(sort of) Capon Torte (Chicken Pie)

Veal, Kid, or young Capon Torte
Take whichever of the meats listed above that you wish, boiling them first, and making sure that the meat is lean and fatty; and once you have removed every nerve, finely chop with a knife; then crush slightly in a mortar; and take some fresh cheese, and little bit of good aged cheese; likewise a little parsley and marjoram, finely chopping the one and the other, and ten or fifteen eggs with a pork belly or veal udder that has been well boiled and very finely chopped, adding a bit of pepper, some ginger, some cinnamon, some saffron, and cook the same way you would a white torte.

White Torte
… Then make the dough or rather crust in a pan, suitably thin, and cook very slowly, applying heat from below and above; and be sure that it is browned on top by the heat; and when it seems to be done, remove from the pan … Maestro Martino of Como, The

This was a recipe I made up while developing a recipe for Maestro Martino’s Capon Torte. I was hampered by the use of “torte” (in modern terms a sweet, layered cake) for a recipe that was clearly a tart or pie. I also thought the Maestro specifying 15 eggs was a bit ridiculous. In this version I made the Maestro’s recipe into a chicken pie; after doing some further research I came to the conclusion it was a tart rather than a pie (that is no pastry lid), and furthermore the 15 eggs are not ridiculous; but this recipe was so tasty I’ve kept it anyway.

If you’re interested, the final recipe for the Capon Torte can be found here.

Ingredients

1 quantity shortcrust pastry	100g pork belly or speck	1/2 tsp pepper
350g skinned chicken meat	3 large eggs	1/2 tsp ginger
100g ricotta cheese	2 tbs chopped parsley	1/4 tsp cinnamon
25g grated parmesan cheese	2 tsp chopped marjoram	1/4 tsp saffron

Method

1. Put the chicken into a pot of cold water and bring to a simmer. Cook until the chicken has turned white and is fairly firm to the touch – it should still have some give.
2. Allow the chicken to cool slightly and chop into fine pieces.
3. If the skin is still on the pork belly, remove it, and finely slice the pork belly, including the fat.
4. Put the pork belly pieces into a pot of cold water and bring to a simmer. Cook until the pork meat has changed colour and the fat has started to dissolve. Drain and allow to cool slightly.
5. Put all the filling ingredients in a bowl, and mix. It’s easiest to do this with your hands – just get them in there and smoosh.
6. Divide the pastry into two pieces, one larger than the other (you want the larger piece to be approximately 2/3 of the pastry). Roll out the larger piece of pastry to approx. 3mm thickness and line a greased 20cm pie plate with it.
7. Dock the bottom of the pastry and pour in the filling.
8. Roll out the smaller piece of pastry to form the lid. Brush the edges of the pie with beaten egg or milk, and then lay the lid on top. Press the edges firmly to seal, then cut a cross into the lid of the pie to allow steam to escape. If desired, brush the lid of the pie with beaten egg or milk.
9. Put into a preheated 200°C oven and bake for around 345 minutes, or until the pastry has gone golden and started to pull away from the pie plate.
10. Serve the pie hot or cold.

Notes

• Even in the medieval period, Parmesan cheese was a coveted luxury. It was probably first exported from Italy in C14, and was prized throughout Europe. The relative dryness and higher salt content of a good parmesan cheese makes it easy to transport long distances without spoiling (Kindstedt, 2012, 155-157). If you are uncertain about using Parmesan in this recipe, you could substitute a milder cheese, such as Gouda or Edam.
• There are no recipes for pastry in Maestro Martino’s book. The recipe I used is adapted from an English recipe that’s roughly contemporary to Maestro Martino (click on the link for more information).
• Part cooking the meat ensures the filling will be cooked when the pastry is done. It may seem weird to not just chop the chicken and the pork together; however chicken is easier to cut when it’s wholly or partially cooked rather than raw, and pork belly, because of the fat, is much easier to cut raw.

