Period hot drink recipes
A friend of mine posted on her journal asking about period hot drink recipes. Since not everyone on her flist is also on mine, I am posting my recipes here for more people to enjoy.
My Lord of Carlisle's Sack-Posset
Take a pottle of Cream, and boil in it a little whole Cinnamon, and three or four flakes of Mace. To this proportion of Cream put in eighteen yolks of eggs, and eight of the whites; a pint of Sack; beat your eggs very well, and then mingle them with your Sack. Put in three quarters of a pound of Sugar into the Wine and Eggs, with a Nutmeg grated, and a little beaten Cinnamon; set the Bason on the fire with the Wine and Eggs, and let it be hot. Then put in the Cream boiling from the fire, pour it on high, but stir it not; cover it with a dish, and when it is settlede, strew on the top a little fine Sugar mingled with three grains of Ambergreece, and one grain of Musk, and serve it up. From Sir Kenelm Digby The Closet (London: 1671)
1 pint cream
18 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1 cup + 1 tsp granulated sugar
1 whole mace
1 stick cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg, grated
1 tsp cinnamon, grated
1 pint cream sherry
Scald the cream in a pan with the whole mace and stick cinnamon. Beat egg whites until frothy. Beat egg yolks until lemon colored. Fold in together and then fold in one cup sugar and grated spices. Remove mace and cinnamon from cream. Temper eggs with a bit of cream, then mix the cream and egg mixture together continually beating all the time. Place over a medium-low heat and cook until mixture coats the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat and add the sherry. Pour into posset pots and let cool somewhat, allowing it to settle/separate. Sprinkle one tsp sugar on top of all and serve. I have deliberately left off the ambergris and the musk, as I don’t like the taste, they are hard to find, and are expensive. This posset tastes just fine without them.
A well made posset was said to have three different layers. The uppermost, known as 'the grace' was a snowy foam or aerated crust. In the middle was a smooth spicy custard and at the bottom a pungent alcoholic liquid. The grace and the custard were enthusiastically consumed as 'spoonmeat' and the sack-rich liquid below drunk through the 'pipe' or spout of the posset pot. At weddings a wedding ring was sometimes thrown into the posset. It was thought that the person who fished it out would be the next to go to the altar.
The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, defines posset as a drink composed of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or other liquor, often with sugar, spices, or other ingredients; formerly much used as a delicacy, or as a remedy for colds or other affections. Its use predates Digby by a couple hundred years; it was referenced in the mid-1400s by J. Baker’s Boke of Nurture. It said, Milke, crayme, and cruddes, and eke the Ioncate, they close a mannes stomake and so doth the possate. (Translation: Milk, cream, and curds, and also the junket, they close a man’s stomach, and so does the posset.)
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83. Caudell. Draw yolkes of eyron thorow a streynour with wyne or with ale, that hit be ryght rennyng; put therto sigure, safron, & no salt. Bet well togedyr; set hit on the fyre on clene colys. Stere welle the bottom & the sydys tyl hit be ynowghe scaldyng hote; thu shalle fele be the staffe when hit begynnys to com. Then take hit of and styre alwey fast, & yf be nede, aley hit up with som of the wyne; or yf hit com to hastyly, put hit in cold watyr to myd syd of the pot, & stere hit alwey fast; & serve hit forth.
- Hieatt, Constance B. An Ordinance of Pottage. An Edition of the Fifteenth Century Culinary Recipes in Yale University's MS Beinecke 163. London: Prospect Books Ltd, 1988.
Translation:
Caudle. Beat egg yolks with wine or ale, so that it is runny; add sugar, saffron, but no salt. Beat well together; set it on the fire on clean coals. Stir well the bottom & the sides until just scalding hot; you will be able to tell when it becomes fluffy. Then take it and stir away fast, & if you need, add more wine; or if it rises too quickly, put it in cold water to the middle of the outside of the pot, & stir it away fast; and serve.
My recipe:
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup white wine
sugar to taste
pinch saffron
In a pot, beat together the yolks, wine, sugar, and saffron. Heat the mixture over a medium flame, stirring continually, until the caudle is hot and thick & fluffy. Be careful to not let it burn or scorch or stick to the pot. Serve at once.
