The Great Custard Tart Caper

Custard tarts! Gosh, there are a lot of them in medieval cookbooks. The humble cream or custard tart – a basic open pastry shell filled with some mixture of cream or milk and eggs with sugar – seems to have been a staple of the medieval feast, across a wide range of times and places. The Goodman of Paris (French, 14th century) takes their ubiquity so much for granted that he specifies "milk tarts" and "cream flans" on his menus without ever actually giving a recipe (Menus XIII, XIV, XV, XVII, Hinson 5). This is not, however, a problem, since a positive embarrassment of recipes exists, ranging from the 14th century to Elizabethan times, and covering England, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. A basic custard, although without the pie crust, is found as far back in the classical Roman cookbook of Apicius (4th-5th century A.D.). While having examples from a good spread of times and cuisines, I am also sure there are recipes I have not found, so this remains something of an ongoing project as I stumble across new ones. As a research goal, I have set out to find as many recipes as I possibly can from across the breadth of Western European medieval cuisine, and to compare them in order to trace development across time, geographical variations and tastes. As part of this process, I have made test samples of several versions and tried them out on my long-suffering Shire, demanding detailed feedback; I have incorporated some of these comments into the comparison. In order to reduce this project to manageable proportions, I have also made some more or less arbitrary decisions in selecting these recipes. Since cream or milk were forbidden on fast days, there are many variants with almond milk rather than cream; I have included these in my random "custard tart" definition, but have rejected almond tarts which do not include egg. I’ve been particularly interested in tarts, rather than the various baked and boiled custards which tragically lack the pastry case, but have included some baked custards for comparison (see Appendix 2). I have excluded the various tarts which use rice for a thickener (Sabina Welserin seems particularly fond of these), since they seem to me to drift off into "rice tart" territory. Likewise, I turn up my nose at the dangerous cheesecake arena, excluding any recipes which include soft cheese of any sort. I have also largely ignored the various variants which include fresh or dried fruit as part of the custardy thing, including tardpolene and the English 15th-century pear custard. Let us be purist, or nothing. Even with these exclusions, the breadth of possibility is bewildering. 1. The Recipes (by date and country of origin)

Tyropatinam	4th-5th century	Italy	Apicius, Book 7, XI-7
Daryols	1390	England	Form of Curye, IV. 191
Diriola	14th century	Italy	Maestro Martino, Libre de arte coquinaria
Cream tarts and milk tarts (mentioned in menus)	1395	France	Le Menagier de Paris
Parti-coloured white dish	14th century	France	Le Viandier de Taillevent, 82
Let molt bona al fforn (similar to flans)	14th century	Spain (Catalonia)	Libre de sent sovi, 156
Daryalys	Early 15th century	England	Ancient Cookery
Doucetes	1420	England	Harlein MS. 279, XV.
Flathons	1420	England	Harleian 279
Cream Flans (mentioned in menus)	1420	France (Savoy)	Chiquart, On Cookery
Flathonys	1450	England	Harleian 4016
Diriola	1475	Italy (Venice)	Platina, De Honesta Voluptate, VIII.58,
To make vlayen *	1490-1525	Holland	Untitled collection of recipes from Ghent
Manjar lento o suave (Slow or smooth dish) *	1529	Spanish,(tr. from the Catalan)	Ruperto de Nola, Libro de Cozina, 14.
