Recipe: Emplumeus of Apples
A medieval recipe from "Food and Feast," by Laura Vosika.
4 apples
3 cups water
2 cups blanched almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
pinch saffron (optional)
2 tsp rosewater (optional)
1. Peel, core, and slice apples.
2. Bring water to a boil, then add slices
3. Cook until soft, then strain, reserving liquid.
4. Chop apples into small pieces
5. Grind almonds well and place in a bowl
6. Add reserved liquid; steep for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally
7. Pour through a fine sieve into a pan with the apples
8. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until thick. Serve hot.
Medieval Version of the instructions:
You must take the sweetest apples and peel off their skin, and quarter them; and remove the core and the pips. and then set a pot to boil with as much water as you know will be necessary; and when the water boils, cast in the apples. And then take well-toasted almonds and grind them well in a mortar; and blend them with the broth from the apples; and strain them through a woolen cloth with a crustless piece of bread soaked in the said apple broth; and strain everything quite thick; and after straining, it cast in a good deal of ground cinnamon and sugar; and then send it to cook on the fire, and when the sauce boils remove it from the fire; and cast in the apples which remain well drained of the broth; but see that the apples should not be scalded; so that you can prepare dishes of them; and when they are done, cast sugar and cinnamon on top.