The Hitchhiker's Guide to Ancient Cookery

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Alexandre Lerot d'Avigné
Recipes from Articles 10-13


From Kenelme Digbie
TO STEW A RUMP OF BEEF
"Take a rump of Beef, break all the bones; season it with Pepper and Salt to your liking; Take three or four Nutmegs, and a quantity of Mace, beat them grossly; Then take a bunch of very good sweet herbs, and good Onion cut in quarters. or Garlicke, as you like it. Put in half a pint of White-wine Vinegar, and one Pint of good Claret, one handful of Sugar; and a piece or two of beef Suet or Butter: shred some Cabbage under and over, and scrape in a pound of good old Cheese. Put all these into an earthen pot, and let it stand in an oven with brown-bread four or five hours; but let the pot be covered close with paste."

To Stew a Rump of Beef, after Kenelme Digbie

a three pound boneless rump roast	1/2 pint of red wine (or more)
a head of green cabbage			1/4 pint of white vinegar (or more)
salt					1/2 tsp to 1 tsp nutmeg
pepper					1/2 tsp to 1 tsp mace
1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp each of basil	a bay leaf
			   rosemary	1/8 to 1/4 cup sugar
			   savory	1/2 pound cheddar cheese
			   thyme	a clove or two of garlic
			   mint		a couple of Tb of butter
			   marjoram
Shredd the cabbage a bit with a knife and put half of it in the pot. Sprinkle the roast liberally on all sides with salt and pepper and put it on the cabbage. Combine the wine and vinegar and the mace, nutmeg, garlic, sugar and herbs (adjust them to your own taste). Pour over the roast. If the liquid doesn't come up maybe a quarter of the way or more on the roast, add more wine and vinegar in the same ratio.

Dab the butter on top. Grate the cheddar cheese on and around the roast. Add the rest of the cabbage.

Make a paste out of flour and either water, egg or both. Seal the lid of your pot with this paste. Cook at 350 F for at least four hours. Longer won't hurt it.

When it comes out it should be fork tender and with a nice mellow flavor.


From Kenelme Digbie
TO STEW APPLES
"Pare them and cut them into slices. Stew them with Wine and Water as the Pears, and season them in like manner with Spice. Towards the end sweeten them with Sugar, breaking them into Pap by stirring them. When you are ready to take them off, put in good store of fresh-butter and incorporate it well with them, by stirring them together. You stew these between two dishes. The quickest Apples are the best."

TO STEW WARDENS OR PEARS
"Pare them, put them into a Pipkin, with so much Red or Claret Wine and water, ana, as will near reach to the top of the Pears. Stew or boil gently, till they grow tender, which may be in two hours. After a while, put in some sticks of Cinnamon bruised and a few Cloves. When they are almost done, put in Sugar enough to season them well and their Syrup, which you pour out upon them in a deep Plate."

To Stew Apples after Kenelme Digbie

apples (I use Granny Smith)		red wine
sugar					water
Pare and slice the apples and place them in a pot. Add equal parts of wine and water until the apples are just about covered. For every two apples add a perhaps a half tsp. of cinnamon or a stick of cinnamon (or more depending on your taste). For every two apples add two or three whole cloves (again, or more if you like cloves). Simmer the apples for an hour or so, then add around 1/3 cup of sugar for every two apples, adjusted to your own taste. Give the apples a quick stir to break them up a bit. Let them simmer until you are ready to eat them, but at least until they break up into an applesauce like texture, perhaps with a few unbroken chunks. Just before serving, add 1 tablespoon of butter for every two apples and stir until melted and blended. Serve warm, but it's good cold the next day.


From Ancient Cookery Tart On Ember-Day
"Parboyle onions, and sauge, and parsel, and hew hom small, then take gode fatte chese, and bray hit, and do therto egges, and tempur hit up therwith, and do therto butter and sugur, and raisynges of corance, and pouder of ginger, and of canell, medel all this well togedur, and do hit in a coffyn, and bake hit uncoveret, and serve hit forthe."

Tart on Ember-Day after Ancient Cookery

two onions			half-handful sage
1/2 lb to 1 lb Swiss cheese	half-handful parsley
four eggs			1/2 stick butter
dash or two ginger		dash or two cinnamon
1 Tb sugar			small handfull currents
1 pie shell
Grate the cheese. Dice the onions, sage and parsley. Parboil the onions, sage and parsley - perhaps five minutes. Beat the eggs and butter lightly together. Add sugar, ginger, cinnaman and currents to egg mixture. Put cheese in pie shell and pour egg mixture over the top. Bake at 375 for forty minutes or so, until it tests clean.


From Kenelme Digbie
TO MAKE SPINAGE-BROTH
"Take strong broth, and boil a neck of Mutton, and a Marrow-bone in it, and skim it very well; then put in half a pound of French barley, and a bundle of sweet herbs, and two or three blades of Large-mace. Let these boil very well. Then mince half a peck of Spinage, and two great Onions very small, and let it boil one hour or more; season it with salt as you please, and send the Mutton and the Marrow-bone in a dish with French bread or Manchet to the Table."

Vegetarian Spinage-Broth after Kenelme Digbie

3 quarts broth				1 cup barley (or more)
2-3 onions, diced			a good sized bunch of spinach (4-8 cups)
1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp each of basil	a bay leaf
			   rosemary	1/8 to 1/2 tsp mace
			   savory	
			   thyme
			   mint
			   marjoram
Since this is a vegetarian version, use a vegetarian broth as a base. (To make a more authentic version, add a neck of mutton and a marrow bone to the broth and boil it and skim it for a while before continuing.) Bring the buillon to a simmer and add the barley and spices, adjusting them to your taste. Let that boil while you dice the onions and spinach. The spinach measurement is approximate - it would be hard to get too much spinach, I think, but your mileage may vary. Note that the 4-8 cup figure is for fresh spinach, you could probably use frozen spinach at half quantity or less, since the fresh will cook down a lot. Add the onions and spinach to the pot and simmer for an hour or so. Salt to taste. Most commercial boullions are very salt heavy so little salt should be needed.



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Comments are welcome.
Alexandre Lerot d'Avigné, Jeff Berry, nexus@panix.com

Copyright Jeff Berry
Originally webbed 4/7/98
Last modified 4/7/98