Herbalade

15th century cookbook
Ab. 1420 A.D.

Herbelade
—Take Buttes of Porke, & smyte hem in pecys, & sette it ouer þe fyre; & seþe hem in fayre Watere; & whan it is y-soþe y-now, ley it on a fayre bord, & pyke owt alle þe bonys, & hew it smal, & put it in a fayre bolle; þan take ysope, Sawge, Percely a gode quantite, & hew it smal, & putte it on a fayre vesselle; þan take a lytel of þe broþe, þat þe porke was soþin in, & draw þorw a straynoure, & caste to þe Erbys, & ȝif it a boyle; þenne take owt þe Erbys with a Skymoure fro þe broþe, & caste hem to þe Porke in þe bolle; þan mynce Datys smal, & caste hem þer-to, & Roysonys of Coraunce, & Pyneȝ, & drawe þorw a straynoure ȝolkys of Eyroun þer-to, & Sugre, & pouder Gyngere, & Salt, & coloure it a lytel with Safroune; & toyle yt with þin hond al þes to-gederys; þan make fayre round cofyns, & harde hem a lytel in þe ovyn; þan take hem owt, & wyth a [leaf 43.] dyssche in þin hond, fylle hem fulle of þe Stuffe; þan sette hem þer-in a-ȝen; & lat hem bake y-now, & serue forth.

Modern English

Herbelade
—Take buts of pork, and chop them in pieces, and set it over the fire; and boil them in fair water; and when it is boiled/cooked enough, lay it on a fair board and pick out all the bones, and hew(chop) it small and put it in a fair bowl; then take hyssop, sage, a good quantity of parsley, and chop it small and put it on(in) a fair vessel; then take a little of the broth that the pork was boiled in and draw (it) through a strainer and cast in the herbs, and if it a boiled (when they are boiled?); then take out the herbs with a peel/skimmer from the broth and cast them into the pork in the bowl; then finely mince some dates and cast them in, and currants and pine nuts, and draw eggs yolks through a strainer into the bowl, and sugar and powdered ginger and salt and colour it a little with saffron, and stir/mix this all together with your hand; then make fair round coffins and harden them a little in the oven; then take them out and with the dish in your hand, fill them full of the stuff; then set them therein again(set them back in the oven); and let them bake enough and serve forth.


Break down:
-Chop pork in pieces and boil in water
-When it is cooked, bring it to a chopping board and remove the bones and chop it finely and put aside in a good sized bowl
-Take some hyssop, sage and a good quantity of parsley and finely chop it (and put in a vessel/bowl)
-Take the pork broth and run it through a strainer (to make a clear broth) and then cast in the herbs
-it seems to suggest boiling the herbs in the broth and then skimming them out and adding them into the bowl with the pork
-Finely chop up some dates and cast these in with the pork along with some currants and pine nuts.
-Strain some egg yolk (this being the binder) into the mixture and add some sugar, powdered ginger and salt to the mixture as well.
-colour the mixture a little with saffron
-mix this all with your hand
(it does not specify using the broth in the mixture, however it would be useful should the mixture end up too dry)

Pastry:
-A standard paste would be made from flour, butter, egg yolk and water though either the butter, yolk or water may be omitted.
-Make as many raised pie shells as you feel will hold the filling (does not specify size) and bake them in a low oven just to harden and dry them out a bit (they should likely still be whiteish).
-Fill the shells with the mixture and bake them until they are done and serve forth
(though many pies could be served cold, this does not specify to do so, nor does it mention if the pastry is to be covered or not so it may be an open/cover-less pie)

Douce Ame

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forme of Cury (by Samuel Pegge)
original text from about A.D. 1390

Douce Ame
—Take gode Cowe mylke and do it in a pot. take parsel. sawge. ysope. saueray and ooþer gode herbes. hewe hem and do hem in the mylke and seeþ hem. take capouns half yrosted and smyte hem on pecys and do þerto pynes and hony clarified. salt it and colour it with safroun an serue it forth.

Modern English

Sweet Dish
—Take good cow’s milk and put it in a pot. Take parsley, sage, hyssop, savoury and other good herbs. Chop them and put them in with the milk and boil them. Take half roasted capons and chop them to pieces and add to this, pine nuts and clarified honey. Salt it and colour it with saffron and serve it forth.

Capon or goos roste

A Noble boke off cookry...
late 15th century

Capon or goos roste
To rost capon or gose tak and drawe his leuer and his guttes at the vent and his grece at the gorge and tak the leef of grece parsly ysope rosemarye and ij lengs of saige and put to the grece and hew it smale and hew yolks of eggs cromed raissins of corans good poudurs saffron and salt melled to gedure and sers the capon there withe and broche hym and let hym be stanche at the vent and at the gorge that the stuffer go not out and rost hym long with a soking fyre and kep the grece that fallithe to baist hym and kepe hym moist till ye serve hym and sauce hym with wyne and guingere as capons be.

Modern English

 Roast Capon or Goose
To roast capon or goose, take and draw his liver and his guts at the vent and his grease at the gorge and take the leaf (the leaves) of [unsure of meaning for "grece" here], parsley, hyssop, rosemary and two lengths of sage and add this to the grease and chop it small and chop egg yolks crumbed (or crumbs), currants, good powders (spices), saffron and salt mixed/married together and (stuff?) the capon therewith and spit him and close him up at each end so that the stuffing does not fall out, and roast him long with a soaking fire and keep the grease that falls (from the roasting bird) to baste him and keep him moist till you serve him and sauce him with wine and ginger as capons are.