Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 34 Cyvee


Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 68 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[34.] Cyvee
Tak capouns & perboylle hem in good broth do hem in than to rosten grynd bred [f.23r] tak spices & mak liour mynce onyons smale & welle hem with qwyth gres do to yelkes of raw eyren seson it al to gidre do to salt.

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While civey recipes - meat with onions in gravy - are fairly common, they usually call for coney or hare. The closest recipes from Liber and Noble are good examples.
Conyngus in cyne. Smyte þe conyngus in pese smalle. And sethe hom in brothe gode þou shalle. Mynsyn onyons in grece þou sethe, And in good brothe, þat is so smethe Walle togeder. and drauȝe alioure Of blode and brede sumdele sowre, Sesonut with venegur and good brothe eke, Kast salt þerto and powder fulle meke.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]
To mak conys in cevy smyt conys in small peces and sethe them in good brothe put ther to mynced onyons and grece and draw a liour of broun bred and blod and sesson it with venygar and cast on pouder and salt and serve it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

It could be that the Crophill version's use of capon is a copyist error. Then again, the original author may simply have preferred capon over coney.

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