Thursday, December 27, 2012

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 7 Hare or goose powdryde in Wortys

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2012 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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7.  Hare or goose powdryde in Wortys
Take goode brothe of beef and of othyre goode flesh & mary bonys do hit in a potte sett hit ovyre the fnyre chop ane hare in pecys and do there to and yf thu wille weshe hyme yne the same brothe that thu wille boylle hyme yne thene draw the brothe thorow a straynere withe all the brode thene take caulys & the white of lekys and othyre herbes and ottemele and hew heme smalle to gedyre and yf hit be ane olde here lete hyme boyle welle or thu caste yne the wortys yf he be a yonge hare cast hyme and thy wortys to gadyr also take a goose of a day and a nyghte powdrynge chop here & put here in the wortys yne the same maner.

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Finally we have a recipe that isn't centered around cabbage or beans, though it does call for both cabbage and oatmeal.  This recipe parallels number 148 in A Noble Boke off Cookry.
To mak hayre or goose poudred in wort put good brothe of flesshe in a pot and maribones and set it on the fyere and chope the haire in peces, and put ther to and draw the brothe throughe a streyn with the blod then tak coles the whit of leekes other erbes and otemele and shred them smale to gedur and it be an old hayre let hir boile welle or ye put in your wortis and it be a younge hayre put in the hare and the wort to gedure and els tak a goos of a nyght and a day murdring and chope hir in the wort in the sam manner and serue it.   [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

There is a similar recipe in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books.

Hare in Wortes. Take Colys, and stripe hem faire fro the stalkes. Take Betus and Borage, auens [correction; sic = MS. anens.] , Violette, Malvis, parsle, betayn, pacience, the white of the lekes, and the croppe of the netle; parboile, presse out the water, hew hem small, And do there-to mele. Take goode broth of ffressh beef, or other goode flessh and mary bones; do it in a potte, set on the fire; choppe the hare in peces, And, if thou wil, wassh hir in the same broth, and then drawe it thorgh A streynour with the blode, And then put all on the fire. And if she be an olde hare, lete hire boile well, or thou cast in thi wortes; if she be yonge, cast in all togidre at ones; And lete hem boyle til thei be ynogh, and ceson hem with salt. And serue hem forth. The same wise thou may make wortes of A Gose of a ni3t, (Note: night) powdryng of beef, or eny other fressh flessh. [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

The word "powdered" here means salted (i.e. covered in powdered salt), and apparently only applies to the goose.  Interesting that the version in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books specifies that the goose is only to be salted for one night, and that the Wagstaff recipe doesn't mention salting the goose at all.

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