[Sca-cooks] Ancient cookery - smudged word

[Cindy M. Renfrow]

>>I could be wrong; I'm looking at the same page you are, and can't seem
>>to find it in the pages from it that have been set up on the SCA's A&S
>>pages by Cindy Renfrow; how-_ever_, it _looks_ to me like X mess, as in,
>>to make ten servings, or, if a mess is a "cover" for two, then 20 servngs.
>
>>See the recipe to the immediate left of the recipe you're referencing,
>>"Chikyns in Kirtyne for X Mess". Which, BTW, I don't think is a
>>reference to a Christian holiday...
>

Hi!  The "Ancient Cookery" I posted at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/ is
the Ancient Cookery appended to Forme of Cury.  It is a different
manuscript. That's why you can't find this recipe there, Adamantius.

The recipe Jeff asks about is Chekkennes in Sauge, #404.  That's chicken in
sage, btw.

The characters in my copy are also broken, but mees [mess] is a good guess
based on the usage in #401.

The quantity of yolks is not eleven, it's 40. The MS  says xl, not xi.

There is another chicken in sage sauce in the MS, #321.  It substitutes
cloves for the saffron in #404, and is not precise as to measurements or
sequence of instructions.

Here is the whole of #404 as near as I can read it ('s' is substituted for
the long s in the MS):

CHEKKENNES IN SAUGE.
Take chekyns and chop hom, but for a lorde al hole, and sethe h[o?]m in
brothe of beef with wyne, and when thai byn sothen pul of the skyn. For x
[??es] take zolkes harde of xl eyr[e?]n, and bray hom in a morter with
sauge and parsel, and alay hit with gode wyne in the brayinge, and draw hit
up thik thurgh a streynour, and put therto one unce of sugre, one unce of
pouder of canel, and a lytel saffron; and then couche the chekyns in
dishes, and put the syrip al colde above, and serve hit forthe, but put
therto a lytel vynegur.


Chickens in Sage.
Take chickens and chop them, but for a lord [they should be] all whole, and
seethe them in broth of beef with wine, and when they are seethed pull off
the skin.  For 10 [messes?] take hard yolks of 40 eggs, and bray [pound]
them in a mortar with sage and parsley, and mix it with good wine in the
braying, and draw it up thick through a strainer, and put thereto one ounce
of sugar, one ounce of powder of [cassia] cinnamon, and a little saffron;
and then put the chickens in dishes, and put [pour] the syrup all cold
above, and serve it forth, but put thereto a little vinegar.

(Note: #321 adds the vinegar to the sauce just as it's done, "and in the
settynge doun put therto a lytel vynegur...")


HTH,

Cindy/Sincgiefu
cindy at thousandeggs.com
http://www.thousandeggs.com