Further Reading

Click on the links below to buy direct from The Book Depository.
Bach, Volker (2016). The Kitchen, Food and Cooking in Reformation Germany.
Kindstedt, Paul (2012). Cheese and Culture.
Martino, Maestro of Como (2005). The Art of Cooking: The First Modern Cookery Book, trans. Jeremy Parzen.
Scappi, Bartolomeo (2008). The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570), trans. Terence Scully.

Capon Torte (Chicken Pie)

Veal, Kid, or young Capon Torte
Take whichever of the meats listed above that you wish, boiling them first, and making sure that the meat is lean and fatty; and once you have removed every nerve, finely chop with a knife; then crush slightly in a mortar; and take some fresh cheese, and little bit of good aged cheese; likewise a little parsley and marjoram, finely chopping the one and the other, and ten or fifteen eggs with a pork belly or veal udder that has been well boiled and very finely chopped, adding a bit of pepper, some ginger, some cinnamon, some saffron, and cook the same way you would a white torte.

White Torte
… Then make the dough or rather crust in a pan, suitably thin, and cook very slowly, applying heat from below and above; and be sure that it is browned on top by the heat; and when it seems to be done, remove from the pan … Maestro Martino of Como, The

It took a number of attempts to get a working recipe for this dish. At first I was hampered by a misunderstanding of what Maestro Martino meant by “torte.” In a modern setting, a torte is a layered, sweet cake, whereas most of the Maestro’s recipes for tortes are savoury and involve pastry. The first attempt I made was an actual pie, with a pastry lid, and used far fewer eggs (I thought 10-15 eggs was a bit excessive). This recipe resulted in a delicious Chicken Pie.

However, further research led me to discover a torte as described by Maestro Martino is “a layered pie akin to the modern quiche.” (Parzen, 2005, 49). Furthermore there are recipes for pies where the method clearly specifies covering the contents, whether the crust would be thrown away (for example Deer or Roebuck Pie, p52), or eaten (Quince Pie, p89).

More experimentation was needed. For my second attempt I made the recipe up as a quiche, with the ingredients mixed into the egg. This was where I discovered Maestro Martino wasn’t kidding about the eggs – depending on the size you actually need that many to make the filling appropriately moist. However, making the torte this way was problematic. The filling was not well distributed in the torte case, and the egg was overcooked at the outside.

I went back to the idea of a torte being in layers – what if the meat, cheese and herbs were in a base layer, with the egg poured over the top? I tried this and was definitely on to something. However again, the egg was overcooked at the outside edge, but not cooked at all in the middle.

I went back to the recipe and noted Maestro Martino’s instructions to heat slowly from above and below. My oven has a grill function – would the grill give me a properly cooked egg top? Result! It worked! Further experimentation showed if the recipe was made into individual pies rather than a large pie, the grill wasn’t needed to cook the egg through.

Ingredients

1 quantity shortcrust pastry	100g pork belly or speck	1/2 tsp pepper
350g skinned chicken meat	10 large eggs	1/2 tsp ginger
100g ricotta cheese	2 tbs chopped parsley	1/4 tsp cinnamon
25g grated parmesan cheese	2 tsp chopped marjoram	1/4 tsp saffron

