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 This was to be the showpiece of a luncheon celebrating a friend's elevation to the Order of the Pelican and it delivered.  It was rich without being cloying and looked beautiful in the dish. This recipe needs to be read carefully because like many period recipes the steps are a little out of order. A discussion of the process to arrive at this redaction can be found in the article  A Pelican Vigil Luncheon.

Redaction:

  • 4 ounces dried figs

  • 3/4 cup of red wine

Simmer together until the figs are soft, most of the wine will be cooked into the figs, add more liquid (wine or even water) if needed. While still warm run the figs through a food mill or push through a sieve, set aside pulp.  (This process can be completed at some time before the dish is to be served, as the pulp can be refrigerated or even frozen.)

  • 1 bottle red wine- look for a fruity sweet wine but don't bother getting a pricey one as the other flavors in this dish are not subtle and will overwhelm any delicacy of the wine.

  • 6 ounces pitted chopped dates. (cutting them with scissors can be a little easier than chopping)

  • 1/2 cup dried currents

  • 1/4 cup pine nuts

  • 1/3 cup of honey (You may want to adjust this in relationship to the sweetness of the wine.)

  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

  • 1/2 tsp ground mace

  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves

  • 1/2 tsp ground pepper

  • 10 cubebs, crushed (if you don't have cubebs, use more pepper and a couple of juniper berries) Spices can be increased if you like it spicier.

 Combine all ingredients except fig pulp in a clean pot and bring to a hard simmer for a few minutes, add fig pulp and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes.  Sauce can be stored in fridge or frozen at this state and reheated when it is to be served.

Lozenges:

  • 2 cups flour plus extra for kneading and rolling out

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • pinch of saffron threads soaked in 1/4 cup hot water till water gets dark gold.[2]

  • 3/4 cup cold water

Oil for frying (almond oil is nice but pricey, a mild flavored vegetable oil works nearly as well but a certain fine delicacy of flavor is lost.)

Mix all ingredients, except oil, together and knead into a smooth ball, adding extra flour to keep it from sticking if needed. Let rest, covered, for 10 minutes. On floured surface, roll out thin (a little less than 1/4 inch thick) fold in half and roll out to original thickness. Cut into one inch (or slightly larger) strips and cut the other direction at an angle to make diamond shapes.  In hot oil, fry lozenges till lightly browned, turning once. Drain on paper towels.  Arrange the lozenges on top of sauce in a wide shallow serving dish. The yellow pastry on the rich plum colored sauce is very pretty.  The lozenges can also be used to simply dip into the sauce. 

This quantity is sufficient for a potluck dish or will serve at least 12-15.

Harleian MS 279 Potage Dyvers (as reprinted in Take A Thousand Eggs or More)

 Glazed Lozenges (Bryndons) Take Wine, & put it in a pot, and clarified honey, and sandlewoods, pepper, Saffron, Cloves, Maces, & cubebs and minced date, Pine nuts and raisons of Corinth, & a little vinegar, & seethe it on the fire; and seeth figs in Wine, & grind them & draw them through a strainer, & cast thereto, and let them boil all together; then take fair flour, Saffron, Sugar, & fair Water and make thereof cakes, and let them be thin enough" the cut them like lozenges, and cast them in fair oil, and fry them a little while; Then do take them out of the pan, and cast into a vessel with the syrup & so serve them forth, the lozenges and the syrup, in a dish; & let the Syrup be running, & not too stiff.

For more information on this menu see A Light Luncheon for a Pelican Vigil and A Pelican Vigil Luncheon in the article section 

Other sweet dessert recipes.

Other recipes from Harleian MS 279 and 4016

 
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