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Breney

This recipe is a period version of our modern "fruit salsa and cinnamon chips." The result resembles that of a fruit compote with sweet chips

Country: England
Century: 15th

Fruit

• 1 cup red wine
• 6 figs

• 1 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup minced dates
• 1/4 cup curants
• 1/4 cup chopped pine nuts
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. mace
• 1/4 tsp sandalwood

Chips

• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp lard
• 1 1/2 tsp water
• Oil
• Anise in comfit

Cook figs in 1 c. wine until the wine has boiled down into a syrup. Once cooked, grind figs into a paste. Put all other ingredients to cook, and add figs. Simmer until mixture has thickened.

Mix flour, eggs, lard and water. The dough should be fairly dry, though you can add more water if necessary. Roll dough out as thin as you can and cut into diamond shaped pieces and fry. Sprinkle anise in comfit over fried dough. (*Sugar can be substituted for anise in comfit)

*Please note. The original recipe calls only for water, sugar, and flour for the chips. This recipe would have most likely been eaten during lent and therefore would not have included any animal products. In the interest of making this recipe more palatable, I based the chip recipe on another similar recipe from period, which is included at the end of this text.

Original Recipe sources

Source [A Noble Boke off Cookry, Robina Napier (ed.)]: To mak breney put wyne in a pot and clarified hony saunders canella peper clowes maces pynes dates mynced raisin of corans put ther to vinegar and sett it on the fyer and let it boile then seethe fegges in wyne grind them and draw them through a sterner and cast the to and let them boukle to gedur then tak flour saffron sugur and faire water and mak ther of faire cakes and let them be thyne then cut them bigge lassengis wise and fry them in oile a standing fewe for sopers and straw ether on annes in comfets and serue it.

Source [ Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, T. Austin (ed.)]: xlix - Bryndons. Take Wyn, and putte in a potte, an clarifiyd hony, an Saunderys, pepir, Safroun, Clowes, Maces, and Quybibys, and mynced Datys, Pynys and Roysonys of Corauns, and a lytil Vynegre, and sethe it on the fyre; an sethe fygys in Wyne, and grynde hem, and draw hem thorw a straynoure, and caste ther-to, an lete hem boyle alle to-gederys; than take fayre flowre, Safroun, Sugre, and Fayre Water, ande make ther-of cakys, and let hem be thinne Inow; than kytte hem y lyke lechyngys, (Note: long thin strips) an caste hem in fayre Oyle, and fry hem a lytil whyle; thanne take hem owt of the panne, an caste in-to a vesselle with the Syrippe, and so serue hem forth, the bryndonys an the Sirippe, in a dysshe; and let the Sirippe be rennyng, and not to styf.

Other sources for Chips

Source [ Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, T. Austin (ed.)]: Cruste Rolle. Take fayre smal Flowre of whete; nym Eyroun & breke þer-to, & coloure þe past with Safroun; rolle it on a borde also þinne as parchement, rounde a-bowte as [leaf 36.] an oblye;*. [Oble, sacramental wafer.] frye hem, & serue forth; and þus may do in lente, but do away þe Eyroun, & nym mylke of Almaundys, & frye hem in Oyle, & þen serue forth.

Source [Diuersa Cibaria in Curye on Inglysch, C. Hieatt, C. Butler (eds.)]: Anoþur mete þat hatte cresterole. Nim flour of corne and ayren & make past, icoloured wyþ saffron þe halue dole þe past, & þe halue dole qwyttl & soþþe rolle on a bord ase þunne ase parchemin, & rolle tounde al aboutee as a kake; & make ase wel in leynteen ase in oþur tyme, wyþ alemauns in oile ifried.