Recipes from the Wagstaff Miscellany - 66 Leche Lumbarde

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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66. Leche Lumbarde
Boyle datys in swete wyne grynde heme draw heme withe the same wyne as chargeaunt as ye may do hem yne a pott withe sygure boyle hit put ther to poudour of gynger & canelle a grete dele stere hit welle to gedyr yf be nowghte styfe ynowghe put ther to harde yolkes of eyrone or gratyde bredde or els thu may boyle brawne & draw hit thorow a streynoure withe out any lycoure in the boylyng do hit to gedyr also thu may do withe al maner of leche lumbarde that thu makyste ande yne lentyne tyme thu may have of sundez of stockfische whene hit ys boylede take out of the pott do hit one a borde presse hit to gedyre whene hit ys colde cut hit in brede leches & serve hit forthe a leche or ij in a dysche & poudyre a lytylle clarre abovene.

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There is a similarly titled recipe in A Noble Boke off Cookry, recipe 22, but it appears to be incomplete.  This could have been a copy or transcription error, or one introduced when Robina Napier transcribed the text back in 1882.  The fact that the rest of the recipe doesn't at all resemble the Wagstaff version leads me to think they're not the same recipe.

Boile gadur of the skome and set it to the fyere agayne put ther to pouder of pepper canelle and grated bred and stirre it well to gedur colour it withe saffron and sanders and in the settinge doun do ther to a litill venygar mellid with pouder of guinger and stirr it and let it be stif then gadur it up in a clothe and splat it some dele abrod and couer it with the same clothe till it be colde and lay ij or iij lesks in a dyshe and straw ther on pouder of guinger mellid with sugur and serue it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

Most of the other recipes for Leche Lumbard start with instructions for preparing raw meat - usually pork.  There is one version from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books though that starts with dates.

Leche lumbarde. Take Dates, and do awey the stones; and seth hem in swete wyne; and take hem vppe, and grinde hem in a morter, and drawe hem thorgh a streynour with a litull swete wyne and sugur; and caste hem in a potte, and lete boyle til it be stiff; and then take hem vppe, and ley hem vp apon a borde; and then take pouder ginger, Canell, and wyn, and melle al togidre in thi honde, and make it so stiff that hit woll be leched; And if hit be not stiff ynowe, take hard yolkes of eyren and creme thereon, or elles grated brede, and make it thik ynogh; take Clarey, and caste thereto in maner of sirippe, whan thou shall serue hit forthe.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]