Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 23 Browet Mese

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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[23.] Browet Mese
Tak canel & ginger saffron & persely & grynd it & tempre it with good broth tak eyren & brek hem & drawe hem thorow a cloth do awey the strene tak sithen thin thre thingys & draw also do to the feyr & qwan it wellith do ther to swich flesch as thu hast sodon & than thin eyren after & whych salt.

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This confusingly-worded recipe appears to be unique. The closest matches given below have similar elements, but it is not clear if they're meant to be the same recipes.

Browet salmenee. Vinegar, galingale, cinnamon, powder of cloves of gillyflowers in great abundance; soft eggs, and sugar in great abundance to cut the strength of the spice; thick with the spice of ginger; color, black or green.  [MS Royal 12.C.xii (England/France, 1340)]

Vyaund de cyprys bastarde. Take gode wyne, and Sugre next Aftyrward, and caste to-gedere; thenne take whyte Gyngere, and Galyngale, and Canel fayre y-mynced; then take Iuse of Percile and Flowre of Rys, and Brawn of Capoun and of Chykonnys I-grounde, and caste ther-to; An coloure it wyth Safroun and Saunderys, an a-ly it with 3olkys of Eyroun, and make it chargeaunt; an whan thou dressest it yn, take Maces, Clowes, Quybibes, and straw a-boue, and serue forth.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]