Wagnerian Breakfast
Aug. 30th, 2020 09:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe: White Mush.
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
~6 threads saffron, ground
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon (cassia)
Beat egg, whisk in milk, saffron, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk in bread crumbs, reduce heat to low, and stir until thickened, (assuming 5 minutes). Place in a bowl and stir in butter and cinnamon.
I added a dash of salt, assuming that this is common enough that it did not need specifying. I suppose I could have just used salted butter instead.
Sources: Grewe, Rudolf, and Constance B. Hieatt. Libellus de Arte Coquinaria: An Early Northern Cookery Book. Tucson: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance S, 2001. ISBN 0866982647.
Second pass:
Reduce bread crumbs to 1/3 cup and whisk milk, egg, bread crumbs, and saffron together. Bring to a simmer and stir over low heat until thickened (about 2-3 minutes). I used true cinnamon instead of cassia.
What worked: As Mark Twain quoted about Wagner's music, this is better than it sounds. It's nondescript but I think the original intent is a filling starchy side dish - think grits or polenta. I had it for breakfast and it was fine. The second pass worked much better as a breakfast dish; it was creamier, which makes sense with the lower proportion of bread crumb. The wife actually liked it as sick food (i.e. food you eat while recovering that won't challenge your system).
What didn't: The bread crumbs seized up instantly in the first pass and it would have stuck if I hadn't pulled it off the heat right away. (Fortunately it didn't taste of raw bread crumb.) I fixed that in the second pass.
The true cinnamon I used the second time, which is more subtle in flavor, didn't contribute as much as the cassia did.
[Why did they call this "white" mush? It's clearly going to get yellow from the ground saffron. Weird.]
Will I make it again? This will go into the tourney cookbook, but it will likely be an occasional breakfast at a long event like WAT rather than a go-to. Although when we have milk in the house this may be an occasional breakfast when I'm in the mood for something on the blander side.
How to prepare a dish called White Mush.First pass:
One should take fresh milk, and well crushed wheat bread and a beaten egg and well ground saffron, and let it cook until it becomes thick. Then place it on a dish, and add butter, and sprinkle on powdered cinnamon. It is called "White Mush." (Libellus de Arte Coquinaria, 1300s)
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
~6 threads saffron, ground
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon (cassia)
Beat egg, whisk in milk, saffron, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk in bread crumbs, reduce heat to low, and stir until thickened, (assuming 5 minutes). Place in a bowl and stir in butter and cinnamon.
I added a dash of salt, assuming that this is common enough that it did not need specifying. I suppose I could have just used salted butter instead.
Sources: Grewe, Rudolf, and Constance B. Hieatt. Libellus de Arte Coquinaria: An Early Northern Cookery Book. Tucson: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance S, 2001. ISBN 0866982647.
Second pass:
Reduce bread crumbs to 1/3 cup and whisk milk, egg, bread crumbs, and saffron together. Bring to a simmer and stir over low heat until thickened (about 2-3 minutes). I used true cinnamon instead of cassia.
What worked: As Mark Twain quoted about Wagner's music, this is better than it sounds. It's nondescript but I think the original intent is a filling starchy side dish - think grits or polenta. I had it for breakfast and it was fine. The second pass worked much better as a breakfast dish; it was creamier, which makes sense with the lower proportion of bread crumb. The wife actually liked it as sick food (i.e. food you eat while recovering that won't challenge your system).
What didn't: The bread crumbs seized up instantly in the first pass and it would have stuck if I hadn't pulled it off the heat right away. (Fortunately it didn't taste of raw bread crumb.) I fixed that in the second pass.
The true cinnamon I used the second time, which is more subtle in flavor, didn't contribute as much as the cassia did.
[Why did they call this "white" mush? It's clearly going to get yellow from the ground saffron. Weird.]
Will I make it again? This will go into the tourney cookbook, but it will likely be an occasional breakfast at a long event like WAT rather than a go-to. Although when we have milk in the house this may be an occasional breakfast when I'm in the mood for something on the blander side.
