Medieval Recipes: Chaudron (Entrails) of Ducks, Swans, and Pigs (1430)

Jan 15 2020

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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 “Chaudron [Entrails] for wild ducks, swans, and pigs“.

NOTE: Swans are now protected species in many countries. This recipe is for educational purposes only, we don’t recommend you actually give it a go.

Ingredients

Duck and Pig Entrails
Galingale
Ginger
Cinnamon
Bread Crumbs
Broth
Burned Bread or Blood
Vinegar

Preparation

Take, wash the entrails of swans anon,
And scour the guts with salt each one;
Seethe all together and hew it small,
The flesh and also the guts withal;
Take galingale and good ginger
And cinnamon, and grind them all together;
And grated bread you take thereto,
And mix it up with broth also;
Color it with burned bread or with blood,
Season it with vinegar, a little for good;
Boil all together in a little pot;
In service you shall set it forth.

Overview: Galingale, or Galangal Rhizome

Known as Sweet Galingale because of the aromatic smell of its rhizome, it grows to about 80 cm tall and has its spikelets arranged in an umbel. At the base of this umbel is a long, narrow bract. Galingale grows at the edges of lakes and bodies of still water up to 15cm deep, as well as in bog gardens and damp borders.