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This is an excerpt from Du fait de cuisine
(France, 1420 - Elizabeth Cook, trans.)
The original source can be found at David Friedman's website

5. Again, for an entremet, heads of boars endored and armed and with banners and spitting fire, and for this it is necessary to give to understand to him and to those who have the charge of working on this matter; I would like to give him this understanding: when they have their boars' heads dressed, singed, and well washed and cleaned, let them open the mouths and put in each a stick to hold it open, and then put them in large fair and clean cauldrons to cook in water and wine and enough salt; and take the two front feet of the said boar and clean them well and properly and put them to cook with the said heads, and do not let them overcook. 6. And to begin the colorings a great many eggs are needed according to the quantity of heads which he has; and to give understanding to him who will make these things, there sholuld be a great quantity of best wheat flour, and a great deal of parsley which is well cleaned and prepared for braying; and the said eggs should be separated, and put the whites in one place, and the yolks in another, and let them be raw; and to make a green coloring take a great quantity of parsley, and let it be well cleaned, washed, and drained, and let it be well and strongly brayed and then mixed with the said egg whites and wheat flour together; and then when all of this is well mixed together, it should be cleanly and carefully strained into a large and fair bowl; and for the gold coloring mix the said wheat flour and the said egg yolks, and also eggs to thin the stuff; and powdered saffron in with, and this should be in measure so that it does not make it too reddish; and mix this well together and strain also as was said above of the other color into a fair and clean bowl. And then when the said boars' heads are cooked, and not so much that the meat comes off the bones, and the feet also, draw them from the said cauldrons and put them on fair boards to dry out; and, this done, take your heads and spit them carefully, and then take the two front feet of the boar and arm and endore each head in putting and attaching them well and adroitly to each side of the head at the base near the ears; and let be put and attached by good skewers and, this done, put them to roast until they are a little firm. And then take your green and yellow colorings, and put the green coloring on one part of each head and on the other part put the yellow coloring, and, this done, put them to dry well and carefully on each side so that they are thoroughly and properly dried; and take care that they are not given too much fire so that the colorings do not turn black. And then afterward remove and take them off the spit, and let them be put on good, white, and clean boards to dry out, and then afterward make sure that one has the painters to endore the heads with gold leaf.

And to give understanding to the master cook who has the charge concerning the said heads to make them give and cast out fire from the throat, take a double wicked candle and wrap it all around with cotton which should be soaked in fine ardent spirits and purified with a little camphor.

And so that things be done as honorably as can be done according to the honor of the lord and of the master workers, the master cook should ask for the heralds and ask them who is their lord who is at the said feast and what arms each one of them has, so that the said arms can be put on banners, to put on each head the banner of the lord before whom it will be set.

For the second course, all manner of roasts to serve honorably to the royal table as for kings, queens, dukes, duchesses, and such powerful, noble, and venerable lords as was said before.

And to serve more honorably there should be served large roasts put by themselves, that is: a whole kid, a whole piglet, a large loin of veal, a large loin of pork, and shoulders of mutton put on a great platter of gold.

And afterward, poultry put on a great platter of gold, that is: fat goslings, best capons, pheasants, partridges, conies, pigeons, and herons; and these are put one on another in such great abundance that the platter is well filled and heaped high. And one should pay attention to the sauce for the said roast: that is, for the goslings and the capon, jance; for the pheasants, partridges, piglets, and conies, cameline; and for the roast kid, green verjuice; for fat pork, sauce piquant; and for pigeons, crystallized salt.

Also, frumenty, venison, tarts, talmoses, cream flans, a cameline bruet, civet of hares, rosy bruet, a blancmange divided into four colors put in one serving dish; and for an entremet, a high castle wherein is in the middle the fountain of Love.

autodoc



Other versions of this recipe:

[The Swan Knight.] If you wish to make the Swan Knight in his right (Le Viandier de Taillevent)

To make a fence out of butter (Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin)

A Lofty Entrement (Du fait de cuisine)

A tower (Le Viandier de Taillevent)

Lighter subtleties (Le Viandier de Taillevent)

To make the image of saint George and his virgin (Le Viandier de Taillevent)

To make the image of saint Marthe (Le Viandier de Taillevent)