[Sca-cooks] MS Harley 5401 in Modern English

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 2:06 PM, Sam Wallace <guillaumedep at gmail.com> wrote:
> For those who are interested, there is a translation of MS Harley 5401
> in Modern English at this location:

Thank you very much for your hard work.  I have suggestions for
alternate translations of a few lines.

In the second recipe for chewets, you render "take fayre mary" as
"take fair many".  I believe that 'mary' is marrow.  ('mari' is one
spelling found in the Middle English Dictionary.)  That would make
sense, considering the next part of the text: "When it is perbolid in
þe boynes take it oute & lay it in gobits in a cofyn".  So, you're
taking marrowbones, parboiling the marrow inside the bones, then
placing gobbets of the cooked marrow in the pie crust.

"To make Chese Nesh at is Ouer Hard."  I would render this as "To
soften cheese that is too hard".  You take hard cheese and wrap it in
green nettles.  After a few days, it will be soft, presumably having
absorbed some of the moisture in the nettles.

Thanks for sharing your work!

Brighid ni Chiarain