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Caudell. ¶ Take faire tryed yolkes of eyren, and cast in a potte; and take good ale, or elles good wyn, a quantite, and sette it ouer þe fire / And whan hit is at boyling, take it fro the fire, and caste þere-to saffron, salt, Sugur; and ceson hit vppe, and serue hit forth hote.
- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.
Translation:
Take fair tried yolks of eggs, and cast in a pot; and take good ale, or else good wine, a quantity, and set it over the fire / And when it is boiling, take it from the fire, and cast there-to saffron, salt, Sugar; and season it up, and serve it forth hot.
My recipe:
5 Egg yolks - "faire tryed yolkes" means yolks separated from the whites.
1 cup Ale or wine - use fresh ale (not flat) or a slightly sweet red or white wine.
1 pinch Saffron
1 pinch Salt
Sugar to taste
Beat together the egg yolks and wine/ale; place in a pot over medium to high heat. Bring to a boil while continually stirring with a wire whisk. As the mixture heats up, it will begin to become thick & frothy. (Add more egg yolks if needed - the more egg, the thicker & frothier the result. You want the consistency of a well-whipped milkshake.) As soon as it comes to a boil, reduce heat. Beat in sugar to taste, saffron, and a dash of salt. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Serve at once in small bowls.
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This next is not my recipe, but one that I have found on Daniel Meyer's Medieval Recipes web site. He is also a cooking laurel from the Midrealm under the name of Edouard Halidai.
This is from the Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchen (undated, probably mid 1600s), ed. by Stuart Peachey, Stuart Press, 1992, p. 62.
To make Buttered Beere. Take three pintes of Beere, put five yolkes of Egges to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one penniworth of Cloves beaten, and a halfepenniworth of Ginger beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them together, and set it to the fire againe, and when it is readie to boyle, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into an other.
12 oz. beer
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
1/16 tsp. nutmeg
1/16 tsp. cloves
1/16 tsp. ginger
2 Tbsp. butter
Put the egg yolk into a saucepan and slowly whisk in beer. Add sugar and spices and heat over medium-high heat until mixture just starts to come to a boil. Remove from heat, add butter, and wisk until mixed. Serve hot.
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These next come from Duke Cariadoc of the Bow's website.
Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn
(Oxymel)
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century p. A-74
Take a ratl of strong vinegar and mix it with two ratls of sugar, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya of this with three of hot water when fasting: it is beneficial for fevers of jaundice, and calms jaundice and cuts the thirst, since sikanjabîn syrup is beneficial in phlegmatic fevers: make it with six ûqiyas of sour vinegar for a ratl of honey and it is admirable.
This seems to be at least two different recipes, for two different medical uses. The first, at least, is intended to be drunk hot. In modern Iranian restaurants, sekanjabin is normally served cold, often with grated cucumber.
Syrup of Pomegranates
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century p. A-74
Take a ratl of sour pomegranates and another of sweet pomegranates, and add their juice to two ratls of sugar, cook all this until it takes the consistency of syrup, and keep until needed. Its benefits: it is useful for fevers, and cuts the thirst, it benefits bilious fevers and lightens the body gently.
Use equal volumes of sugar and pomegranate juice (found in some health food stores). Cook them down to a thick syrup, in which form they will keep, without refrigeration, for a very long time. To serve, dilute one part of syrup in 3 to 6 parts of hot water (to taste).
Syrup of Lemon
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century p. 279
Take lemon, after peeling its outer skin, press it and take a ratl of juice, and add as much of sugar. Cook it until it takes the form of a syrup. Its advantages are for the heat of bile; it cuts the thirst and binds the bowels.
This we also serve as a strong, hot drink. Alternatively, dilute it in cold water and you have thirteenth century lemonade. All three of the original recipes include comments on medical uses of the syrups.
Hippocras
The Goodman of Paris, 1395 p. 299/28
To make powdered hippocras, take a quarter of very fine cinnamon selected by tasting it, and half a quarter of fine flour of cinnamon, an ounce of selected string ginger, fine and white, and an ounce of grain of Paradise, a sixth of nutmegs and galingale together, and bray them all together. And when you would make your hippocras, take a good half ounce of this powder and two quarters of sugar and mix them with a quart of wine, by Paris measure. And note that the powder and the sugar mixed together is the Duke's powder.
