Cold Chicken in Various Sauces
Pies of Herbs, Eggs, and Cheese
Salad of Lemon Slices, Mint, and Nuts
Roast Pork with Verjuice Sauce
Roasted Lamb with Cameline Sauce
Cold Chicken with Sage, Mustard, Cameline, and Shallot Sauces
From the Viander, and the brain of the cook
1 - 2 chickens or the equivalent in chicken parts
3 slices of bread soaked in chicken broth
2 hard boiled eggs soaked in vinegar
Blend parsley and sage with some ice. Over a bowl, pour mixture into a sieve and squeeze out juice. Blend spices, egg yolks and bread.
1 - 2 lbs grapes, or 1 cup grape juice
Squeeze the grapes and pour off the juice (or just take your grape juice). Soak your bread in it. Grind your pepper and ginger together fine.blend the whole mixture together until it is smooth.
1/4 tsp grains of paradise (substitute a somewhat smaller amount of pepper if grains are unavailable)
1 cup cold water, or 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup wine
Soak bread crumbs in vinegar/wine mixture until sodden. Grind all your spices, including sugar, together, Blend with bread crumb/liquid mixture. In winter, you can boil the sauce until it is a gravy like consistency, in summer it should be served unboiled, so lots of "blending" will be required.
Take 1/3 cup shallot and herb mixture left over from making ravioli. Soak 4 tbsp bread in 1 cup chicken broth, add mixture, plus 1/4 tsp grains of paradise, salt to taste, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and a sprinkle of sugar. Blend until smooth. You can boil this if you like.
1/2 cup blanched almonds (more or less depending on the flavor or texture you want)
Cut apples into eighths (or slices), and stew until soft. Do NOT peel or core. Pour off some of the water from the apples into a blender and add almonds. Blend until milky. Put in a pot on the stove and simmer for 10 minutes or so.
Feed apples through a food mill to remove peels and seeds, return to pot and simmer. Add almond mixture, stir and simmer. Stir in sugar. Serve it forth. Some add cinnamon to this.
Mix wine, boullion, and vinegar, soak bread crumbs in the mixture. Grind spices together into a fine powder and mix into liquid. Put on low heat and simmer. Cut beef up into stew sized chunks, and simmer in sauce for 15 minutes. Serve it forth.
A Pottage of Leeks with Almond-Leek Sauce
Pottage based on "DS'asutres menuz potaiges...(Other Lesser Pottages) from the Viander, almond-leek sauce from Chiquart "On Cookery", both translations by Terrance Scully
1.5 - 2 cups chicken broth or boullion
Cut greens from leeks, remove roots, and slice vertically. Clean leeks thoroughly to remove all sand. Put aside one leek for the sauce. Cur rest of leeks into pieces approximately 1.5-2" by .5-l". Melt butter in a skillet, add leeks, saute until luminous. Add enough chicken broth for stewing (1 cup at the most) salt and sugar to taste. Bring to a boil, then let simmer until leeks are soft. You can let the liquid reduce Stir in sauce and serve it forth
Chop your remaining leek fine. Put in saucepan with chicking broth and bacon and cook until soft. Grind almonds with a little chicken broth. Drain leeks, putting the liquid into your almonds, put leek into a dish and set aside. Simmer almonds in broth, stirring until liquid looks milky. Put almonds, liquid, and leeks into a blender (or a mortar if you're being really "period") and blend until you have a smooth texture. Add enough saffron to make the sauce a yellow that pleases you. Mix with leek pottage and serve it forth.
Roast Pork with Verjuice Sauce
From "Porc rosti: Roast Pork" from the Viander.
2 - 3 lb boneless pork roast, or 2.5 - 4 lbs with bone in
1 - 2 Tbsp wine vinegar or verjuice (or to taste)
1 small onion or shallot, chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
Roast pork at 350F for 25-30 minutes per pound. Baste occasionatlly with dry white wine. Remove roaster cover during last 15 minutes to give outside a crusty texture.
In a skillet, over low heat mix together wine/verjuice, 1/8 cup wine, and drippings. Stir to create a "gravy" type mixture. Add onions and garlic. Stire as if sauteeing. When onions are transparent add rest of wine. Bring mixture to boil, and let simmer, until reduced by 1/3. Serve with pork roast.
Roasted lamb with Cameline Sauce
From "Chevreaux, aigneaux: Roast Kids, Lambs" and "Cameline" from the Viander
olive oil, salt, pepper (can substitute grains of paradise where available)
1/4 tsp grains of paradise (substitute a somewhat smaller amount of pepper if grains are unavailable)
3 -4 Tbsp wine vinegar vinegar mixed with 1 cup cold water
Rub all over with olive oil, sprinkle on salt and pepper. Roast lamb at 425 F for 10-15 minutes per pound.
