Late Middle Ages, England · Late Middle Ages
Macrows
A Forme of Cury dish of thin dough boiled and layered with cheese and butter. The work of about 1390 is distinguished from the 1780 edition, and not equated with tubular macaroni.
Late Middle Ages (c. 1390 royal roll)
Medieval Blancmanger — 14th-Century English Royal Chicken & Almond Pottage
A modern hot chicken, rice, almond milk and sugar dish informed by Blank Maunger, recipe XXXVI in the Pegge edition of The Forme of Cury. Its formula differs from modern chilled blancmange.
MODERN RECREATION
Modern Adaptation Proposal
Ingredient quantities, cooking times, and tools are proposed for modern home cooking. They are not measurements from the historical source.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Bring 600 mL water to a simmer, add chicken and cook gently for an estimated 12–15 minutes. Use a food thermometer to confirm the thickest center stays at least 75°C (167°F) for at least 1 minute; continue heating if needed. Remove, cool just enough to handle and reserve 300 mL broth. Prevent cross-contamination from hands and utensils handling raw chicken.
- Once chicken has cooled slightly, shred into very fine threads by hand along the muscle grain (original 'teere it small').
- In the saucepan, combine 300 mL chicken broth, 200 mL unsweetened almond milk, and 60 g washed rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until rice grains soften and break down.
- Add chicken, 8 g butter, 5–10 g sugar and 1/3 tsp salt. Simmer gently about 3–5 minutes, stirring to prevent scorching. Melt the remaining 2 g butter in a small pan over low heat and lightly toast 6–8 almonds without burning. Beware hot pans and steam.
- Serve warm in a shallow bowl, garnished with the butter-toasted almonds and candied anise (or small sugar comfits). Do not leave at room temperature for long.
HISTORICAL RECORD
Historical Sources and Evidence
These sources provide historical context. They do not necessarily support the quantities or cooking times in the modern adaptation.
Registered as a reconstruction based on sources. Distinguish the source's account from inference and modern adjustments.
Statements supported by sources
Recipe 36 of The Forme of Cury directs boiling capons, grinding blanched almonds with the broth to make almond milk, boiling washed rice in it, adding finely shredded capon flesh, white grease, sugar, and salt, simmering until thick, dishing up, and garnishing with red or white aniseed comfits and fried almonds.
Inference and interpretation
- This is a cooked chicken, rice and almond dish, not the same formula as modern chilled blancmange. The passage alone does not establish the first blancmange, a specific status symbolism or a single line of later development.
- The type of white grece and amounts of rice/liquid are not established here. The pictured vessel, setting and plating are conjectural.
Modern adjustments
- Chicken breast, commercial unsweetened almond milk, butter, all quantities and times are untested modern choices. Use 2 g of the 10 g butter for the almonds and 8 g in the pottage (the text fries almonds in oil). Commercial small sugar comfits may replace candied anise. The multicolored sweets pictured do not faithfully reproduce the specified red or white garnish.
- At least 75°C for 1 minute is general heating guidance, not a measured result. Serve promptly; do not leave rice/meat pottage at room temperature. Cool leftovers promptly in shallow portions, refrigerate at 4°C or below and use soon. Reheat thoroughly throughout, checking at least 75°C at the center as a general guide. Reheating does not rescue improperly stored food; discard doubtful food without tasting.
- Contains tree nut (almond) and milk (butter) allergens.
- No cooking, tasting or temperature measurements have been carried out by this site (untested); quantities, times and results are untested modern proposals.
Sources and references
- The Forme of Cury, BLANK MAUNGER, XXXVI (Samuel Pegge 1780; Project Gutenberg #8102 transcription)Open source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8102/pg8102-images.html
Read Recipe 36 (Blank Maunger) in Middle English: capons, almond milk alloyed with broth, rice, sugar, white grease, anise in comfit, and fried almonds. Exact weights of rice and liquid are omitted in the original text. Read XXXVI in the electronic transcription of Pegge 1780, distinct from CXCII. Manuscript and printed-page images were not collated.
- 厚生労働省：家庭でできる食中毒予防の6つのポイントOpen source: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/www1/houdou/0903/h0331-1.html
General guidance: center at least 75°C for 1 minute, avoiding cross-contamination and prompt shallow-container cooling. This page gives a refrigerator guide of 10°C or below; the separate FDA source supports 4°C or below here. Not recipe measurements.
- FDA: Safe Food HandlingOpen source: https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/safe-food-handling
General guidance on refrigeration at 4°C or below, prompt refrigeration, small-portion cooling and reheating; not a guarantee of two-day safety.
- FoodSafety.gov: Bacteria and VirusesOpen source: https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-poisoning/bacteria-and-viruses
General information on B. cereus in rice/leftovers and C. perfringens in meat/poultry. Cooling and refrigeration matter; reheating does not undo unsafe storage.
Image credits and sources
© History Meshi / Antigravity (AI-generated recreation, STEP 195)
Source: AIによる現代再現イメージ。実際の調理写真や史料写真ではありません。 / AI-generated modern recreation, not a cooking-trial or historical-source photograph. / AI生成的现代再现示意图，并非实际烹饪或历史史料照片。 / AI生成的現代重現示意圖，並非實際烹調或歷史史料照片。 / Recreación moderna generada con IA; no es una fotografía de una prueba de cocina ni de una fuente histórica.
License: サイト掲載用画像。再利用の許諾条件は未設定。 / Site image; no reuse license specified. / 网站用图，未设定再利用许可。 / 網站用圖，未設定再利用授權。 / Imagen del sitio; no se especifica licencia de reutilización.
13th century (Al-Andalus & Maghreb) · 13世紀
13th-Century Andalusian Lentil and Lettuce Stew (Muzawwara)
A fragrant, gentle vegetarian stew called 'Muzawwara' from a 13th-century Andalusian cookbook. Tender split red lentils and fresh lettuce are simmered with extra virgin olive oil, ground coriander, saffron, cinnamon, and white wine vinegar. Modern untested home adaptation.
Ancient Mesopotamia · c. 1700 BCE
Babylonian Lamb Stew
Guided by m. puhādi (“Stew of Lamb”) on Old Babylonian tablet YBC 4644 (Recipe 12, obverse lines 31–32), this article presents a modern home proposal combining lamb, milk, grain cakes and alliums. It is distinct from the beet-based stew Tuh’u.