As many will know, I always try to collect recipies on our travels, particuarly traditional ones. In the UK, there was a major break in the continuity and unlike the Italians and French, who have restaurants still serving traditional fare, the English don't. I'd hardly want to collect recipies for pub meals in England. I've dug deaper and will add recipes to this blog as I progress.

To make a tarte of apples and Orange pilles.
TAke your orenges, and lay them in water a day and a night, then seeth them in faire water and hony (honey), and let them seeth (boil) till they be soft: then let them soak in the sirrop a day and a night: then take them forth and cut them small, and then make your tart and season your Apples with Sugar, Synamon and Ginger, and put in a peece of butter, and lay a course of Apples, and betweene the same course of apples, a course of Orenges, and so course by course, and season your Orenges as you seasoned your Apples, with somewhat more sugar, then lay on the lid and put it in the ouen, and when it is almost baked, take Rosewater and Sugar, and boyle them together till it be somwhat thick, then take out the Tart, and take a feather and spread the rosewater and Sugar on the lid, and set it into the Ouen againe, and let the sugar harden on the lid, and let it not burne.

• 9 inch unbaked pie pastry shell and lid
• 5 medium oranges
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. honey
• juice of 1/2 small lemon
• 4 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. powdered ginger
• 1 T. confectioner's sugar, dissolved in 1 T. rose water

Bake pie shell at 425F for 10 minutes. Let cool. Slice unpeeled oranges as thinly as possible, discarding seeds. Combine water, honey, and lemon juice in a large saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add orange slices, cover, reduce heat, and simmer about 2 hours or until peel is limp and easily chewed. Drain and set aside slices. In a bowl, combine brown sugar, salt and spices. Add apple slices and toss until evenly coated. Place a layer of apple slices in pie shell, then a layer of orange slices. Repeat with remaining fruit. Place pastry lid over filling, crimp edges and slash lid in a few places. Paint lid with rose-water icing. Bake at 350F for 1 hour.

Original Receipt in 'The Forme of Cury' by the Chief Master-Cook of King Richard II, c1390 (Cury 1390)

CHEWETES ON FLESHE DAY
Take there meat of Pork and carve it all to pieces. and hens therewith and do it in a pan and fry it & make a coffin [casing] as to a pie small & do therein. & do thereupon yolks of eggs, hard, powder of ginger and salt, cover it & fry it in grease. Otherwise bake it well and serve it forth.

CHEWETES ON FYSSH DAY
Take turbot, haddock, codling and hake and seethe it. Grind it small and do thereto dates, ground, raisins, pine-nuts, good powder and salt. Make a coffin as before said, close this therein, and fry it in oil. Otherwise stew it in ginger with sugar, or in wine, or bake it, & serve forth

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates a delicate chewit -a meat and fruit pie enjoyed in the 16th century.

Britain loves pies, and recipes for them can be found in cookbooks going back centuries. This month I've chosen a 16th-century pie called a chewit that mixes sweet and savoury flavours - a combination that was popular in the Tudor era. Recipes from that time often refer to coffins - robust pastry designed more to contain the filling than to be eaten. My version, including measurements, is based on this 16th-century recipe:

Parboyle a piece of a Legge of Veal, and being cold, mince it with Beefe Suit, and Marrow, and an Apple or a couple of Wardens: when you haue minst it fine, put to a few parboyld Currins, sixe Dates minst, a piece of a preserued Orenge pill minst, Marrow cut in little square pieces. Season all this with Pepper, Salt, Nutmeg, and a little Sugar: then put it into your Coffins, and so bake it. Before you close your Pye, sprinckle on a little Rosewater, and when they are baked shaue on a little Sugar, and so serue it to the Table.

Ingredients

Pastry:
• 400g flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 200g butter
• 1 egg yolk
• Iced water

Filling:
• 500g minced beef
• 50g sultanas
• 6 dates
• Zest from half an orange
• 2 medium-sized pears, chopped
• 100g suet
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• Salt and pepper
• Rose water (sprinkle)
• Sugar (sprinkle)

Method

Pastry: Sift the flour and salt into a basin. Cut the butter into small chunks and rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. Add the egg yolk and 5 tbsp of iced water. Roll the pastry into a ball, wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Filling: Roll out the pastry and line a pie tin, leaving enough for the lid of the pie. Lightly fry the minced beef, then add the suet, fruit and seasoning. Pack tightly into the pie case and sprinkle a small amount of rose water on the top of the filling before adding the pie top.
Sprinkle sugar on the pastry and cook for an hour in an oven preheated to 200˚C.

Fartes of Portingale Portuguese Style Lamb Meatballs

This is sixteenth century dish of lamb meatballs done in a Portuguese style, according to Elizabethan concepts of what is Portuguese style. Fartes are typically a light and delicate pastry according to Lorna J. Sass in To The Queen's Taste, a collection of Elizabethan recipes. I found it strange to have this term applied to a meatball. Oddly enough though, one of the first comments I got on these lamb meatballs was how surprisingly light and delicate they were.

The original recipe is taken from The Good Huswives Handmaid, originally published in 1588.

Original Recipe:

How to make Fartes of Portingale. Take a peece of a leg of mutton. Mince it smal and season it with cloves, mace, pepper, and salt, and Dates minced with currants: then roll it into round rolles, and so into little balles, and so boyle them in a little beef broth and so serve them foorth.

My Translation:

How to make mincemeat of Portugal. Take a piece of a leg of mutton. Mince it small and season it with cloves, mace, pepper, and salt, and Dates minced with currants: then roll it into round rolls, and so into little balls,
and so boil them in a little beef broth and so serve them forth.

My Interpretation:

1 lb ground lamb

½ tsp ground mace

2 Tbsp currants

½ tsp salt

6 dates, minced

½ tsp ground pepper

2 cups beef broth

½ tsp ground cloves

Combine lamb, currants, dates and spices, mixing well.

Take meat mixture and form into ½ inch size balls.

Place balls of meat into boiling beef broth, for about 10 to 15 minutes,

stirring as needed until meat is fully cooked, then serve.

Notes: Fartes is in reference to "farcemeat" or a "force meat" a stuffing made of meat.