My love of history comes from this space where true events are often stranger than fiction. Mary Queen of Scots died with her dog in her dress. People in Florence were defenestrated regularly during the renaissance. Henry VIII ate custard tarts made with beef marrow. It’s weird and wild and human. And weird.
For a while I’ve checked out food history blogs and videos like Tasting History with Max Miller or The Victorian Way with the ever-shading Mrs. Crocombe or Monk's Modern Medieval Cuisine. It’s fascinating that we largely eat today what we ate then. This is how I came across Forme of Cury, a 14th century cooking text compiled by Richard II’s Master of Cooks.
The book itself, or at least the edition I picked up, is accessible enough. There are plenty of familiar dishes in it - things like chicken or pork, cabbage, peas, pastry, etc. Then there are the less-accessible foods (like those that kings eat) such as porpoise or swan. I don’t even know where you can buy swan. Maybe Dean & Deluca.
So, I decided that I would make an entire Sunday dinner out of Forme of Cury recipes. For this week, the very first, I chose recipes that are vaguely normal. I made a very simple roasted pork, which I dressed with “verde sawse” - an herbaceous chimichurri-like sauce - and “caboches in potage” or cabbage and leek stewed in broth. Everything had saffron sprinkled on top for no purpose, but fine. It’s simple fare, but delicious. It won’t win any awards for complexity of flavor, but it gave simple Sunday roast comfort.
Of course I looked forward to recreating medieval sweets. There were plenty of recipes which started out seeming very sweet and dessert-like, but ended up with “fysshe” or capon tossed in. Sugar and spices were so immensely valuable that, as a display of wealth and status, they were tossed into recipes seemingly without regard for a flavor profile and rather to make an impression. There were only a few recipes that we would consider a dessert. I chose to recreate the Sambocade, essentially a medieval cheesecake.
There are absolutely no measurements given in the recipe for the Sambocade. It starts with making a crust - I guess any kind of crust? I chose to make a quick pate brisee, a very simple dough and, more importantly, uses only ingredients that a medieval Master Cook would have had on hand. I made the dough, rested it, rolled it out, and blind baked it for about 25 minutes.
In the meantime, I started on the filling. A Sambocade is a cheesecake, but the main flavoring agent is elderflower (which I had to order specially for this). I used dried elderflower, but I’m guessing you can use fresh or elderflower cordial. The recipe instructs you to take some cheese (what kind? who cares) and wring out the whey. Then, add sugar, egg whites, and elderflower. I steeped my dried elderflower in heavy cream to impart some creaminess to the custard mixture. I then baked it and “messe it forth” as Forme of Cury instructs on almost every single recipe.
The flavor is… interesting. It’s identifiable as a dessert (which was not obvious based on the aroma while it was baking). It’s basically a mild ricotta cheesecake in pie crust. The elderflower doesn’t impart anything except a mild tea flavor. Maybe, in a certain context, it might even be kind of refreshing? If I were having a summer tea party outdoors, I might have this on a dessert tray accompanied with fresh fruits. It’s light, mild, and relatively fresh-flavored. If I hadn’t stuck with the recipe I would have added zest of lemon and honey.
Am I craving another slice of it today? Not really. But it isn’t bad.
Soon there will be other cooking adventures from Forme of Cury. It’s really impressive how timeless a lot of these recipes are. Sure, I will have to source spices that I hadn’t heard of like long pepper or grains of paradise, but it should at least be entertaining. In the meantime, I’ll be calling Dean & Deluca and asking if they have any swan on hand.
Sambocade
For the crust:
2.5c of plain flour
1c of butter
3 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
1/3c ice cold water
In the food processor, blend the dry ingredients. Cube cold butter and pulse in the processor until pea-sized clumps form. With the processor on low, add in the cold water and pulse until a dough forms. Wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll pastry out to 1/8 inch thick and line a 9 inch springform pan with the dough. Dock the bottom. Line with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or rice or pie weights. Bake for 25 minutes.
For the filling:
3 tbsp dried elderflower (or fresh or cordial)
1/2c heavy cream
500g of ricotta cheese
1/2c sugar
4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1/4tsp cream of tartar
Turn oven down to 375 F.
Steep dried elderflower into heavy cream and let sit. Using a spatula, press ricotta through a strainer into a mixing bowl (this takes a WHILE). Mix in sugar and elderflower mixture.
In a separate bowl, add egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar. Beat to stiff peaks. This is the only leavening agent in the entire cake. Fold the egg white mixture into the ricotta mixture in three parts.
Pour into prepared pie crust and bake for about 50-55 minutes or until only slightly wobbly in the center.
IF you make this recipe, please let me know how it came out for you and what you thought. This is my own adaptation of what this recipe could be based on other things I’ve made - ricotta cheesecake, basque cheesecake, custard, chiffon cakes, etc - and it would be good to know how this worked out for others. Have fun going medieval in the kitchen.