Pastry of Roast Hen (on a spit)
shown served on a platter with "chopped spinach" and "oranges"
(cheese fritters), both from the same recipe source
Pastry of Roast Hen (on the Spit). You must take a very plump hen, and remove the wings and the feet and the neck, and stuff it entirely with the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, and cinnamon and cloves stuck in the egg yolks, and raisins, and blanched almonds, and cooked meat from a calf or a kid, and finely chopped, and mint and parsley, also raw egg yolks. And spices which are fine and saffron-colored; and with all this, mixed with the raisins and almonds, stuff it inside the hen and then sew it up so that none of the stuffing falls out; and then put it on the spit and roast it. And when it is almost roasted, take a large plate and cast upon it a little rice flour which is very fine, and goat milk, and raw egg yolks, and sugar, and cinnamon, and other spices which are fine and saffron-colored; and beat this all together vigorously. And thin the said dough with the milk; if you have no milk, take rosewater and a little pot-broth, and mix it all together. And then, with some hen feathers, spread the said dough over the hen and rub it. And anoint it, and be careful that you do not thin it too much because it will not be able to cling to the flesh of the hen. And anoint it enough times that this dough or sauce forms a crust on the hen as thick as the crust of a empanada; and if you wish, you may put wholesome herbs, such as parsley, marjoram and mint, well then you may do it; and turn the spit in such a manner that the said dough stays upon the hen.
From: Translation of recipe from 1529, Ruperto de Nola, Spain
Pastry of Roast Hen (on a spit):
Method:
- remove wings, feet and neck off of your hen (I only had to do the wings :))
- make a stuffing of hard boiled egg yolks (says cinnamon and cloves stuck in the yolks but found this odd... stuck a cinnamon stick in the stuffing and a few whole cloves anyway), raisins, almonds (blanched, i pre-chopped them), meat from calf or kid (I ended up using beef tho not correct), mint and parsley... (apart from the spices, everything ended up being well chopped), saffron coloured spices (so added some mace and ginger)... add raw egg yolk to this (I added enough for it to bind)
- Stuff the hind and sew it shut (I just laced the legs through the loose skin)
- put on a spit and roast, however I roasted it in the oven which made the dish a tad trickier. What I did end up doing is arranging on a rack with as little touching it as possible. A spit would be ideal for the dish and enable the pastry to look more even.
- Make up a batter of rice flour, milk and egg yolk... this should be runny (forgot to record amounts... dang my memory, but basically I started with about a 1/4 cup of flour, added two egg yolks but for milk can not remember... just to make it runny tho, but not too thin!)... also about 3tbsp of sugar and a dash of cinnamon and ginger.
- when the bird is almost done... I took it out and propped it up on a trivit and basted the bird with a silicon brush rather than a feather. I put this back into the oven and let it set/dry before adding another layer and did so until I was out of batter. Once finished, let it turn golden.
Just want to say, this was pretty cool! not a bad way to present a hen, wrapped in it's own self formed pastry.
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