Title: Stewed Beef England, 15th Century
Categories: Ethnic Medieval Beef Soup Main
Yield: 4 Servings

2	lb	To 3 lb short ribs of beef separated by rib
1/4	c	Flour
1/4	c	Oil
5	c	Beef stock
1/2	ts	Cinnamon
1/2	ts	Ground cloves
1/2	ts	Ground mace
1	tb	Cardamom; crushed
4		Peppercorns (or 1 tsp fresh green peppercorns)
1	lg	Onion, finely chopped
6		Sprigs parsley, chopped
1	ts	Sage
2	sl	Wholewheat bread; crusts removed, or homemade saffron bread
1/4	c	Tarragon vinegar
		A good pinch of saffron

"Dust the ribs with the flour and brown in the oil; add the stock, lightly salted, and then the spices and herbs, except for the saffron. Simmer for about 2 hours. Leave the bread to soak in the vinegar, with the saffron, while the stew is simmering. Then puree the bread in the blender and stir it into the stew. Check seasoning. Simmer for another 15 minutes."

From the original: "Beef y-stewyd: Take fayre beef of the rybbys of the fore-quarterys, an smyte in fayre pecys, and wasche the beef in-to a fayre potte; than take the water that the beef was sothin yn an strayne it thorw a straynowr, an sette the same water and beef in a potte, an let hem boyle to- gederys; than take canel, clowes, maces, graynys of parise, quibibes, an oynons y-mynced, perceli, an sawge, an caste ther-to an let hem boyle to-gederys; an than take a lof of brede, and stepe it with brothe an vinegre, an than draw it throw a straynoure, an let it be stylle; an whan it is nere y-now cast the lycour ther-to, but nowt to moche, an than let boyle onys, an cast safroun ther-to a quantyte; than take salt an venegre, and caste ther-to, an loke that it be poynant y-now, and serue forth."

"Two Fifteenth-century Cookery Books" _Seven Centuries of English Cooking_ Grove Press, London, 1992 Compiled and updated by Maxime de la Falaise Typos by Jeff Pruett

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