Method

1. Put the chicken into a pot of cold water and bring to a simmer. Cook until the chicken has turned white and is fairly firm to the touch – it should still have some give.
2. Allow the chicken to cool slightly and chop into fine pieces.
3. If the skin is still on the pork belly, remove it, and finely slice the pork belly, including the fat.
4. Put the pork belly pieces into a pot of cold water and bring to a simmer. Cook until the pork meat has changed colour and the fat has started to dissolve. Drain and allow to cool slightly.
5. Put all the filling ingredients in a bowl, and mix. It’s easiest to do this with your hands – just get them in there and smoosh.
6. Beat the eggs until the whites and yolks have been incorporated
7. This recipe will make 2 20cm pies or 12 individual muffin sized pies. Roll out your pastry to around 3mm thickness. Grease your moulds, then line with the pastry.
8. Dock the bottom of the pastry with a fork.
9. Spoon the meat and cheese mixture into the pastry and gently press until smooth. It should fill around three quarters of the pastry.
10. Put your tortes on the oven shelf, but don’t yet start cooking. Pour the beaten egg into a jug with a fairly narrow spout, and then carefully pour the egg into the tortes, over the meat mixture. You may need to do this in stages, depending on the size of your jug.
11. Carefully push your tortes into the oven and cook at 180°C until the edges of the tortes have started to come away from the moulds, around 25-30 minutes for larger tortes, or 15-20 minutes for individual tortes.
12. To check whether the torte filling is cooked through, insert a skewer into the middle of the filling. If it comes out clean, your tortes are cooked. If not, move the tortes under a grill on a low heat, and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. If you can’t control the heat on the grill, place the tortes as far away from the grill as possible so they don’t heat too quickly and burn.
13. You may find the egg topping on the tortes has risen when you get them out of the oven. This is fine – air gets trapped in the egg white strandsand expands. The topping will lower as the tortes cool.

    

14. Serve hot or cold.

Notes

• Even in the medieval period, Parmesan cheese was a coveted luxury. It was probably first exported from Italy in C14, and was prized throughout Europe. The relative dryness and higher salt content of a good parmesan cheese makes it easy to transport long distances without spoiling (Kindstedt, 2012, 155-157). If you are uncertain about using Parmesan in this recipe, you could substitute a milder cheese, such as Gouda or Edam.
• There are no recipes for pastry in Maestro Martino’s book. The recipe I used is adapted from an English recipe that’s roughly contemporary to Maestro Martino (click on the link for more information).
• Part cooking the meat ensures the filling will be cooked when the pastry is done. It may seem weird to not just chop the chicken and the pork together; however chicken is easier to cut when it’s wholly or partially cooked rather than raw, and pork belly, because of the fat, is much easier to cut raw.
• Using a jug to fill pie or tart cases with a particularly liquid mix (such as beaten egg) was a method used in period. It is much easier to put the mix into the pastry when the case is already on the oven shelf, than to fill the pastry case then carry it to the oven.

Capon Torte


Individual Tortes

Further Reading

Click on the links below to buy direct from The Book Depository.
Bach, Volker (2016). The Kitchen, Food and Cooking in Reformation Germany.
Kindstedt, Paul (2012). Cheese and Culture.
Martino, Maestro of Como (2005). The Art of Cooking: The First Modern Cookery Book, trans. Jeremy Parzen.
Scappi, Bartolomeo (2008). The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570), trans. Terence Scully.

Black Barida (Chicken in Raisin Sauce)

Pound black raisins very well. Stir and mash it with a small amount of vinegar. Strain the liquid and add a small amount of cassia, galangal as needed, and a little ginger. Pour over it some olive oil and add a small amount of chopped rue. Pour sauce over [roasted] pullets.
Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, Kitab al’Tabikh Chapter XXXI (The Book of Dishes, trans. Nawal Nasrallah)

Baridas are cold dishes served at the start of the feast, after fresh fruit was served (Zouali, 2007, 56). They are generally composed of light foods – fish, chicken or vegetables, though there is an occasional recipe for red meat (Zouali, 2007, 63). It was believed the stomach took a while to “warm up,” and putting heavy food into an unwarmed stomach would cause indigestion (Zouali, 2007, 64).

Ingredients

1 roasted chicken, or 1.5kg roasted chicken pieces
375g raisins	2 tsp powdered ginger
80mL wine vinegar	3 tbs olive oil
1 tsp cassia or cinnamon	2 tbs finely chopped feverfew
½ tsp powdered galangal	1 tsp salt (optional)

Method

1. To make the sauce, grind the raisins and vinegar to a pulp in a mortar and pestle, or pulverise in a food processor.
2. If the sauce is too dry, add more vinegar.
3. Pass the mix through a sieve, add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.
4. Combine the sauce and the chicken and serve cold.

