Recipes from the king's kitchen
- Written
- about 1390, as Pegge dated the roll
- Place
- London
- Language
- Middle English
- Kind of source
- recipes
- Reading time
- 7 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Intensity
- Low
“Take persel, sawge, garlec, chibolles, oynouns, leek, borage, myntes …”: the roll’s salad calls for fourteen green things, torn small by hand and dressed with oil, vinegar and salt. Samuel Pegge, who printed the roll in 1780, thought that far too many.
The Forme of Cury, “the method of cookery,” is a vellum roll of 196 recipes. Its opening says that it was put together by the master cooks of King Richard II, with the advice of the masters of medicine and philosophy at his court, and Pegge dated it about 1390. In 1586 Edward, Lord Stafford, heir of the overthrown house of Buckingham, presented it to Queen Elizabeth. It later belonged to the Earl of Oxford, then to James West, and then to Gustavus Brander, whom Pegge’s preface calls its “liberal and most communicative possessor.” Pegge printed it with notes, a glossary, and a second English cookery manuscript of his own, dated 1381.
The roll was written for great tables. Its cooks use imported rice, sugar, almonds and spices freely, and they cared how a dish looked: saffron colors it yellow, sandalwood red. Most dishes are chopped, pounded or stewed, to be eaten with a spoon or the fingers. Quantities are rarely given; they were left to the cook. Some dishes come in two forms, one for meat days and one for the fish days of the Church’s fasts.
These are working instructions for a royal kitchen, not a record of what ordinary households ate. The praise of Richard’s table comes from his own cooks; Pegge found nothing in the histories to back it up. Pegge could not explain many of the dish names, and some are still guesses.
Watch for almond milk, which takes the place of cow’s milk again and again, and for kitchen words that never left English: salat, mustard, frytour.
The edited translation, in simplified modern English. Bracketed words were added for clarity; [...] marks a cut. Tap a note number to read the note. Point at or tap a phrase to see the words as printed behind it. Phrase links checked in a separate review.
[This] book of cookery1 was put together by the head cooks of King Richard the Second, king of England after the Conquest.2 He was counted the best and most royal lover of fine food3 of all Christian kings. The book was compiled with the agreement and advice of the masters of medicine4 and philosophy who lived at his court. First it teaches how to make everyday soups and dishes for a household, made skillfully and wholesomely. Then it teaches how to make fancy soups, dishes and subtleties5 for people of every rank, high and low. The instructions for making soups and dishes, both of meat and of fish, are set out here by number and in order. So the little table that follows will show you at once how to find whatever dish you want.
9Rice with meat broth. Wash the rice clean and put it in an earthenware pot with good broth, and let it boil well. Then add almond milk.6 Color it with saffron, add salt, and serve it.
18Quince paste. Peel the quinces and pick out the best of them. Put them in an earthenware pot and add white lard, so that they stew in it. Thicken them with clarified honey,7 raw egg yolks and a little almond milk. Add powder fort8 and saffron, and see that it is cut in slices.
35To boil pheasants, partridges, capons9 and curlews. Take good broth and put the bird in it. Add whole peppercorns and plenty of ground cinnamon, and let them boil together. Then serve it, and sprinkle powder douce on top.
49Loseyns.10 Put good broth in an earthenware pot. Make a dough of the finest white flour11 and water, and roll it out into sheets as thin as paper. Dry them hard and boil them in the broth. Grate ruayn cheese12 and lay it in dishes with powder douce. Lay the boiled sheets on top, as whole as you can, and then more spice powder and cheese. Do this two or three times, and serve it.
58Cherry pudding. Wash unblanched almonds, grind them, and draw them up13 with good broth. Add cherries, a third as much. Take out the stones and grind the cherries fine. Make a thickening of good bread, spice powder and salt, and add it. Color it with sandalwood,14 and make it thick enough to stand. Scatter aniseed and cherries on top, and serve it.
67Payn ragoun. Clarify honey and sugar together, and boil it over a gentle fire. Take care that it does not burn. When it has boiled a while, take up a drop on your finger and put it in a little water, to see if it holds together. Then take it off the fire and add a third part [of bread]15 and ground ginger. Stir it until it begins to thicken, then pour it out on a wet table. Cut it in slices and serve it with fried food, on meat days or fish days.16
71German peas.17 Wash white peas and boil them a long time. Take them out and strain them through a cloth, then wash them in cold water until the hulls come off. Put them in a pot, cover it so that no steam escapes, and boil them very well. Add good almond milk and some rice flour, with ground ginger, saffron and salt.
