The Thorngrove Table

Fifteenth Century Frugality: Stewed Cold Cuts

Other people send you chocolate-flavoured candy - or if you're really lucky, real chocolate - for Easter. My mother sent me a leg of New Zealand lamb. Is she not awesome?

(There was also a bottle of lovely rosé champagne, some baby potatoes & a bunch of mouthwateringly tender asparagus, but as this post is about the lamb they don't really get a mention. Though yes, I definitely have a wonderful mother.)

As my housemates had swanned off to Czech for a fortnight however, I was left to consume the whole leg of lamb by myself. Of course this meant I could cook it to my preferred level of 'medium rare to medium', rather than the 'well done to briquette' that Mark prefers, but still, no easy task. After seeding it with garlic, covering it in rosemary & oil and roasting it, I was left with a lovely dinner - for several nights. I did visit friends for Easter Monday, but as they're vegetarians I couldn't really share any roast lamb with them!

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After a couple of nights of reheated roast and cold cuts, I was tossing up whether or not to make Shepherd's Pie, when I remembered a rather tasty dish, "Stewed Roast Mutton or Chicken", which I'd served at a medieval re-enactment feast, and made a couple of times since. I used cold roast chicken for the feast, and roast beef leftovers the other times, and both results were very nice.

This is a good 'example' recipe - the sweet and sour taste of meat, wine & vinegar, laced with cinnamon & saffron gives you a dish characteristic of the flavour of C.15th English cuisine. The recipe comes from Harleian MS 4016, a manuscript in the British Library and is very typical of medieval stews, which as I've previously mentioned, consisted of little more than meat, onions, spices and/or herbs, and liquid.

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Original Receipt
Harleian MS 4016
Take faire Mutton that hath ben roste, or elles Capons, or suche other flessh, and mynce it faire; put hit into a possenet, or elles bitwen ij siluer disshes; caste thereto faire parely, And oynons small mynced; then caste there-to wyn, and a litel vynegre or vergeous, pouder of peper, Canel, salt and saffron, and lete it stue on the faire coles, And then serue hit forthe; if he have no wyne ne vynegre, take Ale, Mustard, and A quantite of vergeous, and do this in the stede of vyne or vinegre.

My Transcription
Take good Mutton that has been roasted, or else Chickens, or other such meat, and mince it finely; put it into a possenet* or else between two silver dishes; add to it good parsley, and onions minced small; then add to it wine, and a little vinegar or verjuice, powder of pepper, cinnamon, salt and saffron, and let it stew on the good coals, and then serve it forth; if he [you] have no wine or vinegar, take ale, mustard and a quantity of verjuice, and use this instead of wine or vinegar.

*A possenet was specifically a small, three-legged metal cooking pot, usually with a handle and used for boiling and stewing.


Modern Redaction
About 400 g cold roast lamb (or other meat)
2 tsp chopped parsley
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp cinnamon, preferably freshly ground
salt & pepper
1 large pinch of saffron strands
1 Tb lukewarm water
2 tsp wine vinegar
150 ml wine (I used Shiraz)

1. First leave the saffron strands to soak in a tablespoon of lukewarm water, to soften them and release the flavour. This will take about 15 minutes and the water should be yellow by then.
2. Dice or chop the meat into small pieces
3. Put in a heavy pot or frypan.
4. Add the parsley, onion and cinnamon stick.
5. Season to taste.
6. Sprinkle the saffron strands (and their water) over the meat.
7. Pour the vinegar and wine over the meat.
8. Bring to the boil.
9. Reduce temperature to a simmer and cook until the onion is soft and the meat heated through.
10. Add a little extra wine if the 'stew' looks like drying out, but do not make it sloppy.
11. When served, the liquid should be almost reduced to a syrup or glaze.

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Bibliography
AUSTIN, Thomas, ed. "Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016" London: Oxford University Press, 1964.
Available online here at The University of Michigan's Middle English Compendium.

Cherry Cupcakes & Chocolate Sour Cherry Cupcakes

If it had been me in the Garden of Eden, I would have cheerfully passed up all other fruits for a cherry. Offer me anything from an August Heart to a Zweitfruhe, and the Apple of Knowledge doesn't even get a look-in.

