Medieval in a Modern Kitchen

Tenches in Cynee* 

(from the Forme of Cury, by the Master Cooks of King Richard II, 1390s)

Take Tenches and smyte hem to pecys, fry hem, drawe a lyour of Raysouns coraunce witþ wyne and water, do þerto hool raisouns & powdour of gyngur of clowes of canel of peper do the Tenches þerto & seeþ hem with sugur cypre & salt. & messe forth.

*I think this is incorrectly transcribed as “cynee” in most sources. The letter looks more like a “u” to me. “U” was frequently used when writing the “v” sound. If this is “cyvee”, that would have it being pronounced like the French, “civet” which at that time was a sauce composed of wine, fruit, spices, and sugar, just like this one is. Therefore I believe this should be transcribed as “cyuee” or “cyvee”.

Modern translation

Take Tenches and smite them to pieces, fry them,  draw a lyour of currant Raisins with wine and water, do thereto whole raisins & powder of ginger of cloves of canel of pepper do the Tenches thereto & seethe them with Cyprus sugar & salt & serve forth.

Method

I had to Google tench. I don’t think we even have it in America, although apparently it’s like carp, and I could get that at an Asian market. However, I had a large piece of fresh salmon on hand, which is why I wanted to cook this in the first place. So, I used salmon instead of tench, carp, or any other freshwater fish.

I’m not 100% sure what “lyour” means, but in recipes it always has to do with liquids in sauces, and I think it probably means something like “liquor”, which makes sense because to “drawe” usually means to extract the juice and flavor from something ground and blended with a liquid by squeezing it through a cloth– this is usually how medieval recipes tell you to make almond milk. So, after a brief consultation with @shredsandpatches, I decided that’s definitely what they meant. Cyprus sugar… I don’t really know, but after looking at this site, I thought it might mean triple refined sugar, which might make it the whitest, purest sugar?  Anyhow, I just used regular granulated white sugar. The rest was easy.

1. In a blender, soak about a cup of currants in about twice as much wine (I used red) and water (50/50 ok i forgot the water and used all wine, but I meant to use that ratio before I forgot) for about an hour.

2. Blend the currants and wine/water till it’s like a smoothie. Place a strainer over a saucepan and line it with a thin, clean tea towel. Pour the smoothie into the tea towel, let it drain a minute, then gently gather up the edges and squeeze out every last drop of moisture into the pan. Discard the pulverized remnants of the currants.

3. Add a handful of whole currants, along with the spices, sugar and salt. I didn’t measure, but used the order as a proxy of quantity: a whole lot of ginger, like a tablespoon?, the next of cloves, the next of cinnamon, the next of pepper, and the least of salt. Sugar should be 1 tablespoon or less. Simmer till reduced by about 1/3, taste, adjust seasonings and if too sweet, add another splash of wine, then simmer gently while you cook the fish.

4. Cut about ½ to ¾ pound of fish into bite sized pieces. I used more like ½ but the amount of sauce I made turned out to be enough for more. Add a little olive oil to a hot pan, add the fish chunks and cook till just barely done. 

5. The recipe tells you to put the fish in the sauce, then add the sugar and salt and simmer, but I think cooking twice would overcook the fish and I’m not willing to do that. Alternatively, you could skip cooking the fish in oil first and toss the raw fish chunks in the sauce to cook. Put the cooked fish onto a serving dish or bowl, pour the sauce over, and serve.

A carbonised by volcanic ash loaf of bread with the stamp ‘Property of Celer, Slave of Q. Granius Verus’, Herculaneum (near Pompeii), 79 AD

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