74Makke.18 Boil drawen beans19 well. Take them out of the water and put them in a mortar. Grind them to a powder until they are as white as milk. Warm a little red wine and mix it in while you grind, and add salt. Slice it into dishes. Then mince onions small and cook them in oil until they are all brown. Garnish the dishes with them, and serve.
76Salad. Take parsley, sage, garlic, spring onions, onions, leek, borage, mint, porrettes,20 fennel and garden cress, rue, rosemary and purslane.21 Rinse them and wash them clean. Pick them over, tear them small with your hands, and mix them well with raw oil. Put on vinegar and salt, and serve it.
79Apple pudding. Boil apples in water and press them through a strainer. Add almond milk and honey, rice flour, saffron, powder fort and salt, and boil it until it is thick.
87Almond-milk caudle.22 Draw up blanched almonds with wine. Add ground ginger and sugar, and color it with saffron. Boil it and serve it.
90Poached eggs. Break eggs into scalding hot water, and when they are cooked enough, take them out. Beat egg yolks and unboiled milk together, and add ground ginger, saffron and salt. Set it over the fire, but do not let it boil. Then take the poached eggs, pour the sauce over them, and serve.
92Macrows.23 Make a thin sheet of dough and cut it in pieces. Drop them into boiling water and boil well. Grate cheese, and put it with butter under and over them, as for loseyns, and serve.
93Toast in spiced honey. Mix wine and honey together, skim it clean, and boil it a long time. Add ground ginger, pepper and salt. Toast bread and pour the syrup over it. Cut pieces of ginger, garnish it with them, and serve.
132Pears in syrup. Peel the pears clean. Boil them in good red wine with mulberries or sandalwood [for color]. When they are cooked, take them out. Make a syrup of Greek wine or vernage24 with white powder25 or white sugar and ground ginger, and put the pears in it. Boil it a little and serve.
134Cold stew. Grind almonds. Take two parts wine, or a third part vinegar,26 and draw up the almonds with it. Take anise, sugar and a few green sprigs of fennel, and draw them up together with the almond milk. Add ground cinnamon and ginger, cloves, and whole mace. Take kid or chickens or other meat, chop it small and boil it. When the meat is cooked, lay it in a clean dish. Boil the broth and add salt. Then pour all this into the pot with the meat, and serve it.27
136White sauce for boiled capons. Grind blanched almonds to a powder. Mix it with verjuice28 and ground ginger, and serve it.
139Ginger sauce. Cut the crust off white bread and soak it in vinegar. Grind it, and mix it with vinegar, ground ginger and salt. Press it through a strainer and serve.
140Green sauce. Take parsley, mint, garlic, a little wild thyme and sage, a little cinnamon, ginger, pepper, wine, bread, vinegar and salt. Grind it fine with saffron and serve.
145Lombardy mustard.29 Wash mustard seed and dry it in an oven. Grind it dry and sift it through a sieve. Clarify honey with wine and vinegar, stir it all well together, and make it thick enough. When you want to use some, thin it with wine.
149Parsnip and apple fritters. Parboil skirrets [a root vegetable], parsnips and apples. Make a batter of flour and eggs, and add ale, saffron and salt. Dip them in the batter and fry them in oil or lard. Add almond milk and serve.
151Herb fritters. Take good herbs, grind them, and mix them with flour and water, a little yeast and salt. Fry them in oil, and eat them with clear honey.
166Brie tart.30 Make a pastry crust an inch deep in a baking dish. Mix raw egg yolks and ruayn cheese together, and add ground ginger, sugar, saffron and salt. Put it in the dish, bake it, and serve.
194To make mawmenny.31 Take the [thighs?]32 and some meat of capons or hens, and chop it small in a mortar. Take almond milk with the broth of fresh beef or other fresh meat. Put the meat in the milk or the broth and set it on the fire.33 Thicken it with rice flour, gastbon or amydoun,34 as stiff as the blank desire,35 and make it yellow with egg yolks and saffron. When it is served in dishes with the blank desire, stick cloves on top, sprinkle ground galingale36 over it, and serve.