One of my Christmas treats every year when I was a child was a bowl of cherries, which as Christmas in New Zealand is the height of summer, were stupidly expensive. Sadly I had to share the fruit with the rest of my family, but it was a foregone conclusion that I would end up eating half of them. My adoration even extends to those little sweetened balls of artificial colour, maraschino cherries (but not, I must assert, to Cherry Coke, which is an abomination to my tastebuds).

In my recent baking adventures I have, naturally, been baking cherry cupcakes. The two recipes I like the most are quite different, although both (obviously) have cherries. The first is like an abbreviated version of my favourite cake, Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cherry Cake). The second is a light, faintly-scented cake with little nuggets of sugary cherry goodness in it.

Both recipes originate in Feargal Connolly's "500 Cupcakes & Muffins" , but I've changed the recipes somewhat. They can be halved with few problems, as long as you increase the flour to make sure the batter isn't too runny. Personally I think these are both fantastic without icing of any kind except a light dusting of icing sugar, but YMMV, so I will leave you to decide for yourselves.

(and yes, the reason there are only 2 cupcakes in the photos is because I ate most of them before I remembered to take shots)

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Schwarzwalder Kirschkleinekuchen
(or, more easily remembered and with better grammar - Black Forest Cherry Cupcakes)
This is a truly decadent little cupcake. Brandied cherries are good also, but I especially like it with sour cherries, as the taste contrast with the sweet, sour and faintly bitter is deeeelicious!

225 g / 8 oz unsalted butter, softened
4 Tb Dutch processed (i.e. alkalised) cocoa powder - I use Green & Black's Organic Cocoa Powder
225 g / 8 oz caster sugar
225 g / 8 oz self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
100 g / 3.5 oz sour cherries

1. Preheat the oven 175C/350F/GM4 & place 18 paper baking cases in cupcake/muffin tins, or - as I usually do - organise 18 silicon cupcake cases.
2. Sieve together the self-raising flour, cocoa and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until smooth.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well.
5. Fold in the flour mixture and the cherries, and stir until well combined with as few strokes as necessary.
6. Spoon the batter into the cases. I find filling them to 2/3 is best.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Remove and check. A toothpick should come out clean from the centre. If there are any crumbs, put the cupcakes back in the oven for another 3 - 5 minutes. Repeat until cupcakes are cooked.
9. Remove cases/tins from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
10. Remove the cupcakes from the cases/tins and cool on a rack.
11. Dust with icing sugar (Connolly suggests a dollop of sweetened whipped cream), or decorate with icing if you wish.

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Very Cherry Cupcakes
This second recipe is quite light, sweet and kinda girly to be honest! Sure to be a hit with your inner diva.

225 g / 8 oz unsalted butter, softened
225 g / 8 oz caster sugar
225 g / 8 oz self raising flour
50 g / 1 ¾ oz maraschino cherries, chopped in half
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 tb kirsch

1. Preheat the oven 175C/350F/GM4 & place 18 paper baking cases in cupcake/muffin tins, or - as I usually do - organise 18 silicon cupcake cases.
2. Combine all ingredients except the maraschino cherries together in a bowl.
3. Beat until smooth.
4. Mix in the maraschino cherries, with as few strokes as necessary.
5. Spoon the batter into the cases. I find filling them to 2/3 is best.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Remove and check. A toothpick should come out clean from the centre. If there are any crumbs, put the cupcakes back in the oven for another 3 - 5 minutes. Repeat until cupcakes are cooked.
8. Remove cases/tins from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
9. Remove the cupcakes from the cases/tins and cool on a rack.
10. Dust with icing sugar, or decorate with icing if you wish.

Savoy Coleslaw with Avocado Cream

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When I was about 10 or 11 my uncle Rocky, a chef at the time, told me that mixing coleslaw together with their hands was how chefs cleaned their fingernails. After that, I refused to eat coleslaw for years.

I no longer suffer from 'coleslaw reluctance' (although I still don't know - and have little desire to be illuminated either - as to whether Uncle Rocky was lying or not), and with the discovery of the delicious Savoy Cabbage in latter years, have even jumped on the I Love Cabbage bandwagon. Admittedly White Cabbage still raises childhood memories of over-boiled & tasteless limp leaves and I never buy it, but as an adult I can avoid particular vegetables without censure. Yah for being an adult!

