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Mom Amy

This custard has a striking resemblance to modern-day cheesecake, and is very good eaten with wafers and snowe.

Country: England
Century: 15th

• 2 cups cream
• 4 cups milk
• 2 Tbsps vinegar
• 3 Tbsps honey
• 3 Tbsps sugar
• 5 Tbsps butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Pinch saffron, ground
• 2 egg yolks

Bring cream to a slow boil for a few minutes and then let cool. Make soft cheese with milk and vinegar. Strain whey from curds with a cheese cloth. Add cheese to cream and stir on heat until smooth. When cream/milk mixture begins to simmer add honey, sugar butter, and saffron ground in with salt. Allow to slowly boil and continue stirring until mixture reaches the approximate consistency of tapioca pudding. Remove from heat and add egg yolks. Continue to stir until cool (putting custard in a room temperature bowl over ice speeds this process up without causing a temperature shock.

Original Recipe Sources

Source [A Noble Boke off Cookry, R. Napier (ed.)]: Mon amy. To mak mon amy, tak and boile cows creme and when it is bolid set it asid and let it kele then tak cow cruddes and press out the whey, then bray them in a mortair and cast them in the potte to the creme and boile all to gedure put ther to sugur hony and may buttar colour it up with saffron and in the settynge doun put the yolks of egg, well bett and do away the streyne and let the potage be stonding then les(f)k it in dyshes and plant ther in floures of violettes and serue it.

Source [R. Warner]: Mon-amy. Take thick creme of cow-mylke, and boyle hit over the fire, and then take hit up and set hit on the side; and then take swete cowe cruddes, and presse out the qway (whey), and bray hom in a morter, and cast hom into the fame creme, and boyle altogedur; and put thereto sugre, and saffron, and May buttur ; and take zolkes of eyren streyned, and beten, and in the scttynge downe of the pot, bete in the zolkes therto, and stere hit wel, and make the potage stondynge; and dresse fyve or seaven leches in a dissh, and plaunt with floures of violet, and serve hit forthe.