[Sca-cooks] Buttered wortes

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius adamantius1 at verizon.net
Sat Feb 6 07:04:34 PST 2010


On Feb 6, 2010, at 5:56 AM, Claire Clarke wrote:

> The original source can be found at MedievalCookery.com
> 
> To mak buttered wortes tak good erbes and pik them and wesche them and  
> shred them and boile them in watur put ther to clarified buttur a good  
> quantite and when they be boiled salt them and let none otemele cum  
> ther in then cutt whit bred thyn in dysshes and pour on the wort.
> 
> This is an excerpt from Gentyll manly Cokere (MS Pepys 1047)
> (England, ca. 1500)
> The original source can be found at James L. Matterer's website
> 
> To make buttyrd Wortys. Take all maner of gode herbys that ye may  
> gette pyke them washe them and hacke them and boyle them vp in fayre  
> water and put ther to butture clarefied A grete quantite And when they  
> be boylde enowgh salt them but let non Ote mele come ther yn And dyse  
> brede in small gobbetts & do hit in dyshys and powre the wortes A pon  
> and serue hit furth.
> 
> Has anyone ever tried putting oatmeal in this recipe just to see what
> dreadful consequences arise (well, probably it just tastes disgusting)?

Nah, I make leek and oatmeal soup frequently, which is quite good. It's pretty much just a thickening agent that releases some starch into the liquid fairly early in the cooking process (so you don't have to cook it to death before experiencing the effect, and the oat grains retain some... erm... hull integrity?).

Off the top of my head, the only example I can think of for putting oats in with greens is in some of Markham's meat pottages which also contain mixed greens and oats, IIRC. I'm sure there are other examples...

Adamantius 






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls, when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter




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