Notes

• I have followed Nasrallah’s lead in using roast chicken with this dish (Nasrallah, 2009, 167) – most chicken barida recipes in the same book specify roast chicken. However, it also works well with sliced poached chicken breast.
• When using roast chicken in feasts, I like to use chicken wings chopped in half and roasted. They don’t take long to cook, and are very easy to portion (and they’re cheap!).
• Cassia and cinnamon are spices obtained from the bark of related trees, and are often both identified simply as cinnamon. When powdered, cassia has a stronger smell, and is reddish in colour. You will probably need to go to a specialised spice store to find them differentiated (Hemphill, 2006, 156-163).
• If using ginger, try to track down whole dried ginger which has to be grated before use. This is the way ginger would have been purchased in the medieval period, and it has a far more powerful flavour and scent.
• I have replaced the rue with feverfew.  It has a regrettable tendency to cause allergic reactions (and miscarriages), plus is very bitter.  If you can’t find feverfew, you could also use rocket (arugula), in greater quantities. Both feverfew and rocket are also bitter, without the severe allergen problems.
• I recommend using powdered galangal rather than fresh – fresh galangal can be tough, so it’s difficult to peel and cut.

Further Reading

Click on the links below to order books directly from the Book Depository.
Hemphill, Ian (2006) Spice Notes and Recipes
Nasrallah, Nawal (2009) Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens
Zaouali, Lilia (2007). Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World.

Bowres (Duck Braised in Beer and Sage)

xv. Bowres.
Take Pypis, Hertys, Nerys, Myltys, an Rybbys of the Swyne; or ellys take Mawlard, or Gees, an chop hem smal, and thanne parboyle hem in fayre water; an þan take it vp, and pyke it clene in-to a fayre potte, an caste þer-to ale y-now, & sawge an salt, and þan boyle it ry?th wel; and þanne serue it forthe for a goode potage. MS. Harleian 279, Leche Vyaundez, xxxi.

Take lungs, hearts, ears, spleen and ribs of the pig; or else take mallard or goose, and chop them small, and then parboil them in fair water; and then take it up, and pick it clean into a fair pot, an caste thereto ale enough, and sage and salt, and than boil it right well; and then serve it forth for a good pottage.

When I first saw this recipe, I was struck by the simplicity. However, I decided I would not be using the innards of the pig; aside from the extreme difficulty of obtaining some of the bits, I was worried I’d be stuffed head first into the pot if I tried to serve it to anyone (I discovered this would probably be true when I mentioned the possibility of lung in a dish). I decided to use duck, as goose is expensive.

However, in writing up the recipe, I was suddenly struck with a thought – was the cook meant to use the innards of duck or goose, not the flesh? I decided to look for other recipes in other manuscripts. Fortunately, a quick search revealed Daniel Myers’ excellent site Medieval Cookery had already gathered all fifteenth century recipes similar to Bowres. These recipes used a variety of meats, with varying herbs and spices; the common thread was the braising in ale.

The version of Bowres in MS Harleian 279 is very plain, and uses everyday ingredients; if using the suggested pig innards, this would likely be the sort of dish cooked by a peasant or lower class urban family.

Ingredients

1.5 kg duck pieces	bunch sage leaves
600mL beer or ale	1 tsp salt

Method

1. Joint the duck, and put in a pot.
2. Cover the duck with water, and bring the pot to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook the duck until the skin and meat are opaque and much of the fat has been rendered from the duck.
3. Allow the duck to cool slightly, and then pick the meat from the bones.
4. Transfer the duck to a clean pot, and add the beer or ale, salt and shredded sage leaves.
5. Simmer the duck until the liquid is considerably reduced, and the meat is falling apart.
6. Serve the duck either in its cooking liquid, or strained.

Notes

• If you are lucky enough to find true ale (that is, brewed without hops), it will give you a more authentic result.
• You may find this recipe works better with duck legs and thighs. Though the breast has a thick covering of fat, the meat itself is quite lean, and not well suited to long, slow cooking (it turns rubbery and is unpleasant to eat).
• Parboiling the duck before braising it renders the fat from the duck. Modern braises would suggest frying the duck first to achieve the same purpose; you may find this easier.

