Getting Medieval

Pompys. Take Beef, Porke, or Vele, on of hem, & raw, alle to-choppe it atte the dressoure, than grynd hem in a morter as smal as thou may, than caste ther-to Raw olkys of Eyroun, wyn, an a lytil whyte sugre: caste also ther-to pouder Pepyr, & Macys, Clowes, Quybibys, pouder Canelle, Synamoun, & Salt, & a lytil Safroun; then take & make smale Pelettys round y-now, & loke that thou haue a fayre potte of Freysshe brothe of bef or of Capoun, & euer throw hem ther-on & lete hem sethe tyl that they ben y-now; then take & draw vppe a thryfty Mylke of Almaundys, with cold freysshe brothe of Bef, Vele, Moton, other Capoun, & a-lye it with floure of Rys & with Spycerye; & atte the dressoure ley thes pelettys .v. or .vj. in a dysshe, & then pore thin sewe aneward, & serue in, or ellys make a gode thryfty Syryppe & ley thin pelettys atte the dressoure ther-on, & that is gode seruyse.

Well, my cubebs arrived last week and I finally made them last night. Cubebs are basically just a peppercorn from Jawa. Here they are:



I ground the cubebs and the cloves with a mortar and pestle I'd inherited from my dad and it was the first time I'd used them. The seasonings were clove, mace, cinnamon, salt, cubeb, pepper, sugar, and saffron. I now present a short pictorial of the process.













You roll up the pumpes and then cook them in broth and wine. The gravy is made of almond milk, rice flour, mace, sugar, and cinnamon. To make almond milk, roast a bunch of almonds and soak overnight in water with a 4:1 ratio of water to almonds. Then throw in a blender until it's all chopped and mixed. Then strain through cheesecloth. Bring the gravy to a boil and then simmer until thickened. Once it's done pour over the pumpes in a dish or bowl. As the lecturer at GenCon said, medieval folks put sugar in everything so the dish is sweet but not overly so. The pumpes were really tasty! The saffron and the mace blended really well with the beef and were the prominent flavors along with the meat. And, when you got a currant, it too complemented the flavor of the beef well. The gravy is where most of the sweetness comes from. The almond flavor was in the background while the mace, cinnamon, and sugar stood out. I thought they were really tasty and The Dulcinea agreed. The pumpes just had a wonderful flavor that is not particularly common here in middle America. Plus you don't see fruits in everyday American cooking but it was apparently quite common several hundred years ago.

I still plan on making quince marmalade but need to find another recipe for a real meal. What shall I try next?