“34. The things the cook could make: “marchand tart”, some now unknown ingredient used in cookery; “galingale,” sweet or long rooted cyprus; “mortrewes”, a rich soup made by stamping flesh in a mortar; “Blanc manger”, not what is now called blancmange; one part of it was the brawn of a capon.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
404. INGREDIENTS.--1 pint of milk, 2 eggs, 3 oz. of pounded sugar, 1 tablespoonful of brandy. _Mode_.--Put the milk in a very clean saucepan, and let it boil. Beat the eggs, stir to them the milk and pounded sugar, and put the mixture into a jug. Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water; keep stirring well until it thickens, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle. Serve the sauce in a tureen, stir in the brandy, and grate a little nutmeg over the top. This sauce may be made very much nicer by using cream instead of milk; but the above recipe will be found quite good enough for ordinary purposes. _Average cost_, 6d. per pint. _Sufficient_, this quantity, for 2 fruit tarts, or 1 pudding.
Sources: The passage is from Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — forest cloth, tankard stamp.