To make an English tart An egg tart If you would make an egg tart To make a cream tart To make an egg tart An egg tart How to make milk tarts	1553	Germany	Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin, 36, 78, 104, 122, 128, 135, 187
How to make a milk-crustless-flan. *	1593	Holland	Cocboeck, 45
To make a custard *	1596	England	The Good Huswifes Jewell
To Make a Custarde *	1604	England	Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book
A yellow Tart A white Tart	1683 (first edition 1615)	England	Gervase Markham, The English Housewife
To make an almond custard	1660	England	Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook

Transcriptions of custard tart recipes are found in Appendix I; recipes marked with a * are for custards without a crust, and are found in Appendix II. Looking at this recipe distribution, arranged here by date, what becomes immediately obvious is that there is a fair spread of recipes in almost every century, across most cuisines. The custard tart, and its close cousin the crustless custard, are pretty much ubiquitous, a staple of the medieval feast. Most tellingly, both Chiquart and the Menagier de Paris include milk and cream tarts on their menus, without actually giving recipes for them. Like salt in food, it is obvious that the custard tart was a given of French medieval cooking. The English, on the other hand – both the Harleian manuscripts and the Form of Curye – are not content to assume that any cook knows how to cook a custard tart, and give numerous, rather similar recipes for variations on the basic tart. The implication is the same, however: the custard tart is an important and recurring feature in the medieval menu. Looking at the spread of dates, the custard tart seems to have developed reasonably simultaneously in England, France, Italy and Spain, cuisines which tend to borrow from each other at the best of times. This is seen particularly strongly in the carry-over of names across time and space: Daryols, Diriola Daryalys, Diriola across France, England, Italy and two centuries. The only deviation trend is the presence of Germany only later in these recipes: I found no custard tart recipes in either Marx Rumpolt (1), a contemporary of Welserin’s, or in the earlier Buch von Guter Spise. Evidently the Germans picked up this weird, decadent, French or English habit only later, and partially. Generally, however, where there appear to be gaps in the even spread, it seems likely that the absence is of actual extant recipe collections (or my access to such), rather than an absence of custard recipes; my personal collection is weighted heavily towards English texts, and I lack, for example, similar spreads of Spanish or Dutch cookbooks for purposes of comparison. Thus, while I have not found a 14th-century Dutch custard tart recipe, this is quite possibly because I have no access to a 14th-century Dutch cookbook, not because the classic 14th-century Dutch custard tart does not exist. 2. Cream or almonds? Lenten custards

		CREAM/MILK	ALMOND MILK
Tyropatinam * (Apicius)	4th-5th century Italy	X
Daryols (Form of Curye)	1390 England	X	or X
Diriola (Martino)	14th century Italy	X
Cream tarts (Menagier)	1395 France	X
Let molt bona al fforn (Libre de Sent Sovi)	14th century Spain	X
Daryalys (Ancient Cookery)	Early 15th century England	X	X
Doucetes (Harlein 279)	1420 England	X
Flathons (Harleian 279)	1420 England	X
Cream Flans (Chiquart)	1420 France	X
Flathonys (Harleian 4016)	1450 England	X
Diriola (Platina)	1475 Italy	X
To make vlayen * (Ghent collection)	1490-1525 Holland	X
Manjar lento o suave (de Nola) *	1529 Spain	X
Egg/cream tarts (Welserin), 7 recipes	1553 Germany	X (6)	X (2)
How to make a milk-crustless-flan. (Cocboek) *	1593 Holland	X
To make a custard (Good Huswife)*	1596 England	X
To Make a Custarde (Fettiplace) *	1604 England	X
A yellow Tart (Markham) A white Tart (Markham)	1683 (first edition 1615) England	X
To make an almond custard (Robert May)	1660 England	X	X

Analysis of the collected recipes in terms of their use of milk products and/or almonds in the filling, is particularly interesting. Throughout most of the medieval era, fast days required abstention from flesh (meat or fowl) and from meat products which were considered humourally warming, including fat, milk, butter and cheese (Scully 61). The cream tart is intrinsically a lighter, dessert-style thing, with considerable richness and sweetness, so that a cream tart without cream seems a little beside the point; the recipes are thus heavily weighted towards the cream versions rather than the almond. However, given that the egg tart is also a staple of some partial fast days (Tart for Ember Day comes to mind), non-milk or cream versions of the staple custard tart do exist. Not shown here are the several tart versions which use almond milk only, without including eggs (the Viandier de Taillivent, French 14th century, and Chiquart, French 15th century, are two