(Note -- this is a sweet and sour version of the Cameline sauce for the chicken)
Soak bread crumbs in vinegar/wine mixture until sodden. Grind all your spices, including sugar, together, Blend with bread crumb/liquid mixture. In winter, you can boil the sauce until it is a gravy like consistency, in summer it should be served unboiled, so lots of "blending" will be required.
From "Two Anglo-Norman Cullinary Collections" translated by Constance Hieatt and Robin Jones, Speculum: 61:4 1986
2 cups flour (semalina preferred)
1 -2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
1-2 Tbsp finely chopped basil, or 1-2 leaves finely chopped sage
1- 1.5 cup grated cheese (I use mozzerella)
Make a mound with flour and salt, make a well in the middle. Add eggs, mix. Add water gradually, mix and knead until you have a smooth dough (like bread). Roll out thinly (a pasta rolling machine is best for this), and cut in circles (assuming you have a dumping maker) or rectangles (if you don't)
Soften butter, saute shallots, parsley, and basil/sage until shallots are transparent. Mix softened butter and cheese, stir in shallots/herb mixture. Put a heaping tsp or so of filling onto the middle of each piece of dough, moisten edges and press with dumping maker or fork to seal. Cook 6-10 minutes in boiling salted water or chicken broth.
Heat over to 400. Butter (or otherwise grease) the bottom of a baking dish. Cover bottom of dish with thin layer of grated cheese. Put ravoilis atop the cheese, and sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake in oven just until the cheese melts/bubbles. Serve it forth.
Pies of Herbs, Cheese, and Eggs
2 cup grated cheese (I use mozzerella)
1/2 tsp pepper (or grains of paradise)
Put herbs in the blender with one or two ice cubes. Blend.
Beat eggs, add cheese and ginger, cinnamon, pepper, salt. Add cheese, stir until well blended. Working over a clean bowl, pour herb/green mixture into a strainer and press on leaves to extract juice. Add juice to pie, stirring, until it has a delicate green color.
Bake pie shell at 450F for 10 minutes. Remove from over, and melt a pat of butter in the shell so the bottom is coated with butter. Reduce heat to 350F. Pour mixture in shell and bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until set. Remove from over and sprinkle the top lightly with sugar. Let cool for 10-20 minutes. and serve it forth
8 large firm cooking pears, peeled, cut in half and cored.
mixture 1 cup water, 1 cup red wine
Boil pears in water/wine/sanders mixture about 15 minutes or until but firm. Drain Combine sweet wine, ginger, and sugar, heat to boiling and simmer until syrup thickens. Dip pears in syrup.
Place 1/2 pear on each cookie piece, so that it looks like a lion's head in profile. Put two candied almonds for ears, a raison or candied nut for an eye and nose, and a slice of candied orange peel for tongue. Spread syrup thinly on serving platter, place confections on it, and serve it forth
Serves as many as will (a bowlfull serves 8)
Take whatever green leafy vegetables you have available, and fresh green herbs. Wash, and let dry. Tear up and toss together. Some add onions or shallots, others add radishes, but this is not necessary. Toss with enough oil to coat leaves lightly, then toss with about 1/2 as much vinegar, sprinkle on sugar and salt and serve it forth.
Based on "Peeres in Confyt" from Form of Currie
Sift together salt and flour. Add 3 -5 saffron threads. Work in butter until the flour has a mealy texture. Work in egg yolks and water. When everything is mixed, you're done. Roll dough and cut with big cookie cutters shaped vaguely like lion's manes. Bake at 425F for 10 -15 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar immediately upon removing from oven.
Friendman, David and Elizabeth Cook. Cariadoc's Miscellany, Privately Published, 1992
Hieatt, Constance B., and Robin F. Jones. "Two Anglo-Norman culinary collections edited from British Library Manuscriptsadditional 32085 and Royal 12.C.xii." Speculum 61:4 (1986)
Sass, Lorna J. To the King's Taste. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975
Scully, Terence. "Du fait de cuisine par Maistre Chiquart, 1420.: Vallesia 40 (1985)
Scully, Terence, The Viandier of Taillevent: An Edition of all Extant Manuscripts, University of Ottawa Press (Ottawa), 1988
Cold Chicken in Various Sauces
Pies of Herbs, Eggs, and Cheese
Salad of Lemon Slices, Mint, and Nuts
Roast Pork with Verjuice Sauce