Notes
- Forme of cury: “method of cookery.” The roll leaves a blank where a first word was to be added in red ink; Pegge supposed it was This. back
- Counting from the Norman Conquest of 1066, Richard was the second King Richard. back
- Vyand: Pegge read it as a person who delights in fine food. He noted that only the cooks’ own word calls Richard a gourmet. back
- Phisik: medicine. Pegge notes that cookery was long counted a branch of medicine, and that the roll’s and here should read of. back
- Showpieces for great feasts. Pegge glosses sotiltees as “devices in paste, wax, and confectionary ware.” back
- Almonds ground and “drawn” with broth or water into a thick white milk, the roll’s usual milk. Pegge notes that cow’s milk was sometimes used instead, citing his own manuscript of 1381. back
- Honey cleaned by beating it with egg whites and water and boiling it, then taking it off as it rose to boil over. Pegge describes the method from the roll’s recipe 59. back
- Powder fort, “strong powder,” and powder douce, “sweet powder,” were spice mixtures. Pegge took the first to be hot spices such as pepper and ginger, the second a blend of aromatic spices kept ready. The roll gives neither recipe. back
- A capon is a young cock castrated; curlews are wading birds (Skeat). back
- Sheets of pasta layered with cheese and spice. The name means “lozenges.” Pegge set aside Cotgrave’s sense, “a little square cake of preserved herbs,” as having no concern here. back
- Payndemayn: white bread, here its flour (Pegge). back
- Ruayn: Pegge suggested, with a question, cheese of Rouen in Normandy. back
- To “draw up” ground almonds was to mix them with liquid into a milk (Pegge’s glossary, under almaund mylke). back
- Sandres: red sandalwood, used to color food red (Pegge). back
- The roll says only “the third part.” Pegge guessed that “of bread” had dropped out; payn means bread. back
- Days when the Church forbade meat, including the weeks of Lent. The roll adapts many dishes for them, with fish, oil or almond milk in place of meat, lard or cow’s milk. back
- Almayne: Germany (Pegge). back
- Pegge marks the name as unknown. In this recipe leshe is taken as “slice,” its sense elsewhere in the roll; Pegge thought it might mean “lay in the dish.” back
- Drawen benes, “drawn beans.” The roll’s recipe 2 of that name boils beans, grinds them and thins them with broth. Here the beans are boiled and ground again. back
- Porrettes: a kind of leek (Stratmann–Bradley). Pegge gives only the French porrette. back
- Pegge counted “no less than 14 ingredients” and thought such mixtures too complex to be healthy. back
- A caudle was a warm drink, often for the sick (Skeat). This one is a hot sweet almond drink. back
- Pasta. Pegge compared the Italian maccherone. Florio’s Italian dictionary, as Skeat quotes it, calls maccaroni paste “boiled in broth, and drest with butter, cheese, and spice.” back
- Wyne greke, Greek wine, which Pegge notes appears among the sweet wines in a manuscript list, and vernage, which he identifies as the Italian white wine vernaccia. back
- Blaunche powdour: a white spice powder that great households bought ready-made. Pegge took it for the same as white powder douce. back
- Literally “the two parts of wine or the third part of vinegar.” Pegge glosses tweydel “two parts”; the sense is probably two parts wine to one of vinegar. back
- The roll ends with an abbreviation, & and t with a hook, which Pegge read as “serve forth.” back
- Verjuice, “green juice”: the sour juice of unripe grapes, used like vinegar (Skeat). back
- Named, Pegge thought, for Lombardy in northern Italy. back
- Pegge asked whether de Bry means Brie, the French district. back
- Pegge printed an engraved facsimile of this recipe, as it stands on the roll, in his preface. back
- The roll has chese, “cheese.” Pegge’s manuscript of 1381 gives this dish as “Tak the thyys other the flesch of the caponys,” so chese is probably a slip for thyes, thighs. back
- The roll says frye. Pegge asked whether fyre, fire, was meant; his manuscript of 1381 has “do yt to the fyre.” back
- Gastbon: Pegge guessed a fine bread, from wastel, the finest white bread; his manuscript of 1381 has wastelys in the same place. Amydoun: wheat flour soaked in water, settled and dried in the sun, as Pegge quotes Cotgrave. back
- Blank desire, the roll’s recipe 193: capon or hen meat ground fine in almond milk and thickened, a white dish served in the same dishes as this one. back
- Galingale, a spicy root (Pegge, “the long-rooted Cyperus”). He thought the sauce galentine took its name from it. back
... fome of cury was compiled of the chef Maister Cokes of kyng Richard the Secunde kyng of .nglond aftir the Conquest. the which was acounted þe best and ryallest vyand of alle csten .ynges and it was compiled by assent and avysement of Maisters and phisik and of philosophie þat dwellid in his court. First it techiþ a man for to make commune potages and commune meetis for howshold as þey shold be made craftly and holsomly. Aftirward it techiþ for to make curious potages & meetes and sotiltees for alle maner of States bothe hye and lowe. And the techyng of the forme of making of potages & of meetes bothe of flessh and of fissh. buth y sette here by noumbre and by ordre. sso þis little table here sewyng wole teche a man with oute taryyng: to fynde what meete þat hym lust for to have.