examples); these move the custard-style tart out of the realm of partial fasting (Ember Days permitted eggs) and into the full Lenten denial of all animal products. They are thus outside my parameters of study here, but I have included the recipes in Appendix 3, for comparison. By the Elizabethan era, the need for almond milk substitutes seems to have died out, a result of the relaxing of fast-day rules by the Anglican Church. Lenten menus in the sixteenth century joyously include butter and eggs (Lorwin, 71), in contrast to the harsher demands of earlier centuries. Other fast days were secular rather than religious; fish-days were designed to assist the fishing industry (Lorwin, 267), and thus precluded meat but not eggs or milk products. Two of Sabrina Welserin’s cream tart recipes allow the optional addition of almonds rather than the substitution of almonds for milk, underlining the falling away of the need for such substitutions. The logical conclusion of this trend is Robert May’s almond tart which requires both cream and almond milk, retaining a remnant of the religious observance shorn of its original purpose, and here used instead for additional flavour. Interestingly, the almond milk versions which I cooked for my sample audience (Welserin’s egg tart, no. 78, and Robert May’s almond custard) were not liked nearly as much as the pure cream ones. Tasters did not like the texture, and found the tarts significantly drier than the all-cream versions. This does seem to fit into the concept of fast days as self-denial! 3. Cooking methods The basic make-up of the custard tart – milk/cream/almond milk, eggs, sweetener and flavouring – actually admits of considerable variation. One variation is in the treatment of the filling, which may be simply mixed and poured into the pre-hardened pie shell before baking, or which may be thickened over a flame before being added to the pie shell and cooked in the oven. In addition, some versions underline the non-Lenten nature of the tart by adding butter, or by using cream instead of milk/cream. Other variations are obtained by use of only the egg yolks or only the whites, as opposed to the whole egg. A brief break-down follows:

	Pre-cooked filling	Yolks only	Whites only	Butter	Cream	Milk
Tyropatinam * (Apicius)						X
Daryols (Form of Curye)					X
Diriola (Martino)		X				X
Cream tarts (Menagier)	?	?	?	?	X
Milk tarts (Menagier)	?	?	?	?		X
Let molt bona al fforn (Libre de Sent Sovi)				X		X
Daryalys (Ancient Cookery)					X
Doucetes (Harlein 279)		X			X
Flathons (Harleian 279)		X			X
Flathonys (Harleian 4016)		X				X
Diriola (Platina)		X		X		X
Cream Flans (Chiquart)	?	?	?	?	X
To make vlayen * (Ghent collection)				X		X
Manjar lento o suave (de Nola) *		X				X
Egg/cream tarts (Welserin), 7 recipes	X (6)			X (5)	X (2)	X (5)
How to make a milk-crustless-flan (Cocboek) *				X		X
To make a custard (Good Huswife)*				X	X
To Make a Custarde (Fettiplace) *		X			X
A yellow Tart (Markham)	X	X			X
A white Tart (Markham)	X		X		X
To make an almond custard (Robert May)					X

The immediate factor that leaps to the eye in the above distribution is that the Elizabethans were pretty darned fond of cream… While milk or cream versions seem equally common earlier in period, by the late 16th century it is obvious that cream is the preferred ingredient, a tendency which can be seen across the corpus of Elizabethan recipes. The issue of yolks only versus whole eggs seems to be less of a marked trend; the 15th-century English recipes seem generally to prefer yolks, which give a richer effect than the whole egg, but whole-egg versions are scattered throughout the spread of recipes. A significant correlation is the use of butter; only Platina uses yolks and butter, for double richness. Otherwise, the use of butter seems to go hand-in-hand with use of the full egg, as an alternative means of enriching the filling. By the Elizabethan recipes, however, we find the use of yolk or white only as an issue of colour, in Markham’s yellow and white tarts; this display function is seen very strongly in the subtlety suggestions which he ends the recipe. My taste-testers found that the white-only version gave a subtler flavour, which is interesting: personally I find it rather bland. However, the sought-after whiteness of the tart is akin to other Mediterranean recipes, most notably Martino’s Torta Bianca cheesecake (Redon 94). Pre-cooking of the filling, stirred in a pot over the fire, seems to be a later-period development, turning up only from Welserin onwards. She also includes flour as a thickener in some recipes, suggesting that density of filling was desirable. Earlier custards seem to be uniformly simpler, with the ingredients mixed and poured into the pre-hardened shell (2). Both versions survive to the modern day; a baked custard is not pre-thickened, but the classic Dutch melktert is. My taste-testing of various versions showed a strong preference for the non-pre-thickened version, which has a denser, moister texture. 4. Spices and flavourings

