Venyson Y-bake A-nother manere

This is the final part in my three-part Medieval Venison series. Hurrah and huzzah! This week's recipe is Venyson Y-bake A-nother manere, from somewhere in the 1400's. This is also known as a pie with venison in it. Be sure to visit Gode Cookery, it is a great site for medieval cooking.

Now, there is a great deal of debate as to whether medieval pie crust was simply a hard, inedible container for cooking foods inside, which one would discard or give to poor people after one had scooped out the good stuff, or was delicious and edible as today's pie crusts are. The problem arises from there being no pastry recipes from the time, as it was assumed that cooks already knew how to make it.

However, since I am a time traveler, I can now settle this once and for all. The answer is: it depends. On some occasions it is one, and on some occasions it is the other. There. Done.

For this recipe, I combined two recipes. I also decided to use a non-delicious pie crust recipe that consisted of 1.) flour and 2.) water.



That was after it was baked. Fat is important to browning.




Venyson Y-bake.
Take hoghes of Venyson, & parboyle hem in fayre Water an Salt; & whan þe Fleyssche is fayre y-boylid, make fayre past, & cast þin Venyson þer-on: & caste a-boue an be-neþe, pouder Pepir, Gyngere, & Salt, & þan sette it on þe ouyn, & lat bake, & serue forth.

Venison Bake- Revised
Take hocks of venison and parboil them in fair water and salt; and when the flesh is fair boiled, make fair paste, and cast the venison thereon; and cast above and beneath, powder pepper, ginger, and salt, and then set it on the oven, and let bake, and serve forth.

Venison Bake- Further Revised
Take hocks of venison and parboil them in water and salt, and when it is boiled, make pastry dough, put the venison in it. Sprinkle with pepper, ginger, and salt, cover with more pastry, bake it, and serve it.


A-nother manere.
Take fayre porke y-broylid, & grind it smal with yolks of Eyroun; þan take Pepir, Gyngere, & grynd it smal, & melle it with-al, & a lytel hony, & floryssche þin cofns with-ynne & with-owte, & hele hem with þin ledys, & late hem bake, & serue forth.

Another Manner- Revised
Take fair pork broiled, and grind it small with yolks of eggs; then take pepper, ginger, and grind it small, and mix it withal, and a little honey, and flourish the coffins within and without, and [?] then with the lids, and let them bake, and serve forth.

Another Manner- Further Revised
Take nice pork, broiled, and chop it up with egg yolks, then mix in pepper, ginger, and a little honey and put in a pie crust, cover it with more pie crust, bake it, and serve it.



Verdict:
It was okay. The spices and honey were actually the best thing about it, the meat was incredibly dry and chewy. The crust was not delicious, but the serfs seem happy to have meat-flavored baked library paste rather than non-meat flavored baked library paste. I can't recommend this one. It's just dry and boring.