Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 10 Longe wortys

Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany (Beinecke MS 163)

This manuscript is dated about 1460.

The 200 (approx.) recipes in the Wagstaff miscellany are on pages 56r through 76v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the Yale University Library website.

I have done my best to provide an accurate, but readable transcription. Common abbreviations have been expanded, the letters thorn and yogh have been replaced with their modern equivalents, and some minor punctuation has been added.

Copyright © 2013 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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10.  Longe wortys
Take the same maner of herbes boyle pesone take heme fro the fyre take out the cleryse and make hem with the same maner of thyngys sauve sygure and serve hit.

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While this recipe references the previous ones for varied leafy plants (coles/worts), it also calls for peas.  There are recipes with similar names in Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, one for peas and the other for just the worts, but neither is a close match.

j - Lange Wortys de chare. Take beeff and merybonys, and boyle yt in fayre water; than take fayre wortys and wassche hem clene in water, and parboyle hem in clene water; than take hem vp of the water after the fyrst boylyng, an cut the leuys a-to or a-thre, and caste hem in-to the beff, and boyle to gederys: than take a lof of whyte brede and grate yt, an caste it on the pot, an safron and salt, and let it boyle y-now, and serue forth.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

Longe Wortes de Pesone. Take grene pesyn, and wassh hem clene, And cast hem in a potte, and boyle hem til they breke; and then take hem vppe fro the fire, and putte hem in the broth in an other vessell; And lete hem kele; And drawe hem thorgh a Streynour into a faire potte. And then take oynones in ij. or iij. peces; And take hole wortes, and boyle hem in fayre water; And then take hem vppe, And ley hem on the faire borde, And kutte hem in .iij. or in .iiij. peces; And caste hem and the oynons into that potte with the drawen pesen, and late hem boile togidre til they be all tendur, And then take faire oile and fray, or elle3 fressh broth of some maner fissh, (if thou maist, oyle a quantite), (Note: Douce MS. reads here: other elles fressh broth of some maner of fressh fisshe (yffe thou have none oile) a quantite) And caste thereto saffron, and salt a quantite. And lete hem boyle wel togidre til they ben ynogh; and stere hem well euermore, And serue hem forthe.   [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]

There is a similar recipe however in Forme of Cury.

Frenche. XX.III. XIII. Take and seeþ white peson and take oute þe perrey & parboile erbis & hewe hem grete & caft hem in a pot with the perrey pulle oynouns & seeþ hem hole wel in water & do hem to þe Perrey with oile & salt, colour it with safroun & messe it and cast þeron powdour douce.  [Forme of Cury (England, 1390)]