	Sugar	Honey	Saffron	Cinnamon	Rose water	Other
Tyropatinam * (Apicius)		X
Daryols (Form of Curye)	X		X
Diriola (Martino)	X			X	X
Let molt bona al fforn (Libre de Sent Sovi)	X		X	X		nutmeg
Daryalys (Ancient Cookery)	X			X "good powders"
Doucetes (Harlein 279)	X	or X	X
Flathons (Harleian 279)	X
Flathonys (Harleian 4016)	X					ale
Diriola (Platina)	X			X
To make vlayen * (Ghent collection)	X
Manjar lento o suave (de Nola) *	X		X	X
Egg/cream tarts (Welserin), 7 recipes	X (7)			X (1)	X (4)	1 sweet wine
How to make a milk-crustless-flan (Cocboek) *	X
To make a custard (Good Huswife)*	X		X	X		Ginger, cloves, mace
To Make a Custarde (Fettiplace) *	X					Nutmeg, ginger
A yellow Tart (Markham)	X			X	X
A white Tart (Markham)	X			X	X
An almond custard (Robert May)	X				X

Apparently, almost all good custards are flavoured with cinnamon and sugar… The regularity of cinnamon’s appearance in these recipes suggests not only a logical flavour combination (the Dutch melktart today is still heavily cinnamon-flavoured), but the extent to which these recipes borrow from and copy each other across time and space. In fact, apart from Libre de Sent Sovi’s nutmeg and the spice-mix suggested by "good powders" (probably poudre douce, heavily reliant on cinnamon and sugar), cinnamon is the only spice associated with custard tarts until the Elizabethans start becoming more venturesome with nutmeg, ginger, cloves and their oft-recurring mace. Saffron, a characteristic spice of early English cuisine, also survives surprisingly well into the Elizabethan corpus. Honey, on the other hand, is replaced very early on by sugar, which never goes away. While Apicius specifies honey, only the fifteenth-century Doucetes recipe actually suggests it as an alternative to sugar. This is surprising to me, since taste-testing produced universal approval for Apicius’s delicately-flavoured honey custard. I suspect that, once again, we are running into the use of sugar as a status symbol as much as a flavourant. Honey, just so passée. Rosewater is an interesting addition – while it turns up early on in Martino’s recipe, Platina, despite being the shameless plagiarist that he was, fails to adopt it, and it is not seen again until Sabina Welserin and those flavour-fiends, the Elizabethans. Finally, the presence of ale and wine in two of the recipes is interesting; the ale would seem, like the wine, to be a flavourant, not a raising agent, since the recipe does not in any way suggest that the filling should rise. I have not taste-tested these additions, and they are fairly marginal anomalies. 5. Conclusions The basic nature of the custard tart, a simple, fundamental recipe, makes it particularly interesting as a playground for particular trends, including spicing, fast-day rules, methods and ingredients. Investigating these recipes ends up giving the researcher a very good sense of medieval European cooking as, essentially, one cuisine – having its regional variations, certainly, and showing some development across time, but at the same time having dishes, ingredients and assumptions very much in common. I am struck, looking back over these comparisons, by how little the variations conform to geographical identity. Rosewater, for example, seems to be an Italian trend, until you notice how often it turns up in the German recipes. The tendency for Elizabethan and other late-period recipes to show recurring differences from earlier recipes, is as much a function of the drift away from true medieval into early modern cooking, as any regional or cultural difference. The cuisines of different countries borrowed so heavily from each other that one cannot make facile assumptions about trends or ingredients. On the other hand, development and influence across these recipes is a complex and fascinating process. NOTES (1) Although admittedly the translation to which I have access is partial, and there might be any number of custard tarts lurking in all that German. (2)Interestingly, Welserin gives a recipe for "English Tart", but it is very much the pre-cooked, butter-enriched, flour-thickened flan of her own German cuisine rather than the simpler thing we’d expect from a 15th-century English custard pie. Bibliography Ancient Cookery, Arundel Collection 344, 15th century. In A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks, Volume I, 7th edition. Valoise Armstrong (tr) Der Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin (1553). http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html Alia Atlas (tr) Das Buch von Guter Spise (14th century). http://cs-people.bu.edu/akatlas/Buch/buch.html Carel Baten Eenen seer schoonen ende excellenten Cocboeck ('An exquisite and excellent cookbook') 1593. http://www.kookhistorie.com/index.htm, and e-mail from James Prescott, 2003. Robin Carroll-Mann (tr) 2001 Ruperto de Nola, Libre del Coch (1529) http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MANUSCRIPTS/Guisados1-art.html John Edwards (1984) The Roman Cookery of Apicius, translated and adapted for the modern kitchen. London: Rider. Elinor Fettiplace, Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book, 1604 M. Grasse (tr) Ein New Kochbuch (1581), by Marx Rumpolt, http://clem.mscd.edu/~grasse/GK_Rumpolt1.htm Constance B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler, eds (1985). Curye on Inglysch: English culinary manuscripts of the fourteenth century (including the Form of Cury). London: Oxford UP. Janet Hinson (tr). (1988) Le Menagier de Paris/Goodman of Paris, 1395. In A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks, Volume II, 7th edition. Libre de sent sovi, 14th century, e-mail transcription and redaction from Mistress Aelfwynn Gyrthesdohtor (Cynara), 2004. Madge Lorwin (1976) Dining with William Shakespeare. New York: Atheneum. Gervase Markham (1683) The English Housewife. Transcribed by Kirrily Robert, http://infotrope.net.sca/texts/english-housewife Mary Ella Milham (1998) Platina: On Right Pleasure and Good Health. Tempe: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies. James Prescott (tr) Le Viandier de Taillevent (14th Century), http://www.telusplanet.net/public/prescotj/data/viandier/viandier1.html Odile Redon, Francoise Saban and Silvano Serventi The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy. Chicago: Chicago UP. Cindy Renfrow (1993) Take a Thousand Eggs or More, Vol. 1 & 2. Published privately. Terence Scully (1986) tr. Chiquart’s ‘On Cookery’: A Fifteenth-Century Savoyard Culinary Treatise. New York: Peter Lang. -- (1995) The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell. Gerard van Heusden and Esther Benkenhorst (1998) "On Dutch Cookery", Tournaments Illuminated 125, Winter 1998. Appendix 1: Custard Tart Recipes English, 14th century (Form of Curye) IV. 191. Daryols. Take creme of cowe mylke, oþer of amaundes; do þerto ayren with sugur, safroun and salt. Medle it yfere. Do it in a coffyn of ii ynche depe; bake it wel and serue it forth. Italian, 14th century (Maestro Martino, Libre de arte coquinaria) (in Redon) Diriola. Form the dough into the shape of a deep pie and fill it completely with flour so it will keep its shape; cook it in a pan until somewhat dry. And when this is done, remove the flour and take some egg yolks, milk, sugar and cinnamon. When these things are made into a mixture, put it into the pastry, cooking it like a tart, moving it from time to time and stirring with a spoon. And when you can see it starting to set, pour on some rose water and stir well with a spoon. And when it has set completely it is cooked. Note that it should not cook too much, and that it should quiver like a junket. English, early 15th century, (Ancient Cookery) Daryalys Take creme of almondes, or of cow mylke, and egges, and bete hem well tegedur and make smal coffyns, and do hit therin; and do therto sugur and gode pouders, or take gode fat chese and egges, and make hom of divers colours, grene, red or zelowe, and bake hom and serve hom forthe. English, 15th century (Harlein MS. 279, around 1420) (in Austin) XV. Doucetes. Take Creme a gode cupfulle, & put it on a straynoure; þanne take yolkys of Eyroun & put þer-to; & a lytel mylke; þen strayne it þorw a straynourse in-to a bolle; þen take Sugre y-now, & put þer-to, or elyys honey forde faute of Sugre, þan coloure it with Safroun; þan take þin cofyns, & put in þe ovynne lere, & lat hem ben hardyd; þan take a dysshe y-fastenyd on þe pelys ende; & pore thyn comade into þe dysshe, & fro þe dyssche in-to þe cofyns; & when þey don aryse wel, take hem out, & serue hem forth. XVIIJ. Flathons. Take milke an yolks of Eyrouns, & draw it þorw a straynoure with whyte sugre, oþer blake Sugre, & mylt fayle botter, & putte þer-to, & salt; & make fayre cofyns, & sette hem on þe ouen tyl þey ben hard; þan take a pele with a dyscche on þe ende, & fylle þe dyssche with þin comade, & pore in-to þe cofyns, & lat bake a lytel whyle; þan take hme out in-to a fayre dyssche, & cast whyte sugre þer-on, & serue forth. English, 15th century (Harleian 4016, around 1450) (in Austin) Flathonys. Take mylke, and yolkes of egges, and ale, and drawe hem thorgh a straynour, with white sugur or blak; And melt faire butter, and put thereto salt, and make faire coffyns, and put hem into a Nowne til þei be a litull hard; þen take a pile, and a dissh fastned there-on, and fill þe coffyns therewith of the seid stuffe and late hem bake a while. And þen take hem oute, and serue hem for the, and caste Sugur ynogh on hem. Italian, 15th century (Platina, De Honesta Voluptate, Venice, 1475) VIII.58. Diriola. Make a little crust, as I described for rolls. Put in two well-beaten egg yolks, milk, cinnamon and sugar. Stir for a long time on the fire until it becomes thick. This is praised by Cassius, not undeservedly, for it is of much good nourishment… German, 