[Sca-cooks] Boar in Counfett

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Michael Gunter:
>The original is quoted as being from "Kay of Triasrium,
>Ancient Cookery" but I have no idea of the further source.
>
>This is what is quoted as the original recipe:
>
>Bor in Counfett
>Take felittes of braun and let hem lye in merlous and
>houre, and then parboyle hem, and roile hem and do in
>a pot clarifiet honey and wyn togethere, and put thereto
>poudre of peper, and of cloves, and there hit that it be
>thyk, and in the thykennynge bounden to the fellettes,
>then take hem out o fthe pot, and lay hem as a bourdre
>to kele, and whan thei ben cooled dresse them for the shew
>in a dysshe, an beside hem some barses of silver and in
>the mydward a barre of golde, and serue it forth.
>
>I have no idea of the accuracy of the source. But the
>dish is different, very very good and easy to do over
>a campfire. I made this as part of the dishes for the
>Queen's Tea at Estrella and also made them for my camp.
>There were no leftovers from either serving.

This looks a little like the counterfeit sturgeon (made from veal,
IIRC), cooked in wine and honey, from one of the 15th century
sources...

However, "Ancient Cookery" is, IIRC, published in the eighteenth
century as an addendum to an edition of The Forme of Cury; I forget
the actual manuscript designation. Is it Arundel 344? This is one of
those things Cindy or Johnna would know more about than I, but here's
what the original recipe (at least in its transcribed, published
form) says (I'm working from Cariadoc's Collection, which is printed
quite small and possibly distorted by photocopying, so bear with
me...):

"Bor in Counfett
Take felittes of braun and let hem lye in mersaus an houre, and then
parboyle hom, and roste hom, and do in a pot clarifiet honey, and
honey and wine together, and put thereto pouder of pepur, and of
clowes, and stere hit faste tyl hit be thyk, and in the thykkynge do
the rosted felettes therto, that al the sewe may cleve to hom, and
qwhen the sawie is bounden to the felettes, then take hom out of the
pot, an lay hom on a bourde to kele, and when thai ben colde dresse
hom forthe three in a dish,and beside hom barres of silver, and in
the mydward a barre of gold, and serve hit forthe."

I'm betting the "mersaus" is somebody's misreading of "verjus": the
edition I'm looking at uses one of those "s" 's that looks like an
"f", sans serif, and all, and this could easily be mistaken for an
"l".

Ham is a decent cut to use, as other nearly contemporary English
sources (FoC, I think) define a fillet as coming from the inner thigh
of the hog; essentially what in beef cut terminology would be called
the eye of the bottom round, or the eye round. I'm assuming these
would be fresh, although salted might be interesting, too.
Fully-cooked ham would at least be expedient, if not perhaps the most
accurate, and there are even less accurate options, as well.

The meat seems to be simmered till mostly tender, roasted brown, then
dropped into a syrupy glaze to finish cooking as the syrup cooks to,
probably, some nearly candy-ish stage, so it'll stick to the meat,
not run off, and not cement the meat together.

Adamantius
--
"No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes
deserves to be called a scholar."
	-DONALD FOSTER