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Chastletes (Little Castles)
Chastletes (Little Castles) is a traditional Medieval recipe for a classic and rather spectacular dish of pastry formed into a castle with turrets that are stuffed with pork forcemeat, almond milk, egg custard, fruit filling and white fritter filling, respectively. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Medieval version of: Little Castles (Chastletes).
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
140 minutes
Total Time:
160 minutes
Serves:
8
Rating: 
Tags : Pork RecipesBaking RecipesBritish RecipesEnglish Recipes
Original Recipe
Chastletes
(from A Forme of Cury)
Ꞇe and mae a foyle of goꝺe paſt wit a roỻer of a foot broꝺe · +̅ lyng by cūpas · make iiij coffyns of þe ſelf paſt uon þe rollerꝯ þe gretneſſe of þe ſmale of þyn arme· of vi ynce depneſſe · mae þe gretus̅ꞇ ī þe myꝺꝺell· faſten þe foile ī þe mout upwarꝺe · +̅ faſten þee oþꝯe foure ī euꝯy yꝺe · erue ouꞇ eynꞇlyce yrnels aboue ī þe manꝯ of batelyng anꝺ ꝺry em aɼꝺ in an oỽene oþꝯ in þe ūne · n þe myꝺꝺel coffyn ꝺo fars of por wiþ goꝺe powꝺo anꝺ ayro ɼaw wiꞇ ſalt +̅ colo it wꞇ afro · anꝺ ꝺo n a anoþꝯ creme of almaꝺꝯ · +̅ elꝺ in anoþ creme of cowe myle wꞇ ayro · colo yꞇ wꞇ aꝺres · n a noþꝯ man᷑e fars of fygꝯ · of rayſos · of ales · of perꝯ · +̅ olꝺe it browne · n a noþꝯ man᷑e ꝺo fars as to frytos blaunce · +̅ colo yt grene · put þis ī þe oỽene anꝺ bae yt wel +̅ sꝯue it forꞇ wꞇ ew ardaꞇ ·
Translation
Little Castles
Take and make a sheet of good paste and roll it a foot broad and longer by measure. Make there standing pies of this paste upon the roller, the size of the small of your arm and of 6 inches depth. Place the largest in the centre and fasten the sheet [of pastry] in the mouth, upwards and attach the other four on every side. Carve out a quantity of battlements above, in the manner of embattlements and dry them hard in an oven, or otherwise in the sun. In the centre of the standing crust place a forcemeat of pork with pork fat and raw eggs with salt and colour it with saffron and place in another almond cream and place in another the cream of cow milk with eggs, coloured with sandalwood. In another place : a stuffing of figs, raisins, apples and raisins and make it brown. In another place a stuffing of white fritters and colour it green. Put this in the oven and bake it well. Serve it forth with hot water.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
enough
medieval pastry to form the base, towers and battlements
For the Pork Forcemeat:
100g pork
50g pork fat
1 egg
salt, to taste
generous pinch of saffron, crumbled
100ml
almond cream
For the Custard:
80ml milk
1 egg
a few drops of red food colouring
For the Fruit:
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
3 dried figs, chopped
2 tbsp raisins
60ml
brown stock
For the White Fritter Filling:
6 tbsp ground
almonds
6 tbsp honey
2 tbsp dry white wine
a few drops of green food colouring
Method:
Prepare the pastry and roll out to about 15cm wide and 80cm long. Make another piece 20cm wide and 20cm long. Make a third piece about 30cm square (all these pieces should be 2cm thick).
Take the piece that's 20cm square and roll into a tube on your rolling pin. Sit the piece that's 30cm square on a baking tray and set the tube you've just made in the centre. Pinch the base of the tube with the footing to seal. Now cut the long strip into four pieces that are 15cm long. Roll these around a rolling pin and pinch the seams closed.
Set these next to the central tube to form four smaller corners. Pinch these to seal to the base and the central tower. You should now have a central tower with four smaller towers on each corner. Trim the base to fit then roll the scraps out into a strip about 3cm wide and 1cm thick. Take a sharp knife and cut out rectangles from the top of the strip so that the length of pastry resembles battlements. Now cut this into lengths that can be wrapped around the top of each tower. You now have a castle with battlements.
Pre-heat your oven to 60°C. Carefully place your castle in the oven and let it dry out slowly for about 60 minutes. The pastry should be dry and firm to the touch, but should not be coloured.
In the meantime, prepare the filling for the towers. For the pork filling, simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Work thoroughly with your hands then stuff the mixture into the central tower until it is just below the level of the battlements.
Pour the almond cream into the first of the smaller towers. Now whisk together the milk and egg to make a custard base. Colour this red and pour into the second of the smaller towers.
In the meantime, combine the fruit in a pan with the brown stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, or until you have a thick pulp. Pour this into the third tower.
For the white fritters, Heat the wine and honey in a pan until liquid then work in the almonds until you have a paste. Colour this green and scoop into the final tower.
Place the castle in an oven pre-heated to 180°C and cook for about 40 minutes, or until all the fillings are cooked through and set. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
Find more Medieval recipes as well as more recipes from the Forme of Cury here.
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