This recipe is extracted from the 1430 book Liber Cure Cocorum (or “The Art of Cookery”), written in a northern English dialect of the 15th century and probably originating from the County of Lancashire.
The recipe’s original name is “Blancmange“. Blancmange is a sweet dessert usually made with milk or cream (in this case with a bit of chicken too!) and thickened with gelatin or corn starch. It’s served cold and often flavoured with almonds.
Ingredients
- Rice
- Almond Milk
- Chicken
- Sugar
- Almonds
Preparation
Take rice and look you wash them clean,
And through a strainer you strain them;
Mix them with almond milk anon.
Take flesh of capons or hen [a] good quantity,
Tease it small, as I teach you;
Put the rice in the milk over the fire,
Let it boil of necessity
Thicken it with teased flesh indeed;
Season it with sugar, and garnish
With fried almonds the lord’s dish.
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