[This] book of cookery was put together by the head cooks of King Richard the Second, king of England after the Conquest. He was counted the best and most royal lover of fine food of all Christian kings. The book was compiled with the agreement and advice of the masters of medicine and philosophy who lived at his court. First it teaches how to make everyday soups and dishes for a household, made skillfully and wholesomely. Then it teaches how to make fancy soups, dishes and subtleties for people of every rank, high and low. The instructions for making soups and dishes, both of meat and of fish, are set out here by number and in order. So the little table that follows will show you at once how to find whatever dish you want.
- Forme of cury: “method of cookery.” The roll leaves a blank where a first word was to be added in red ink; Pegge supposed it was This.
- Counting from the Norman Conquest of 1066, Richard was the second King Richard.
- Vyand: Pegge read it as a person who delights in fine food. He noted that only the cooks’ own word calls Richard a gourmet.
- Phisik: medicine. Pegge notes that cookery was long counted a branch of medicine, and that the roll’s and here should read of.
- Showpieces for great feasts. Pegge glosses sotiltees as “devices in paste, wax, and confectionary ware.”
Ryse of Flesh. Take Ryse and waishe hem clene. and do hem in erthen pot with gode broth and lat hem seeþ wel. afterward take Almaund mylke and do þer to. and colour it wiþ safroun an salt. an messe forth.
Rice with meat broth. Wash the rice clean and put it in an earthenware pot with good broth, and let it boil well. Then add almond milk. Color it with saffron, add salt, and serve it.
- Almonds ground and “drawn” with broth or water into a thick white milk, the roll’s usual milk. Pegge notes that cow’s milk was sometimes used instead, citing his own manuscript of 1381.
Connates. Take Connes and pare hem. pyke out the best and do hem in a pot of erthe. do þerto whyte grece þat he stewe þer inne. and lye hem up with hony clarified and with rawe zolkes and with a lytell almaund mylke and do þerinne powdour fort and Safron. and loke þat it be yleesshed.
Quince paste. Peel the quinces and pick out the best of them. Put them in an earthenware pot and add white lard, so that they stew in it. Thicken them with clarified honey, raw egg yolks and a little almond milk. Add powder fort and saffron, and see that it is cut in slices.
- Honey cleaned by beating it with egg whites and water and boiling it, then taking it off as it rose to boil over. Pegge describes the method from the roll’s recipe 59.
- Powder fort, “strong powder,” and powder douce, “sweet powder,” were spice mixtures. Pegge took the first to be hot spices such as pepper and ginger, the second a blend of aromatic spices kept ready. The roll gives neither recipe.
For to boile Fesauntes. Partruches. Capons and Curlewes. Take gode broth and do þerto the Fowle. and do þerto hool peper and flour of canel a gode quantite and lat hem seeþ þerwith. and messe it forth. and þer cast þeron Podour dowce.
To boil pheasants, partridges, capons and curlews. Take good broth and put the bird in it. Add whole peppercorns and plenty of ground cinnamon, and let them boil together. Then serve it, and sprinkle powder douce on top.
- A capon is a young cock castrated; curlews are wading birds (Skeat).
Loseyns. Take gode broth and do in an erthen pot, take flour of payndemayn and make þerof past with water. and make þerof thynne foyles as paper with a roller, drye it harde and seeþ it in broth take Chese ruayn grated and lay it in disshes with powdour douce. and lay þeron loseyns isode as hoole as þou mizt. and above powdour and chese, and so twyse or thryse, & serue it forth.
Loseyns. Put good broth in an earthenware pot. Make a dough of the finest white flour and water, and roll it out into sheets as thin as paper. Dry them hard and boil them in the broth. Grate ruayn cheese and lay it in dishes with powder douce. Lay the boiled sheets on top, as whole as you can, and then more spice powder and cheese. Do this two or three times, and serve it.
