[Sca-cooks] Steam was Sweating meat

[Johnna Holloway]

Splents--- now that takes us also to

Harl. 4016 page 72-73

Capons Stwed. Take parcelly, Sauge, Isoppe, Rose Mary, and tyme, and breke hit bitwen̄ thi hondes, and stoppe the Capon̄ there-witℏ; colour hym with Safferon̄, and couche him in a erthen̄ potte, or of brasse, and ley splentes vndernetℏ and al abouȝt the sides, that the Capon̄ touche no thinge of the potte; strawe good herbes in þe potte, and put there-to a pottel of the best wyn̄ that thou may gete, and none other licour; hele*. [cover. ] the potte with a close led, and stoppe hit abouȝte with dogℏ or bater, that no eier come oute; And set hit on̄ þe faire charcole, and lete it seetℏ easly and longe tiƚƚ hit be ynowe. And if hit be an̄ erthen̄ potte, þen̄ set hit on̄ þe fire whan̄ þou takest hit downe, and lete hit not touche þe grounde for breking; And whan̄ þe hete is ouer past, take oute the Capon̄ with a prik; then̄ make a sirippe of wyne, Reysons of corance, sugur and safferon̄, And boile hit a lituƚƚ; [folio 5.] medel pouder of Ginger with a litul of the same wyn̄, and do þereto; then̄ do awey the fatte of the sewe of the Capon̄, And do the Siryppe to þe sewe, and powre hit on̄ þe capon̄, and serue it fortℏ. 


from Two fifteenth-century cookery-books by Austin 

http://name.umdl.umich.edu/CookBk

Johnnae

On Apr 15, 2013, at 12:54 PM, Daniel Myers wrote:snipped
> 
> There's also a couple from English cookbooks where the meat was placed
> on splints to keep it up off the bottom of the pot and out of direct
> contact with the liquid - these being from a time where there was so
> much contact between the English and the French that the English
> cookbooks were almost half French.