Murrey, or Morree

Islamic recipes frequently contain an ingredient translated as “murri” or “almori.” It was extensively used in early Islamic cooking, rather as soy sauce is in Chinese cooking, and vanished sometime after the fourteenth century. Al-Baghdadi gives the several recipes for making it. According to Charles Perry, the penny-royal in these recipes is a mis-translation and should be budhaj (rotted barley). He gives the following instructions for making budhaj: “All the recipes concur that budhaj was made from barley flour (or a mixture of barley and wheat) kneaded without leaven or salt. Loaves of this dough were rotted, generally in closed containers for 40 days, and then dried and ground into flour for further rotting into the condiments.”
from http://daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Misc9recipes.pdf

The first recipe below from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook, suggests a murri made from grape juice with spices instead.

Murrey – a medieval term used to describe a fruit puree eaten as a pudding or cooked with meat. The term “murrey” was also used as an alternative word for “mulberry”. “Murrey” is also used to describe the mulberry color, somewhere between red and purple. Murrey, like Rapeye, is another recipe that appears to be the name for a kind of sauce, in this case, one that is red, or reddish, in color, and thickened.

This is presumably the same as the plethora of other pottages that are either eaten alone as a sort of soup, porridge, or pudding, depending on how thick you like them, or as a sauce for chunked roast meat (sort of like Italian bolognese sauce made without tomato), eaten from a bowl with a spoon. This same basic dish is also made from strawberries, cherries, plums, roses, hawthorn flowers, and others. Some versions call for rice flour instead of bread, and some call for the addition of some wine, which would be a great help if this is eaten as a sauce for meat.

When plums were cooked, it was in the same way as all the soft fruits: they were pulped, thickened with flour and breadcrumbs, sweetened, spiced and colored. The resulting puree was known as a 'murrey' because it was most commonly made out of mulberries (Morus nigra), or at least colored by their addition. Murrey was sweet pottage, often made more like the basic savoury pottage that no medieval could bear to do without by being reinforced with pulped veal, pork, or capon and spiced until sweet and sour. Mulberry juice was a popular dye, ideal for brightening up medieval meals, and its taste medievally sharp. Mulberry juice and sugar was added to wine as well as pottages, to sweeten and color it.

An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook (Andalusia - Arabic, early 13th c. - Charles Perry, trans.)

Murri is not suitable to be used unless of the infused sort, because of its benefits and penetrating quality; following this is murri made of grape juice with spices but without burned bread. The murri that people make with scorched honey and bread and other things is not suitable to be used at all, for it causes black bile and has neither benefit nor penetrating flavor.

An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook (Andalusia - Arabic, 13th c. - Charles Perry, trans.)

A Dish of Murri from Any Meat You Wish. Put meat in the pot and throw on it spices, an onion pounded with cilantro and salt, and throw on it three spoonfuls of murri and one spoonful of vinegar, and the same of oil, and fry and cover with oil and cook until done and browned. Ladle out and sprinkle with pepper and cinnamon. If you omit the vinegar, it is good, and if you throw in soaked garbanzos and a little rue, it is good, God willing.

MS Royal 12.C.xii (England/France, 1340 - D. Myers, trans.)

Moree. rice flour or amidon, whichever can be found; that the color of sandalwood will be had, grind well in a mortar; and then it must be tempered in almond milk and well strained. And then put powdered cinnamon and of galingale. If it is a fish day, put in pears or chestnuts or salmon, or luce or perch; if a meat day, put in veal or goat, if you would have a good and royal meat.

Forme of Cury, (England, 1390)

XXXVII - FOR TO MAKE MURREY. Tak mulbery and bray hem in a morter and wryng hem thorth a cloth and do hem in a pot over the fyre and do thereto fat bred and wyte gresse and let it nazt boyle no ofter than onys and do thereto a god party of sugur and zif yt be nozt ynowe colowrd brey mulburus and serve yt forthe.

For to make murrey, Take mulberries and crush them in a mortar, and wring them through a cloth, and put the puree in a pot over the fire, and add bread and lard, and let it come to a boil no more than once. Add a good amount of sugar, and if the color isn't bright enough add more crushed mulberries (as a garnish); and serve.

Forme of Cury, (England, 1390)

.xxxviij. Morree. Tak almaundes blaunched, waisch hem, grynde hem, & temper hem up with rede wyne, & alye hem with flour of rys, do therto pynes & fryed & colour it with saundres, do therto poudour fort & poudour douce and salt & messe hit forth & flour hit with aneys confyt whyte.

Morree. XXXVIII. Take Almandes blaunched, waisshe hem. grynde hem. and temper hem up with rede wyne, and alye hem with flour of Rys. do þerto Pynes yfryed. and colour it with saundres. do þerto powdour fort and powdour douce and salt, messe it forth and flour it with aneys confyt whyte.

This is an excerpt from Forme of Cury, (England, 1390)

XXVI - For To Make Morrey. Requir' de Carnibus ut supra. [Requir of flesh above]

Ancient Cookery [Arundel 334] (England, 1425)
The original source can be found at R. Warner's "Antiquitates culinariae" (1791)

Murre. Take almonde mylke, and draw hit up with brothe of beef, and take porke braied, or elles braune of capons braied, and boyle hit togeder; and put therto sugre, saunders, saffron, but more of saffron than of saunders that hit be depe coloured, and pouder of greynes, and let hit boyle that hit be stondynge, and thik hit with a litel floure of rys ; and settynge doune take a lytel vynegur, and medel wyth the flour of canel, and of ginger and sugre, and put therto, and stere hit wel togeder, and when hit is dressed up strewe above red anys in confith, and serve hit forthe.

Two fifteenth-century cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55" Thomas Austin.

Mxxj. Murrey. — Take Porke an Yele, & sethe it, & grynda it, & draw it with Jie self brothe ; J^en take bred y-gratyd, & pouder of Gyngere & of Galyngale, & Hony, an caste J^er-to, & boyle it y-fere ; & make it chargeaunt, & coloure it with Saunderys & serue f[orth].

lxxj - Murrey. Take Porke an Vele, and sethe it, and grynd it, and draw it with the self brothe; then take bred y-gratyd, and pouder of Gyngere and of Galyngale, and Hony, an caste ther-to, and boyle it y-fere; and make it chargeaunt, and coloure it with Saunderys and serue forth [correction; sic = f].

71. Murrey - Take pork and veal and soak it and grind it, and draw it with the same broth; then take bread grated, and powder of Ginger and Galingale, and Honey, and caste there-to, and boil it together; and make it thick, and color it with saunders and serve forth.

Note: Chargeant means very thick. Chargeant seems to be somewhere between "thick" and "stonding" in consistency.

Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)

Cxxij - A rede Morreye. Take Molberys, and wrynge a gode hepe of hem thorw a clothe; nym Vele, hew it and grynd it smal, and caste ther-to; nym gode Spycery an Sugre, and caste ther-to; take Wastilbrede and grate it, and 3olkys of Eyroun, and lye it vppe ther-with, and caste gode pouder of Spycery ther-an a-bouen; and than serue it forth.

Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books (England, 1430)

Cxviij - Murreye. Take Molberys, and wryng hem thorwe a clothe; nym Vele, hew it, sethe it, grynd it smal, and caste ther-to; nym gode Spycery, Sugre, and caste ther-to; take Wastylbrede y-gratyd, and 3olkys of Eyroun, and lye it vppe ther-with, and caste gode pouder a-boue y-now, and than serue forth.