- Sheets of pasta layered with cheese and spice. The name means “lozenges.” Pegge set aside Cotgrave’s sense, “a little square cake of preserved herbs,” as having no concern here.
- Payndemayn: white bread, here its flour (Pegge).
- Ruayn: Pegge suggested, with a question, cheese of Rouen in Normandy.
Chyryse. Take Almandes unblanched, waisshe hem, grynde hem, drawe hem up with gode broth. do þerto thridde part of chiryse. þe stones. take oute and grynde hem smale, make a layour of gode brede an powdour and salt and do þerto. colour it with sandres so that it may be stondyng, and florish it with aneys and with cheweryes, and strawe þeruppon and serue it forth.
Cherry pudding. Wash unblanched almonds, grind them, and draw them up with good broth. Add cherries, a third as much. Take out the stones and grind the cherries fine. Make a thickening of good bread, spice powder and salt, and add it. Color it with sandalwood, and make it thick enough to stand. Scatter aniseed and cherries on top, and serve it.
- To “draw up” ground almonds was to mix them with liquid into a milk (Pegge’s glossary, under almaund mylke).
- Sandres: red sandalwood, used to color food red (Pegge).
Payn Ragoun. Take hony suger and clarifie it togydre. and boile it with esy fyre, and kepe it wel fro brennyng and whan it hath yboiled a while; take up a drope þerof wiþ þy fyngur and do it in a litel water and loke if it hong togyder. and take it fro the fyre and do þerto the thriddendele an powdour gyngener and stere it togyder til it bigynne to thik and cast it on a wete table. lesh it and serue it forth with fryed mete on flessh dayes or on fysshe dayes.
Payn ragoun. Clarify honey and sugar together, and boil it over a gentle fire. Take care that it does not burn. When it has boiled a while, take up a drop on your finger and put it in a little water, to see if it holds together. Then take it off the fire and add a third part [of bread] and ground ginger. Stir it until it begins to thicken, then pour it out on a wet table. Cut it in slices and serve it with fried food, on meat days or fish days.
- The roll says only “the third part.” Pegge guessed that “of bread” had dropped out; payn means bread.
- Days when the Church forbade meat, including the weeks of Lent. The roll adapts many dishes for them, with fish, oil or almond milk in place of meat, lard or cow’s milk.
Peson of Almayne. Take white pesoun, waisshe hem seeþ hem a grete while. take hem and cole hem thurgh a cloth, waisshe hem in colde water til the hulles go off, cast hem in a pot and couere þat no breth go out. and boile hem right wel. and cast þerinne gode mylke of almandes and a pertye of flour of Rys wiþ powdour gynger safroun. and salt.
German peas. Wash white peas and boil them a long time. Take them out and strain them through a cloth, then wash them in cold water until the hulls come off. Put them in a pot, cover it so that no steam escapes, and boil them very well. Add good almond milk and some rice flour, with ground ginger, saffron and salt.
- Almayne: Germany (Pegge).
Makke. Take drawen benes and seeþ hem wel. take hem up of the water and cast hem in a morter grynde hem al to doust til þei be white as eny mylk, chawf a litell rede wyne, cast þeramong in þe gryndyng, do þerto salt, leshe it in disshes. þanne take Oynouns and mynce hem smale and seeþ hem in oile til þey be al broun. and florissh the disshes þerwith. and serue it forth.
Makke. Boil drawen beans well. Take them out of the water and put them in a mortar. Grind them to a powder until they are as white as milk. Warm a little red wine and mix it in while you grind, and add salt. Slice it into dishes. Then mince onions small and cook them in oil until they are all brown. Garnish the dishes with them, and serve.
- Pegge marks the name as unknown. In this recipe leshe is taken as “slice,” its sense elsewhere in the roll; Pegge thought it might mean “lay in the dish.”
- Drawen benes, “drawn beans.” The roll’s recipe 2 of that name boils beans, grinds them and thins them with broth. Here the beans are boiled and ground again.
Salat. Take persel, sawge, garlec, chibolles, oynouns, leek, borage, myntes, porrectes, fenel and ton tressis, rew, rosemarye, purslarye, laue and waische hem clene, pike hem, pluk hem small wiþ þyn honde and myng hem wel with rawe oile. lay on vynegur and salt, and serue it forth.
Salad. Take parsley, sage, garlic, spring onions, onions, leek, borage, mint, porrettes, fennel and garden cress, rue, rosemary and purslane. Rinse them and wash them clean. Pick them over, tear them small with your hands, and mix them well with raw oil. Put on vinegar and salt, and serve it.
