House and Garden 
wonderful ways of spelling his words as he had of 
dressing his viands, and certainly took every advan- 
tage of the license allowed in his time in the matter 
of orthography. 
His editor says the names of his dishes and sauces 
are so “horrid and barbarous” very often that they 
have occasioned the greatest perplexity, hut he 
“ humbly hopes he has happily enucleated some of 
these terms.” But in spite of his glossary his 
enucleations sometimes fail to enlighten a twentieth- 
century reader, a result he seems to have anticipated, 
as he confesses “he may probably have failed in the 
very points which he flatters, and fancies, himself 
to have elucidated.” A few instances of these 
“horrid and barbarous” words will show our editor 
did not exaggerate. Among the names of some of 
the dishes we find Mawmenny, Blank Dessorre, 
Gyngawdry, Daryols, Sambocade, Erbolat, Hastelet, 
Egurdouce, and Nyshek, which convey very little 
to our minds, and require some “enucleation.” 
Mawmenny was a kind of brawn made of the flesh 
of capons or pheasants “teased,” that is, pulled in 
pieces with the fingers, and soused in a syrup made 
of sugar and white wine clarified, to which dates and 
mulberries fried in oil or lard were added. Butter, 
by the way, is not mentioned in the “ Eorme of Cury, ” 
oil and lard or “white grease” were used instead of it. 
Blank Dessorre, or Blank-Desire as it came to be 
called, was minced capon or “hen” pounded in a 
mortar and mixed with milk of almonds (a favourite 
ingredient in these recipes), ground rice, sugar, and 
lard, and boiled till it thickened, or as the master 
cook puts it, “till it is chargeant,” then “served 
forth” in a dish covered with white powder. 
“Blank,” of course, means white, hence “blank- 
mange” or blanc-mange. The origin of Dessorre or 
Desire is doubtful; it might mean “de Syrie,” or 
might mean that the dish was one to be desired. 
Mr. Pegge attempts no explanation of the word 
Gyngawdry. The thing was as fearful as its name. 
The cook is bidden to take the livers and paunches 
or crops of haddock, cod, hake, and other fish, cut 
them into dice and boil them to make a sauce, in 
which, mixed with white wine, the fish themselves 
are to be boiled, and the whole to be coloured green. 
Th is last direction seems superfluous; the con¬ 
sumers would, in any case, turn green after eating it. 
But our ancestors were much fonder of the insides 
of animals and fish than we are; the “umhles”of 
pigs, calves, sheep, and other animals besides deer, 
were eaten by them. 
Daryols, which name is of classic origin and is 
mentioned by Juvenal, were custards baked in a 
crust. Sambocade was curds and whey baked in a 
“coffin” or crust and flavoured with elder flowers, 
hence the name, from sambucus the elder. 
Erbolat or Herholade was a confection of herbs 
made of parsley, mint, sage, tansy, rue, fennel. 
southernwood, and other “horrid and barbarous” 
things ground small, mixed with eggs and baked in 
a dish or “trap” and turned out, called in the master 
cook’s language “to messe it forth.” 
Hastelet in this case was a dish of fruit. The cook 
is directed to take figs and quarter them, take raisins 
whole, dates, and almonds, run them on to a spit, 
roast them like a hastelet or small joint, and then 
“endore,” that is, gild them with the yolk of eggs 
and “serve them forth.” 
Egurdouce is the Erench atgre-doux. The recipe 
given is for an egurdouce of fish. Tench, loach, or 
soles are to be “smitten” in pieces, fried in oil, and 
served in a sauce made of half wine, half vinegar, 
sugar, onions, raisins, currants, and spices. 
A better idea of the style of living among the 
nobility in the fourteenth century may be gathered 
from a menu of a feast given by the Bishop of 
Durham, at Durham House, London, to King 
Richard H. on September 23, 1387, three years 
before the “Eorme of Cury” was compiled. As 
this was a royal feast, it was, of course, on a royal 
scale. It consisted of three courses, but the idea of 
a course in the fourteenth century was more com¬ 
prehensive than it is now, as will appear. 
FIRST COURSE. 
Venison with Fnrmenty [it was usual to begin dinner 
with this dish). 
Potage, called Viandbruse. 
Boars' Heads. 
Great Flesh [presumably joints of meat). 
Roast Swans. 
Roast Pigs. 
Custard Lombard in paste. 
A Subtlety. 
SECOND COURSE. 
A Potage called Gele. 
Potage Blandesore [this is evidently our old friend 
Blank-Desire in a new dress). 
Roast Pigs. 
Roast Cranes. 
Roast Pheasants. 
Roast Herons. 
Chickens endored [that is, gilded with yolks of eggs). 
Bream. 
T arts. 
Broken Braiun. 
Roast Coneys [rabbits). 
A Subtlety. 
THIRD COURSE. 
Potage Bruete of Almonds. 
Stewed Lumbarde. 
Roast Venison. 
Roast Chicken. 
Roast Rabbits. 
