| Top Five Dishes Thee Want Not at Collegium Nebularum |
| Cinnamon Sugar Dusted Cow's Udder: |
Take a Cows Udder, and first boyl it well: then stick it thick
all over with Cloves: then when it is cold spit it, and lay it on
the fire, and and apply it very well with basting of sweet
Butter, and when it is sufficiently roasted and brown, then
dredg it, and draw it from the fire, take Venegar and Butter,
and put it on a chafing dish and coals; and boyl it with white
bread crum, till it be thick: then put to it good store Sugar and
of Cinnamon, and putting it into a clean dish, lay the Cows
Udder therein, and trim the sides of the dish with Sugar, and
so serve it up ~The English Housewife, 1863
all over with Cloves: then when it is cold spit it, and lay it on
the fire, and and apply it very well with basting of sweet
Butter, and when it is sufficiently roasted and brown, then
dredg it, and draw it from the fire, take Venegar and Butter,
and put it on a chafing dish and coals; and boyl it with white
bread crum, till it be thick: then put to it good store Sugar and
of Cinnamon, and putting it into a clean dish, lay the Cows
Udder therein, and trim the sides of the dish with Sugar, and
so serve it up ~The English Housewife, 1863
| Pork and Hens, no fire used in their preperation |
Cooking without fire. Instructions for cooking meat without
fire. Take a small earthenware pot, with an earthenware lid
which must be as wide as the pot; then take another pot of the
same earthenware, with a lid like that of the first; this pot is to
be deeper than the first by five fingers, and wider in
circumference by three; then take pork and hens and cut into
fair-sized pieces, and take fine spices and add them, and salt;
take the small pot with the meat in it and place it upright in
the large pot; cover it with the lid and stop it with moist,
clayey earth, so that nothing may escape; then take unslacked
lime, and fill the large pot with water, ensuring that no water
enters the smaller pot; let it stand for the time it takes to walk
between five and seven leagues, and then open your pots, and
you will find your food indeed cooked
~Two Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections Edited from British
Library Manuscripts
* There is footnote on this one that states unslacked lime is toxic, but
there is no mention of the toxicity of meat left to rot in a pot while you
take a seven league walk (say that five times fast)!
fire. Take a small earthenware pot, with an earthenware lid
which must be as wide as the pot; then take another pot of the
same earthenware, with a lid like that of the first; this pot is to
be deeper than the first by five fingers, and wider in
circumference by three; then take pork and hens and cut into
fair-sized pieces, and take fine spices and add them, and salt;
take the small pot with the meat in it and place it upright in
the large pot; cover it with the lid and stop it with moist,
clayey earth, so that nothing may escape; then take unslacked
lime, and fill the large pot with water, ensuring that no water
enters the smaller pot; let it stand for the time it takes to walk
between five and seven leagues, and then open your pots, and
you will find your food indeed cooked
~Two Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections Edited from British
Library Manuscripts
* There is footnote on this one that states unslacked lime is toxic, but
there is no mention of the toxicity of meat left to rot in a pot while you
take a seven league walk (say that five times fast)!
| That flesh may look bloody and full of Worms, and so be rejected |
By Smell-feasts. Boil Hares blood, and dry it, and powder it.
Cast the powder upon the meats that are boiled, which will
melt by the heat and moisture of the meat, that they will seem
all bloody, and he will loath and refuse them. Any man may
eat them without any rising of his stomach. If you cut Harp
strings small, and strew them on hot flesh, the heat will twist
them, and they will move like Worms.
~Porta, Giambattista della
* Apparently, this was how the Italians got rid of unwanted dinner
guests/freeloaders. The footnote states that modern harp strings are
not made of organic material, so you should not use them when
making this dish. I'll keep that in mind!
Cast the powder upon the meats that are boiled, which will
melt by the heat and moisture of the meat, that they will seem
all bloody, and he will loath and refuse them. Any man may
eat them without any rising of his stomach. If you cut Harp
strings small, and strew them on hot flesh, the heat will twist
them, and they will move like Worms.
~Porta, Giambattista della
* Apparently, this was how the Italians got rid of unwanted dinner
guests/freeloaders. The footnote states that modern harp strings are
not made of organic material, so you should not use them when
making this dish. I'll keep that in mind!
| Boiled Calves head with Oysters |
To boyle a Calves head with Oysters.
Take the head, and boyle it with Water and Salt, and a little
white Wine or Verjuyce, and when it is almost enough, then
cut some Oysters, and mingle them together, and a blade or
two of Mace, a little Pepper, and Salt, and a little liquour of
the Oysters, then put it together, and put it to the Calves
head, and the largest Oysters upon it, and a slit Lemon, and
Barberries, so serve it in.
~A True Gentlewomans Delight, 1653
* Berries and oysters? That's one way to gussy up your boar's head!
Take the head, and boyle it with Water and Salt, and a little
white Wine or Verjuyce, and when it is almost enough, then
cut some Oysters, and mingle them together, and a blade or
two of Mace, a little Pepper, and Salt, and a little liquour of
the Oysters, then put it together, and put it to the Calves
head, and the largest Oysters upon it, and a slit Lemon, and
Barberries, so serve it in.
~A True Gentlewomans Delight, 1653
* Berries and oysters? That's one way to gussy up your boar's head!
| To Make that Chicken Sing when it is dead and roasted |
To Make that Chicken Sing when it is dead and roasted,
whether on the spit or in the platter. Take the neck of your
chicken and bind it at one end and fill it with quicksilver and
ground sulphur, filling until it is roughly half full; then bind
the other end, not too tightly. When it is quite hot, and when
the mixture heats up, the air that is trying to escape will make
the chicken's sound. The same can be done with a gosling,
with a piglet and with any other birds. And if it doesn't cry
loudly enough, tie the two ends more tightly.
~Scully, Terence. The Vivendier
* I hope quicksilver wasn't mercury! That would make this dish not
only of questionable taste, but also leathal! And who puts sulphur on
the dinner table? "M'lady, have thee rotten egg hidden in thy bonnet,
or is something verily amiss with thy chicken?" You could probably
get rid of a few freeloaders by serving them singing chicken that
smells like rotten eggs. I would suggest telling the Italians, but that
bloody/maggoty meat is probably a winner for them.
whether on the spit or in the platter. Take the neck of your
chicken and bind it at one end and fill it with quicksilver and
ground sulphur, filling until it is roughly half full; then bind
the other end, not too tightly. When it is quite hot, and when
the mixture heats up, the air that is trying to escape will make
the chicken's sound. The same can be done with a gosling,
with a piglet and with any other birds. And if it doesn't cry
loudly enough, tie the two ends more tightly.
~Scully, Terence. The Vivendier
* I hope quicksilver wasn't mercury! That would make this dish not
only of questionable taste, but also leathal! And who puts sulphur on
the dinner table? "M'lady, have thee rotten egg hidden in thy bonnet,
or is something verily amiss with thy chicken?" You could probably
get rid of a few freeloaders by serving them singing chicken that
smells like rotten eggs. I would suggest telling the Italians, but that
bloody/maggoty meat is probably a winner for them.
These recipes, and also many delicious ones, are
found at this web site
http://www.godecookery.com/incrd/incrd.htm#017
found at this web site
http://www.godecookery.com/incrd/incrd.htm#017