Click on the image, above to submit to Pinterest.

Let lardes (Milk and Lard)

Let lardes (Milk and Lard) is a traditional Medieval recipe for a classic dish or snack of custard made from milk and lard thickened with eggs that's coloured in various ways, pressed together to bind and fried before serving. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Medieval version of: Milk and Lard (Let lardes).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

70 minutes

Total Time:

90 minutes

Serves:

4–6

Rating:

Tags : Spice RecipesHerb RecipesMilk RecipesBritish RecipesEnglish Recipes

Original Recipe

Translation

Milk and Lard

Take parsley and pound it with cow milk. Mix it with eggs and diced lard. After you have done this, mix it with milk and make of it diverse colours. If you would have yellow add to this saffron, but no parsley. If you would have it white: do not add parsley nor saffron, but add to it wheat starch. If you would have it red, add to it sandalwood. If you would have it pownas⁺⁺ add to it turmeric. If you would have black, add to it blood that has been boiled and fried. And set on the fire in as many dishes as you have colours and boil it well and lay the first of these colours on a cloth and sit another upon it and sit the third [on top] and then the fourth. And press it hard until all the excess liquid is extracted. And when it is cold slice it thinly, put it in a pan and fry it well. And serve it forth.

[++ pownas this is a colour, basically a golden orange]

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

600ml milk
3 eggs, beaten
50g lard, finely diced
6 tbsp parsley, pounded to a paste in a mortar
generous pinch of saffron
1 tsp cornflour (originally, amulum, wheat starch would have been used)
red food colouring
100ml blood (or black food colouring)
1 tsp turmeric
oil for frying

Method:

Begin by preparing the blood. Pour into a pan, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes then take off the heat and set aside to cool. Once the blood has cooled, heat a little oil in a frying pan, add the boiled blood and fry briskly until black. Take off the heat and set aside to cool then pound in a mortar. Use about 2 tbsp of this black paste to colour custards black.

In a bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the milk then add the lard. Set aside.

In the meantime, prepare the colourants. For green pound the parsley in a mortar until you have a smooth paste then work in 50ml milk and turn into a cup.

For yellow, pound saffron in a mortar. Work in 50ml milk then turn into a cup.

For white, whisk the cornflour with 50ml milk until you have a smooth slurry then set aside.

For red, whisk red colouring into 50ml milk.

For black, work 50ml milk into 2 tbsp of the blood mixture prepared above.

For a golden orange colour, mix the turmeric with 50ml milk

Divide the egg, lard and milk mixture into five portions and mix with the appropriate colour solution. Place these mixtures, separately, in small pans, heat gently until the lard melts then bring to a simmer and cook until the custard is very thick. Pour into ring moulds set on greaseproof paper and allow to cool. When the custards have almost set, but are still warm, arrange them in a stack, once colour above the other. Surround with a metal ring or card tube then press down with a weight to extract any excess moisture and bind the colours together.

When you have a nice sandwich of colours that are bound together, slice thinly then fry gently until warmed though and serve.

Find more Medieval recipes as well as more recipes from the Forme of Cury here.