Bryndons
"Take Wyn, & putte in a potte, an clarifiyd hony, an Saunderys, pepir, Safroun, Clowes, Maces, & Quybibys, & mynced Datys, Pynys and Roysonys of Corauns, & a lytil Vynegre, & sethe it on ŝe fyre; an sethe fygys in Wyne, & grynde hem, & draw hem ŝorw a straynoure, & caste ŝer-to, an lete hem boyle alle to-gederys; ŝan take fayre flowre, Safroun, Sugre, & Fayre Water, ande make ŝer-of cakys, and let hem be ŝinne Inow; ŝan kytte hem y lyke lechyngys,*. [long thin strips. ] an caste hem in fayre Oyle, and fry hem a lytil whyle; ŝanne take hem owt of ŝe panne, an caste in-to a vesselle with ŝe Syrippe, & so serue hem forth, ŝe bryndonys an ŝe Sirippe, in a dysshe; & let ŝe Sirippe be rennyng, & not to styf."
From the "Two 15th century cookbooks", about 1420 A.D.
as found in the
Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Simple Breakdown
The syrup Take wine, and put this into a pot with clarified honey, saunders, pepper, saffron, cloves, mace, cubebs, and minced dates, pine nuts, currants and a little vinegar and boil this together. Boil figs in wine and grind them and draw them through a strainer and cast this into the first mixture and boil it all together.
The Bryndons Then take fair flour, saffron, sugar and fair water and make cakes that are thin enough and cut them in slices and cast them in fair oil and fry them a little while.
To serve Then take them out of the pan and toss them into a vessel with the syrup and so serve fourth the bryndonys and the syrup in a dish, and let the syrup be thin/runny and not too stiff.
notes and changes
In the picture above I have them burried right in the syrup... I have found this is not the best way to serve them! What happens is that they get entirely too soggy and difficult to chew as they sop up the liquid from the sauce. What would probably be ideal is to spoke them around the plate/bowl/platter so they are just touching the sauce, this way the diner can scoop into the sauce with the bryndon.
Another issue was the consistancy of the sauce... I minced the dates but left the pine nute, raisins and currants whole. In retrospect, the raisins and the nuts should have been chopped as well in order to allow the sauce to stick to the Bryndons. Leaving some whole, however, does give a jewled effect to the sauce.
The recipes says not to have the sauce too thick, however, if the sauce is not thick enough, it will just slide off the Bryndons. This is why I decided that they should be in the sauce and possibly eaten up as a complete dish, and it could very well be, but the combination of long chewy sticks in messy sauce if difficult, at best, to consume with either fork, hand or knife. I did find that on trying dry bryndons dipped in a thicker sauce far better by way of ease of handeling and eating.
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