Bake Mete Ryalle

Photo Daniel Myers

This simple recipe is perfect for using up leftover cooked pork. It has a flavor and aroma that is more than a bit like glazed ham. The original recipe called for marrow which can be hard to get at the local market. I've used butter in its place, but lard or suet should also work. If you can't find cubebs, subsitute 1 tsp. of black pepper and a pinch of orange peel.

Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, Harleian MS 279,  England, 15th century, T. Austin (ed.)

xxxiij - A bake Mete Ryalle. Take and make litel cofyns, and take Chykonys y-sothe; other Porke y-sothe, and smale y-hackyd; other of hem bothe: take Clowys, Maces, Quybibes, and hakke with-alle, and melle yt with cromyd Marow, and lay on Sugre y-now; than ley it on the cofynne, and in the myddel lay a gobet of marow, and Sugre round a-bowte y-now, and lat bake; and this is for soperys.

- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.

GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:

A Royal Pie. Take and make little pie shells, & take Chicken boiled; or Pork boiled; or them both: take Cloves, Mace, Cubeb, & hack all together, & mix it with crumbled marrow, & add just the right amount of Sugar; then place it a pie shell, & in the middle place a piece of marrow, & all over some Sugar, and let it bake; & this is for a supper.

Redaction by Daniel Myers

2 lbs. pork
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. mace
2 tsp. cubebs
2 Tbsp. sugar
4 Tbsp. butter
double recipe for Short Paest for Tarts

Boil or slow-cook the pork until tender. Allow to cool and then chop into small pieces. Add spices and sugar, put into pie crust, dot with butter, cover with a top crust, and bake at 350°F until golden brown - about 30 minutes. Serve hot.