[Sca-cooks] Rysshews of Fruyt redaction

[Daniel Myers]

Howdy,

Thought I'd revisit this thread.  I was looking at the versions of this
recipe in TFCCB and found two or three variants, but interestingly
enough, all of them call for some kind of breading or crust before
frying.  It may be that period cooks had the same problem with the
fritters not holding together well.

.lviij. Ryschewys close & Fryez. Take Fygys, & grynd hem smal in a
mortere with a lytil Oyle, & grynd with hym clowys & Maces; & than take
it vppe in-to a vesselle, & cast ther-to Pynez, Saundrys, & Roysonys of
Coraunce, & mencyd Datys, Pouder Pepir, Canel, Salt, Safroun; than take
fyne past of flowre an water, Sugre, Safroun, & Salt, & make fayre cakys
ther-of; than rolle thin stuf in thin hond, & couche it in the cakys, &
kyt it, & folde hym as Ruschewys, & frye hem vppe in Oyle; and serue
forth hote.

Ryschewys close?. Nym flour and eyren, & kned to-gedere nym figus,
resons, & dates, & do out ye stonys, & blanchid almandis, & goud
poudur, & bray to-gedere make coffyns of ye lengthe of a spanne do thy
farsour therynne, in euerych cake his porcion plie hem & boille hem in
water & suththe roste hem on a gridel & if forth.

Risschewes de frute. Take ffigges, and grinde hem in a morter al smal
with a litell oyle, and grynde wit hem, clowes, and maces; and then take
hem vppe in-to a diss, and caste thereto pynes, saundres, reisons of
coraunce, myced dates, pouder of Peper, Canell, Saffron, and salt; And
then make fyne paast of floure, water, sugur, saffron, and salt, And
make there-of faire kakes; and then rolle the stuff in thi honde, and
couche hit in the kakes; kutte hem, and so folde hem togedrys as
risshewes, And fry hem in goode Oyle, And serue hem forthe hote.



On Wednesday, June 12, 2002, at 04:13 PM, Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote:
> Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
>
>> From Forme of Cury, English, 1390.
>
>  Rysshews of Fruyt - Take fyges and raisouns; pyke hem and waisshe hem
> in
> wyne. Grynde hem with apples and peeres ypared and ypiked clene.  Do
> therto
> good powdours and hole spices;  make balles therof, frye in oil and
> serue hem
> forth.
>
> Take figs and raisins; pick them and wash them in wine.  Grind them with
> apples and pears pared and picked clean.  Add good powders and whole
> spices;
> make balls thereof, fry in oil, and serve them forth.
>
> 1.25 cup raisins
> 10 figs
> 1/2  Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
> 1/2 Bosc pear, peeled and cored
> 1.5 Tbsp sugar
> 1/4 tsp ground clove
> 1/8 tsp pepper
> 1/4 tsp whole fennel seeds
>
> I started with 1/4 cup of raisins and 2 figs, which I soaked in chablis
> for
> about 10 minutes.  I ended up adding lots more figs and raisins that
> didn't
> get soaked.  There would probably be a bit more wine flavor if I had
> soaked
> the rest of the fruit.
>
> I used the food processor to grind up the initial 2 figs and 1/4 cup of
> raisins and 1/4 of the apple and pear, added another 1/4 apple and pear
> to
> make enough for the processor to work properly, then continued adding
> the
> dried fruits until the mixture would hold its shape when dropped off a
> spoon.
>  I didn't think I could get it thick enough to actually mold balls out
> of it.
> I added the spices (except for the fennel) to the food processor, and
> added
> the fennel after I stopped processing so the seeds wouldn't get chopped
> up.
>
> I heated about an inch of olive oil in a frying pan and used two
> teaspoons to
> drop balls of fruit into the oil (like putting cookie dough on a
> sheet).  The
> initial ones were cooked for about 2-3 minutes on a side, trying to get
> them
> to harden up, but they just ended up burnt on the outside.
> Through trial and error, I determined that about 30 seconds on each
> side is
> enough to caramelize the outside without burning it.  You still have to
> be
> extremely gentle about turning or moving them, or they smoosh.  I
> drained
> them on paper towelling - another place to be careful, as they tend to
> stick
> a bit.
> You can't eat them right out of the pan because they are way too hot,
> and
> they hold the heat for a while.  At about 10 minutes, they are still
> warm and
> very nice - the outside is chewy and the inside warm and..well, juicy, I
> guess.  They are still very soft; if you grabbed them too hard, they
> would
> squash.  The texture stays about the same at room temperature, and they
> could
> easily be served at that temperature.
>
> The other nice thing - the small amount of ingredients listed above made
> about 45 rysshews, each around 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter.  So we are
> dealing
> with something that is relatively easy to make (although it needs a
> light
> touch), holds well, and makes a lot for not much ingredients.
> Definitely
> going in to my June feast as the sweet for the first course.


--
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  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.bookofrefreshments.com/doc/
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