Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 4 Blamanger

Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book (Harley MS 1735)

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 68 recipes in John Crophill's Commonplace Book are on pages 16v through 28v.

Images of the original manuscript are freely available on the British 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 © 2015 by Daniel Myers, MedievalCookery.com

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[4.] Blamanger
Tak rys & waysch hem & drye hem & tempre hem up with almonde melk. Tak broyn of caponis or of hennys [f.18r] good plente & tose it smal do the rys & the melk to gydre ovr the feyr boylle charche it with the tosed fleysch seson it with sugre florysche the dysch with fryed almondys.

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There are numerous contemporary recipes for blancmanger, but the closest appear to be the ones below.

Blonc Manger. Take ryse and loke þou wasshe hom clene, And þorowgh a strynour þou hom strene. Temper hom with almonde mylke anon. Take brawne of capons or henne good won, Tese hit smalle, as I þe lere. Do þe ryse in þo mylke over þe fyre, Let hit boyle for ony nede. Charge hit with tesyd flesshe in dede. Seson hit with sugar, and floresshe With fryud almondes þo lordes dysshe.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]

To mak blanche mange of flesshe tak ryse and wesshe it and draw it throughe a stren and temper it with almond mylk then teese the braun of capon or henn small and put the rise to the mylke and boile it and charge it with the tosed flesshe sesson it with sugur and florisshe it with almonds and serue it. [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

Given the number of parallels so far with Liber Cure Cocorum, I wonder if someone edited the recipes from that work to make them more readable by dropping the rhyming form.