Coleslaw has a lot going for it however. Firstly - look at those colours! Aren't they gorgeous? You want to eat that dish. Secondly; taste. Scrumptious fresh vegetables, a touch of sweet, a tang of sour and delicious cream. Mmm. Thirdly; texture. Slightly crunchy vegetation in a creamy sauce. Perfect match. Fourthly; much easier to digest than raw vegetables. Personally I have trouble digesting fruit and vege au natural, so coleslaw is easier on my tum than a normal salad. The dressing and blanching breaks down the vegetables enough that digestion isn't so much of a Big Thing. Fifthly, it keeps well. Always a bonus for those of us who make our own lunches and/or work late. There's probably a dozen other reasons why coleslaw is a big 'YES', but really, who needs more than that?

The coleslaw recipe I use is an amalgamation of various recipes, and can of course be played around with depending on what you have in your chiller at the time. I'm fond of avocado coleslaw however, as it adds just an extra little fillip of flavour. You can of course use a cream dressing, but I like the simple tastes of this version:

Coleslaw with Avocado Cream
1 head Savoy Cabbage
1 red onion, sliced finely
1 red capsicum (pepper), sliced finely
1 carrot, rough grated
1-2 Tb flavoured vinegar
1-2 Tb walnut or other salad oil
1 tsp sugar
pepper & salt to taste (about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp each usually)
1 cup creme fraiche, sour cream or cream
1 avocado

1. Wash and shred the cabbage.
2. Blanch the Savoy Cabbage in boiling hot water for a couple of minutes, until it is a bright bright 'just call me Green Lantern' green.
3. Drain the cabbage and press out all excess water. I squeeze it together in my hands in a locking grip, and it's amazing how much extra liquid you express like that. Doing it manually rather than with a tool means the leaves tend to spring back into shape better.
4. Mix the shredded cabbage with the onion, capsicum and carrot.
5. Beat together the vinegar (I used a mix of Forum red wine vinegar & white balsamic vinegar, which results in a slightly sharp & fiery but sweet flavour), oil, sugar, salt and pepper.
6. Pour dressing over cabbage and stir in.
7. Chop up the avocado and beat together with the cream/creme fraiche until smooth and lumpless. Alternately use a kitchen whizz - I use my Bamix processor for this.
8. Add avocado cream to cabbage.
9. Voila! Coleslaw with Avocado Cream. Eat and enjoy.

Crisp Stir-fried Shrimps (or Prawns)

One of my favourite fast dinners is prawns tossed in a wok with a large splash of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce and some chopped spring onions. Mmmm - tasty (it works well for frogs legs too). When I have a little more time however, Crisp Stir-fried Small Aquatic Arthropod is also a favourite, especially when paired with egg stir-fried rice (as seen above).

Although it's in the Hors d'Oeuvres section of my cookbook, I eat it as a main, and 500gm of shrimp or prawn is enough for 2 - 4 anyway (depending on their appetite and liking for arthropods), or can be reheated for lunch. It's a nicely flexible dish, i.e. this time I used prawns rather than shrimp, a Fino sherry and chicken consommé rather than stock, of which I had none. I was also lazy and didn't bother to de-tail the prawns.

The recipe I use comes from the very comprehensive "Yan-Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook" (recommended by Barbara of the excellent Tigers and Strawberries), which has become my favourite Chinese collection, and is reproduced below:

Crisp Stir-fried Shrimps
Yan-Kit So "Yan-Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook - A Complete Guide to the Equipment, Ingredients, Recipes and Techniques" Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 2nd ed. 1998. ISBN 0-7513-0563-4; p.48

Ingredients
500 gm fresh or frozen raw peeled shrimps or prawns cut into 2 cm pieces
groundnut or corn oil
15ml (1 Tbs) Shaohsing wine or medium dry sherry

For the Marinade:
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
15 ml (1 Tbs) cornflour
1 egg white

For the Sauce:
5 ml (1 tsp) cornflour
60 ml (4 Tbs) clear stock
1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) sugar
salt to taste

