Selected Articles from
The Gull Archives

If you would like to submit an article for The Gull, please contact the Chronicler.

Goutte Housekeeping
a column on medieval cookery

A White Leek Sauce

Wulfric of Creigull

One of the simplest ways to prepare meat is to roast it.  Often medieval cooks would present a sauce on or beside the meat, for variety and color's sake.  In the SCA, making a sauce to present with the dish is an easy way to serve a roast in a period style.

The author of this recipe is Master Chiquart, a 15th century French cook.  Besides his recipes, he is known for never using a sentence when a paragraph will do.

A White Leek Sauce

To make the White Leek Sauce, have him who is charged with them get his leeks and chop them small, wash them well and put them to broil.  then have him get a good chunk of salt pork back, clean it very well and put it with them to boil; and when they have boiled at length, take them out and put them on clean wooden tables, and keep the bouillon in which they have boiled.  There should be a good mortarful of white almonds; take the bouillon in which the leeks have boiled and draw out your almonds in it, and if there is not enough of that bouillon, get beef or mutton bouillon, and watch that it is not too salty.  After that set your broth to boil in a good clean kettle.  Then take two good clean knives and chop up your leeks, then take and grind them in the mortar; once they are ground, put them into your broth, made of equal quantities of almonds and water, half boiled.  After they have boiled, when they get to the dressing table, place your meat in good dishes and then pour some of that leek broth over top. (On Cookery, 1420)

Wash leeks thoroughly.  Mince leeks and salt port.  Bring pork to a boil in water and simmer for 20 minutes.  Add leeks and boil another 5 minutes.  Drain, reserving fluid.  Grind almonds, adding leek water as needed to keep from sticking.  Add leeks and pork and grind until smooth.  Bring 1/3cup leek water to a boil and mix in leek/almond mixture.  Stir and simmer five minutes.  Serve hot over a roast.

Makes enough for a 3-4 pound roast.  Beef is fine; pork loin is very good.

I boiled the pork first for health reasons.  Since the almonds should be ground anyway, I ground them with the leeks for simplicity.

Sources

Scully, Terence, ed. Chiquart's 'On Cookery'.  Peter Lang, 1986.

NOTE:

Copyright of each article belongs to the original author. Reproduction rights are not given by virtue of their appearance here.

If you wish to reprint any of these articles, in whole or in part, in any medium, you must first get permission from the the author. Please contact the Chronicler, who will forward your request to the appropriate party and respond to you.