Medieval Cookery

Recipe by Daniel Myers

While the name is less than encouraging, this recipe is basically cooked root vegetables in a sweet vinegrette. If one or two of the different vegetables is unavailable then you can leave them out and add a little more of another instead.

parsley root
3 parsnips
3 carrots
10 radishes
2 turnips
1 small cabbage
1 pear
½ tsp. salt

1 cup vinegar
¼ tsp. pepper
1 pinch saffron, ground

1 cup greek wine (sweet Marsala)
½ cup honey
1 Tbsp. mustard
½ cup zante raisins (a.k.a. zante currants)
1 tsp. cinnamon (canelle)
1 tsp. powder douce
1 tsp. anise seed
1 tsp. fennel seed

Peel vegetables and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Parboil them until just tender, adding pears about halfway through cooking time. Remove from water, place on towel, sprinkle with salt, and allow to cool. Then put vegetables in large bowl and add pepper, saffron, and vinegar. Refridgerate for several hours. Then put wine and honey into a saucepan, bring to a boil, and then simmer for several minutes, removing any scum that forms on the surface. Let cool and add currants and remaining spices. Mix well and pour over vegetables. Serve cold.

Source [Curye on Inglish, Constance B. Hieatt & Sharon Butler (eds.)]: 103 Compost. Take rote of persel, of pasternak, of rafens, scrape hem and waische hem clene. Take rapes & caboches, ypared and icorue. Take an erthen panne with clene water & set it on the fire; cast alle þise þerinne. Whan þey buth boiled cast þereto peeres, & perboile hem wel. Take alle þise thynges vp & lat it kele on a faire cloth. Do þereto salt; whan it is colde, do hit in a vessel; take vyneger & powdour & safroun & do þerto, & lat alle þise thynges lye þerin al nyght, oþer al day. Take wyne greke & hony, clarified togider; take lumbarde mustard & raisouns coraunce, al hoole, & grynde powdour of canel, powdour douce & aneys hole, & fenell seed. Take alle þise thynges & cast togyder in a pot of erthe, & take þereof whan þou wilt & serue forthe.