a soft consistency (up to ¼ cup).  Stir in garlic and seasonings, 
tasting to see whether more salt seems to be called for.  Serve as is if 
giving the thicker version, or, if making a thinner sauce, boil for a few 
minutes and serve hot.


TART IN YMBRE DAY
from Forme of Cury, 14th century
as redacted in Pleyn Delit

Take and parboile Oynons; presse out the water & hewe hem smale; take brede & 
bray it in a mortar, and temper it up with Ayren; do therto butter, safron 
and salt, & raisons corans, & a litel sugar with powdor douce, and bake it in 
a trap, & serve it forth.

2 large onions
1 tbsp melted butter
4 eggs
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
pinch saffron
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp sugar 
pinch each of ginger, cinnamon, and mace
ca 2 tbsp currants
unbaked pie shell

Parboil the onions for about 5 minutes; cool and chop (or chop first, then 
parboil and strain; it is easier).  Add butter to thouroughly drained onions. 
 Mix remaining ingredients together in a bowl; add onions; pour into pie 
shell.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until the filling is set and 
the pastry lightly browned.


Shrympes
>From Harleian MS 4016 (c. 1450)

Original:
159. Shrympes.  Take Shrympes, and seth hem in water and a litull salt, and 
lete hem boile ones or a litull more.  And serue hem forthe colde; And no 
maner sauce but vinegre


Modern English:
159. Shrimps.  Take shrimps, and boil them in water and a little salt, and 
let them boil once or a little more.  And serve them forth cold, with no 
manner of sauce but vinegar.


Take the amount of shrimp you would like, and boil them in salted water until 
they are pink.  Drain completely, chill, and serve sprinkled with malt 
vinegar, or with a dish of vinegar to dip them into. 


I bought sliced roast beef from the deli to go with the winter cameline and 
sauce aliper.  I provided spoons for the sauces, and let people go at it. 


This went over really well; one person declared the sauce aliper as good as 
his homemade horseradish!  A few people had trouble with some of the 
textures, but nobody thought period food was icky after we were done.

Brangwayna Morgan