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Recipe appears in English in the 14th century with the sense `receive, take,' coming from the Latin imperative recipe `take,'
from recipere `receive, take.' It was used in lists of ingredients for medicines and dishes, as in "Take two eggs..."
Later, the lists of medicinal ingredients themselves came to be known as recipes (16th century), and then the word was applied
to lists of food ingredients in the 18th century. The symbol for a prescription, Rx, comes from the use of the word recipe
in the pharmaceutical sense.
Relatively little is known about the eating habits of the Anglo-Saxons of the Early and High Middle Ages before the Norman
conquest in 1066. Ale was the drink of choice of both commoners and nobles, and the known dishes included various stews, simple
broths, and soups. The level of refinement was low, and international influence fairly insignificant. This all changed in
the 11th century after the Norman invasion. With the invaders came a new and less provincial gentry, and new eating habits,
especially for the nobility. While traditional British cooking today is not regarded with high esteem internationally, the
Medieval Anglo-Norman cooks were considerably more refined and more cosmopolitan. It has previously been believed that the
Anglo-Norman cuisine was mostly similar to that of France, but recent study has shown that many recipes had unique English
traits. This was based partly on the different available foodstuffs on the British Isles, but more due to influence from Arab
cuisine through the Norman conquest of Sicily. The Arab invaders in the 9th century had cultivated their lifestyle culturally
and economically to such a degree that the Norman invaders inherited and adapted many of their habits, including cooking styles.
Norman participation in the crusades also brought them into contact with Middle Eastern and Byzantine cooking.
The subtlety, the fanciful and highly decorative surprise dish used to separate one course from another, was brought to
new levels of complexity and refinement by the English chefs. Among the specialties were pommes dorées ("gilded apples"),
meatballs of mutton or chicken colored with saffron or a glaze of egg yolk. The Anglo-Norman variant, pommes d'orange, were
flavored and coloured with the juice of bitter oranges.
Meatballs of mutton
How to make Fartes of Portingale. Take a peece of a leg of mutton. Mince it smal and season it with cloves, mace, pepper,
and salt, and Dates minced with currants: then roll it into round rolles, and so into little balles, and so boyle them in
a little beef broth and so serve them foorth.
Translation:
6 cup beef broth or stock
1 lb. ground lamb
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp. currants
1 1/2 Tbsp. dates, pitted, finely minced
Bring stock to a boil, then reduce to simmer. In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients, being careful to sprinkle spices
and salt evenly over meat. Roll mixture into small balls. Place meatballs in simmering stock. Cover pot and continue to simmer
for 10 minutes or until meatballs are done. Skim excess fat from top. Serve hot.
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Beef Stew
Beef y-Stywyd. Take fayre beef of (th)rybbys of (th)e fore quarterys, an smyte in fayre pecys, an wasche (th)e beef in-to
a fayre potte; (th)an take (th)e water (th)at (th)e beef was so(th)in yn, an strayne it (th)orw a straynowr, an sethe (th)e
same water and beef in a potte, an let hem boyle to-gederys; (th)an take canel, clowes, maces, graynys of parise, quibibes,
and oynons y-ynced, perceli, an sawge, an caste (th)er-to, an let hem boyle to-gederys; an (th)an take a lof of brede, an
stepe it with brothe an venegre, an (th)an draw it (th)orw a straynoure, and let it be stylle; an whan it is nere y-now, caste
(th)e lycour (th)er-to, but nowt to moche, an (th)an let boyle onys, an caste safroun (th)er-to a quantyte; (th)an take salt
an venegre, and cast (th)er-to, an loke (th)at it be poynaunt y-now, & serue forth.
2-3 lbs. of beef, cut in cubes for stewing
1/2 cup flour
2-3 onions minced
5 Tbsp. oil
5-6 cups beef stock
2 Tbsp. minced parsley
1-2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. mace
1/4 cup raisins or currants
4 black peppercorns
1/2 cup red wine
2 tsp. wine vinegar
pinch saffron
Dredge beef in flour and brown in oil. Bring remaining ingredients to a boil in a stock pot. Reduce heat, cover and simmer
until meat is tender (about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes).
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Capon with Herbs
1 quart water
4 chicken breasts
1 slice fresh side bacon
1 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped sage
1 Tablespoon hyssop
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 pinch saffron
5 thin slices gingerroot
Place all these ingredients into the pot and set it to boil for approximately 1 hour. Then serve forth.
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To make pyes of paris tak and fmyt fair buttes of pork and buttes of vele and put it to gedure in a faire pot with frefhe
brothe and put ther to a quantite of whyne and boile it tille it be enoughe then put it in to a treene veffelle and put ther
to raw yolks of eggs pouder of guinger fugur falt and mynced dates and raiffins of corans and mak a good thyn paifte and mak
coffyns and put it ther in and bak it welle and ferue it.
1 1/2 pounds of minced and/or ground veal
4 pounds of minced and/or ground pork
2 cups of beef broth
3 cups of white wine
1 cup of currants
1 cup of chopped dates
1/4 teaspoon saffron
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon powdered ginger
salt to taste
5 eggs
hot water crust pastry shell
Brown all the meat together. Add the broth and white wine and let in simmer over low heat for an hour or more. Now add
the dates and currants and cook for 15 minutes more. After adding the fruit, line two deep dish pie crusts with pastry. Remove
the meat and fruit with a slotted spoon to a large ceramic dish and move away from the oven to cool. Add another two cups
of wine and a cup of broth and your seasonings to the liquid and bring just to a boil. At the same time, beat four eggs together.
Dribble a few spoonfuls of the hot liquid slowly into the eggs while beating continuously. Turn down your heat as low as possible
and slowly pour the egg mixture into the simmering liquid while beating continuously. (These last procedures work best with
two pairs of hands.) Keep stirring with a whisk until the liquid thickens well and remove from heat. Spoon the meat and fruit
mixture back into the thickened sauce and mix well to coat. Then spoon the filling into the pie shells, being sure to use
all of the sauce. Cover with a top crust of pastry and crimp the edges with your fingers. Beat up the last egg and brush it
over the top of the crust. Use a sharp knife to cut a few small slits (for steam) in a decorative pattern in the crust. Bake
at 350 degrees for thirty minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 20 minutes. You can then serve the pies hot,
or place them in the refrigerator to cool thoroughly.
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Strawberries
ca. 1290
Fresee. E un autre viaunde, ke ad a noun fresee. Quillez nettement freseus, e pus braez les; e pus pernez let des alemaundes
ou de vache e destemprez le bien; e pus metez un [poi] de paun de wastel, e liez le bien espe/s e colurez le de seffran, e
des oefs liez, e metez de freseus entirs.
Translation: Strawberry. And another dish, that has the name strawberry. Neatly gather strawberries, and grind them. And
then take almond milk or cow’s and temper it well. And then put a little wastel bread, and alay it with good spices
and color it with saffron, and alay it with eggs, and put whole strawberries therein.
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Makerouns, 14th Century English (Basically Macaroni & Cheese)
Take and makke a thynne foyle of dowh, and kerve it on peces, and cast hym on boillyng water & seeþ it wele. Take
chese and grate it, and butter imelte, caste bynethen and above as losyns; and serve forth.
This dish is not baked after it is assembled, so the heat of the pasta layers has to melt the grated cheese. The cheese
used was probably a hard cheese, since the recipe specifies grating it. Note that there is no salt in the recipe - this is
very common in Medieval recipes. There are two theories as to why: either the cook expected salt to be added at the table,
or the dish didn't need it due to the inherent saltiness of the stock or salted meat used in the dish.
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