A Potage of Roysons

PERIOD: England, 15th century | SOURCE: Harleian MS. 279 | CLASS: Authentic

DESCRIPTION: An apple-raisin pudding

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

.Cxxxvj. A potage of Roysons. Take Raysonys, & do a-way þe kyrnellys; & take a part of Applys, & do a-way þe corys, & þe pare, & bray hem in a mortere, & temper hem with Almande Mylke, & melle hem with flowre of Rys, þat it be clene chargeaunt, & straw vppe-on pouder of Galygale & of Gyngere, & serue it forth.

- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888. 

GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:

A Pudding of Raisins. Take raisins, & take out the kernels, & take some apples, & take out the core, & pare the skin, & smash them in a mortar, & mix with almond milk, & mix with rice flour, so that it's very thick, & strew on galingale & ginger, & serve.

MODERN RECIPE:

• 1 cup raisins
• 1 ½ cup Almond Milk
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 1 tsp. mixture of galingale & ginger
• 4 tbs. rice flour (or unbleached white)
• 4-6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

Although the original recipe indicates no sort of cooking (we are advised to merely mash apples & raisins and mix with milk & flour), I believe to "tempere hem" best would be by cooking with the almond milk. I have made the recipe without cooking the ingredients and found the end result entirely disagreeable: the uncooked flour and milk turned into clumps and the raw apples quickly turned brown and spoiled. The final product in the cooked version is a sort of apple pudding which can be served either hot or cold.

Almond Milk can be made according to the instructions here in the Gode Boke, or you can substitute with the modern Swedish method of making almond milk by flavoring whole milk with almond extract.

Can't find galingale? Use ginger as a substitute.