Sunday, June 26, 2011

Rys

Time for some more medieval culinary shenanigans! It's a beautiful word, shenanigans. This offering comes from the 1400's, the tail end of the medieval period.




Rys.
Take a porcyoun of Rys, & pyke hem clene, & sethe hem welle, & late hem kele; þen take gode Mylke of Almaundys & do þer-to, & seþe & stere wyl; & do þer-to Sugre an hony, & serue forth.

Rice. [Revised]
Take a portion of rice, and pick them clean, and seeth them well, and let them cool; then take good milk of almonds and do thereto, and seethe and stir well; and do thereto sugar and honey, and serve forth.

Rice. [Further revised]
Make some rice, and let it cool. Add almond milk, and simmer until thickened. Add brown sugar and honey to taste and serve. If it thickens more than you'd like after it cools, stir in some more almond milk until it is the texture you like.


Verdict: Very nice indeed! Surprisingly nice, for how few ingredients there are. The almond milk gives it a lovely, subtle flavor, as does the honey. Lots of recipes using honey overwhelm it so as you can't even taste what variety of honey has been used. Not so here. Consequently, this is an excellent application for your fancypants honeys. If you just drizzle the honey over the top, it soaks down through the mixture and leaves you with the most delicious few honey-syruped bites at the end. I don't think it needs anything added, although I might try a touch of vanilla some time. Husband declared he wouldn't mind if it showed up again.

No, I did not get authentic medieval almond milk. I obtained mine from the refrigerated section, being both blessed with a refrigerator and cursed with laziness as I am. In the medieval period, when there was a serious lack of refrigerators, almond milk is preferred over cow's milk out of necessity. Cow's milk goes off pretty quickly, whereas almonds are shelf-stable. You don't want to risk sending a lovely, expensive sugared dessert such as this to the lord of the manor and have it taste of sour milk, do you? Indeed not.


*Thanks to Gode Cookery*

7 comments:

My Mom's Recipe Box said...

Does sound good. My mom use to fixed us hot rice cereal for breakfast some mornings, with milk and sugar. But honey and almond milk, it worth a try.

Jana said...

Yes! Do give it a try.

Laura said...

this is a great post! I love the revised recipes :)

Jana said...

Thanks!

Karen K. said...

That looks really, really good -- I would definitely eat that. I love rice pudding and risotto. And lactose-free! I think I'll be trying this one out soon. Great photo!

Victorian Beauty said...

Well, I'd hope the honey doesn't overwhelm, since it gives no quantities and one's doing it 'to taste' ;)

Jana said...

That is the beauty of older recipes.