Writings: Katira al-Maghrebiyya (aka Kay the Innocent of Bel Anjou)
Ducal Prize A.S. XXXII
Treacherous Puddings
Entrant: Kay the Innocent
Recipe: Pomesmoille, a spicy apple pudding
Documentation
Source: Laud MS 553, as shown in Pleyn Delit, Constance B.Hieatt and Sharon Butler, #111.
I chose a cold dish because I did not wish to cook on site in the heat and for the pleasure of the judges.
Original: Nym rys & bray hem in a morter, temper hem up with almande milke, boille hem: nym appelis & kerue hem as small as douste, cast hem yn after ye boillyng, & sugur: color hit with safron, cast therto goud poudre, & sif hit forth.
Using A Culinary Reference Manual published by the Madrone Culinary Guild, and the glossary in Curye on Inglysch published by the Early English Text Society, I translated the original recipe and created an ingredient list.
Translation: Take rice and grind them in a morter, mix them up with almond milk, boil them: take apples and cut them as small as dust, add them in after boiling, & sugar: color it with saffron, add thereto good powder, and serve it forth.
My dictionary defines "treacherous" as disloyal, deceptive, unstable or dangerous. I have chosen to present a dangerous pudding.
Pleyn Delit includes a variation (no source listed) for adding slivered almonds ('shere them smale'). I have prepared this variation for your pleasure?!
Ingredients:
brown rice flour - I was out of white and the store only had brown
almond milk - 1 C almonds & 2 C water processed and strained, saving the ground almonds for other uses
cooking apples - as the rice is ground (bray), I chose to shred the apples as the smallest "cut" (kerue) possible without processing it to mush and I was pleased with the finished texture
white sugar
ground saffron
potent ground spices - I chose cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
chopped sliced almonds - gave a proper texture
Recipe
1/4 C rice flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 C almond milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 lb apples
3/4 tsp cloves
1/3 C sugar
pinch of ground saffron
1/4 C slivered or chopped sliced almonds
Mix rice flour and almond milk in a saucepan and simmer until beginning to thicken. Stir in apples which have been peeled, cored and shredded. Add sugar and spices and mix well. Add saffron to mixture to color. Chill mixture. Add slivered almonds. Serve in a bowl and dust with cinnamon.
Note: I include this because it was so much fun to do. The dish had a wood serving spoon that when lifted out of the pudding could be seen to appear eaten away by the pudding which I still have.
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