Thursday 31 July 2008

....And Where Have You Been????

What started as a delay due to major technical upheaval and software updates, turned into a delay due to family things, then work stuff, then a huge case of malaise to be capped off yesterday with the crappy news that our friend John has finally lost his battle with cancer.......I'm sure that we'll be toasting his memory this weekend and he will be sorely missed....a great bloke and a great craftsman to boot.....I'm sure I speak for the whole team when I say that our thoughts are with those he has left behind.

Thanks to those who have stayed with the blog over the recent lack of postings, it's much appreciated....and Helen, it was good to hear you had some joy with the chicken.....pictures of our efforts are now over at Flickr for you to peruse and we shall be doing it again this weekend, only this time we'll actually finish the dish!

¶Capons stewed.
¶Take percelly Isope sage Rosemary And tyme breke hit betwene thy hands and stoppe thy capons ther with and color them with saferon And put them yn A erthyn pot or els in brasse for erth is better. And lay splentys underneth and all a boute the sydes so that the capons tuche not the sydes nother the bottom and cast of the same herbys in to þe pot A mong the capons And put a quart or A pynte of the best wyne that thow cansye gette and no other licour And set A lydde ther A pon that wyll ly with yn the brym. And make batur of white of eggys & floure And put betwene the brym A paper lefe or els lyncloth that the batur may stop hit sowrely þat no eyre com owte loke þat hit be thyke of bature And set thy pot on A charecole fyre to the myd syde & se þat the lydde ryse not with the hette and let hit stew esely and long and whan þow supposyth hit is enowgh take hit fro the fyre yf hit be A pot of erth set hit upon a wyspe of ftraw that hit toche not the cold grownde And when the hete is well drawn and over past take of the lydde And take owte thy capons with a stycke And ley them in A noþer vessell and make A syrryp of Wyne And mynct datys and Cannell drawn with the same wyne do ther to rasyns of corance sugur safferon And salt boyle hit A litill And cast yn powder of gynger with a litell of the same wyne do the sew to the syrryppe a bove upon the capons And serue hem furth with A rybbe of beffe ever more a capon on a dysche
.

We stopped short and didn't make the sauce to pour over the bird, but to be honest we were more interested in how much the herbs had flavoured the chicken.
This weekends variation will be to cook the recipe twice....once ommitting the herbs inside the carcass just to see how much they add to the flavour.
If you're tempted to try it yourselves I can thouroughly recccomend it as it adds a very subtle herb flavour to the flesh....just like you'd expect from sage and onion stuffing but rarely get....It would be ideal for summer sandwiches or a salad.

I'm not sure how much the saffron affected the final results

colouring with saffron


but it certainly looked impressive....erzatz corn fed poutry! As did the pot when the head of steam built up enough to blow off some of the luting....

the luted pot



Shame I was round the corner when she popped, but Robin had repaired it all by the time I got back.
As for the rest of the pictures.....pop over to the Flickr site to have a look....the link is in the right hand column.

This weekend sees more of the same, so I should be able to fill in the gaps image wise from last time........I'll be posting the rest of the last weekends pictures next week, followed by anything we get from the next few days.

The biggest news from the Palace of late is that the Base Court re-surfacing project has now begun and by Easter 2009 the grass that we are all used to seeing in the first courtyard will have been replaced with a cobbled surface more like the original would have been in Henrys day......fingers crossed I'll be able to get some pictures of the progress for you to see.

More posting as the weekend unfolds.......scouts honour ;-)

TTFN

2 comments:

Helen said...

Finally a post!

Looking forward to the weekend.

You've included the OTHER recipe, Capons Stewed, rather than Capons Stwed.

Stewed uses dates, rather than reysons of corance, which I used per Stwed.

I shall just have to try the Stewed and compare the sauce vs Stwed. it will be interesting to see which I prefer (I'm leaning towards reysons of corance, BUT proof of pudding etc)

I do, of course, have one up on you guys, as you won't be able to compare sauces - unless, of course, you do BOTH the recipes......

I got myself a silicone veggie steamer this week, which means I won't wreck my cooling rack. I shall see how it works.

See you tomorrow.

Rgds/Helen

Doc said...

Thanks for the update - and of course the pictures.

The recipe you posted above (from MS. Pepys 1047 ?) is very similar to one from A Noble Boke off Cookry (1468 - see below). I'll have to spend some time comparing the two. I might have time in the next week to do some outdoor medieval cooking, and this sounds like a good recipe to try.

"To stew a capon tak parsly saige ysope rosmary and brek them between your handes and stop the capon ther with and colour it with saffron and couch it in an erthen pot and lay splentes under nethe and about the sides of the pot and straw erbes about the capon and put ther to a quart of wyn and non other licour then couer the pot close that no brothe passe out then set it on a charcole fyere and stew it softly and when it is enoughe set it on a wispe of strawe that it touche not the ground for brekinge then tak out the capon with a prik and luk yf it be enoughe or els stewe it better and mak a ceripe of good wyne mynced dates and canelle anld draw it with the same wyne put ther to raissins of corands sugur saffron and salt and guinger and wyn then lay the capon in a dysshe and put the fat of the sew to the ceripe and poure it on the capon and serue it."