16th century (Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin) 36 To make an English tart First take one third of a quart of cream, some three quarters of a pound of fat and a quarter pound of sugar, which must be allowed to cook with the milk and the fat. After that take six eggs, according to how [large] they are, and, also six egg yolks, beat two eggs with a small spoonful of flour and stir it until smooth, and when it is well-beaten, then beat into it all the eggs, put it all in a pan and let it simmer together until it becomes fairly thick, and watch out that it does not burn, and when it is cooked then salt it a little and pour in a little rose water on it while it is still warm, and let it bake. 78 An egg tart Take eight eggs, beat them well and take one quart of milk. Let it boil in a pan and put the eggs into it and stir it around until it becomes thick, and let it become cool, so that the water evaporates. Put in it sugar and a little butter. If you would like, you can also put into it ground almonds and rose water. And let it bake. 104 If you would make an egg tart Then take eggs and milk and prepare them as for an egg cake and put almonds and sugar into it. It is delicious and good. 122 To make a cream tart For three tarts, which should each be about a foot wide, take one quart of the best cream that you can find, and put it in a pan over the fire. And put two eggs, which are well beaten, into it, and when it begins to boil, then take six more eggs and let them be well beaten and put them into it, and some good flour and pour it slowly into the pan. And one should stir it constantly, so that it does not burn. After that, when the eggs have been poured in, throw a quarter of a pound of fresh butter into it and let it simmer together, until it becomes thick. Afterwards let it cool, and when it is cold, then put it into three pastry shells, each of which is a foot wide. And let it bake in the tart pan. If you would put it straight away on the table, then sprinkle a quarter pound of sugar over all three, together with a little rose water. And one should serve it forth while it is yet warm. This recipe was given to me by the elder Bernhard Meiting, I have not yet prepared it. 128 To make an egg tart Make a dish of egg-milk with ten eggs and three quarts of milk. Pour it on a cloth so that the water trickles out, pour it in a bowl and stir it up well. Put an abundance of sugar and cinnamon into it. And if you think that it has not drained off well enough, then beat into it two more eggs and strain the water off. Make a pastry shell with an egg and put a hazelnut-sized piece of fat into it and roll the dough out well. Pour the filling on the crust and bake it slowly until it is crisp, or else it will be doughy. 135 An egg tart Take twenty eggs and as much milk as eggs and beat it well together. Let it cook together like egg-milk, then stir sugar into it. Make a pastry shell and roll it smooth. Then put rose water therein and put it into a tart pan, put heat under and over it, bake it until brown. 187 How to make milk tarts Take two pints of good milk and bring it to a boil and put into it a fist sized piece of fat and beat ten eggs, put them into the milk and then when it is well blended, so that it becomes very firm, then watch out, that it does not burn. Take it off and pour it onto a cloth, so that the water runs off and let it cool. Put afterwards sweet wine into it, some cream, sugar and small raisins, salt it a little, and make a tart dough under it, but don't cover it. English, 17th century (Gervase Markham, The English Housewife, 1683, first edition 1615) A yellow Tart Take the yelks of Eggs, and break away the films, and beat them well with a little Cream, then take of the sweetest and thickest Cream that can be got, and set it on the fire in a clean skillet, and put into it Sugar, Cinamon, Rose-water and then boyl it well: when it is boyl'd, and still boyling, stir it well, and as you stir it put in Eggs, and so boyl it till it curdle: then take it from the fire, and put it into a Strainer, and first let the thin Whey run away into a By-dish, then strain the rest very well, and beat it well with a spoon, and so put it into the Tart Coffin, and adorn it as you do your Prune-Tart, and so serve it, and this carryeth the colour yellow. A white Tart Take the whites of Eggs and beat them with Rose-water, and a little sweet cream, then set on the fire good thick sweet cream, and put into it Sugar, cinnamon, rose water and boyl it well, and as it boyls stir it exceedingly, and in the stirring put in the whites of Eggs, and boyl it till it curd, and after do in all things as you did to the yellow Tart; and this carrieth the colour white, and it is a very pure white, & therefore would be unadorned with red Caraway Comfets, and as this, so with blaunched Almonds like white Tarts, and full as pure. Now you may if you please put all these in several colours, and