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.

A Sweete Revel in November

One of my challenges to myself last year was to run and be sole cook for a small event. This probably doesn't sound like much of a challenge to the average able bodied reader, but for someone who battles fatigue and is almost constantly ill, it seemed like an almost insurmountable challenge.

Choosing to run a small, low key event was one way to reduce the impact of the event. As it turned out, in the lead up to the event I wasn't actually sick for a change. I did injure my wrist significantly, to the point that I needed cortisone injections and was told to immobilise it for four weeks and wear a brace - on the week of the event. What fabulous timing!

I had planned a pastry-rich menu, but rolling and kneading was definitely out of the question, so I had to alter my carefully considered menu. Now, don't think for a minute that my thoughtful friends didn't offer to jump in and cook for me at the last minute - they certainly did! But part of the challenge was for me to be the sole cook, so I was stubborn and just adjusted the menu. And cursed and sweated while stirring!

The event was a supper revel and games night with a sweet theme. Our Baroness and one of the Barony's peers also brought along some cheese and other items to supplement all the sweetness.

I did have to supplement my menu items with some bought ones like fruit pies. The dishes I made were:

Frumenty (wheat, almond milk, eggs, saffron powder, sugar, spices, prunes)
Torta of Buttered Fruit (cottage cheese, sugar, butter, ginger, rosewater, cinnamon, milk, saffron
powder, dried fruit)
Tarte of Ryce (rice, sugar, lemon juice, eggs, spices, butter)
Prunes in Syrop (prunes, red wine, sugar)
Pomada (apples, spices, sugar, almond meal, rosewater)
Candied Peel (lemon peel, sugar)
Cream (cream, sugar)
Italian Pudding (Eggs, cream, spices, bread, rosewater, dates, dried fruit, sugar)
Fine Cakes (Flour, sugar, spices, salt, butter, eggs, yeast, cream, rosewater)
Fine Cakes GF Version (rice flour, almond meal, sugar, spices, salt, butter, eggs, yeast)
White Leach (milk, cream, gelatine, sugar, nutmeg, rosewater)
Red Gingerbrede of the Court (bread, red wine, spices, sugar)
An Excellent Cake (flour, butter, eggs, mixed fruit, spices, port, yeast, rosewater)
Rice Pudding (rice, almond milk, honey, sugar)
Marzipan Subtletie (commercially produced, containing almonds, sugar and food colourings)

The event was very relaxed, with people enjoying games and dancing. I liked being able to enjoy the event with pre-prepared dishes and not spend the whole night in the kitchen. I must thank my friends for their help and support, especially Federyc, Sorcha, Violet, Ethan, Emma, Skeggi, Faelan, Linet, Vlad and the kitchen clean up crew. It was a gentle introduction to Feast Stewarding/Cooking and I am grateful for all the assistance.

Pine Nut Candy - Pynade

I recently made a subteltie for a big event, and I wanted some toffee to accompany it. I have made pynade before, and it has been very popular.


Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books gives the following recipe:
 Pynade

Take Hony & gode pouder Gyngere, & Galyngale, & Canelle, Pouder pepir, & graynys of parys, & boyle y-fere; than take kyrnelys of Pynotys & caste ther-to; & take chyconys y-sothe, & hew hem in grece, & caste ther-to, & lat sethe y-fere; & then lat droppe ther-of on a knyf; & if it cleuyth & wexyth hard, it ys y-now; & then putte it on a chargere tyl it be cold, & mace lechys, & serue with other metys; & if thou wolt make it in spycery, then putte non chykonys ther-to.

There are other variations on this recipe in various Medieval and Renaissance cookbooks. Once sugar began to be regularly imported and was considered a sign of wealth and status, the level of sweetness in many foods (especially desserts) really increased. This recipe is one that will have your teeth curling from the sweetness, particularly if you experiment with substituting sugar for the honey.

My most recent redaction:
2 cups honey
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
200 grams pine nuts in 3 lots
1/4 teaspoon allspice
I mixed all the ingredients together in a saucepan and brought it all to a boil. I  boiled it until it reached 300 degrees F on a candy thermometer. This can take a long time depending on the type of stovetop you have and also the type of honey and any water or impurities it may contain. As with any toffee-type sweet, the mixture is scaldingly hot and sticky, so be extremely careful when cooking and don't be tempted to step away from the pot for a moment. It can boil over in an instant and you will at the very least have a horribly hot and sticky mess to clean up and at the worst an extremely bad burn.

The candy made with sugar instead of honey

 I used a generic honey blend this time and found that the colour was much more pale than the last couple of times I made this recipe. It was also much softer than the last couple of times I have made it. This may have been due to the type of honey I used, and also due to the fact that it was quite humid.

I added about half the pine nuts at the beginning of the process, and put the rest in in two batches. I did this because I wanted a bit of variety in the colour of the nuts and also how cooked they tasted. The result was pleasing, if a little bit too sticky. I dusted the toffee in castor sugar after breaking it up and then kept it in the fridge to reduce the stickiness. My family are not used to much medieval food, but they all enjoyed this candy.

The toffee cooling and drying on waxed paper

I cut back a lot of the spices because several people with specific spice allergies were going to be attending the event. I personally like a more spiced candy because I think that the spices help to cut through the sweetness. Powdered galangal and grains of paradise are really hard to find where I live but I would have included them if I could have. I have also tried coriander root in the past, which added a pleasant element to the recipe.

You can vary the spices according to taste and what you have available. I have experimented with substituting sugar instead of honey and also used raw pine nuts and almonds (both peeled and with the skins on.) All these variations make the candy change in taste, texture and colour, but it is always popular with people who have a sweet tooth!