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A fourteenth century apple pie

A.Redaction

From The Forme of Cury: XXVII For to make Tartys in Applis.

Tak gode Applys and gode Spycis and Figys and reysons and Perys and wan they are wel ybrayed colourd with Safron wel and do yt in a cofyn and yt forth to bake wel.

Modern Redaction:
Filling:
• 8 large Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 4 Bartlet pears peeled, cored and sliced
• One half cup of raisins
• One half cup of figs, sliced
• 2 tsp cinnamon,
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ginger
• One fourth tsp cloves
• a pinch of saffron
Pie Shell (modified slightly from Raising a Coffin):
• 2 cups of wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup of butter
• Half cup of milk
• egg yolks for glazing
Rub a tablespoon of the butter into the flour and salt with your fingertips. Take the remaining butter, and add it to the liquid. Heat the liquid over med. heat until it just breaks a boil, and the butter is melted. Make a well in the flour, dump in the liquid and melted fat, and stir quickly with a wooden spoon to combine. Cover with a cloth to keep it warm, and let the dough rest for 10 minutes or so in a warm place.

Pinch off two thirds of the very warm dough. Reserve the remaining third for the lid, in a bowl with a cloth covering it. We will aim for a six- inch base, with sides approx. 4-5 inches high. Pat the dough into a circle. With knuckles, thumbs, palms, and any other means possible, mold the dough into a bowl shape or cylinder. Splay out the top edges slightly.

Roll the remaining dough into a circle. Flatten out into a seven-inch circle. Cut a one-inch circle in the center. If you have any excess dough, use it to decorate the lid or sides with rosettes, leaves, vines, etc. Score the bottoms of these with a fork, and moisten, then attach to a scored section of the lid. When the pie has been filled, moisten the edges of the base. Put the lid on top. Pinch the edges together. Using a small knife or kitchen shears, cut small, inch deep cuts into the edges, making an even number, all around the edge. Fold every other "notch" down, to make a crenellated edge. Pinch the crenellations to ensure they stay down.

Mix all of the pie filing ingredients together. Pour into the pie shell and cover with the pie lid. Bake at 350 F for one hour. After one hour, glaze the pie shell with the egg yolk for a lovely golden brown color. Return to the oven for another twenty minutes.

B. Discussion

The pie shell in this recipe is a coffin. The coffin itself was generally not meant to be eaten, as the taste was very bland and only a container for foodstuffs. As Scully suggests, I slightly modified Lis Herr-Gelatt’s coffin recipe to use whole wheat flour. I also do this because the whole wheat flour I use has high protein and gluten amounts so it will hold together well and keep the pie from spilling. Also, while Scully suggests not using butter, I find butter makes the pie easier to form.

A major difference between this pie and subsequent pies is the lack of sugar in the recipe. While sugar was available in Europe in the 14th century, it was extremely scarce in England and the cost was extremely prohibitive, and even King Henry III had trouble obtaining sugar. Instead, the pie is somewhat tart as it relies on the sweetness of the fruit and the spice mixture. Since the spices are not clearly indicated, I use cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves as my spice mixture as they are my favorite period spices. The amount and types of spices in the pies would have also been different each time the pie was made in period, depending on the cooks’ preferences and the availability of the spices at hand.

While there are surviving period apple varieties, I am usually unable to obtain any. Instead, I use Golden Delicious apples that are thought to be a descendant of Golden Reniette, a known period sweet apple variety. I use Bartlett pears that may or may not be a period variety of pear. The raisins and figs that I use are also modern varieties.