[Sca-cooks] Hennys in bruette

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
This is a redaction I did during a redaction day our shire held a while ago.
We hold these several times a year; whoever is hosting picks out a number of
recipes at least equal to the number of people coming, and gets the supplies
needed to make them (the cost of supplies is split amongst the participants
evenly).  When people arrive, they look through the recipes and pick the one
they want to try.  For the people newest to redaction, we have them write out
a modern English translation first, and  potential process, helping them as
needed.  We then start working on the recipes, with the more experienced
cooks helping the less experienced.  We all get to try the recipes as they
are done.
This one is from an English mnauscript of about 1430, Harleian MS 279, and
appears in the second volume of Take a Thousand Eggs or More (the volume
which has only original and modern English version, no redactions).

Take the hennys, & skalde hem, & ope hem, & wasshe hem clene, & smyte hem to
gobettys, & seethe hem with fayre pork; than take Pepyr, Gyngere, & Brede,
ygrounde y-fere, and temper it uppe with the same brothe, or ale draft, &
coloure it with Safroun, & seethe it to-gederys, & serve forth.

Take the hens, and skald them, and open them, and wash them clean, and cut
them into pieces, and boil them with fair pork; then take pepper, ginger, and
bread, ground together, and temper it up with the broth, or draft ale, and
color it with saffron, and boil it together, and serve forth.

The first part of the instructions, "Take the hens, and skald them, and open
them, and wash them clean, and cut them into pieces," refers to butchering
the chickens; we skipped that step.  For ease of working if a new person
chose the recipe, I bought boneless chicken breasts, but we did discuss the
fact that it would be tastier and probably more accurate to use a entire cut
up chicken, bones and all, and take the bones out after it had cooked down.
The chicken breast and pork roast were cut into pieces, covered with water,
brought to a boil, and simmered for 30 minutes or so.  I then took 1/8 cup
bread crumbs, 1/4 tsp pepper, and 1/8 tsp ginger and ground them together in
a mortar.  I added about a cup of the broth, mixed it, and let it steep for
about 15 minutes before returning the mixture to the pot.  I chose not to use
the ale, as one of the participants that day is allergic to alcohol, and the
broth is clearly given as an option in the original.
The dish ended up simmering for probably another 30 minutes, and I ended up
adjusting both the spices and the amount of bread crumbs.  The final amounts
were:

3 boneless chicken breasts
1 lb pork roast
Water to cover
1/4 cup bread crumbs ( I used commercial, as I didn't have any dried bread on
hand)
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp ginger

It came out very tasty, enough for probably 8 small servings - I think we had
6 there that day, and there was a little left.  I think using the ale would
make it even better.

Brangwayna