- Porrettes: a kind of leek (Stratmann–Bradley). Pegge gives only the French porrette.
- Pegge counted “no less than 14 ingredients” and thought such mixtures too complex to be healthy.
Appulmoy. Take Apples and seeþ hem in water, drawe hem thurgh a straynour. take almaunde mylke & hony and flour of Rys, safroun and powdour fort and salt. and seeþ it stondyng.
Apple pudding. Boil apples in water and press them through a strainer. Add almond milk and honey, rice flour, saffron, powder fort and salt, and boil it until it is thick.
Cawdel of Almaund mylk. Take Almaundes blaunched and drawe hem up with wyne, do þerto powdour of gyngur and sugur and colour it with Safroun. boile it and serue it forth.
Almond-milk caudle. Draw up blanched almonds with wine. Add ground ginger and sugar, and color it with saffron. Boil it and serve it.
- A caudle was a warm drink, often for the sick (Skeat). This one is a hot sweet almond drink.
Pochee. Take Ayrenn and breke hem in scaldyng hoot water. and whan þei bene sode ynowh. take hem up and take zolkes of ayren and rawe mylke and swyng hem togydre, and do þerto powdour gyngur safroun and salt, set it ouere the fire, and lat it not boile, and take ayrenn isode & cast þe sew onoward. & serue it forth.
Poached eggs. Break eggs into scalding hot water, and when they are cooked enough, take them out. Beat egg yolks and unboiled milk together, and add ground ginger, saffron and salt. Set it over the fire, but do not let it boil. Then take the poached eggs, pour the sauce over them, and serve.
Macrows. Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh. and kerve it on peces, and cast hem on boillyng water & seeþ it wele. take chese and grate it and butter cast bynethen and above as losyns. and serue forth.
Macrows. Make a thin sheet of dough and cut it in pieces. Drop them into boiling water and boil well. Grate cheese, and put it with butter under and over them, as for loseyns, and serve.
- Pasta. Pegge compared the Italian maccherone. Florio’s Italian dictionary, as Skeat quotes it, calls maccaroni paste “boiled in broth, and drest with butter, cheese, and spice.”
Tostee. Take wyne and hony and found it togyder and skym it clene. and seeþ it long, do þerto powdour of gyngur. peper and salt, tost brede and lay the sew þerto. kerue pecys of gyngur and flour it þerwith and messe it forth.
Toast in spiced honey. Mix wine and honey together, skim it clean, and boil it a long time. Add ground ginger, pepper and salt. Toast bread and pour the syrup over it. Cut pieces of ginger, garnish it with them, and serve.
Peeres in confyt. Take peeres and pare hem clene. take gode rede wyne & mulberes oþer saundres and seeþ þe peeres þerin & whan þei buth ysode, take hem up, make a syryp of wyne greke. oþer vernage with blaunche powdour oþer white sugur and powdour gyngur & do the peres þerin. seeþ it a lytel & messe it forth.
Pears in syrup. Peel the pears clean. Boil them in good red wine with mulberries or sandalwood [for color]. When they are cooked, take them out. Make a syrup of Greek wine or vernage with white powder or white sugar and ground ginger, and put the pears in it. Boil it a little and serve.
- Wyne greke, Greek wine, which Pegge notes appears among the sweet wines in a manuscript list, and vernage, which he identifies as the Italian white wine vernaccia.
- Blaunche powdour: a white spice powder that great households bought ready-made. Pegge took it for the same as white powder douce.
Colde Brewet. Take Almaundes and grynde hem. take the tweydel of wyne oþer the þriddell of vynegur. drawe up the Almaundes þerwith. take anys sugur & branches of fenel grene a fewe. & drawe hem up togyder with þer mylke take poudour of canell. of gyngur. clowes. & maces hoole. take kydde oþer chikenns oþer flessh. & choppe hem small and seeþ hem. take all þis flessh whan it is sodenn & lay it in a clene vessel & boile þer sewe & cast þerto salt. þenne cast al þis in þe pot with flesh. &ter.
Cold stew. Grind almonds. Take two parts wine, or a third part vinegar, and draw up the almonds with it. Take anise, sugar and a few green sprigs of fennel, and draw them up together with the almond milk. Add ground cinnamon and ginger, cloves, and whole mace. Take kid or chickens or other meat, chop it small and boil it. When the meat is cooked, lay it in a clean dish. Boil the broth and add salt. Then pour all this into the pot with the meat, and serve it.