Further Reading

Click on the links below to buy direct from The Book Depository.
Austin, Thomas (ed.). Two Fifteenth Century Cookbooks

Chicken Dumplings

193 Wie man kaponerkrapfen machen soll
Nempt das bret von 2 hennen, wens gesoten jst, hackt es fein, nempt ain barmisankesß geriben darúnder vnnd gilbts
vnnd rierts dúrchainander/ jr solt aúch múscatblie vnnd pfeffer dareinthon, macht darnach ain taig an/ macht ain
tinnen blatz vnnd thiet die obgeschribne fille daraúff vnnd formierts zú ainem krapfen vnnd dient die 2 zipffel zúsamen/ siedts jn ainer fleschbrie wie hert gesottne air vnnd gebts warm. Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin’

193 How to make chicken dumplings
Take the meat from two chickens. After it is cooked chop it finely, mix grated Parmesan cheese in with it and color it yellow and stir it together. You should also put mace and pepper into it. After that prepare a dough. Make a thin flat cake and put the above described filling on it and form it into a dumpling and join the two ends together. Cook it in broth as long as for hard- boiled eggs and serve it warm.

The text of the original recipe can be found here.

The translation is by Valoise Armstrong, and can be found here.

Chicken was the most commonly consumed poultry in Germany, and there are many recipes for it in German cooking manuscripts (Bach, 2016, 139). These delicate morsels are rather like chicken and cheese ravioli. I’ve also eaten them as a soup, with the dumplings served in the cooking broth.

Ingredients

500g chicken meat, raw or cooked (see notes)	1/2 tsp pepper
250g parmesan cheese	1/4 tsp mace
1 packet of wonton wrappers (see notes)	1/4 tsp saffron threads
1.5L chicken stock	1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Shred the chicken finely with a fork or a food processor, and finely grate the parmesan.
2. Soak the saffron threads in boiling water, which should turn deep orange.
3. in a bowl, combine the chicken, cheese, salt, spices and saffron water and mix well. This is easiest done with the hands.
4. Place a spoonful of the mix into the middle of a wonton wrapper. Rub the edges of the pastry with water, then fold the wrapper into a dumpling shape and press to seal. Use more water as necessary.
5. Bring the stock to a boil, then add the dumplings to cook through. They are cooked when they rise to the surface of the stock (which will take around 5 minutes).
6. If you are serving the dumplings as dumplings, cook and serve immediately, otherwise they will stick together before they can be eaten.
7. Serve warm.

Notes

• Although the recipe specifies cooked chicken meat, we found making the dumplings with cooked chicken made the end result rather dry and tough – the raw chicken which then cooked in the wrapper was much more flavoursome.
• If you want to try and make your own dumpling wrappers, the fair paste recipe made into a thin pasta would be a good basis. I’ve just never gotten a flour and water pasta that eats as well as a commercially made wonton wrapper.
• The dumplings can be made ahead of time and then frozen. They will cook from frozen, but will take longer to cook.

Served as dumplings….


… or served as soup!

Further Reading

Click on the links below to buy direct from The Book Depository.
Bach, Volker (2016). The Kitchen, Food and Cooking in Reformation Germany.

Chicken Buns

97 Wiltú hennenkiechlen bachenn/
So nim das hennenflesch vnnd lasß vor sieden, darnach hacks klain vnnd thú ain geriben semel daran vnnd air daran,
bis dú mainst/ das es ain feins dicks taiglin seý, darnach mach feine rúnde kigellen/ vnnd lasß bachen gar lancksam
vnnd saltzs. Das Kuchbuch der Sabrina Welserin’

97 If you would make chicken buns
Then take the meat from hens and let it cook beforehand, after that chop it small and put grated a Semmel thereon and eggs thereon, until you think that it is a good thick dough. Afterwards make fine round little balls and let them fry very slowly and roast them.

The text of the original recipe can be found here.

