[Sca-cooks] Strawberye

[Daniel Myers]

On Friday, June 6, 2003, at 12:07 PM, Anne duBosc wrote:
> Pani Jadwiga,
> What is the source of this recipe, please?


It's from TFCCB.  I've copied a slightly different transcription below.

My take on the recipe is that it's supposed to be a sort of strawberry
pudding.  The strawberries I've seen in period paintings were
substantially smaller than modern ones.  I'm not sure whether straining
them means you're separating out the wine to discard, or using the
cloth to remove the seeds from cooked strawberries.  I've seen a number
of contemporary recipes that have you cook fruit in wine and then press
it through a strainer (e.g. gooseberry tart).  I don't recall seeing
any that have you just rinse the fruit in wine.

That being said, almond milk tends to thicken when cooked.  Adding
either amidon (wheat starch) or rice flour to it will further thicken
it to the point where it closely resembles pudding.  The currants and
saffron in connection with the thickened almond milk suggest to me that
the recipe is related to "lenten slices" or "gaylede" (see
http://www.medievalcookery.com/recipes/lenten.html ) which is a almond
milk based pudding with fruits and the like added.

All in all, I can see leaving out the wine and making it as a pudding
sort of thing, but since it says to "make it chargeaunt and lat it
boyle" I don't think the recipe is describing something sauce-like.


Alternate transcription:  ( "Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books",
HARLEIAN MS. 279 (ab. 1430), & HARL. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450) - University
of Michigan's Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse -
http://www.hti.umich.edu/c/cme/ )

Strawberye. Take Strawberys, & waysshe hem in tyme of ere in gode red
wyne; than strayne thorwe a clothe, & do hem in a potte with gode
almaunde_mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun other with the flowre of Rys, &
make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, and do ther-in Roysonys of
coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel,
Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put ther-to;
coloure it with Alkenade, & droppe it a-bowte, plante it with the
graynys of Pome-garnad, & than serue it forth.

- Doc


--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.medievalcookery.com/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-