4 oz stick cinnamon
2 oz powdered cinnamon
"A sixth" (probably of a pound-2 2/3 ounces) of nutmegs and galingale together
1 oz of ginger
1 oz of grains of paradise
Grind them all together. To make hippocras add 1/2 ounce of the powder and 1/2 lb (1 cup) of sugar to a 2 quarts of boiling wine (the quart used to measure wine in Paris c. 1393 was about 2 modern U.S. quarts, the pound and ounce about the same as ours). Strain through a sleeve of Hippocrates (a tube of cloth, closed at one end).
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This is another hyppocras recipe that I have found online, but with no designation as to where this person found the recipe.
1/2 put (275 ml) water
11/2 (850 ml) white wine
8 oz (225 g) ground almonds
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) ground ginger
1 tsp (5 ml) clear honey or white sugar
A good pinch of salt
A good pinch of Powdered Saffron or a few drops of yellow food coloring.
Bring the water and wine to a boil in a sauce pan. Put in the almonds and add the ginger, honey, or sugar and salt. Stir in the saffron or food coloring, and leave off the heat to stand for 15-30 minutes. Bring back to a boil, and serve very hot, in small heat proof bowls.
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Here ar two original recipes that I have not redacted yet.
To make a Sack posset
The Cooks Guide: Or, Rare Receipts for Cookery, 1654
To make a Sack posset.
Take a quart of thick cream, boyle it with whole spice, then take sixteen eggs, yolks and whites beaten very well, then heat about three quarters of a pint of sack, and mingle well with your eggs, then stir them into your cream, and sweeten it, then cover it up close for half an hour or more over a seething pot of water or over very slow embers, in a bason, and it will become like a cheese.
A Plain Ordinary Posset
from The Closet of Sir Kenelme Digbie, Knight, Opened
Published by his son’s consent, London, 1669
Put a pint of good Milk to boil; as soon as it doth so, take it from the fire, to let the great heat of it cool a little; for doing so, the curd will be the tenderer, and the whole of a more uniform consistence. When it is prettily cooled, pour it into your pot, wherein is about two spoonfuls of Sack and four of Ale, with sufficient Sugar dissolved in them. So let it stand a while near the fire, till you eat it.
My Lord of Carlisle's Sack-Posset
Take a pottle of Cream, and boil in it a little whole Cinnamon, and three or four flakes of Mace. To this proportion of Cream put in eighteen yolks of eggs, and eight of the whites; a pint of Sack; beat your eggs very well, and then mingle them with your Sack. Put in three quarters of a pound of Sugar into the Wine and Eggs, with a Nutmeg grated, and a little beaten Cinnamon; set the Bason on the fire with the Wine and Eggs, and let it be hot. Then put in the Cream boiling from the fire, pour it on high, but stir it not; cover it with a dish, and when it is settlede, strew on the top a little fine Sugar mingled with three grains of Ambergreece, and one grain of Musk, and serve it up. From Sir Kenelm Digby The Closet (London: 1671)
1 pint cream
18 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1 cup + 1 tsp granulated sugar
1 whole mace
1 stick cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg, grated
1 tsp cinnamon, grated
1 pint cream sherry
Scald the cream in a pan with the whole mace and stick cinnamon. Beat egg whites until frothy. Beat egg yolks until lemon colored. Fold in together and then fold in one cup sugar and grated spices. Remove mace and cinnamon from cream. Temper eggs with a bit of cream, then mix the cream and egg mixture together continually beating all the time. Place over a medium-low heat and cook until mixture coats the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat and add the sherry. Pour into posset pots and let cool somewhat, allowing it to settle/separate. Sprinkle one tsp sugar on top of all and serve. I have deliberately left off the ambergris and the musk, as I don’t like the taste, they are hard to find, and are expensive. This posset tastes just fine without them.
A well made posset was said to have three different layers. The uppermost, known as 'the grace' was a snowy foam or aerated crust. In the middle was a smooth spicy custard and at the bottom a pungent alcoholic liquid. The grace and the custard were enthusiastically consumed as 'spoonmeat' and the sack-rich liquid below drunk through the 'pipe' or spout of the posset pot. At weddings a wedding ring was sometimes thrown into the posset. It was thought that the person who fished it out would be the next to go to the altar.
