Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book - 63 Powmes Dorre

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

This manuscript is dated before 1485.

The 69 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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[63.] Powmes Dorre
Tak good farsure & mak balles do hem in a panne of clene water boyle hem alityl tyl they begynng to swelle than tak hem up & ley hem on a boord to dreyen tak yelkes of eyren of swenge hem wel ther inne & let hem dreyen do hem on a spite & rost hem & in the rostinge powre on [f.28v] the yelkys of eyren flawme hem with grees serve hem forth with frytur.

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There are versions of pommes dorry in both Liber and Noble, but neither is a close match for the Crophill version. This may not be surprising given the wide amount of variability for the recipe in medieval English sources.

For powme dorrys. Take porke and grynde hit rawe, I kenne, Temper hit with swongen egges. þenne Kast powder to make hit on a balle. In playand water þou kast hit schalle To harden, þenne up þou take, Enbroche hit fayre for goddes sake. Endore hit with ȝolkes of egges þen With a fedyr at fyre, as I þe kenne. Bothe grene and rede þow may hit make With iuse of herbȝ I undertake. Halde under a dysshe þat noȝt be lost, More honest hit is as þou wele wost.  [Liber cure cocorum (England, 1430)]

To mak pomes tak and grind raw pork and temper them with swonge egges caft ther to good poudurs and [quere, rolle omitted?] it in a balle and lay it in boillinge water to hardyn then tak it up and endore it with yolks of eggs and ye may make it grene or red with juce of erbes and serue it.  [A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)]

XLII - FOR TO MAKE POMMEDORRY. Tak Buff and hewe yt smal al raw and cast yt in a morter and grynd yt nozt to smal tak safroun and grynd therewyth wan yt ys grounde tak the wyte of the eyryn zyf yt be nozt styf. Cast into the Buf pouder of Pepyr olde resyns and of coronse set over a panne wyth fayr water and mak pelotys of the Buf and wan the water and the pelots ys wel yboylyd and set yt adoun and kele yt and put yt on a broche and rost yt and endorre yt wyth zolkys of eyryn and serve yt forthe.  [Forme of Cury (England, 1390)]

xix - Pome dorres. Take Fylettys of Raw porke, and grynd hem wyl; do Salt and pouder Pepir ther-to; than take the Whyte of the Eyroun andthrow ther-to, and make hem so hard that they mow ben Rosted on a Spete; make hem round as an Appil: make fyre with-owte smoke; then take Almaunde mylke, and y-bontyd (Note: Bolted, sifted) flour, do hem to-gederys; take Sugre, and putte in thin (Note: Thine) bature; then dore hem with sum grene thing, percely or ȝolkys of Eyroun, to-geder, that they ben grene; and be wyl war that they ben nowt Browne; and sum men boyle hem in freysshe broth or they ben spetid; and whan they ben so boylid, then they must ben sette an kelid, and than Spete hem, and dore hem with ȝolkys of Eyroun y-mengyd with the Ius of haselle leuys.  [Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)]