- Literally “the two parts of wine or the third part of vinegar.” Pegge glosses tweydel “two parts”; the sense is probably two parts wine to one of vinegar.
- The roll ends with an abbreviation, & and t with a hook, which Pegge read as “serve forth.”
Sawse blaunche for Capouns ysode. Take Almandes blaunched and grynd hem al to doust. temper it up with verions and powdour of gyngyner and messe it forth.
White sauce for boiled capons. Grind blanched almonds to a powder. Mix it with verjuice and ground ginger, and serve it.
- Verjuice, “green juice”: the sour juice of unripe grapes, used like vinegar (Skeat).
Gyngener. Take payndemayn and pare it clene and funde it in Vinegur, grynde it and temper it wiþ Vynegur, and with powdour gyngur and salt, drawe it thurgh a straynour. and serue forth.
Ginger sauce. Cut the crust off white bread and soak it in vinegar. Grind it, and mix it with vinegar, ground ginger and salt. Press it through a strainer and serve.
Verde Sawse. Take parsel. mynt. garlek. a litul serpell and sawge, a litul canel. gyngur. piper. wyne. brede. vynegur & salt grynde it smal with safroun & messe it forth.
Green sauce. Take parsley, mint, garlic, a little wild thyme and sage, a little cinnamon, ginger, pepper, wine, bread, vinegar and salt. Grind it fine with saffron and serve.
Lumbard Mustard. Take Mustard seed and waishe it & drye it in an ovene, grynde it drye. sarse it thurgh a sarse. clarifie hony with wyne & vynegur & stere it wel togeder and make it thikke ynowz. & whan þou wilt spende þerof make it thynne with wyne.
Lombardy mustard. Wash mustard seed and dry it in an oven. Grind it dry and sift it through a sieve. Clarify honey with wine and vinegar, stir it all well together, and make it thick enough. When you want to use some, thin it with wine.
- Named, Pegge thought, for Lombardy in northern Italy.
Frytour of Pasternakes of Apples. Take skyrwates and pasternakes and apples, & parboile hem, make a batour of flour and ayrenn, cast þerto ale. safroun & salt. wete hem in þe batour and frye hem in oile or in grece. do þerto Almaund Mylk. & serue it forth.
Parsnip and apple fritters. Parboil skirrets [a root vegetable], parsnips and apples. Make a batter of flour and eggs, and add ale, saffron and salt. Dip them in the batter and fry them in oil or lard. Add almond milk and serve.
Frytour of Erbes. Take gode erbys. grynde hem and medle hem with flour and water & a lytel zest and salt, and frye hem in oyle. and ete hem with clere hony.
Herb fritters. Take good herbs, grind them, and mix them with flour and water, a little yeast and salt. Fry them in oil, and eat them with clear honey.
Tart de Bry. Take a Crust ynche depe in a trape. take zolkes of Ayren rawe & chese ruayn. & medle it & þe zolkes togyder. and do þerto powdour gyngur. sugur. safroun. and salt. do it in a trape, bake it and serue it forth.
Brie tart. Make a pastry crust an inch deep in a baking dish. Mix raw egg yolks and ruayn cheese together, and add ground ginger, sugar, saffron and salt. Put it in the dish, bake it, and serve.
- Pegge asked whether de Bry means Brie, the French district.
For to make Mawmenny. Take þe chese and of Flessh of Capouns or of Hennes. & hakke smale in a morter. take mylke of Almandes with þe broth of freissh Beef, oþer freissh flessh. & put the flessh in þe mylke oþer in the broth and set hem to þe frye. & alye hem up with flour of Ryse. or gastbon. or amydoun. as chargeant as þe blanke desire. & with zolkes of ayren and safroun for to make it zelow. and when it is dressit in disshes with blank desire styk above clowes de gilofre. & strewe Powdour of galyngale above. and serue it forth.
To make mawmenny. Take the [thighs?] and some meat of capons or hens, and chop it small in a mortar. Take almond milk with the broth of fresh beef or other fresh meat. Put the meat in the milk or the broth and set it on the fire. Thicken it with rice flour, gastbon or amydoun, as stiff as the blank desire, and make it yellow with egg yolks and saffron. When it is served in dishes with the blank desire, stick cloves on top, sprinkle ground galingale over it, and serve.
- Pegge printed an engraved facsimile of this recipe, as it stands on the roll, in his preface.
