SCA Recipe of the Day: Perys en Composte

    In order to start getting into the SCA kick of things, now that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel finally, I’ve decided to start posting some creative works and knowledge. Today I wanted to make something dessert themed with one of my favorite fruits, so today I made Perys en Composte. This recipe can be found in “Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books: Harleian Ms. 279 (Ab. 1430), And Harl. Ms. 4016 (Ab. 1450), With Extracts From Ashmole Ms. 1429, Laud Ms. 553, and Douce Ms. 55”.

The original recipe reads as follows:

“Perys en Composte. Take Wyne an Canel, & a gret dele of Whyte Sugre, an set it on þe fyre & hete it hote, but let it nowt boyle, an draw it þorwe a straynoure; þan take fayre Datys, an pyke owt þe stonys, an leche hem alle þinne, an caste þer-to; þanne take Wardonys, an pare hem and sethe hem, an leche hem alle þinne, & caste þer-to in-to þe Syryppe; þanne take a lytil Sawnderys, and caste þer-to, an sette it on þe fyre; an yif þow hast charde quynce, caste þer-to in þe boyling, an loke þat it stonde wyl with Sugre, an wyl lyid wyth Canel, an caste Salt þer-to, an let it boyle; an þan caste yt on a treen vessel, & lat it kele, and serue forth.”

Cross-referencing several other translations, as well as using my own notes on translation from Forme of Cury, I have the following translation of the recipe into modern English:

“Pears in Compote. Take wine and cinnamon, and a great deal of white sugar, and set it on the fire and heat it hot, but don't let boil, and strain; then take fair dates, and pick out the stones, and cut thin, and add; then take pears, and peel them and boil them, and cut them in thin slices, and place in the syrup; then take a little sandalwood, and add, and set it on the fire; and if you have quinces, add them, and look that it stand well with sugar, and well laid with cinnamon, and add salt, and let it boil; and put it in a wooden container, and let it cool, and serve.”

    This is a fun little dish to make, and a super tasty one in the end. I used the following ingredients:

. 3 cups white sugar

. 750ml “dark” rosé wine

. 4 sticks of cinnamon

. 1 cup dates, pitted and thinly sliced

. 6 Bosc Pears (extra firm, just under ripened if possible)

. 1 TBSP Sandalwood

. Saffron for color

I did some substitutions from what would have been used in period to make this dish due to a lack of ingredients (and not wanting to spend a stupid amount of money on a bottle of wine). In period the type of pear they would use is known as a Black Worcester, a hard and coarse pear that is mostly used for stewing and long-keeping so great for preservation, but those are not regularly grown in Florida and I couldn’t find any sellers nearby. The documentation refers to the pear used as a Warden Pear which was the general term used for a hard cooking pear, so I went with Bosc pears that were still hardened and not quite ripe to help simulate the flesh of a Black Worcester. 

For the wine I went with the darkest rosé I could find at Publix, honestly because I didn’t want to go to Total Wine and Spirits and drop a huge amount of cash on a French Bordeaux wine just for this fun dish today. In period the English would have had access to the Bordeaux wines from France, they were very fashionable to drink in the English courts and they only became scarce for a time due to the 100 Year War and the trade issues it caused. At this time in their history the Bordeaux region was known in England for their “clairet” wine, a dark pink and full-bodied rosé by our modern standards. I think I spent 15 minutes in the wine aisle at Publix holding up various rosé wines against the light to find the darkest, which was a super fun process. 

Spice wise, I did add an ingredient to the dish that wasn’t present in the original, using saffron to assist with color. I did so because I had no quinces on hand, which when cooked into the dish would have helped giving a more yellow/goldish tone to the finished dish as well as continue to help cut against the sweetness. Thankful the dish says to add quinces only if you have them on hand, so loopholes helped me out! A couple trusty strands of saffron later, and I feel I got very close to the color as created in Period. Lastly I chose to go with cinnamon sticks instead of the ground up cinnamon powder, in other pottage dishes I’ve made in the past I have had cinnamon sticks used or directly referenced and this seemed like the only reason to strain the wine mixture later on.  

Changes in place, here are the steps I took to make this dish, so you can follow along later at home if you so wish! The finished product should be a thicken pottage of wine syrup and fruit, it will be quite sweet with small bitter undertones to help cut the sweetness and give it a more well-rounded flavor. To take it in a more modern take, once finished 

1. Turn your stovetop onto medium-high heat and place your pot on the stove. Pour bottle of wine into your pot on the stove and slowly stir in the sugar. You want to make sure the sugar is fully dissolved into the wine before adding in your cinnamon sticks. Stir slowly every so often, letting your wine heat till it just begins to boil.

2. While the wine is heating up, wash your pears and then peel them. Set the pears into a pot and cover with water. Turn that heater onto High and boil those pears for 30-45 minutes under super tender. Drain and set aside to cool to room temperature.

3. While your wine and pears are heating up, take your dates and remove any pits if they haven’t already been cleaned out. Slice them into small bite size bits, I went with long slivers so I could better identify their pieces amongst the rest of the dish. Once sliced, set aside. 

4. Once the wine has reached a near boiling point, remove from heat. Take the cinnamon sticks out of the wine syrup mixture, stir and add in the dates and saffron. Put back onto heat to simmer and stay hot, but do not allow to boil!

5. Once the pears have finished boiling, drain and remove them from heat. Cut down the pears into bite sized chunks, remember at this time in period they would not have had access to forks just yet so all of your pear bites should be small enough to rest comfortably on a spoon. Cut the pears up and add them to the wine mixture. 

6. Once the pears have all been added, put in your Sandalwood and turn the heat up while stirring rapidly to mix everything together. Allow to reach a soft boil and allow to cook down to reduce the wine mixture into a syrup, reduce your liquid down to about half the amount to let it properly thicken into a syrup and be absorbed by the dates and pears.

7. Once the syrup has been cooked halfway down and thickened so it sticks to your whisk, remove from heat and transfer into a bowl to allow it to cool and come to room temperature. Serve forth and enjoy!