1. If frozen shrimps are used, defrost thoroughly. Wash the shrimps under cold running water. Pat dry with kitchen paper but leave damp. Put into a bowl.
2. Prepare the marinade: sprinkle the salt over the shrimps and mix well. Sitr in the cornflour, then add the egg white and stir again to coat the shrimps evenly and thoroughly. Cover and leave to marinate for at least 5 hours.
3. For the sauce: mix together the cornflour, stock and sugar in a small bowl. Put aside.
4. Half fill a wok or deep-fryer with oil. Heat until just hot (150C/300F). Carefully add all the shrimps and fry for 30-45 seconds, seperating them with a pair of long chopsticks or a long-handled wooden spoon. Remove the shrimps before they are quite cooked with a hand strainer or perforated disc and drain on kitchen paper.
5. Pour most of the oil into a container, leaving only about 30 ml (2 Tbsp) in the wok. Reheat until smoke rises. Quickly add the shrimps to the wok and stir a few times with a wok scoop or metal spatula. Splash in the wine or sherry around the side of the wok. When the sizzling dies down, pour in the well-stirred sauce. Continue to flip and toss for a few more seconds. Add salt to taste, if necessary. Remove the mixture to a warm serving plate. Serve immediately.

Raspberry Semi-Freddo/Parfait, Ginger Glass Cookies & Raspberry Sauce

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For the current WTSIM's theme of "Terrines" I have no historical recipes to offer you, as Terrines and Pàtes per se are absent from the repertoire of the medieval cook. There are dishes which might - with a rather large leap of the imagination - be considered forebears (in the same way primordial slime might be considered our forebear) but the earliest definitive reference I could find in my bookcase was in my rather battered 1911 copy of the redoubtable Escoffier, which leaves a rather gaping hole of several centuries. So I shall leave it to experts such as Carolyn of C.18th Cuisine to illuminate the mysteries of terrine genesis, and concentrate on the modern era.

I make chicken liver pàte with some regularity during summer. It's an excellent lunch dish, in addition to keeping well, and it's easy to vary the recipe to stave off taste monotony and tailor to my food obsession of the moment (capers, peppadew, jellybeans, etc). However chicken liver pàte recipes are a dime a dozen, so I decided to stretch my wings a bit and attempt as my terrine something I wouldn't normally. Which with me, usually equates to a dessert that requires more than just basic assembly.

My final choice was a recipe from Gordon Ramsay's "Just Desserts" cookbook. Originally a guilty pleasure I bought just so I could read the recipes, look at the pretty food-porn pictures, and drool, I didn't actually expect to ever use this book. But I was wrong! I'm happy to say these are the fourth and fifth recipes I've now tried from Just Desserts (an astronomically higher number than from any other dessert recipe book I own!) and my first parfait recipe ever; the Strawberry and Vanilla Semi-Freddo.

The Parfait and the Pàte â bombe
This is a two-part recipe. First you make a pàte â bombe base (a mixture of 'hard boil' sugar syrup and egg yolks) and then you make the fruit and vanilla cream parfait, and put the two together. The recipe is for strawberries, however there was a box of raspberries in the freezer that were heading towards freezer-burn, so I thought I'd use those instead. I drained off the excess liquid and got about 300g solid weight fruit to use in the parfait. This was my only deviation. The pàte â bombe and parfait recipes were fairly straight forward and the end result was a gorgeously rich raspberry creaminess, quite heavy on the tongue.

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Strawberry [Raspberry] and Vanilla Semi-Freddo
1 quantity Pàte â bombe [see below]
250g hulled Strawberries & 125g Redcurrents or 500g box frozen Raspberries
200ml double cream
1 vanilla pod

1. Make the pàte â bombe. Purée the [fruit] in a food processor or blender until smooth, then sieve to remove the seeds if preferred. Fold the purée into the pàte â bombe. Cover and chill the mixture for 1 hour.
2. Pour the cream into a bowl. Slit open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife, adding these to the cream. Three-quarters whip the cream until softly peaking.
3. Fold the vanilla cream into the [fruit] mixture, then freeze in a 1.2 litre loaf tin or individual moulds.
4. To unmould a large parfait, dip the mould into warm water for a few seconds, then invert on to a board and soften at room temperature for 5 - 10 minutes before slicing. Turn out individual parfaits straight on to serving plates.

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Pàte â bombe
100ml Water
150g Caster Sugar
5 large free-range Egg Yolks

1. Heat the sugar and water until clear.
2. Beat egg yolks until creamy.
3. Bring sugar to 'hard ball stage' or 120°C.
4. Drizzle sugar into yolks, whisking all the while.
5. For ice creams and parfaits, whisk until mixture is a thick foam.
6. Use at room temperature or chill for up to 2 days, whisking again before use.
   
