Friday, October 30, 2015

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 42 Browet Seche


Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 68 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[42.] Browet Seche
Tak capouns or conyes & hew hem on gobets & waysch hem & do hem in a pot tak persoly & sauge & onyons & hew hem alle to gidre do it in a pot & red wyne & switch broth half of the ton & half of the tother & do it in the pot so that the fleysch be twey fynger brede above the pot & do ther to hol saffron & bylle it wel that non brethz go outh & set on the fyer & do ther to wyth gres & good poudere of galyngale clowes & qwybibes & let it sethen anow than do ther in sugre & dresse it.

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There are recipes with similar names in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books and MS Royal 12.C.xii. Neither of them is very close to the Crophill recipe, but they each have some common aspects.
Bruette saake. Take Capoun, skalde hem, draw hem, smyte hem to gobettys, Waysshe hem, do hem in a potte; thenne caste owt the potte, waysshe hem a-ȝen on the potte, and caste ther-to half wyne half Brothe; take Percely, Isope, Waysshe hem, and hew hem smal, and putte on the potte ther the Fleysshe is; caste ther-to Clowys, quybibes, Maces, Datys y-tallyd, hol Safroune; do it ouer the fyre; take Canelle, Gyngere, tempere thin powajes with wyne; caste in-to the potte Salt ther-to, hele it, and whan it is y-now, serue it forth.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]
Browet sek. Sweet broth, grape verjuice, ground parsley put therein, cloves, mace, cubebs; in times of chicks after Easter; and it will have the taste of good spices, saffron cooked therein with parsley in the broth; color, yellow.  [MS Royal 12.C.xii (England/France, 1340)]

Interestingly, there is a recipe in Liber with a different name that is similar to the one from Royal, but it is hard to tell if it is intended to be the same recipe.
Chekyns in browet. Take chekyns, scalde hom fayre and clene. Take persole, sauge, oþer herbȝ, grene Grapus, and stope þy chekyns with wynne. Take goode brothe, sethe hom þerinne, So þat þay sone boyled may be. Coloure þe brothe with safrone fre, And cast þeron powder dowce, For to be served in goode mennys howse.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]

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