[Sca-cooks] Compost - Form of Curye, and my redaction

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Here's the Compost i made for Beacon's Gate Boar Hunt 2000, including
the original recipe from Forme of Curye.

Anahita

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Compost - Medieval "chutney"
English, Forme of Cury, late 14th c.

Forme of Cury 103 - Original Recipe

Take rote of parsel, of pasternak, rafens, , scrape hem and waische
hem clene. Take rapes & caboches, ypared and icorue. Take an erthen
panne with clene water & set it on the fire; cast all (th)ise
(th)erinne. When (th)ey buth boiled cast (th)erto peeres, & perboile
hem wel. Take alle (th)ise thynges vp & lat it kele on a faire cloth.
Do (th)erto salt; whan it is colde, do hit in a vessel; take vinegar
& powdour & safroun & and do (th)erto, & lat alle (th)ise thynges lye
(th)erin al ny(gh)t, o(th)er al day. Take wyne greke & honey,
clarified togider; take lumbarde mustard & raisouns coraunce, al
hoole, & gynde powdour of canel, powdour douce, anys hole, & fenell
seed. Take alle (th)ise thynges & castt togyder in a pot of erthe, &
take (th)erof whan (th)oui wilt & serue forth.

Modernized spelling:
Take roots of parsley, parsnips, and radishes, scrape them and wash
them clean. Take turnips and cabbages, pared and cored. Take an
earthen pan with clean water and set it on the fire; cast all these
therein. When they have boiled cast thereto pears, and parboil them
well. Take all these things up and let them cool on a faire cloth. Do
thereto salt; when it is cold, put it in a vessel; take vinegar and
powder and saffron and and do thereto, and let all these things lie
therein all night, other [is this "or" or "and"?] all day. Take Greek
wine and honey, clarified together; take lumbarde mustard and raisins
of currants, all whole, and good powder of cinnamon, poudre douce,
whole anise seed, and fennel seed. Take all these things and cast
together in a pot of earth, and take thereof when thou wilt and serve
forth.


Compost recipe by Anahita

I. A week before beginning preparation of Compost, prepare Lombard
Mustard as follows:

Lumbarde mustard
2 oz. mustard powder (a bit over 1/2 c.)
1/4 cup honey
3 TB wine
1 TB cider or white wine vinegar

Mix honey, wine, and vinegar. Warm to liquify. Stir into mustard. Let
age at least one week.

1. I was a bad girl and made mine the day i began preparing the
Compost. I only let it age until i needed to add it to the recipe,
about 2 days. It was quite "hot", but in the end blended in quite
well with all the other seasonings.
2. It's really easy to make, but if you want to substitute, you could
try Dijon with honey added or a good quality honey-mustard.


II. At least one week before using, begin preparation of Compost:

2-1/2 lb turnips, peeled and diced
2-1/2 lb parsnips, peeled and diced
2-1/2 lb carrots, peeled and diced
2-1/2 lb green cabbage, cored and coarsely chopped
5 small black radishes, peeled and diced
9 parsley roots, peeled and diced
2-1/2 lb winter pears, peeled, cored and chopped
Salt

Place turnips, parsnips, carrots, parsley root, radishes, and cabbage
in a pot. Barely cover with water. Bring to a boil. Add pears. Reduce
heat to medium and cook until pears are barely tender. Drain, place
in colanders, sprinkling with a substantial amount of salt and leave
until cold, in a place where excess water can drain off, such as the
sink sideboard.


III. When vegetables are cool:

2 quarts cider vinegar
1 tsp saffron

Poudre:
1 cup sugar	1 TB ground cloves
2 TB ground ginger	1 TB ground cinnamon

Put cooled vegetable mixture in earthenware pot.
Mix vinegar, saffron and spice powder, and add to vegetables.
Let sit in a cool place for 12 hours.

NOTE: As i didn't have an earthenware crock large enough, i put the
vegetables and spices into two one-gallon glass jars with screw lids.


IV. Twelve hours later:

1 bottle sweet white wine
(I assumed that Greek wine was NOT retsina, but rather a sweet white wine)
2 cups honey

1 lb dried Zante currants
1 tsp cinnamon	1 tsp aniseed
1 tsp fennel seed

Powder douce:
1 cup sugar
1 TB ground cubebs
1 TB grains of Paradise, ground
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground galangal
1 tsp ground cloves

Bring wine and honey to a boil, removing the scum as needed and
remove from heat. Add Lumbarde mustard, currants, cinnamon, anise,
fennel, and poudre douce to the wine-honey mixture, stirring well to
make sure that the sugar is dissolved. Then add this spiced honey
wine to the vegetable-pear mixture and blend carefully.

1. I used an inexpensive California Chardonnay that was actually
quite drinkable, although it may not have been as sweet as the wine
originally used.

2. Since i used a clean honey, i didn't bother to remove the "scum".
If using a grade of honey less than a B, you may well need to skim to
remove "stuff".

3. To make sure that the "sauce" was evenly distributed in the
vegetable-pear mix, i took the vegetables out of the glass jars and
divided them into two kettles, then poured equal amounts of
honey-wine over them, then returned them to the glass jars, screwing
the lids on well.


V. Store well covered in a cool place for at least one week.

NOTE: I didn't have an earthenware crock big enough, so i used two
screw-top one-gallon glass jars.


VI. Serve with meats. May also be pureed and used as a sauce with meats.

NOTE: Most of this was consumed at the feast - maybe a quart or quart
and a half was left over.


There are other variant recipes in Le Menagier de Paris - a much more
complex preparation begun about 6 months before intended use which
includes youngs walnuts before their shell has formed; Das Buch Von
Guter Speise - this one is a simpler sauce; and Apicius. Also, i've
been told that a variant can be found in the 13th century Northern
European cookbook known as The Icelandic Medical Miscellany, but i
haven't seen it.

Master Adamantius said: "This stuff keeps for a long time, especially
if you put it, while hot, into a sterile canning jar. I have a couple
of jars of compost that are around two years old, and the one I
opened last week was just fine."