Forme of Cury - Crustardes Of Flessh

So, what is this all about, old language and confusing to say the least!

The weather has been getting warmer, interspersed with rain! With a sudden rise in temperature, the humble salad becomes one of my favourite things to eat. It was a family tradition, every sunday evening after having a roast for lunch, to have a salad in the evening, often served with bread and dripping fresh from the lunchtime roast beef, yumm!

The Forme of Cury (Forms of Cooking, cury being from French cuire) is an extensive recipe collection of the 14th century. Its authors are given as "the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II. Contained within are 205 recipes such as :

CRUSTARDES OF FLESSH. XX.VII. XIIII.

Take peiouns, chykens, and smale briddes smyte hem in gobettes.& seeþ hem alle ifere in god broþ wiþ veriaws do þerto safroun, make a crust in a trape. and pynche it. & cowche þe flessh þerinne. & cast þerinne Raisouns coraunce. powdour douce and salt. breke ayrenn and wryng hem thurgh a cloth & swyng þe sewe of þe stewe þerwith and helde it uppon the flessh. couere it & bake it wel. and serue it forth.

You can find the complete book here !

So, I was thinking about salad and what to have with it, and the humble Quiche, actually german in origin sprung to mind. Quiche Lorraine is partly referenced in the 'Forme of Cury' Crustardes being pastry or bread lined tarts with an egg custard filling.

I fancied some original Quiche (Bacon, Eggs, Cream), so set about making the pastry ala Rachel Khoo, simplicity itself, soft butter, mixed with flour sugar and salt, mix for as little as possible, chuck in a couple of eggs and a spoonful or two of ice cold water and bring together. Stick it in the fridge and its good to go in an hour!

 

I was in a well known super market the other day, and they were charging £2.99 for the smallest packet of lardons, which did not look that great. I got mine from my favourite meat supplier Casey Fields Farm Shop in Ashamstead. I got six times the weight for the same price and the quality was awesome. You can see them above, waiting for the egg and double cream mixture.

I followed Rachel's receipe and you can see the results for yourself, it took about 15 mins to make the Quiche (excluding resting/cooking time) and it tastes fab (its nearly all gone within 24 hours of baking!).

 

You can see a video how Rachel Khoo makes the quiche here along with the rest of the receipe. Considering the time taken, size of the finished quiche its quicker to make than go to the supermarket and find a dodgy one on the shelf, and it tastes seriously good if you can find half decent lardons or bacon.

I urge you to  have a go, its simple, quick and well worth it.