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Cotagrys (Cockatrice)
Cotagrys (Cockatrice) is a traditional Medieval recipe for a classic roast dish made from the heat of a roast cockrel and the rear end of a suckling pig that are stuffed with liver forcemeat, stitched together, roasted, coloured with an egg and saaffron mix and gilded before serving. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Medieval version of: Cockatrice (Cotagrys).
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
80 minutes
Total Time:
100 minutes
Serves:
6
Rating: 
Tags : Pork RecipesChicken RecipesFowl RecipesBritish RecipesEnglish Recipes
Original Recipe
Cotagrys
(from A Forme of Cury)
Ꞇe +̅ make þe ſelf fars · but ꝺo þꝰꞇo pymꝰ +̅ sug · take an hole rowſteꝺ kok, pulle hym +̅ hylꝺe hy̅ al ꞇo gyꝺer ſaue þe leggꝰ · ꞇak a pygge +̅ hylꝺ hym ful of þe fars +̅ ſowe hy̅ faſt ꞇo gyꝺ ᷑ · ꝺo hy̅ in a panne +̅ ſeeþ hy̅ wel · +̅ whan þey buth y soꝺe : ꝺo he̅ on a ſpyꞇ +̅ roſt hꞇ wel. colo hit wiþ ꝫolkes of ayro +̅ safɼo · lay þꝰon foyles of golꝺ and sylu̅ꝰ · anꝺ serue hit foꝛꞇh ·
Translation
Cockatrice
Take and make the self stuffing [as in the preceding recipe] but add to it pine nuts and sugar. Take a whole roasted cock, and halve across the belly. Hold all together, save the leg portion, which you should pull apart. Take a [roasted] pig and split it from the middle downwards. Fill it with the stuffing and sow him all together [the cock head part and pig leg part]. Place in a pan and boil thoroughly and when it is cooked : place on a spit and roast it well. Colour it with egg yolks and saffron and dress with gold and silver leaf and serve it forth.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
1 batch of
pomme dorryes forcemeat
100g pine nuts, pounded in a mortar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 whole roasted cockerel (with the head still attached)
1 suckling pig, roasted
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp
saffron, crumbled
Method:
Mix the pine nuts and brown sugar into the liver forcemeat and set aside.
Take the roasted cockerel and cut it in half across the middle. Save the head part whole but strip the flesh from the legs and lower body. Now take the roasted pig and split this down the middle. Set the legs aside and strip the meat from the head part.
Take the cock's head end and the pig's tail end and stuff the body cavities with the forcemeat. Now stick the two parts of the animals together and sew them securely in place. You now have a cockatrice, a creature with a cock's head and pig's legs and tail.
Bring a pan of water to a boil, carefully lower the cockatrice into this and boil gently for about 30 minutes, or until heated through and tender. Carefully remove from the liquid and set in a roasting dish. Transfer to the oven and brown for 20 minutes.
Whisk together the egg yolks and saffron and brush this mixture over the cockatrice. Return to the oven for 20 minutes, glazing with the egg mixture every five minutes or so. This will give the skin a golden appearance.
Gild the head and body parts with gold and silver leaf and bring to the table, accompanied by the pork and chicken meat shredded from the animals earlier.
This is one of the great fancies of the Medieval kitchen, a fabled animal made from other animal parts and would have been ceremonially brought to the dining hall on great platters, held aloft so that all the diners could see.
Find more Medieval recipes as well as more recipes from the Forme of Cury here.
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