several stuffs into one Tart, as thus: if the Tart be in proportions of a beast, the body may be of one colour, the eyes of another, the teeth of another, the tallons of another: and of birds, the body of one colour, the eyes of another, the legs of another, and every feather in the wings of a several colour, according to fancy: and so likewise in Arms, the Field one colour, the Charge of another, according to the form of the Coat-armour, as for Mantles, Trails, and devices about Arms, they may be set out with several colours of Preserves, Conserves, Marmalade, and good in cakes, and as you shall find occasion or invention; and so likewise of knots, one tail of one colour, and another of another, and so of as many as you please. English, 17th century (Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook, 1660) To make an almond custard. Take two pounds of almonds, blanch and beat them very fine with rose water, then strain them with some two quarts of cream, twenty whites of eggs, and a pound of double-refined sugar; make the paste as aforesaid, and bake it in a milde oven fine and white, strow on them biskets red and white, stick muskadines red and white, and scrape thereon double refined sugar. Appendix 2: Baked Custard Recipes Roman, 4th-5th century (Apicius Book 7, XI-7) (in Edwards) Tyropatinam. Take sufficient milk for the size of the cake pan. Mix the milk with honey just as if you were making milk food. Then put in five eggs to a pint of the honey-milk mixture, or three eggs to half a pint. Dissolve the eggs into the milk so that the resulting mixture is smooth. Strain into a clay vessel and cook over a slow fire. When the custard is firm, sprinkle with pepper and serve. Spanish, 14th Century (Libre de sent sovi, redaction by Mistress Aelfwynn Gyrthesdohtor (Cynara) Capitol · cLvi · qui parla con sa deu ffer let molt bona al fforn Si vols menyar let bulida al fforn se ffa axi Prenets de bona let ffresqua E colats la be E quant sera be colada matets la en una casola gran ho poqua segons que sia la let nels menjadors E matets hi hous de batuts tants que ni aya hun per homa E matets hi mantegua sagons que conexarets que ni aya manester E de bones espicies E molt seffra E quant aso ayats ffet vaya al fforn E cogua atanor E gordats que no cogua massa Mas la let aquella con sia cuyta E presa he espesa a semblant de fflahons sapiats que es molt bon menyar Baked Milk 4 servings 4 large eggs 1 3/4 cups milk 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 8 threads Spanish saffron (more if your guests really like saffron) 1/2 teaspoon ground Ceylon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 2 tablespoons unsalted butter Preheat the oven to 325º. In a large bowl, beat the eggs very well and stir in the milk. Grind the salt and saffron together in a mortar until the saffron is finely powdered. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and grind again briefly. Stir the spices into the milk mixture. Cut the butter into bits and stir it into the milk mixture. Pour the mixture into a 3-cup baking dish and place it in the oven. Bake the custard for 30 minutes, or until set. Serve warm or at room temperature. Dutch, 15th-16th century (Untitled manuscript from Ghent, 1490-1525) (in van Heusden) To make vlayen Milkfare, and a spoon of flour, and 20 eggs in the pot, that will be a vierendeel, and a little bit of butter and sugar and salt. Spanish, 16th century (Ruperto de Nola, Libro de Cozina, 1529) 14. Manjar lento o suave (Slow or smooth dish) For half a dozen dishes, take a half azumbre of strained milk, and half a dozen egg yolks, and beat them well, and thin them with a little milk; and set the other milk to heat alone by itself on a fire of coals away from the fire; and when it is hot, remove it from the fire, and cast the beaten egg yolks into it, and three or four ounces of sugar, and return it to the coals; and if you wish to give it color, cast in a little saffron, and then return it to the coals, stirring it constantly in one direction until it is thick so that it seems good to you; and then sample it for taste; and if it is good, set it aside from the fire to rest, and grind sugar and cinnamon to cast upon the dishes. Dutch, 16th Century (Carel Baten, Eenen seer schoonen ende excellenten Cocboeck, 1593) (tr. James Prescott) 45 How to make a milk-crustless-flan. Take to a jar of milk a spoon of flour and a good 20 eggs small-beaten and leave together to boil a quarter-part of a hour. Then put therewith a little butter and a bit of salt and sugar, until it is as sweet as you want and then put in the cups and leave to bake. You might also make this in a dish. English, 16th century (The Good Huswifes Jewell, 1596) To Make a Custard. Breake your Egges into a bowle, and put your Creame into another bowle, and strain your egges into the creame, and put in saffron, cloves, and mace, and a little synamon and ginger, and if you will some suger and butter, and