The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, defines posset as a drink composed of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or other liquor, often with sugar, spices, or other ingredients; formerly much used as a delicacy, or as a remedy for colds or other affections. Its use predates Digby by a couple hundred years; it was referenced in the mid-1400s by J. Baker’s Boke of Nurture. It said, Milke, crayme, and cruddes, and eke the Ioncate, they close a mannes stomake and so doth the possate. (Translation: Milk, cream, and curds, and also the junket, they close a man’s stomach, and so does the posset.)
-------
83. Caudell. Draw yolkes of eyron thorow a streynour with wyne or with ale, that hit be ryght rennyng; put therto sigure, safron, & no salt. Bet well togedyr; set hit on the fyre on clene colys. Stere welle the bottom & the sydys tyl hit be ynowghe scaldyng hote; thu shalle fele be the staffe when hit begynnys to com. Then take hit of and styre alwey fast, & yf be nede, aley hit up with som of the wyne; or yf hit com to hastyly, put hit in cold watyr to myd syd of the pot, & stere hit alwey fast; & serve hit forth.
- Hieatt, Constance B. An Ordinance of Pottage. An Edition of the Fifteenth Century Culinary Recipes in Yale University's MS Beinecke 163. London: Prospect Books Ltd, 1988.
Translation:
Caudle. Beat egg yolks with wine or ale, so that it is runny; add sugar, saffron, but no salt. Beat well together; set it on the fire on clean coals. Stir well the bottom & the sides until just scalding hot; you will be able to tell when it becomes fluffy. Then take it and stir away fast, & if you need, add more wine; or if it rises too quickly, put it in cold water to the middle of the outside of the pot, & stir it away fast; and serve.
My recipe:
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup white wine
sugar to taste
pinch saffron
In a pot, beat together the yolks, wine, sugar, and saffron. Heat the mixture over a medium flame, stirring continually, until the caudle is hot and thick & fluffy. Be careful to not let it burn or scorch or stick to the pot. Serve at once.
------
Caudell. ¶ Take faire tryed yolkes of eyren, and cast in a potte; and take good ale, or elles good wyn, a quantite, and sette it ouer þe fire / And whan hit is at boyling, take it fro the fire, and caste þere-to saffron, salt, Sugur; and ceson hit vppe, and serue hit forth hote.
- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.
Translation:
Take fair tried yolks of eggs, and cast in a pot; and take good ale, or else good wine, a quantity, and set it over the fire / And when it is boiling, take it from the fire, and cast there-to saffron, salt, Sugar; and season it up, and serve it forth hot.
My recipe:
5 Egg yolks - "faire tryed yolkes" means yolks separated from the whites.
1 cup Ale or wine - use fresh ale (not flat) or a slightly sweet red or white wine.
1 pinch Saffron
1 pinch Salt
Sugar to taste
Beat together the egg yolks and wine/ale; place in a pot over medium to high heat. Bring to a boil while continually stirring with a wire whisk. As the mixture heats up, it will begin to become thick & frothy. (Add more egg yolks if needed - the more egg, the thicker & frothier the result. You want the consistency of a well-whipped milkshake.) As soon as it comes to a boil, reduce heat. Beat in sugar to taste, saffron, and a dash of salt. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Serve at once in small bowls.
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This next is not my recipe, but one that I have found on Daniel Meyer's Medieval Recipes web site. He is also a cooking laurel from the Midrealm under the name of Edouard Halidai.
This is from the Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchen (undated, probably mid 1600s), ed. by Stuart Peachey, Stuart Press, 1992, p. 62.
To make Buttered Beere. Take three pintes of Beere, put five yolkes of Egges to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one penniworth of Cloves beaten, and a halfepenniworth of Ginger beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them together, and set it to the fire againe, and when it is readie to boyle, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into an other.
12 oz. beer
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
1/16 tsp. nutmeg
1/16 tsp. cloves
1/16 tsp. ginger
2 Tbsp. butter
Put the egg yolk into a saucepan and slowly whisk in beer. Add sugar and spices and heat over medium-high heat until mixture just starts to come to a boil. Remove from heat, add butter, and wisk until mixed. Serve hot.
-----------
These next come from Duke Cariadoc of the Bow's website.
Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn
(Oxymel)
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century p. A-74
Take a ratl of strong vinegar and mix it with two ratls of sugar, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya of this with three of hot water when fasting: it is beneficial for fevers of jaundice, and calms jaundice and cuts the thirst, since sikanjabîn syrup is beneficial in phlegmatic fevers: make it with six ûqiyas of sour vinegar for a ratl of honey and it is admirable.
This seems to be at least two different recipes, for two different medical uses. The first, at least, is intended to be drunk hot. In modern Iranian restaurants, sekanjabin is normally served cold, often with grated cucumber.
Syrup of Pomegranates
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century p. A-74
Take a ratl of sour pomegranates and another of sweet pomegranates, and add their juice to two ratls of sugar, cook all this until it takes the consistency of syrup, and keep until needed. Its benefits: it is useful for fevers, and cuts the thirst, it benefits bilious fevers and lightens the body gently.
Use equal volumes of sugar and pomegranate juice (found in some health food stores). Cook them down to a thick syrup, in which form they will keep, without refrigeration, for a very long time. To serve, dilute one part of syrup in 3 to 6 parts of hot water (to taste).
Syrup of Lemon
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century p. 279
Take lemon, after peeling its outer skin, press it and take a ratl of juice, and add as much of sugar. Cook it until it takes the form of a syrup. Its advantages are for the heat of bile; it cuts the thirst and binds the bowels.
This we also serve as a strong, hot drink. Alternatively, dilute it in cold water and you have thirteenth century lemonade. All three of the original recipes include comments on medical uses of the syrups.
Hippocras
The Goodman of Paris, 1395 p. 299/28
To make powdered hippocras, take a quarter of very fine cinnamon selected by tasting it, and half a quarter of fine flour of cinnamon, an ounce of selected string ginger, fine and white, and an ounce of grain of Paradise, a sixth of nutmegs and galingale together, and bray them all together. And when you would make your hippocras, take a good half ounce of this powder and two quarters of sugar and mix them with a quart of wine, by Paris measure. And note that the powder and the sugar mixed together is the Duke's powder.
4 oz stick cinnamon
2 oz powdered cinnamon
"A sixth" (probably of a pound-2 2/3 ounces) of nutmegs and galingale together
1 oz of ginger
1 oz of grains of paradise
Grind them all together. To make hippocras add 1/2 ounce of the powder and 1/2 lb (1 cup) of sugar to a 2 quarts of boiling wine (the quart used to measure wine in Paris c. 1393 was about 2 modern U.S. quarts, the pound and ounce about the same as ours). Strain through a sleeve of Hippocrates (a tube of cloth, closed at one end).
-----------
This is another hyppocras recipe that I have found online, but with no designation as to where this person found the recipe.
1/2 put (275 ml) water
11/2 (850 ml) white wine
8 oz (225 g) ground almonds
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) ground ginger
1 tsp (5 ml) clear honey or white sugar
A good pinch of salt
A good pinch of Powdered Saffron or a few drops of yellow food coloring.
Bring the water and wine to a boil in a sauce pan. Put in the almonds and add the ginger, honey, or sugar and salt. Stir in the saffron or food coloring, and leave off the heat to stand for 15-30 minutes. Bring back to a boil, and serve very hot, in small heat proof bowls.
-----------
Here ar two original recipes that I have not redacted yet.
To make a Sack posset
The Cooks Guide: Or, Rare Receipts for Cookery, 1654
To make a Sack posset.
Take a quart of thick cream, boyle it with whole spice, then take sixteen eggs, yolks and whites beaten very well, then heat about three quarters of a pint of sack, and mingle well with your eggs, then stir them into your cream, and sweeten it, then cover it up close for half an hour or more over a seething pot of water or over very slow embers, in a bason, and it will become like a cheese.
A Plain Ordinary Posset
from The Closet of Sir Kenelme Digbie, Knight, Opened
Published by his son’s consent, London, 1669
Put a pint of good Milk to boil; as soon as it doth so, take it from the fire, to let the great heat of it cool a little; for doing so, the curd will be the tenderer, and the whole of a more uniform consistence. When it is prettily cooled, pour it into your pot, wherein is about two spoonfuls of Sack and four of Ale, with sufficient Sugar dissolved in them. So let it stand a while near the fire, till you eat it.