Otemeale grotes
Take a pinte of Creame and seethe it, and when it is hot, put therto a pinte of Otemeale grotes, and let them soke in it all night, and put therto viii. yolks of egs, and a little Pepper, Cloves, mace, and saffron, and a good deale of Suet of beefe, and small Raisins and Dates, and a little Sugar
From: A Boke of Cookrye, 1591, English
Otemeale grotes:
What I did:
- boil a pint of cream
- add a pint of oatmeal groats to the hot cream
- let this soak all night (or... alternately, simmer it on the lowest temperature you can while still keeping it hot with the pot covered, this will probably fit better for modern kitchens as it soaks better with heat than it would in the fridge and many of us would not wish to keep milk or cream out on the counter over night)
- Note-- I found that the oats will suck up all of the cream quickly if done on stove-top, you might need to add more liquid, milk will do here, just enough to keep it moist.
- once tender, add 8 egg yolks, a little pepper, cloves, mace and saffron. Also add a good deal of suet (I added somewhere between 1/4-1/2 cup for a half recipe), small raisins (added about two small handfuls of sultanas) and some dates (threw in a small handful) and a little sugar (I put in a bit more than 1/4 cup and probably could have gotten away with less)
- Doesn't say any more than this, but I doubt one would want to eat raw egg so I decided to put it in the oven for about an hour and see how it looked... not bad! Tasted good and was still moist (of course it was also covered). In retrospect, some groats are actually baked like a pudding from later periods... or so I read so this probably was the correct thing to do.
This is a Very rich dish and a little goes a good distance! It took very little shown in the picture above to fill up a family.
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