- The roll has chese, “cheese.” Pegge’s manuscript of 1381 gives this dish as “Tak the thyys other the flesch of the caponys,” so chese is probably a slip for thyes, thighs.
- The roll says frye. Pegge asked whether fyre, fire, was meant; his manuscript of 1381 has “do yt to the fyre.”
- Gastbon: Pegge guessed a fine bread, from wastel, the finest white bread; his manuscript of 1381 has wastelys in the same place. Amydoun: wheat flour soaked in water, settled and dried in the sun, as Pegge quotes Cotgrave.
- Blank desire, the roll’s recipe 193: capon or hen meat ground fine in almond milk and thickened, a white dish served in the same dishes as this one.
- Galingale, a spicy root (Pegge, “the long-rooted Cyperus”). He thought the sauce galentine took its name from it.
Page images of the original object or of the printed edition, from the libraries and archives that hold them. The pages shown are copied here where the holder marks them public domain; titles link to the holder's own viewer. Click a page to see it full size.
The Forme of Cury, ed. Samuel Pegge (London, 1780)
Internet Archive (University of Leeds Library copy). pp. 1–2 (image numbers n52–n53), 14 (n65), 18 (n69), 25 (n76), 30 (n81), 33 (n84), 37–42 (n88–n93), 45–47 (n96–n98), 62–68 (n113–n119), 74–75 (n125–n126), 88–89 (n139–n140), and the engraved facsimile of recipe 194 (n45). Public Domain Mark, as the Internet Archive record states; published 1780.
The edition our text follows, read against these page images. Pegge’s plate (n45) shows recipe 194 as it looks on the roll.
New translation from the Middle English text of The Forme of Cury, edited by Samuel Pegge (London, 1780), read in the Internet Archive scan.
The opening of the roll and 24 of its 196 recipes, chosen for everyday foods: rice, sauces, almond milk, pasta, fritters, tarts, a salad and a honey sweet. That is about an eighth of the roll; the recipes left out are not marked.
Pegge prints the roll’s abbreviations in special type: a bar or hook over a letter for missing letters, a sign like a raised 9 for an ending such as -es or -er, and ⁊ for and. Our Middle English writes them out, following the Project Gutenberg transcription of Pegge’s edition, with each expansion and every OCR slip checked against the page images (see the unit notes). ⁊ is given as &. Pegge prints the letter yogh as z (zolkes, yolks; zelow, yellow), and that is kept, as is þ (th).
The roll numbers its recipes in scores; we use the numbers as unit ids and in the reading text. The titles are the roll’s. Dish names with no English equivalent stay in italics, and powder douce and powder fort, the roll’s spice mixtures, keep their names. Pegge’s notes, glossary and headings are not copied. Words in brackets are ours.
- Original
- Text as printed in the named edition or on the object, read from page images. Edition: The Forme of Cury, a Roll of Ancient English Cookery, Compiled, about A.D. 1390, by the Master-Cooks of King Richard II, ed. Samuel Pegge (London: J. Nichols, 1780), pp. 1–2 and 14–89. Digital text: Project Gutenberg eBook 8102, a transcription of this edition, copied by code and read against the page images of Internet Archive item b21529401 (University of Leeds Library copy). Pegge prints the roll’s abbreviations in special type; they are written out as in the Gutenberg text, and each OCR slip is listed in the unit notes. The roll’s text only.
- Editor’s review
- Not yet.
- Specialist review
- Not yet. Readings a specialist should confirm are listed for later review.
- Rights
- Original: public domain. Edition: being checked.
Sources for the notes
- Pegge, Samuel, ed. The Forme of Cury, a Roll of Ancient English Cookery, Compiled, about A.D. 1390, by the Master-Cooks of King Richard II. London: J. Nichols, 1780. Title page; preface, pp. i–xxxvi; text pp. 1–2 and 14–89, with Pegge’s notes on the recipes kept and on recipes 1, 2, 37 and 193; glossary entries cited in the unit notes. Internet Archive b21529401; Project Gutenberg eBook 8102.
- Skeat, Walter W. An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 3rd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1898. Entries Capon, Caudle, Curlew, Macaroni, Verjuice. Internet Archive etymologicaldict00skea_1.
- Stratmann, Francis Henry. A Middle-English Dictionary. Revised by Henry Bradley. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891. Entries porrette and sas (sarse). Internet Archive amiddleenglishd00stragoog.