[Sca-cooks] Need Help with a recipe...

[Alex Clark]

At 09:18 PM 9/24/2003 -0400, Nichola wrote:
>Here is the recipe.... Original.... See below...
>
>ORIGINAL RECEIPT:
>
>Take Eyroun, & blow owt that ys with-ynne atte other ende; than waysshe 
>the schulle clene in warme Water; than take gode mylke of Almaundys, & 
>sette it on the fyre; than take a fayre canvas, & pore the mylke ther-on, 
>& lat renne owt the water; then take it owt on the clothe, & gader it 
>to-gedere with a platere; then putte sugre y-now ther-to; than take the 
>halvyndele, & colour it with Safroun, a lytil, & do ther-to pouder 
>Canelle; than take & do of the whyte in the nether ende of the schulle, & 
>in the myddel the yolk, & fylle it vppe with the whyte; but noght to 
>fulle, for goyng ouer; than sette it in the fyre & roste it, & serue f[orth].
>
>- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & 
>Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce 
>MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.

This is a variation on cold cream of almonds, for which there are detailed 
instructions on pp. 91-2 in the same volume. Some of the explicit details 
of how cream of almonds is made in the latter recipe are:

1. The almond milk is made with fresh water.
2. It's drawn through a strainer.
3. It boils once, then is taken from the heat.
4. Salt and a little vinegar are added after cooking, salt at once and 
vinegar after a "forlonge wey or .ij." (the time it takes to go a 
furlong--on the order of a minute, though of course YMMV)
5. It's drained in a clean linen cloth, which is damp before the draining 
begins.
6. It's spread on the cloth with a ladle, not poured on from the pot.
7. The corners of the cloth are held out while the stuff is spread on it, 
and then one rubs the bottom of the cloth with a ladle to draw out the liquid.
8. Then it is gathered in the cloth and it hangs for two or more hours.

 From this I suppose that it was meant to be cooked as little as possible, 
after which every effort was made to see that only the thin liquid would 
run through the cloth. The general theme in these instructions seems to be 
that this stuff is handled with care.

I recommend using a fine and evenly woven linen cloth, ideally undyed. If 
you use vinegar, not much is needed; the hotter the almond milk is the more 
effective the vinegar should be.

I haven't spotted any answers to why use a third for the yolks when the 
original called for a half. If one intends to imitate real eggs, the yolk 
tends to be about 1/3 the volume of the contents, though it starts smaller 
and increases with age by absorbing liquid.

Speaking of yolks, it might more accurate to aim for a lighter color than 
is found in most modern eggs. Lots of modern hens are fed a pigment 
(canthaxanthin, recently subjected to increased restrictions by the EU) 
that gives some extra orange-yellow color to the yolks; the same is given 
to farmed salmon to give them a wild-salmon color. It is alleged that 
canthaxanthin can accumulate in the retina and affect eyesight.

In period, lacking syringes, they might have used something like a 
funnel-tipped bag to fill the shells. I'd suggest filling the small end 
first, then leaving a fair bit of air at the big end, just like a real egg.

Finally, a suggestion for the leftover almond fiber, especially if it isn't 
too thoroughly wrung out: mix it with a bit of butter, some sugar, a bit of 
egg (white, yolk, or both, whatever you've got), some flour and oatmeal, 
and flavorings, to make cookies. I've done something like this a few times, 
but don't ask me for a recipe--I make it up as I go along.

Henry of Maldon/Alex Clark