Name: Cindy Kok, Ana Estrades
Date and Time:

2015.September.20, 2:00pm-8:00pm

Location: 410 West 58th St., New York, NY
Subject: French Puffs Recipe from Robert May's The Accomplisht Cook, London 1671

RECIPE: Take spinage, tyme, parsley, endive, savory, and marjoram, chop or mince them small; then have twenty eggs beaten with the herbs, that the eggs may be green, some nutmeg, ginger, cinamon, and salt; then cut a lemon in slices, and dip it in batter, fry it, and put a spoonful on every slice of lemon, fry it finely in clarified butter, and being fried, strow on sack, or claret, and sugar.

QUESTIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS

• thought "French Puffs" meant puff pastries, did not find a similar recipe in May's book or contemporary recipes where the result was not like puff pastries; this recipe produced something I might call "lemon fritters"--flatter result in fried egg without flour
• unsure how to interpret the repetition of this instruction: "dip it in batter, fry it, and put a spoonful on every slice of lemon, fry it finely in clarified butter"--is this only clarification or is it meant to be fried twice?
• how generous should we be in our use of spices? how to interpret vague instructions like "some"?
• how would this dish be served in course of a meal? not listed in May's sample recipes are start of book
• are endives and spinach considered an herb? a google search suggests that "spinage" is an antiquated term for "spinach"

BUYING INGREDIENTS

• 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
• bought ingredients at Whole Foods, most listed ingredients are herbs/spices that are currently still being used today
  • we believe that the herbs and spices sold in Whole Foods are a close approximation of ingredients in 1671 England
  • based on how the ingredients were grouped in the recipe, we believe the spinach, thyme, parsley, endive, savory, and marjoram are fresh herbs and the nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon are spices
  • interesting to note that dried and powdered nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon are still from Sri Lanka and Indonesia, a similar area of the world that was exporting these spices to England around 1671 (referenced in Keay, John. The spice route: a history. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.)
  • there were several options for cinnamon, we chose the one called, plainly, "cinnamon" rather than "Vietnamese Cinnamon" or "Korintje Cinnamon"
  • bought ghee rather than making our own clarified butter
• we chose to half the recipe, rather than buying 20 eggs (the only quantity given)
• sack and claret are antiquated names for types of wine; claret is a British term for red wine from the Bordeaux region (Echikson, William. Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution. NY: Norton, 2004.), we chose an inexpensive red wine since little of this ingredient is needed
• we expect that many of these ingredients (except spices, claret, sugar) would have been locally produced or grown, rather than processed and sold in supermarkets like today

RECREATING RECIPE

• 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
• 70 degrees Fahrenheit air-conditioned apartment, little natural light, ingredients not refrigerated (directly from store) --> room temperature
• FRESH HERBS: spinach, marjoram, thyme, savory, parsley, endive
• DRIED SPICES: nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon
• OTHER INGREDIENTS: salt, 10 eggs, 3 lemons--sliced (for approximated proportions, please see modern rewriting of recipe)
• used metal pot with teflon coating on electric stove, prepared egg batter in glass bowl, cut herbs and lemons with metal and ceramic knives on plastic cutting boards (modern day equipment)
• recipe does not contain much instruction besides actions
• chopped herbs together and added to eggs beaten with a large fork, add powdered spices to mixture
• dipped lemon slices into mixture and put in melted and heated butter
• electric range helped keep temperature even, realized that heat needed to be kept very even
• difficult to make egg and herb mixture stick to lemon slice, needed to hold it in place until the outside fried quickly; time consuming to fry lemon slices piece by piece
• lemon rinds fried more easily and quickly than expected, realized that slightly thicker slices held better (did not bend) in oil
• oil quickly became cloudy and dirty in small pot; frying is time consuming
• freshly fried puffs had spongy consistency, easy to bite through lemon rind
• we interpreted "strow" as "sprinkle", claret and sugar added slight sweetness to recipe
• lemon was dominant flavor; not strongly sweet or savory and no single spice or herb dominates

MODERN INTERPRETATION OF RECIPE
Ingredients

• small bunch of spinach
• 2½ heaping tablespoons each of fresh thyme, parsley, savory, and marjoram
• 2 small endives
• 10 eggs
• 3 lemons
• ½ tablespoon nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 14 oz. clarified butter (ghee)
• 1 tablespoon claret (bordeaux)
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Beat eggs then add finely chop the spinach, thyme, parsley, endives, savory, and marjoram. Beat together until well mixed. Add nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and salt.

Cut lemons into relatively thick slices, about ½ cm each. Meanwhile, heat clarified butter on low heat in a deep saucepan. When evenly heated, dip each lemon slice in the egg batter, then fry until lemon rinds are soft and the puff is evenly golden brown. Sprinkle fried puffs with claret and sugar and serve immediately.