Tart de ffruyte

PERIOD: England, 15th century | SOURCE: Harleian MS. 4016 | CLASS: Authentic

DESCRIPTION: A pie of dried fruits & pine nuts, topped with fresh salmon pieces

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

Tart de ffruyte. ¶ Take figges, and seth hem in wyne, and grinde hem smale, And take hem vppe into a vessell; And take pouder peper, Canell, Clowes, Maces, pouder ginger, pynes, grete reysouns of couraunce, saffroñ, and salte, and cast thereto; and þeñ make faire lowe coffyns, and couche þis stuff there-iñ, and plonte pynes aboue; and kut dates and fressh salmoñ in faire peces, or elles fressh eles, and parboyle hem a litull in wyne, and couche thereoñ; And couche the coffyns faire with þe same paaste, and endore the coffyñ withoute with saffron & almond mylke; and set hem in þe oveñ and lete bake.

- 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:

Tart of Fruit. Take figs, and boil them in wine, and grind them small, and put into a vessel; and take pepper, cinnamon, cloves, mace, ginger, pine nuts, raisins of Corinth, saffron, & salt, and add; and then make fine shallow pie shells, and put this stuff therein, and plant pine nuts on top; and cut dates and fresh salmon in nice pieces, or else fresh eels, and parboil it in a little wine, and place on top of the filling; and place on top of the pie shells a lid made of the same pastry, and endore the pie shells on the outside with saffron & almond milk; and set them in the oven and let bake.

MODERN RECIPE:

Unfortunately, this section of the recipe is still under construction. It is my belief, though, that any decent cook can prepare this dish by following the instructions, sans measurements, below.

• figs
• wine (white or red)
• pepper, cinnamon, cloves, mace, ginger
• pine nuts
• raisins
• saffron (or few drops yellow food coloring)
• salt (to taste)
• one 9" pie shell with lid
• fresh salmon (or fresh eels)
• dates
• Almond Milk

Poach the salmon until tender and flaky; arrange pieces of cooked salmon and sliced dates on top of the fig mixture & pine nuts (or mix salmon and dates together and place combined ingredients on top of filling). Add the pie lid and brush top with Almond Milk. Bake in a 350° F oven until pastry is golden brown, approx. ½ hour to 45 minutes.

Pine nuts are often very expensive; for the financially-minded cook, slivered almonds may be substituted.