Recipes from a Baronial Investiture - Part 1
By Lady Angharad Gam, Barony of Innilgard, A.S. XLVIII
These recipes are for dishes presented as part of the Innilgard Baronial Investiture. This feast was held on April 5th A.S. XLVIII. There was no particular theme to the feast. The menu was built around dishes some people had volunteered to cook prior to myself coming on board as head cook. Not all the dishes presented at the feast have recipes listed. There was a green sallat and a platter of antipasti served as part of the first remove, roasted carrots in the second remove and an apple pie in the third remove. Recipes are not given for these. Otherwise recipes are presented roughly in order of service.
Chicken Pasties
Recipe XXX. Quomodo condiatur pullus in pastello. Man skal et unct høns i tu skæræ oc swepæ thær um helæ salviæ blath, oc skær i spæk oc salt, oc hyli thæt hø mæth degh; oc latæ bakæ i en hogn swa sum brøth. Swa mughæ man gøræ allæ handæ fiskæ pastel, oc fughlæ oc annæt køt.
Recipe XXX. How to prepare a chicken pasty. One should cut a young chicken in two and cover it with whole leaves of sage, and add diced bacon and salt. And wrap this chicken with dough and bake it in an oven like bread. In the same way one can make all kinds of pasties: of fish, of fowl, and of other meats.
Libellus de Arte Coquinaria
I wanted to make these pasties fairly small, so I chose to use chicken mince to avoid a lot of chopping. If you are making larger pasties you might choose breast or thigh fillet and dice it.
2.5 kg chicken mince
400 gms short cut bacon
1 large bunch fresh sage
13 sheets shortcrust pastry
Dice the bacon as finely as you can. Pick the leaves off the sage and chop these finely also. Mix together with the chicken mince. Cut each sheet of pastry into eight pieces. Put a largish half dessertspoonful of filling on each piece and seal carefully (you may need to wet the edge of the pastry). Make a small slit in the top of each pasty. Place on a baking tray that has been oiled or lined with baking paper. Bake at 180°C for 15-20mins, or until the crust is nicely browned.
Makes 104 pasties
Urchins or Hedgehogges
Take the mawe of the grete swine, and fyfe other sex of pigges mawes, fyll hem full of the self fars & sowe hem fast. Perboile hem; take hem up, & make smale prikkes of gode past, and frye hem. Take these prickes yfryed & se hem thiche in the mawes on the fars, made after an urchoun without legges. Put hem on a spyt and roost hem, and colour hem with safroun, and messe hem forth.
Farsur to make pomme dorryse and othere thynges. Takes the lire of pork rawe, and grynde it smale. Medle it up with eyren & powder fort, safroun and salt; and do therto raisouns of coraunce.
Forme of Curye
900gms minced pork
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp salt
2 tsp each ginger, pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
(opt 1/2 cup (about 90gms) currants)
55gms slivered almonds
Mix together all ingredients except the almonds, reserving a few currants. Form the mixture into small meatballs, about the size of a fifty cent piece, giving them a slightly oval shape. Insert slivered almonds into the meatballs to simulate the spines of hedgehogs. Use currants for eyes. Bake at 180°C for about 20 mins.
Makes about 20 hedgehogs
Darioles
Take creme of cowe mylke, other of almaundes; do therto ayren with sugur, safroun and salt. Medle it yfere. Do it in a coffyn of ii ynche depe; bake it wel and serue it forth.
Forme of Curye
This is the ultimate custard tart recipe. It is very good.
5 egg yolks
500mls cream (2 cups)
80gms sugar
2 sheets shortcrust pastry
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar then mix in the cream. Pour into pastry cases and bake at about 140C until just set. If you want to make it yellow, heat the cream gently with the saffron in, and allow it to sit and infuse for 30 mins or so before you add the egg yolks and sugar.
If you want to make the almond milk version simply draw up a very thick almond milk, and use the same amount as you would have of cream. Note that this is not completely suitable for Lent because it still uses eggs, but it may have sufficed for less strict fasting periods, or simply have been intended for those who like almonds at any time.
This is enough for 16 individual tarts or two in the usual feast foil pie tins.