The translation is by Valoise Armstrong, and can be found here.

I know very little about German cooking. However, this is one of a number of recipes in Sabrina Welserin’s cookbook for bachen, which has been translated as “buns.” They appear to be balls which can be fried or roasted, so buns is as good a translation as any; a bachen containing meat, like this one, could be called a meatball.

We decided to add parmesan cheese, as recipe 193 combines cooked chicken, Parmesan cheese and spices in a dough wrapper, to be boiled (rather like ravioli or tortellini). They are equally delicious with or without the cheese.

Ingredients

500g cooked chicken meat	2 eggs
100g bread crumbs	Salt
Optional: 125g grated Parmesan cheese

Method

1. Shred the chicken finely with a fork or a food processor.
2. in a bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. This is easiest done with the hands.
3. Form the mix into small balls about the size of walnuts, and flatten slightly.
4. Heat some oil in a frypan, then fry the balls until the outsides are golden.
5. If you have access to an open fire, thread the chicken balls onto a skewer and expose them to the flame and smoke briefly, so they take on the smoky flavour from the flames. I assume this is why they were to be roasted as well as fried.
6. They can be served hot or cold.

Notes

• Semmel is a bread roll baked from a fine wheat flour. You can either grate the roll on a fine grater to produce breadcrumbs, or use a food processor. It is far better to make your own breadcrumbs rather than use bought ones – the texture of freshly made crumbs is far better.

Blawmanger

Tak þe two del of rys, þe thridde pert of almoundes; | wash clene þe rys in leuk water & turne & seth hem til þey breke & lat it kele, & tak þe melk & do it to þe rys & boyle hem togedere. & do þerto whit gres & braun of hennes grounde smale, & stere it wel, & salte it & dresch it in disches.  & frye almaundes in fresch gres til þey be browne, & set hem in þe dissches, & strawe þeron sugre & serue it forth. Utilis Coquinario 28, (MS Sloane 468, in Curye on Inglysch, ed. Constance Hieatt and Sharon Butler).

Take two portions of rice, and a third part of almonds. Wash the rice in lukewarm water and cook it until (the grains) break, then let it cool. Take the milk (of the almonds) and add it to the rice, then boil them together. Add white grease and minced chicken meat, then salt it and put in dishes. Fry almonds in fresh grease until they are brown, and set them in the dishes (on the rice and chicken), then sprinkle on sugar, and serve it forth.

Blawmanger, or “white food,” was extremely popular throughout medieval Europe; the Concordance of English Recipes lists over 20 recipes from the 14th to the 15th century in England alone. It consisted of rice and ground chicken, sometimes with added pork, and there were Lenten versions with fish in place of the chicken. The dish continued to be served beyond the medieval period. Gradually, however, the meat disappeared and extra sugar was added, until the modern “blancmange” emerged. It would have been an expensive dish – rice was an imported luxury, as were almonds and sugar. The existence of Lenten versions also indicates its popularity and importance as a medieval dish.

Ingredients

200g white rice (see notes)	100g almond meal
500g cooked chicken meat (see notes)	100g flaked or whole blanched almonds
Lard or chicken fat	20g sugar

Method

1. Rinse the rice in cool running water until it runs clear. If you catch the rinsing water in a bucket, it goes well on the garden.
2. Cook the rice in boiling water until it is very soft and mushy. Remove from the heat, drain off any excess water, and allow to cool.
3. While the rice is cooking, make the almond milk. Steep the almond meal in boiling water for approximately 15 minutes, stirring regularly, then pour it through a cloth lined strainer. You need about 300mL for the finished blawmanger.
4. Mince the cooked chicken, and set aside.
5. Add the almond milk and some of the lard or chicken fat to the rice until the rice is just moistened. Return to the heat and stir well, until the rice is completely warmed through.
6. Add the minced chicken to the rice, and stir well. Remove from the heat – the residual heat in the rice will warm the chicken.
7. Melt the rest of the lard or chicken fat in a pan, then add the whole or flaked almonds. Fry until they are golden.
8. Pour the blawmanger onto a serving dish, then sprinkle the fried almonds and sugar on top before serving. It can be eaten hot or cold.

