A Recipe for Frumenty

One of the recipes I made for the Revel was Frumenty.

These period recipes listed below  are reproduced at http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/frumenty.html

Source [Le Viandier de Taillevent, J. Prescott (trans.)]: Frumenty. Take wheat, prepare it, wash it very well, and cook it in water. When it is cooked, drain it. Take cow's milk boiled for an instant, add the wheat, and boil it for an instant. Move it to the back of the fire, stir often, and thread in plenty of egg yolks. Some add spices, saffron and venison stock. It should be yellowish and well thickened.

Source [Forme of Cury, S. Pegge (ed.)]: I - FOR TO MAKE FURMENTY. Nym clene Wete and bray it in a morter wel that the holys gon al of and seyt yt til it breste and nym yt up. and lat it kele and nym fayre fresch broth and swete mylk of Almandys or swete mylk of kyne and temper yt al. and nym the yolkys of eyryn. boyle it a lityl and set yt adoun and messe yt forthe wyth fat venyson and fresh moton.

Source [Liber cure cocorum, R. Morris (ed.)]: Furmente. Take wete, and pyke hit fayre and clene And do hit in a morter shene. Bray hit a lytelle, with water hit spryng Tyl hit hulle, with-oute lesyng. Þen wyndo hit wele, nede þou mot. Wasshe hit fayre, put hit in pot. Boyle hit tylle hit brest, þen Let hit doun, as I þe kenne. Take know mylke, and play hit up To hit be thykkerede to sup. Lye hit up with 3olkes of eyren, And kepe hit wele, lest hit berne. Coloure hit with safron and salt hit wele, And servyd hit forthe, Syr, at þe mele. With sugur candy, þou may hit dowce, If hit be served in grete lordys howce. Take black sugur for mener menne. Be ware þer with, for hit wylle brenne.

Source [Libro di cucina / Libro per cuoco, L. Smithson (trans.)]: XXIV - Maize dish (Frumenty) good and perfectly useful. If you want to make a frumenty, take the wheat and beat it well to when it leaves the shell / husk, then wash it well, then put it to boil not much, then throw away the water, then put into it that fat of the meat that you choose, and it needs to be not too much, and mix spices sweet and strong and saffron, and if you do not have wheat take rice; it will be good.
Originally Published: March 20, 2003

As you can see, these recipes are either savory (with meat and marrow additions) or sweet, with spices and/or fruit additions. I chose to do a sweet version.

My recipe:

approximately 150g bulghur wheat, rinsed until water runs clear
pinch of saffron
3 egg yolks beaten
1/2 cup of almond milk
sugar to taste (approximately 1/2 cup)
prune pieces to taste

I boiled the bulghur wheat and saffron in a little water until soft, stirring often. It was very thick so I added the almond milk and yolks and stirred over a low-medium heat to get a consistency similar to porridge. It was too bland for a dessert revel, so I added sugar to taste and some chopped, pitted prunes.

I used bulghur wheat and commercially produced almond milk to reduce the preparation due to my wrist injury. I suspect that cooking down hulled wheat would produce a more interesting texture, and the addition of home-made almond milk would produce a richer and more creamy result. I did not add cinnamon or other spices as other menu items were spiced and I wanted a bit of variety in the dishes. Next time I do this dish it will not be as part of a feast so I will add spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and probably some salt. I would be interested to try the dish with some different sugars, such as raw sugar, to see how the taste is affected.

Comments I received on this dish included:

"Very subtle taste, nice relief to stronger flavours. Quite sweet and moist. Felt like a dish to have as palette relief."

" I like the flavour! Very lovely."

"Pleasantly tasty with a delightful texture and flavour."

So, probably a dish worth experimenting with and developing.

Medieval cooking - Sauce Galentyne and Powme Dorrys

In the last six months or so, I have become quite interested in medieval and renaissance cooking, and have been trying my hand at a few recipes. I am particularly interested in recipes that I am unfamiliar with or which contain ingredients that I have not tried before.

I made Powme Dorrys and Sauce Galentyne in August. The recipes come from Liber cure cocorum - which can be found online at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lcc/


Sauce Galentyne

"Take crust of bread and grind it small, take powder of galingale and mix with all,
Powder of ginger and salt also; Mix it with vinegar ere you do more,
Draw it through a strainer then, And serve it forth before good men."

I used:

1 and a quarter cups of white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 cup of white wine
70g chopped and pounded fresh galingale
1 and a quarter cups of breadcrumbs
three quarters of a teaspoon powdered cinnamon.

The cinnamon and wine were added because they show up as ingredients in other versions of Sauce Galentyne recipes (e.g. p. 562 of Take a Thousand Eggs or More Vol. 2- from Ashmole MS 1439 and Harleian MS 4016.) I thought these ingredients would make for a richer sauce.

I was unable to obtain powdered galingal, so had to use the fresh root. Pounding fresh galingal is not an easy task. The piece I obtained was quite fibrous and woody. I believe that this sauce is normally a pink colour. Mine turned out beige coloured; I think because of the fresh galingal. Next time I make it, I might reduce the vinegar by a quarter of a cup.

I mixed the ingredients and let them soak, then passed the mixture through a sieve.

The strained sauce.

I wanted to try this sauce because it sounded interesting; I couldn't imagine that it would taste very nice. Although it tended to separate in the serving dish, it was actually a really tasty and piquant sauce that would be great with any meat. My family are unaccustomed to medieval flavours but were really impressed with this sauce as well.

The Powme Dorrys or Glazed Meatballs seemed perfect to go with this sauce.

Powme Dorrys (also from Liber cure cocorum)

"Take pork and grind it raw, I teach,

Mix it with beaten eggs; then

Cast powder to make it in a ball;

In boiling water you shall cast it

To harden, then you take,

Spit it fair for God's sake.

Baste it with yolks of eggs then

With a feather at fire, as I teach you;

Both green and red you may make it.

With juice of herbs I undertake;

Hold under a dish that naught be lost,

More commendable it is

as well you know."

I substituted chicken mince for pork mince as many people in my barony do not eat pork. I added small amounts of salt and pepper, and used rice flour as the powder to "make it in a ball". A wise friend who tasted the dish suggested that the "powder" mentioned in the recipe may have been Powdre Douce or a similar spice/seasoning powder commonly used in medieval cooking. Once she mentioned it, I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of it. Using Powdre Douce or similar would make these meatballs much tastier. On their own they were a little bland (but very good with the sauce above.) I would also like to try this again using pork mince for a richer taste.

I used:

1 kilogram of chicken mince

One quarter cup of rice flour 

salt and pepper to taste

extra rice flour for rolling

2 eggs to bind

2 egg yolks for basting

(makes approximately 55 rum-ball sized balls)

Mix flour, mince, 2 eggs and salt and pepper to an even consistency. Make small balls with hands and roll lightly in the extra rice flour. carefully drop balls into a shallow pan of boiling water and boil for 10-15 minutes (depending on size of ball and whether doing in one or two batches.) When cooked, drain.

Add cooked balls to a bowl containing well beaten egg yolks and coat until all balls are yellow. I fried mine lightly in a small amount of olive oil.

I omitted the herb juice dressing at the end because all I had at the time was spinach and sage, and because I planned to serve them with a sauce anyway. 

These meatballs would also be good with garlic and onion powder added and cooked in chicken stock instead of water.

The boiled meatballs being coated with egg yolk prior to frying.

The fried meatballs showing lovely colour and slightly crisped surfaces.