   Paraphrased from Gordon Ramsay's "Just Desserts" - buy the book! It's worth it.

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The Ginger Glass Cookies
I thought these pretty cookies would make excellent side pieces for dessert - they have a nice spicy kick to them. They're simple to make and the substitution of Golden Syrup for the Liquid Glucose/Clear Corn Syrup didn't go too badly. I'll try the other syrup another time. The recipe comes from "The Cookie Book" by Catherine Atkinson, and I've paraphrased it:

Ginger Glass Cookies
50g unsalted Butter
40 g Liquid Glucose/Clear Corn Syrup (I used Golden Syrup)
90 g Caster Sugar
40 g plain Flour
1 tsp ground Ginger

1. Put the butter and liquid glucose in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted together.
2. Sift flour and ginger into the sugar.
3. Stir into the butter mixture.
4. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 25 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/GM4.
6. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment, or like I did, use a flexible silicon baking sheet.
7. Roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls and place them on the baking sheet.
8. Flatten them to as thin as possible. The book suggest laying another layer of parchment/silicon on top and using a rolling pin, but I found flattening the second lot with my fingers worked just as well, didn't show in the end result, and was a lot less fiddly!
9. If you want, stamp the cookies into rounds with a cutter or glass.
10. Bake for 5-6 minutes, until golden brown and lightly bubbling.
11. Leave on baking sheet a few minutes to firm up slightly, then either fold over or leave flat.
12. Leave to cool completely, then store in airtight container.

Note that I found the oven temperature too low to properly bake the cookies and had to turn my oven up to 190°C/375°F/GM5 to achieve success. This is probably because my oven is old, decrepit and anything but airtight, so your mileage might vary. I suggest doing this in two lots, as I did, and adjusting the heat accordingly if necessary.

The Raspberry Sauce
The sauce was made using the leftover raspberry juice (waste not, want not!), a cup of sugar syrup base, a tablespoon of cornflour and a shot of Bramley & Gage's delicious Blackcurrant Liqueur. Tasty, and the colour, as you can see, was glorious!

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And last, but definitely not least, Happy Birthday Johanna!

Renaissance Recipes for Breakfast I

For those who like myself find the idea of ale & leftovers, or toast in wine a bit much to stomach first thing in the morning (I swear beer & cold pizza has no correspondence to those combinations at all!), here is the first of a few medieval fast-breaking recipes you might find more to your taste:

Carbonata
Translation: To make carbonata, take salt meat layered with lean and fat, and cut it in slices, and put it in a pan to cook; do not let it overcook. Then put it on a plate and sprinkle it with a little sugar, a little cinnamon, and a little finely chopped parsley. And you can do the same to prepare salt pork [?] or ham, using orange or lemon juice in place of vinegar, whichever you prefer; it will make you drink all the better.
Maestro Martino, Libro de arte coquinaria, Italian, mid 1400s

Redaction for 2:
1 pkt Unsmoked Bacon Rashers or Pancetta or Ham (4 slices each)
Juice of 1 Lemon or Seville Orange, or 2 Tb Vinegar
2 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
2 TB chopped Flatleaf Parsley

Fry the meat in it's own fat, olive oil or butter. At this point you can either squeeze or pour the citrus or vinegar over the meat, then sprinkle over the sugar, parsley and cinnamon, and serve. Alternately you can set the meat aside, covered, then heat the sugar in the juice in the frying pan until dissolved, throw in the cinnamon and parsley, boil it briefly and then pour it over the meat and serve it forth. Simple!

A few comments...
Maestro Martino was head cook for the Patriach of Aquileia in Rome in the mid-fifteenth century. He was as famous in his time as Escoffier or Mrs Beeton or Gordon Ramsay is in ours and for very good reason, being the author of the first 'all-rounder' treatise on Renaissance cuisine, Libro de arte Coquinaria (The Art Of Cooking).

Carbonata is one of my favourite brunches - not only is it quick and simple, but the combination of salt, sweet and sour with spice & herb accents is delicious and just the thing to pair with hot buttered toast, strong black coffee and a glass of orange juice. If you are cooking it with a very strong vinegar, water the vinegar down, so as not to overpower the dish. Balsamic vinegar is especially nice in carbonata, and I'm particularly fond of the white balsamic vinegar myself. Don't use distilled vinegars if possible, as these weren't available back then, so won't give you the authentic effect.

