Losyns

This dish has been claimed as the origin of Lasagne, being layers of pasta with a stewed meat broth and a cheese sauce. It is more likely that the Old English 'Loseyns' and Italian 'Lasagne' both derive from the layered pasta 'lagana' dishes known to the Romans and as far back as the 1st century BC writings of Horace. However, Loseyns or Lossenges appears elsewhere in Old English cookbooks (Austin 1440, Noble Boke 1480) as a simple pasta shape.

Original Receipt from 'A Noble boke off cookry ffor a prynce houssolde or eny other estately houssolde' (Noble Boke 1480); Losenges: Make a paste of pure flour kneaded with faire water, sugar, saffron and salt then make a thin foil in lozenges the bredth of your hand or less, and fry them in oil and serve them 3 or 4 in a dishe.

Most medieval pasta dishes seem to be exclusively cheese dishes, with a few possibilities for meat and vegetable ravioli.

Take good broth and do in an erthen pot. Take flour of pandemayne and make þereof past with water, and make þerof thynne foyles as paper with a roller; drye it harde and seeþ it in broth. Take chese ruayn grated and lay it in disshes with powdour douce, and lay theron loseyns isolde as hoole as thou myst, and above powdour and chese; and so twyse or thryse, & serve it forth.
(from The Form of Curye, a 14th century English cookbook)

Take good broth and put into an earthen pot. Take [high-quality white] flour and make of it a paste with water, and make of it thin foils like paper, with a roller; dry it hard and boil it in broth. Take autumn cheese, grated, and lay it in dishes with sweet spice powder, and lay onto it lozenges as whole as you can, and above them [lay] powder and cheese, and repeat the layers twice or thrice, and serve it.

This needs to be assembled and served with speed to allow the cheese to melt on the hot pasta without reheating.

“Loysns” means lozenges, referring to the diamond shape of the pasta; you can cut your sheet of dough into diamond shapes if making it fresh.

It makes a huge difference to the flavour to cook the pasta in broth; either a home-made meat or vegetable stock, or one of the commercial cube variety.

“Poudre douce” is literally sweet powder; a mixture of sugar and the less piquant spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

"Chese ruayn," also called "rewen" or "rowen" in other Medieval sources, was Autumn cheese, made after the cattle had fed on the second growth. This was apparently a semi-soft cheese, but not as soft as a ripe modern Brie: one period recipe says to grate it. It appears to be the same cheese called fromage de gaing in France.

It may refer to cheese made with Ruayn - or Rowan - Grass, the second growth of grass or crop of hay in a season (OED) in the manner of Fog Cheese. Fog Cheese: Old term in Suffolk and Yorkshire for the distinctively flavoured cheeses made from milk of cows fed on "rank strong grass", most probably the 'Yorkshire Fog' grass Holcus lanatus. (Moor 1823).

Or it may be a variant of Ruen Cheese: Soft cheese made using rennet (Huswife 1594) - see below

Original Receipt in Huswife 1594; Mistresse Drakes way to make soft Cheese all the yeare through, that it shall be lyke rowen Cheese. TAKE your milke as it commeth from the Cow, and put it in a vessell til it be cold, then take as much faire water, and set it on the fire, when your water is warm, put so much of your water is warme, put so much of your water in that milke as wil warme the milk. Then take a spoonefull of runnet and more, and put into your milke and make your Cheese, and put it into a faire cloth, and so put it into the presse, & turne it in the presse often, and wype it with faire clothes as often as þe turne it.

The lozenges of pasta are layered with grated cheese and spices; again, the cheese should be grating texture, but an autumn cheese is semi-soft - harder than Brie or Camembert, but not as hard as cheddar. I’d probably go for mozarella; Hieatt & Butler suggest Pont l’Eveque.

Interpretation:

¾ pound pasta sheets (flat lasagna)
4 quarts chicken broth
½ pound Muenster Cheese, grated
1 tbsp. powder douce
1 tsp. butter

Bring broth to a boil, place pasta sheets in broth and cook until al dente (see directions if using a package). Divide pasta sheets, cheese and spice powder into thirds. Lightly grease the bottom of a casserole with butter. In casserole layer pasta sheets, grated cheese, then powder douce; repeat until three layers are made. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Let cook for 10-15 minutes before cutting in lozenge (diamond) shape and serve.