Notes

• When making this dish, I use 500g of chicken thigh, which I poach. I then cook the rice in the poaching water to boost the chicken flavour. I prefer chicken thigh to chicken breast, as chicken breast can dry out too much, and does not mince as well.
• Don’t try making this dish with raw chicken mince which you then cook – the mince clumps together while it is cooking and is difficult to distribute through the rice.
• I use an electric mincer to mince the chicken. You could also use a food processor, but be careful not to process the chicken to mush. However, meat can also be finely minced with a cleaver, as demonstrated in this YouTube video.
• I have assumed white rice is preferred in the dish, as the dish name translates to “white food.”
• Rinsing the rice before you cook it washes excess starch from the rice, and the final result won’t be gluggy. It also tends not to stick to the pan while it is cooking.
• I have seen other modern versions of this dish where the rice is cooked to a modern preference, that is, still slightly firm, or “al dente.” However, the recipe specifies that the rice should be cooked until the grains break, which I have interpreted as cooking the rice until it is completely soft and mushy.

Further Reading

Click on the links below to buy direct from The Book Depository.
Hieatt, Constance, Nutter, Terry and Holloway, Johnna. (2006). Concordance of English Recipes
Hieatt, Constance and Butler, Sharon (1985). Curye on Inglysch

Boiled Capon (Chicken in a rich fruit sauce)

To boile a capon.
Put the Capon into the pouder beefe pot, and when you thinke it almost tender, take a little potte and put therein halfe water and halfe wine, marie, currants, dates, whole mace, vergice, pepper, & a litle time.
Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswife’s Jewell, 1596.

To boil a capon.
Put the capon into the heavy stock pot, and when you think it almost tender, take a little pot and put therein half water and half wine, bone marrow, currants, dates, whole mace, verjuice, pepper, and a little thyme.

 

Ingredients

1 chicken, OR 1.5kg chicken pieces
125mL white wine	100g bone marrow	½ tsp mace
125mL water	60g currants	1 tsp ground black pepper
40mL verjuice	60g dates	2 tbs thyme leaves

Method

1. Put your chicken or chicken pieces into a pot and cover with water, and boil until the chicken flesh is completely opaque.
2. Meanwhile, chop the bone marrow and dates finely.
3. Combine the sauce ingredients in a pot and bring to the boil. Stir occasionally and cook until the sauce is well reduced.
4. Drain the chicken, and carve it into joints.
5. Pour the sauce over it to serve.

Notes

• “Marie” is another name for bone marrow – the substance in the middle of bones (and in the case of cows, the best part of the cow, and I love beef). You will often find butchers sell leg bones cheaply for dogs (lucky dogs) – get the butcher to saw it into pieces for you as they generally have electric saws.
• Verjuice is the juice squeezed from unripe grapes, and has a sour flavour, but not as strong as vinegar. It was a popular flavouring in medieval and Tudor times.

 

Further Reading

Click on the links below to buy direct from The Book Depository.
Black, Maggie (1996). The Good Housewife’s Jewel

Mortis (Chicken Pate)

To make a mortis.
Take almondes and blanche them, and beate them in  a morter, and boyle a Chickin, and take al the flesh of him, and beate it, and streine them together, with milke and water, and so put them into a pot, and put in Suger, and stirre them still, and when it hath boyled a good while, take it of, and set it a cooling in a payle of water, and straine it againe with Rose water into a dish.
Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswife’s Jewell, 1596.

To make a mortis.
Take almonds and blanche them, and beat them in  a mortar, and boil a chicken, and take all the flesh from  him, and beat it (in the mortar), and strain them together, with milk and water, and so put them into a pot, and put in sugar, and stir them well, and when it has boiled a good while, take it off, and set it to cool in a pail of water, and strain it again with Rose water into a dish.