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Bibliography
REDON, Odile et al. The Medieval Kitchen : Recipes from France and Italy June 1998, Univ of Chicago Press ISBN: 0226706842

P.S. The picture is a bad pun, it's a picture of a young Francis Bacon.

"Cormarye" - a delicious C.14th Pork Roast with wine & spices

Somewhere back in the deep, dark depths of my online life resides the recipe for Cormarye, the medieval cook's solution to bland pork roast. Pig is one of those meats that when it's good it's very, very good, and when it's bad it's as interesting as a Yanni concert. True, this dish tastes even more fantastic with a good quality cut, but it's also notable for its ability to rescue poor quality pork from the doldrums and raise it into something you aren't ashamed to present for Sunday dinner.

Recently I did three 90 seconds shorts for Optomen Television's "Market Kitchen" daytime TV show, and this recipe starred in one of those shorts. So rather than forcing viewers to search it out, here again is the recipe:

Cormarye
Original Text from The Forme of Cury, C.14th English:
Take Colyaundre, caraway smale grounden, powdour of peper and garlec ygrounde, in rede wyne; medle alle [th]ise togyder and salt it. Take loynes of pork rawe and fle of the skyn, and pryk it wel with a knyf, and lay it in the sawse. Roost it whan [th]ou wilt, & kepe [th]at [th]at fallith [th]erfro in the rostyng and see[th] it in a possynet with faire broth, & serue it forth wi[th] the roost anoon.

Modern Redaction:
3 lb/1.5 kg boneless, skinned Pork Loin Roast*
1/2 bottle Red Wine
1/2 c canned Chicken Broth or Stock
1/2 cup Water
1-2 cloves crushed Garlic
1 tsp ground Coriander Seed*
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp ground Caraway Seed
Coriander Leaf (optional)

1. Mix together the spices, seasoning, garlic and wine.
2. Prick the skin of the meat and add to the sauce. I usually have the butcher remove the fat layer beforehand.
3. Leave to marinate for a minimum of an hour. I usually leave it overnight in the fridge, and then it is sure to invigorate even the blandest pork cut!
4. Preheat oven.*
5. Put in a roasting tray and roast until done. Use your favorite cookbook to get time and temperature right.
6. When the meat is roasted, take sauce and drippings from the roasting pan, add the chicken broth and water, and simmer briefly to make a sauce
7. Slice the roast, pour over sauce, and serve.
8. It's especially nice with a garnish of chopped fresh Coriander leaf.

Notes:
*This is a large amount for four, but a piece of pork much less than 3 pounds/ 1.36 kg won't roast properly. So make it all, and have left-overs.
*Don't leave out the caraway because you are afraid it will taste like rye bread. And don't leave out the coriander seed either - they make it taste wonderful.
*Preheating the oven to above the roasting temperature sears the meat nicely and makes sure it doesn't dry out.

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Bibliography:
HIEATT, Constance B. & BUTLER, Sharon. (transcription) ANONYMOUS. "Curye on Inglysch" (includes 'The Forme of Cury'); London, Oxford Early English Text Society, 1985. Pg.109, #54.

A Tudor Tarte of Prunes

As requested, here is the recipe for the prune tartlets from last fortnight's afternoon tea:

To make a Tarte of Prunes. Take Prunes and wash them, then boil them with faire water, cut in halfe a peny loaf of white bread, and take them out and strain them with Claret wine, season it with sinamon, Ginger and Sugar, and a little Rosewater, make the paste as fine as you can, and dry it, and fill it, and let it drie in the oven, take it out and cast on it Biskets and Carawaies.

Modern Redaction
1x 410gm can prunes in syrup / 350 g dried prunes
100 g fresh white breadcrumbs
200 ml red wine
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
100 g sugar
1 Tb rosewater
Short Pastry

1. Preheat the oven to GM 7/425°F/220°C.GM 7/425°F/220°C.
2. Soak dried prunes for a couple of hours, or preferably overnight. This step isn't necessary for canned prunes in syrup.
3. Preheat the oven to GM 7/425°F/220°C.GM 7/425°F/220°C.
4. Line a flan or pie dish with the pastry. Small individual tartlets are also ideal as this is very rich.
5. Bake pie case or tartlets blind at GM 7/425°F/220°C for 15 minutes or so until a light golden colour.
6. Remove baking beans/beads and paper and turn the oven down.
7. Simmer the prunes for 10 - 15 minutes until tender.
8. Drain and stone the prunes. Don't forget to do this!
9. Blend the prunes and other ingredients together to form a smooth thick paste.
10. Spoon the filling into the pastry case/s. The prune mixture will puff up, so don't overfill.
11. Bake at GM4/350°F/180°C for 1 hour - 1 hour 30 minutes (tartlets will require less time than a single tart).
12. Serve either hot or cold.

