This is the documentation I turned in with my dish, as well as a quick note of the advise given by the judge, Maestra Fiamma the Unquenchable*.
xxxj – Herbelade Prepared for Banner War 2014 on September 20th
Documentation and translation by Lady Sabina di Zorzi
Interpretation and preparation by Lady Sabina di Zorzi and Arnora Jonsdottir of House Gremlin, Aquaterra, An Tir
Introduction This entry is a re-creation of a recipe from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430), entitled “xxxj – Herbelade” – a pie made of pork shoulder, herbs, and dried fruits and nuts. This recipe can be found online with a couple different translations, but they both differ slightly from mine.
When verifying my translation of the recipe, I found this book online, which shows one translation http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/To_Milk_an_Almond.pdf . I also found another translation of the Herbelade recipe here: http://www.3owls.org/sca/cook/cowshed.htm. Copies of each are included with this documentation.
I don’t like the second one because it blends the meat and I can’t see anything in the original that says that it needs to be pureed. The recipe in the first link is close to my translation, but it uses pork chops and I am using pork shoulder/butt instead per the original recipe.
The Source Recipe The original text of the recipe is as follows:
xxxj – Herbelade. Take Buttes of Porke, and smyte hem in pecys, and sette it ouer the fyre; and sethe hem in fayre Watere; and whan it is y-sothe y-now, ley it on a fayre bord, and pyke owt alle the bonys, and hew it smal, and put it in a fayre bolle; than take ysope, Sawge, Percely a gode quantite, and hew it smal, and putte it on a fayre vesselle; than take a lytel of the brothe, that the porke was sothin in, and draw thorw a straynoure, and caste to the Erbys, and 3if it a boyle; thenne take owt the Erbys with a Skymoure fro the brothe, and caste hem to the Porke in the bolle; than mynce Datys smal, and caste hem ther-to, and Roysonys of Coraunce, and Pyne3, and drawe thorw a straynoure 3olkys of Eyroun ther-to, and Sugre, and pouder Gyngere, and Salt, and coloure it a lytel with Safroune; and toyle yt with thin hond al thes to-gederys; than make fayre round cofyns, and harde hem a lytel in the ovyn; than take hem owt, and wyth a dyssche in thin hond, fylle hem fulle of the Stuffe; than sette hem ther-in a-3en; and lat hem bake y-now, and serue forth.
Translation Translated into modern English, this becomes:
xxxj – Herbelade. Take butts of pork, and chop them in pieces, and set it over the fire; and boil them in clean water; and when it is boiled enough, lay it on a fair table, and pick out all the bones, and chop it small, and put it in a fair bowl; then take hyssop, sage, parsley a good quantity, and chop it small, and put it on a fair vessel; then take a little of the broth that the pork was cooked in, and draw through a strainer, and add to the herbs, and give it a boil; then take out the herbs with a skimmer from the broth, and add them to the pork in the bowl; then mince dates small, and add them there-to, and raisins of currants, and pine nuts or whole peppercorns, and draw through a strainer egg yolks thereto, and sugar, and powder ginger , and salt, and color it a little with saffron; and rub/cover it with your hand all these together; then make fair round crusts, and harden them a little in the oven; then take them out, and with a dish in your hand, fill them full of the stuff; then set them there-in again; and let them bake enough, and serve forth.
Procedure
Boil pieces of pork roast until it is able to be picked clean of all bones then diced and put in a bowl.
Chop hyssop, sage, and parsley into small pieces and boil it in some strained pork broth. Skim out the herbs and add them to the pork.
Add minced dates, currants, pine nuts, strained egg yolks, sugar, powdered ginger, and salt. Add a little saffron for color. Mix all ingredients thus far together.
Make large round crusts and bake them in the oven until they harden a little. Stuff them with the mixture and put back in the oven until the mixture is cooked through. Serve immediately.
Materials The original recipe calls for the following ingredients:
Pork butt, water, hyssop, sage, parsley, dates, currant, pine nuts, egg yolk, sugar, ginger – powdered, salt, saffron, and a pie crust
Notes
I used dried hyssop, dates, and currants due to availability. I did not use saffron to color the dish due to the expense. I did not use egg yolks in order to prevent an additional food allergy* or sugar, ginger, or salt because the dish’s flavor was great where it was at before those additions.
*The judge said I should only use medieval excuses in the future for changes to the recipe. I am thinking that it would be allowable to say that eggs ‘did not agree with my lord’, at the very least.
Austin’s Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Here is a link to in black and white .pdf format: https://ia600308.us.archive.org/4/items/twofifteenthcent00austuoft/twofifteenthcent00austuoft_bw.pdf
Also available here: http://www.archive.org/stream/twofifteenthcen00librgoog/twofifteenthcen00librgoog_djvu.txt
Along with the glossary in the books themselves, I used the Glossary of Medieval Cooking Terms by James L. Matterer as found on: http://www.godecookery.com/glossary/glossary.htm
*This was initially published on a different blog and moved here 10/2/25
Sabina di Zorzi 