Lete lardes (recipe)

Period Recipe

From the Forme of Cury.

LETE LARDES. XX.III. VIII.

Take parsel and grynde with a Cowe mylk, medle it with ayrenn and lard ydyced take mylke after �at �ou hast to done and myng �erwith. and make �erof dyuerse colours. If �ou wolt have zelow, do �erto safroun and no parsel. If �ou wolt have it white; non�er parsel ne safroun but do �erto amydoun. If �ou wilt have rede do �erto sandres. If �ou wilt have pownas do �erto turnesole. If �ou wilt have blak do �erto blode ysode and fryed. and set on the fyre in as many vessels as �ou hast colours �erto and see� it wel and lay �ise colours in a cloth first oon. and sithen ano�er upon him. and sithen the �ridde and the ferthe. and presse it harde til it be all out clene. And whan it is al colde, lesh it thynne, put it in a panne and fry it wel. and serue it forth.

Translation

(very tentative and incomplete) Take parsley and grynde with cow's milk, medle it with eggs and lard ydyced. Take milk after that you have 'to done' and mix with it. And make from that diverse colours. If you will have yellow, add saffron instead of parsley. If you will have it white, use neither parsley nor saffron, but add thereto amydoun. .... Set it on the fire in as many vessels as you have colours and seethe it well and lay thes colours in a cloth first on, and sithen annother upon him.....

Notes

• Lete Lardes. Lards in form of Dice are noticed in the process. See Lel. Coll. VI. p. 5. Lete is the Fr. Lait, milk. V. No. 81. or Brit. Llaeth. Hence, perhaps, Lethe Cpyrus and Lethe Rube. Lel. Coll. IV. p. 227. But VI. p. 5, it is Leche.
• to done, i. e. done.
• myng. mix.
• pownas. Qu.
• turnesole. Not the flower Heliotrope, but a drug. Northumb. Book, p. 3. 19. I suppose it to be Turmeric. V. Brooke's Nat. Hist. of Vegetables, p. 9. where it is used both in victuals and for dying.