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Bibliography:
BREARS, Peter Food and cooking in C16th Britain: History and Recipes English Heritage Food Series, 1985.
This contains the original recipe which comes from the Tudor cookbook "A.W.: A Book of Cookrye Very necessary for all such as delight therin".

Idiot-proof Coconut & Lime Macaroons and what not to use in Meringues

I call these macaroons 'idiot-proof' because, well, not the world's greatest baker here, but these turn out beautifully.

One of the problems with making Tart de Bry is that you have heaps and heaps of egg white left over. Meringues and macaroons seem the natural solution and this recipe has one of my favourite taste combinations - the tangy sourness of lime paired with coconut (yes, I'm a big fan of Piña Coladas too). The texture is also wonderful - a crunchy and crumbly exterior melting into a moist interior.

As well as the lime icing over the coconut macaroons, the original recipe suggested topping them with chopped pistachios. However I personally don't usually have pistachios in the pantry (plus it also struck me as being a bit of a taste overkill and somewhat twee). The original recipe was in "The Cookie Book" by Catherine Atkinson, but I've fiddled around with the amounts a little:

Coconut & Lime Macaroons
Macaroon ingredients
3 large egg whites
2 cups shredded dessicated coconut (sweet)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tb flour

Icing ingredients
1 cup icing sugar
1 grated lime - rind thereof
2 Tb lime juice

1. Heat the oven to 180F/350C/GM4.


2. Mix all the macaroon ingredients together.


3. Put in a pan over a low heat and cook for about 6 - 8 minutes, stirring continuously. 


4. Remove when the mixture has the consistency of thick porridge.


5. Put down baking parchment or (best still!) silicon baking sheets on an oven tray.


6. Dollop a large tablespoon of the mixture onto the sheet and mould into a little mound. I got 12 macaroons from this amount.


7. Bake the macaroons about 15 minutes or so, until they turn golden brown.


8. Leave them to cool completely while still on the baking sheets.


9. In the meantime, mix together the icing ingredients. You want the icing to be the consistency of extra thick cream.


10. Dribble a couple of teaspoons of the icing over each cool macaroon (if you do it whilst they are still warm the cookies are saturated too much with the icing).


11. Leave icing to harden (if you have the patience) then eat! Totally scrumptious.

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I also made some Almond Macaroons, from Nigella Lawson's recipe in "How to Eat" (p.20). These turned out tasting - as well as looking - pretty darn nice, which pleased me.

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Just to break my winning baking streak however, the Meringues (also Nigella Lawson's recipe which I have previously made with great success) were a disaster. I wanted to make brown sugar meringues, but had no brown sugar. Oh well, thought I, I'll just powderize some Demerara sugar and use that instead. Should be prettymuch the same result.

BZZZZZZT!!! Wrong!

The sugar sunk the beaten egg whites. I ended up a spooning brown eggwhite liquid the consistency of cream into tin tartlet cases. They came out of the oven with a wonderful little hollow tent of crunchy meringue - and at the bottom of the case that soggy mass of sugar which anyone who's flunked Meringue School is familiar with. Blah.

A quick search of the web gives me a probable reason for the failure:

"...Demerara sugars [are] unrefined or raw sugar coated with molasses and processed into crystals or cubes of sugar during the first crystallization of the cane syrup. As a crystal particle its size is larger, the texture is coarser and it is stickier than refined sugar... When using the refined demerara sugar in baked goods, be aware that it has similar properties of honey, slowing down the reaction with the yeast during the early stages of the dough rising."

