Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Boke of Kervynge, part 9 (into modern English)

intro/notes for this section:
Fish names are not my strength so this small section took considerable time and this section is littered with notes on word translation rather than footnotes, mostly for my own quick reference.

several different transcriptions and scans, where available to me, of the book were used, other relevant info may be found here.

____________________


And here Begins the sewing [serving] of fish

The first course.
To go to sewing [serving] of fish, “musculade” [I could not find a clear definition, this is likely related to a dish with muscles], minnows in sewe [broth] of porpoise or of salmon, bacon herring with sugar, green fish, pike, lamprey, salens [possibly solen (genus), being a razor clam, as suggested as a possibility in various 19th century reprints of the book], porpoise roasted, bake[d] gurnard and bake[d] lamprey.

The second course.
White and red jelly, dates in comfit, conger [eel], salmon, dory, “brytte” [from old genus bryttus, various types of sunfish], turbot, halibut/ for standard bass, trout, mullet, chevene [European Chub], sole, eels and lampreys roast[ed], tench in jelly.

The third course.
Fresh sturgeon, bream, perch in jelly, a “Ioll” [possibly “joll” as in jowl or cheek or head] of salmon, sturgeon and whelks [sea snail], roasted apples and pears with sugar candy. Figs of “malyke” [possibly Málaga, a costal city in Spain, “great shyppe of Malyke” from “The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux” reprinted in English by John Bourchier and Lord Berners about 1534, printed by Wynkyn de Worde”] and raisins, dates capped in minced ginger/ wafers and Hippocras [if] they are agreeable/ [when] this feast is done, clear the table.

Here ends sewing [serving] of fish,

And here follows the carving of fish.

The carver of fish must see to “pessene” [pessen being peas] and frumenty the tail and the liver [that] you must see is there be a salt porpoise or seal “turrentyne” [according to Russel’s “Book of Nurture”, 1475, “torrentille” is a separate fish from the seal and the MED lists it as a type of fish, possibly being a tuna] and do after the fashion [made the same as] of venison./
lay baked herring whole upon your sovereigns trencher/
[for] white herring in a dish, open it by the back [and] pick out the bones and the roe and see [that] there is mustard.
Of salt fish, green fish, salt salmon and conger [eel], pare away the skin/ salt fish, stockfish, “marlynge” [merling “Merlangius merlangus” or whiting], mackerel and hake with butter, take away the bones and the skins.
[For] A pike, lay the womb [stomach] upon his trencher with enough pike sauce.
[for] A salt lamprey, “gobone” [fragment] it flat in 7 or 8 pieces and lay it [on a plate/platter] to your sovereign.  
[for] A place, put out the water, then cross him with your knife, cast on salt and wine or ale.
Gunnard, “rochet” [Rouget or Red mullet], bream, “chevene” [listed as a chub in the MED, this is possible as “cheven” and chub appear to be listed as one fish in the “Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle”, 1450 in the line “For the cheven chobe the tenche the ele"], bass, mullet, roach, perch, sole, mackerel and whiting, haddock and cod [or "codling" as a young cod], raise them by the back and pick out the bones and cleans the “refet” [entrails of the fish] in the belly
Carp, bream, sole and trout, back and belly together.
Salmon, conger, sturgeon, turbot, “thorpole” [a "thirlepoole is mentioned in Harrison's "The Description of England", 1577, "all the great fish contained, as a seal, the dolphin, the porpoise, the thirlepoole, whale"], thornback [a skate/ray], houndfish and halibut, cut them in the dish [the same way] as the porpoise/
Tench in his sauce, cut it
Eels and lampreys roasted, pull of the skin, pick out the bones [and] add vinegar and powder [spices].
[For] a crab, break him into parts into a dish [and] make the shell clean and put in the meat back into the shell, tempering it with vinegar and powder [spices] then cover it with bread and send it to the kitchen to heat [up], then set it to you sovereign and break the great claws and lay them in a dish.
For a crayfish, dress him, thus separate him in half and slit the belly and take out the fish par[ing] away the red skin [removing the shell] and mince it fine, put vinegar in the dish and set it on the table without heat. [serve cold].
A head of sturgeon, cut it in thin morsels and lay it round about the dish.
Fresh lamprey, bake [and] open the pastry/ then take white bread and cut it thin and lay it in a dish, with a spoon, take out galentine [a galangal or ginger sauce] and lay it upon the bread with red wine and powdered cinnamon, then cut a piece of [the] lamprey and mince it finely and lay it in the galantine, then set it upon the fire to hear.

Fresh herring with salt and wine
Shrimp well picked
Flounder, gudgeons, minnows and muscles, eels and lampreys, sprats are good in broth/ “musculade” [most likely a dish with muscles] in worts [with vegetables/pot-herbs]/ oysters in civy [an onion sauce], oysters in gravy, minnows and porpoise, salmon and seal, white and red jelly, almond cream, dates in comfit, pears and quinces in syrup with parsley roots,”mortrus” [dish/sauce of pounded meat] of houndfish, “ryse standynge” [ryse could be “rice” or it could be “rise” where standing would likely mean “thickened” in this instance]

Here ends the carving of fish.

And here begins sauces for all manner of fish

Mustard is good for salt herring, salt fish, salt conger, salmon, “sparlyng” [possibly sprats or smelt], salt eel and ling.
vinegar is good with salt porpoise, “turrentyne” [possibly tuna], salt sturgeon, salt “threpole” [“thorpole”, "thirlepoole” mentioned earlier, unknown great fish], salt whale/
lamprey with galantine/
Verjuice to roach, dace, bream, mullet, bass, flounder, sole, crab and chub with powdered cinnamon/
to thornback, herring, houndfish, haddock, whiting and cod, vinegar, powdered cinnamon and ginger
Green sauce is good with green fish and halibut, cuttlefish and fresh turbot.
Put not your green sauce away for it is good with mustard.

Here ends for all manner of sauces for fish according to their appetite.

No comments:

Post a Comment