Waffres
This week I wanted to make something more breakfast themed and more savory, as requested by my partner who very much enjoyed the pears but they were quite sweet. Looking through the manuscript I found this delightful recipe, and thankfully found many other sources online who had also attempted such. This is Waffres, from “Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books” and the original recipe is as follows:
.xxiiij. Waffres. Take þe Wombe of A luce, & seþe here wyl, & do it on a morter, & tender cheese þer-to, grynde hem y-fere; þan take flowre an whyte of Eyroun & bete to-gedere, þen take Sugre an pouder of Gyngere, & do al to-gerderys, & loke þat þin Eyroun ben hote, & ley þer-on of þin paste, & þan make þin waffrys, & serue yn.
After consulting my own middle English notes for translations, comparing it to other translations found online and using google to look up some unfamiliar terms, I found the following to be the best translation into modern English for this dish:
Wafers. Take the [belly flesh of a pike], and boil it well, and mash it in a mortar, and add soft cheese, grind them well; then take flour and egg whites and beat it together, then take sugar and ground ginger, and mix all together, and see that the [dough is room temperature], and make a [thin batter], and make the wafers, and serve.
This recipe....oooh boy. There’s a lot going on here to start with, but first I wanna reference the missing ingredients. In every period recipe we have from a documented source, we find missing ingredients. Many of these texts were written as shorthand for what should be in each dish, or what the particular noble liked in their meat pie or how to cut a food a certain way to be the most appealing. Anyone who had access to these texts therefore had YEARS of training, having a basic understanding of how to control heat or cook various items or even when to add water or other ingredients. Since writing down these manuscripts was a significant effort before the invention (and later widespread use of) the printing press, many details would be dropped. When translating this to a modern recipe format, we therefore have to take into account the missing items and add them in to finish the item in question.
In this recipe alone I feel, with my experience in cooking fried foods, there are two key missing items. First is water, if this is going to be any kind of thin batter or dough for a fried or baked food there will need to be water added to make the dough work. The finished dough is not thin enough to be worked well in any format, too thick to make anything resembling a wafer and will not cook properly with its density, so water is needed to thin it out and help stretch the dough into something more usable for whatever form it will take. Secondly is the salt, because salt is in everything. Salt is key in various baking projects to help enhance and fortify the flavors in the dough, so adding a bit of salt will be needed (despite it not being mentioned). Having taken into account these two items, I can begin with the recipe in earnest.
While I do strive to recreate this dish as period accurate as possible, I do have to take into account a few modern changes. Considering my partner and her dietary restrictions, as well as the restrictions of a few of my friends (aka test subjects), I chose to use gluten-free flour instead of a standard flour. I use King Arthur's Gluten-Free Measure for Measure for all my gluten-free cooking, it has the xanthan gum pre-mixed in it so it's a great recreation of whole wheat flour. I also switched to walleye fish instead of pike, sadly pike isn’t readily available here in Florida in various retail stores but I was able to get my hands on walleye instead. Walleye is another freshwater fish that many resources state is similar in texture to pike, and a good substitute for pike in dishes. When it comes to cheese, they specify a tender cheese but not list an exact type. Considering other recipe’s around this one list various ingredients that can be traced back to/are imported from France, I chose to use brie because it's a favorite soft cheese of mine and comes from a similar region of France that other items would have been imported in period. What we consume today as brie is going to be different than the period forms of cheese that would later become brie as we know it, but this is a close proximity I feel.
While going through with this translation and redaction, I came upon a stumbling block in the term “womb of a pike”. There are several translations which could have womb describe either the organs of the fish, the fish roe itself or perhaps the belly cut of the fish fillet as the section of fish to be used. I discussed this with several cooking friends as well as various SCA cooks online, and had some great discussions and contrasting opinions on this exact translation. But in the end I decided to go with the fish belly cut of a fillet, for a number of reasons. First, in this manuscript itself (and in other cooking manuscripts from around this time) the internal organs are often referred to using their own terms like offal. Because they choose to use the term wombe instead of awful, I feel like we can safely rule out that as an option. In regards to it possibly being the roe, or eggs, of the fish I again have to disagree. While it’s entirely possible that fish roe could be used in such a way, and honestly that would be super tasty to try, I have to say that for this recipe it’s highly unlikely to have been used. Pike spawn starting in late February at the earliest and at their height in late March to mid-April. This would put this dish pointedly as a springtime dish only, not only that but would make it decidedly NOT a Lenten dish. In this manuscript, and in others from around its time, they make it a point to state if a dish is available or should be consumed only during a certain period of time or is a Lenten dish. I am aware that roe would have only been available during Lent due to the spawning time of pike, which normally wouldn’t have been an issue since fish could be eaten during Lent, but this dish specifically mentions both eggs and cheese which would not have been an approved Lenten food during this time.
Another point I have had extensive discussion with my Laurel and Apprentice brother on is the consistency and type of item being made by this recipe. My Laurel feels that the translation of the dish and description leads this to be a thinner/crispier finished product than the thicker waffle version I made. We have gone back and forth on this for a bit, but I am still confident that this would not have been a thin and crispy item but a baked good with at least a little density and weight to it. For starters, nowhere else in this particular manuscript can I locate any other recipes for wafers to compare it to. Without a contrasting recipe to compare it's hard for me to pick one side or the other, except that the original recipe did say to make a thin wafer. The ingredients in this item are particularly difficult to translate over a thin surface, the fish and soft cheese would lose much of their flavor if further diluted by water to thin out the batter to be thinner or to have it pressed so tightly to be thin and crispy. Period wafer irons of the time do create a thin wafer, but by examining various recovered objects from digital sources there is still a significant gap in between the two irons to allow for two separate images to be transferred onto the wafer and not distort the other. Further testing will be needed to better know exactly how thin a wafer should be, but this particular one lends itself to me to be thicker to allow for the denser ingredients to mix evenly and to allow the two iron images enough density to have zero bleed-over. This is just my opinion on the topic given the information available, and I would love to hear others opinions on the topic and discuss this further!
With all that said, this is my redacted recipe and steps taken to make this dish. Feel free to make this along at home, and let me know how you enjoy it! I think the finished waffles are amazing when topped with honey (for a sweeter dish) or a nice hot mustard (for a more savory bite).
Ingredients I used:
6 Large Eggs, using the whites only
1/2lb Walleye belly cut fillet
1/2 cup Brie
1/4 cup White Sugar
4 tbsp Ground Ginger
1tsp Salt
1 1/2 cup Cold Water
Plug in your waffle maker and heat it up, getting it ready. While that's heating, take a large pot and fill with cold water. Set to boil, and put a strainer in the sink for later use.
While the water is heating, take your fish and wash clean. Cut into smaller pieces to allow for an easier time shredding down. Set aside fish, and combine your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and set aside. Crack your eggs and separate your yokes, keeping the whites in a small side bowl and set aside.
As the water begins to boil, put the fish in. Boil for just 5-7 minutes, the flesh should be fully white and flaking when cooked. Once finished cooking, gently poor the water through the strainer to remove all the water and catch all the fish.
In a small mixing bowl add the fish, brie and 6 egg whites. Blend till fully mixed in and one thick consistent batter.
Add in your dry ingredients and then water. Mix thoroughly until a smooth and consistent batter. If too thick, carefully d 1/4 cup of water at a time until you have a smooth but thick batter.
Spray your waffle iron with cooking oil spray, and slowly scoop 1/2 cup of batter onto the iron. This batter is very thick and will not flow well, so use a fork to spread across the iron for an even cook.
Cook waffles, set aside and enjoy!
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