"This type of [soft] Brown Sugar... is basically a refined white sugar or sugar syrup with molasses added in varying amounts to produce a darker colored and stronger tasting sugar. The various colors (light to dark) of this sugar will contain from 1% to 4% cane syrup that has not been refined out of the sugar contents. The lighter the color of the Brown Sugar, the less syrup contained in the sugar. Thus, the ligher colored sugars will have a texture that is more granular and less moist. The flavor of the lighter colored sugars will not be as complex as the darker colored surgars and will be sweeter tasting. As a rule, the lighter the color, the less intense the molasses flavor in the sugar. However, lighter or darker soft Brown Sugars can be substituted for each other as long as the recipe does not require more than 1/4 cup of sugar.

Brown Sugar can be substituted for white sugar, resulting in a more moist baked good providing a flavor with a hint of butterscotch. It is not advisable to substitute liquid or granulated brown sugar for soft Brown Sugar, since the moisture content of soft brown sugar is higher, providing a different texture in the baked goods than can be achieved using other types of Brown Sugar." - Recipetips.com

We live and learn! Soft Brown Sugar only next time. Though the little tented parts were delicious, so it might be interesting to see if I could repeat the result, using a thin layer of the meringue liquid over some sort of fruit or curd tart.

Waiter, There's Something In My... Easter Basket: C.14th Tart de Bry

Easter was an occasion of great celebration in medieval times in the Western Christian world - not just for religious reasons, but for culinary reasons also. It was the termination of Lent, the seemingly endless 'tithe days of the year', meaning no more preserved dried fish! Meat, eggs, cheese, milk and butter were back on the menu; fasting was finished and the single daily Lenten meal reverted back to two official daily meals (and any number of smaller unofficial ones).

There was a practical reason for Lent in addition to its purpose of religious penance - it was the end of winter. Food was scarce, with medieval households relying on the provisions stored and preserved during autumn. By early spring, the chickens would not be laying many eggs, the majority of the cheese and salt meat will have been eaten, the only surviving animals were being kept to breed and the cows wouldn't be giving milk yet.

By the end of Lent, all the new shoots and vegetables would be coming into season, the chickens would be laying again and the animals breeding and producing milk, making for a magnificent feast at the end of the fasting.

One of the dishes that would have been a sure fire hit at Eastertide is my offering to this month's "Waiter, There's Something In My... Easter basket" challenge - an egg & cheese tart from the fourteenth century. This is an English recipe (once again, taken from "The Forme of Cury", cookbook of Richard II's chefs), which specifies 'chese ruayn'. This means cheese from Ruayn or rather, modern day Rouen. This was apparently being a soft fresh cheese rather like a modern-day rindless Brie. I actually made these for an afternoon tea as individual tartlets (and must admit to overcooking them a little!). They puff up into beautiful golden mounds and work very well like this because as well as being pretty and delicious, they're also rather rich.

Tart de Bry. Take a crust ynche depe in a trap. Take 3olkes of ayren rawe & chese ruayn & medle it & Þe 3olkes togyder. Do Þerto powdour ginger, sugur, safroun, and salt. Do it in a trap; bake it & serue it forth.

Brie Tart
1 wedge of Brie, de-crusted
8 egg yolks
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp normal sugar*
4 threads saffron
¼ tsp salt
Short Pastry **

1. Soak the saffron in a tablespoon or so of lukewarm milk or water for at least 10 minutes. This softens it and releases the flavour.
2. Chop the Brie into ½ inch cubes.
3. Mix the eggs together but don't beat them.
4. Mix together the eggs and cheese.
5. Add the ginger, sugar, saffron and salt.
6. Line a flan or pie dish or small individual tartlets with the pastry.
7. Bake the tart for 30 - 40 minutes at GM5/375°F/190°C.
8. After 25 minutes, check the tarts every 5 minutes or so. They are baked when the top goes golden and pastry browned.
9. Serve either hot or cold.

* The sugar here is used mainly to bring out the flavour, like salt or MSG, rather than as a sweetener.
** I got 14 tartlets from half a block of Saxby's Shortcrust Pastry i.e. aprx. 250 gm. I also used the small tin disposable tartlet cases.

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Bibliography:
HIEATT, Constance B. & BUTLER, Sharon. (transcription) ANONYMOUS Curye on Inglysch (includes 'The Forme of Cury') London, Oxford Early English Text Society, 1985.
WILSON, C.Anne Food and Drink in Britain Penguin Books, 1973, reprint 1984 ISBN 0-14-046.546-4