season it with salte, and melt your butter, and stirre it with the ladle a good while, and dubbe your custard with dates or currans. English, early 17th century (Elinor Fettiplace, 1604) To Make a Custarde Take thicke creame put some nuttmegge and suger into yt and boyle yt well on the fire, then beate the yelkes of vi egges very well and take some of yor boyled creame and stirr yt with yor egges then put yt to the rest of your Creame and boyle yt apace on walme, then put yt in a dish and let yt stand untill yt bee cold, if you make a baked custarde put yor eggs yor spice and suger to yor Creame as soone as you have scumed yt and beate yt well together, then straine yt through a strainer of cushoin canvase, and so bake yt, yor spice must bee nuttmegge and Ginger. Appendix 3: Almond Tart Recipes France, 14th century (Viandier de Taillevent) 82. Parti-coloured white dish. Take blanched and peeled almonds, crush very well, steep in boiled water, [and make your milk]. For thickening you need some starch or beaten rice. When your milk has been boiled, divide it into several parts, into two pots (if you wish to make only two colours) or (if you wish) into 3 or 4 parts. It should be as solidly thickened as Frumenty, so that it can not spread out when it is set out on the plate or in the bowl. Take alkanets, turnsole, fine azure, parsley, or avens. Sieve a little saffron with the greens so that they will hold their colour better when boiled. Soak the alkanets or turnsole, and the azure likewise, in some lard. Throw some sugar into the milk when it boils, remove it to the back [of the fire], salt it, and stir it strongly until it is thickened and has taken the colour that you wish to give it. England, 15th century (Harleian 279) xxxviij. Doucettes a-forcyd. Take Almaunde Milke, & yolkys of Eyroun y-melled to-gederys, Safroun, Salt, & hony; dry þin cofyn, & ley þin Maribonys þer-on, & cast þin comade þeron, amp; serue forth. xlj. Flathouns in lente. Take & draw a þrifty Milke of Almandes; temper with Sugre Water; þan take hardid cofyns, & pore þin comade þer-on; blaunche Almaundis hol, & caste ther-on Pouder Gyngere, Canelle, Sugre, Salt, & Safrown; bake hem, & serue forth. France, 15th century (Chiquart, On Cookery, 1520) 28. Almond-milk flans: depending on the number of flans you will be making, get that quantity of almonds, have them skinned neatly and have them well ground; get very good clean water and let him strain his almond milk into a bucket or a two-handled pot which is good and clean in an amount appropriate for the flans he is to make. Then get good starch, wash it in good fresh water and put it in a fine bucket when it is washed; then take your almond milk and pour it in to soak the starch, and add in a little saffron to give it colour; then strain that through a good bolting cloth into a good clean bucket, and put in a little salt, and a great deal of sugar. When this is done, call your pastry cook for the pie shells to be made, and have him put them in the oven for a little while to become firm. Then the pastry cook should have a good spoon of either wood or iron attached to a good stout stick to fill the shells of the flans in the oven. Appendix 4: Modern baked custard and custard tart Crème Caramel 240 ml milk/cream (half of each) vanilla 4 eggs 2 oz sugar (60g) 3 1/2 oz sugar (100g) Oven temp: 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) Heat 100g sugar at highish temperature in heavy-bottomed pot until melted, brown and caramelised. Coat bottom and sides of buttered oven-proof dish. Scald milk and vanilla. Beat eggs and 60g sugar, and pour milk slowly over mixture. Strain. Pour into dish on top of caramel. Stand dish in pan of water, and bake for +/- 45 mins. (this is my mother’s recipe, I have no idea where it comes from). Dutch Melktert Puff pastry 750 ml milk 2 pieces stick cinnamon 50g cake flour a little cold milk pinch salt 125g butter vanilla essence almond essence 6 eggs, separated Bring 750ml milk and cinnamon to the boil. Mix the cake flour with a little cold milk and add the salt. Add the boiling milk gradually to the mixture, stirring all the time. Return to the stove and bring slowly to the boil. Continue to boil for about 5 minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove from the stove and add the butter and the flavourings. Allow to cool slightly. Beat the egg yolks and the sugar very well and add to the mixture. Stir well. Beat the egg whites until they are ver stiff and fold them in. Divide the filling into three equal portions to fill three pie-dishes lined with puff pastry (about 26cm in diameter). Bake at 200 degrees C for 10 minutes, then at 180 degrees C for a further 10-20 minutes. Switch the oven off but leave the tarts in the hot oven for about 15 minutes. From A Culinary Visit to Historic Stellenbosch, ed. Magda Pretorius, 1987, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau. Return to Medieval Cookery page