[Sca-cooks] Frumenty
Lilinah
lilinah at earthlink.net
Fri Aug 22 16:26:20 PDT 2008
I've only made frumenty once, at my very first feast. I cooked the
wheat first, until it burst. Then i stirred in the eggs, saffron, and
milk.
Original:
To make frumente
Take clene whete & braye yt wel in a morter tyl the holes gon of;
sethe it til it breste in water. Nym it vp & lat it cole. Tak good
broth & swete mylk of kyn or of almand & tempere it therwith. Nym
3elkys of eyren rawe & saffroun & cast therto; salt it; let it
nau3t boyle after the eyren ben cast therinne. Messe it forth with
venesoun or with fat motoun fresch.
from: Forme of Cury, late 14th century
My paraphrase:
To make frumenty
Take clean wheat & bray it well in a mortar till the hulls come off.
Seethe it till it bursts in water. Take it up & let it cool.
Take good broth & sweet milk of cow or of almond & temper it therewith.
Take yolks of raw eggs & saffron & cast thereto; salt it; let it not
boil after the eggs [have] been cast therein.
Mess it forth with venison or with fat fresh mutton.
What We Did:
- We cooked the wheat in water in several rice cookers, dumping each
potful into a large pan when done.
- While the wheat was cooking, we soaked the saffron in the vegetable
broth and cow's milk.
- When the wheat was all cooked, we beat the eggs and stirred them
into a little broth in a separate bowl.
- Then we added the major portion of broth, milk, and saffron to the
pot of cooked wheat. No, it wasn't really cool, as the recipes
directs, but it wasn't completely hot, either.
- We brought it to a simmer, not a boil, on medium heat, stirring,
from time to time until bubbles just began to form around the edge of
the pot.
- As soon as that happened we turned the heat down to low.
- Then we tempered the eggs with some of the hot liquid in the pot -
i do this by adding just a little hot liquid at a time, so the eggs
don't "cook"/curdle, and until they are quite warm.
- Then we slowly poured the tempered eggs into the wheat, stirring constantly.
- We continued cooking, stirring constantly, until the liquid and
eggs were absorbed.
- Because the broth was salted, we didn't add salt, but i tasted it
when it was nearly done, to see if it needed salt - i don't recall if
it did... but if it does, it's good to add the salt before it gets
too thick, so it can be evenly distributed.
- When it was thick, we took it off the stove, set it on a heat-proof
counter with a lid on.
Didn't burn it.
But didn't serve it with venison or fresh mutton, either. It was
served with roast pork legs with three sauces, salat, and two
vegetable dishes.
This way it was quite pleasantly creamy and soft, and fairly tasty
for frumenty (not the tastiest dish, IMO).
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
My LibraryThing
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lilinah
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