 

“Mortrews” were extremely popular in medieval times. Some recipes are more of a soup, or like this one, a pate. It is one of those recipes where you look at it and go “Huh?? That looks awful!” However, it is extremely delicious – I once made over 10kg of it for an event and there was none left (yes, I used a food processor…)

Ingredients

1 chicken, OR 1.5kg chicken pieces	150g blanched almonds
300mL milk	30mL rosewater
100g sugar

Method

1. If using a chicken, break it into joints.
2. Put your chicken pieces into a pot and cover with water, and boil until the chicken flesh is completely opaque.
3. Drain the chicken and when cooled slightly, pick the flesh from the bones. Reserve the cooking liquid.
4. Meanwhile, grind the almonds to powder in a mortar and pestle. Add the milk and mix to form a smooth paste.
5. Add the chicken to the almond paste and mash everything well together.
6. If you like, you can cheat and grind the almonds, then mix the chicken and milk, in a food processor.
7. Return the chicken and almond paste to the water the chicken was cooked in, and add the sugar. Simmer the mixture and stir continuously until the mixture has thickened.
8. Strain the mortis to remove excess liquid, then add the rosewater and stir well again.
9. Leave the mortis to cool, and serve cold.

Notes

• It is definitely better to use blanched almonds and grind them, rather than almond meal. The almonds release oil as they are ground which improves the flavour and helps to bind the mix.
• Similarly, it is better to use chicken on the bone rather than fillets. When the chicken is boiled, it releases gelatin which again improves the flavor and helps the mix set.
• You can mould this into interesting shapes if you like.

 

Further Reading

Click on the links below to buy direct from The Book Depository.
Black, Maggie (1996). The Good Housewife’s Jewel
Brears, Peter (2011) All the King’s Cooks

Apicius 6.2.6 – “Another Recipe for Boiled Crane or Duck” (Green Sauce for Duck)

aliter in grue uel anate elixa: piper ligusticum apii semen erucam et coriandrum mentam careotam; mel acetum liquamen defritum et sinape. idem faciet et [si] in [caccabo] assas.
Apicius – De re coquinaria

Another recipe for boiled crane or duck
Pepper, lovage, celery seed, rocket and coriander, mint, date, honey, vinegar, liquamen, defrutum and mustard. It is equally suitable for roast [or grilled] (birds).

This text and translation are taken from Sally Grainger and Christopher Grocock’s Apicius (2006) (p224-225).

Like many recipes in Apicius, this recipe is just a list of ingredients. Because this can be served with roasted or grilled birds (Grocock and Grainger, 2006, 225), I have interpreted it as a sauce.

Ingredients

3 tbs rocket	15mL wine vinegar	1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbs coriander	15mL fish sauce	1/2 tsp celery seed
2 tbs mint	15mL vino cotto	30mL honey
40g dates	15mL mustard	1 tbs lovage

Method

1. Finely chop all the herbs.
2. Finely grind all the
3. In a mortar and pestle, pound the dates to a paste.
4. Combine all the other ingredients in the mortar and pestle and combine well into a sauce.
5. You can also combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulverise.
6. Serve at room temperature.

Notes

• Lovage is a herb with a very similar taste to celery leaf. Sally Grainger (2006, 23) believes the seeds were more likely to be used than the leaves, as lovage is generally listed among the spices rather than the herbs, but the leaves and seeds have a similar flavour, so if you can’t find the seeds, use the leaves. You will probably have to grow it yourself, but it is easy to grow from seeds, and you can generally find plants at nurseries.
• Liquamen is a fish sauce, probably thinner in texture than the better known garum. (Grainger, 2005).
• Careonum is thought to be a syrupy sauce made from boiling down the must left over from wine making (Grainger 2006, 30). This is similar to the modern vino cotto, which I use as a substitute.

Further Reading

Click on the links below to order directly from The Book Depository.

Grainger, Sally. “Towards an Authentic Roman Sauce.” 2005 Oxford Food Symposium
Grainger, Sally. Cooking Apicius.
Grocock, Christopher and Grainger, Sally. Apicius.