[Sca-cooks] Use of Yeast

[Sam Wallace]

When digging up recipes for rock fish, I found some that called for yeast.
Here are two examples:

To seeth Roches, Flounders, or Eeles.
MAke ye good broth with newe Yeast, put therein Uergious, Salt, Parsley, a
litle Time, and not so much Rosemarie and pepper. So set it on the fyre and
boyle it, & when it is wel boyled, put in Roches, Flounders, Eles, and a
quantitie of sweet Butter.
- The good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin

A Pyke sauce for a Pyke, Breme, Perche, Roche, Carpe, Eles, Floykes and al
maner of brouke fyshe.
Take a posye of Rosemary and time and bynde them together, and put in also
a quantitye of perselye not bounde, and put into the caudron of water,
salte and yeste, and the herbes, and lette them boyle a pretye whyle, then
putte in the fysshe and a good quantitye of butter, and let them boyle a
good season, and you shall have good Pyke sauce....
- A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye

What are we talking about here? Is this dregs from a wine or ale barrel or
is it bread yeast in sugar water? Any ideas?

Guillaume
<guillaumedep at gmail.com>