Makerouns
from http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/goderec.htm, James Matterer's collection of medieval recipes

PERIOD: England, 14th century | SOURCE: Forme of Cury | CLASS: Authentic
DESCRIPTION: A dish of noodles and cheese

Makerouns appears to be the ancestor of macaroni, and this dish may best be described as "medieval mac-n-cheese." The period receipt advises to prepare it like "losyns" (lasagna), with layers of noodles, butter, and cheese. I find Cheddar cheese the tastiest, but feel free to try other varieties. The dish is wonderful when prepared with undried freshly made noodles, but works with a dried purchased variety as well.

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:
95. Makerouns. Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh, and kerue it on pieces, and cast hym on boiling water & seeþ it wele. Take chese and grate it, and butter imelte, cast bynethen and abouven as losyns; and serue forth.

- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Rough translation:
Macaroni. Take and make a thin sheet of dough, and carve/cut it into pieces, and cast them in boiling water and seeth/simmer/cook it well. Take cheese and grate it, and melted butter, cast beneath and above the lozenges; and serve it forth.

GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:
Macaroni. Take a piece of thin pastry dough and cut it in pieces, place in boiling water and cook. Take grated cheese, melted butter, and arrange in layers like lasagna; serve.

MODERN RECIPE:

• 3-4 lb. freshly home-made, undried noodles OR 1 lb. dried egg noodles*
• 1 tbs. oil
• large pinch salt
• 2 cups grated cheese (see Medieval Cheeses)
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup - 4 oz.)

Boil noodles with oil & salt until al dente (tender-crisp). Drain well. In a serving bowl or platter place some melted butter and cheese. Lay noodles on top and add more butter and cheese. Serve as is or continue adding layers of butter, cheese, and noodles. Use extra cheese as necessary. Serve immediately, or place in a hot oven for several minutes and then serve.

Serves 8. 

*The original recipe noodles are essentially boiled pastry dough; if you have a pasta maker, feel free to use it in making your makerouns, boiling them while still fresh and undried. Egg noodles are probably the best to use when purchasing a commercial brand. Keep in mind the difference in weight between dried and undried noodles.

Constructing this dish can be a bit tricky with timing, since you don't reheat the pasta with the cheese and butter, and thus need to work fairly quickly. Boil the pasta until it's cooked; immediately drain and layer with grated cheese and melted butter, and serve immediately. The heat of the recently-cooked pasta does melt the cheese. You should use a hard cheese such as cheddar, as the recipe specifies grating it; you can vary the proportions of cheese to butter to noodles to taste, depending on how rich/fatty you want the dish to be.