[Sca-cooks] pain perdu-- desperate

[Anne duBosc]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
1. From Cindy Renfrew's "Take a Thousand Eggs or More"
Harleian MS 279 - Leche Vyaundez

xliiij. Payn pur-dew.  Take fayre (z)olkys of Eyroun, & trye hem fro (th)e whyte, & draw hem (th)orw a straynoure, & take Salt and caste (th)erto; (th)an take fayre brede, & kytte ir as Trounde(z) rounde; (th)an take fayre Boter (th)at is claryfiyd, or ellys fayre Freysshe grece, & putte it on a potte, & make it hote; (th)an take & wete wyl (th)in trounde(z) in (th)e
(z)olkys, & putte hem in (th)e panne, and so frye hem vppe; but ware of cleuying to (th) panne; & whan it is fryid, ley hem on a dysshe, & ley Sugre y-nowe (th)er-on, & thanne serue it forth.

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Harleian MS. 4016

80 Payn Purdeuz.  Take faire yolkes of eyren, and try hem fro the white, and drawe hem (th)orgh a streynour; and then take salte, and caste thereto; and then take manged brede or paynman, and kutte hit in leches; and (th)en take faire buttur, and clarefy hit, or elles take fresh grece and put hit yn a faire pan, and make hit hote; And then wete (th)e bread well there in (th)e yolkes of eyren, and then ley hit on the batur in (th)e pan, when (th) buttur is al hote; And then whan hit if fried ynowe, take sugur ynowe, and caste there-to whan hit is in (th)e dissh, And so serue hit forth.


Basically bread, dipped in egg yolks and fried in a little butter, then sprinkled with a little fine sugar.
I would not try to get away with serving one slice per person, unless the rest of the breakfast board was groaning so heavily they couldn't make it all the way to the payne perdew.  I usually figure on two slices per person, and I NEVER have had any left over.

However, be aware.  This is a pretty labor intensive dish.  I usually get everything else ready enough that it can take care of itself, then devote the rest of the breakfast standing over a hot frying pan, flipping hot slices of payne perdew into waiting plates.  I've never tried to make it for more than about 20.

Mordonna



jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:
ladies & gents I still have some pain perdu questions...

- i thought there was more than one pain perdu recipe out there (period
recipe that is) is there a best one to use?

- can someone give me some idea of quantities per serving or should I just
guess based on french toast recipes?

- for 200 people as part of my breakfast board, will 200 slices be enough
if I cut them in half cross wise?

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