Ingredients
Honey; Walnuts; Turnips; Carrots; Pears; Peaches; Gourd; Fennel Bulb; Mustard Seed; Anise Seed; Coriander Seed; Red Wine Vinegar; Horseradish; Cloves; Cinnamon; Long Pepper; Ginger; Nutmeg; Grains of Paradise; Saffron; Red Sandalwood; Grapes; Fortified Wine
Advisory: This product was preserved using historical methods, not approved by modern food safety agencies. It has not been pasteurized and may contain harmful bacteria. Children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk. May also contain shell fragments.
This dish is, in effect, a project all of its own. It takes nearly a year to make the recipe due to specific seasonality of green walnuts, unripe peaches and unripe pears, even in the modern world which has largely freed itself from the confines of local agriculture. It also requires an absolute embarrassment of spices in both quantity and variety. It is also extremely labor intensive, with the preserves each requiring attention in the form of boiling, skimming, and boiling again every few days for a month. Despite the use of gold leaf, and talk of peacocks redressed in their skin elsewhere, I believe this is one of the most truly ostentatious dishes documented in our sources, even in modern times. Without access to a food safety lab, I cannot make claims about the successful preservation of the product – however, based on my understanding of water activity and sugar concentration, this does in theory produce a product well, well below the threshold of shelf stability.
Modern Redaction
| 3 lbs. | Green Walnuts |
| 3 lbs. | Turnips |
| 3 lbs. | Carrots |
| 3 lbs. | Pears, unripe |
| 3 lbs. | Peaches, unripe |
| 3 lbs. | Calabash (Long Bottle Gourd) |
| 3 lbs | Fennel Bulb |
| ~30lbs | Honey |
| 2 c. | Red Wine |
| 1 c. | Red Wine Vinegar |
| 1 oz. | Brown Mustard Seed |
| 1/2 oz. | Anise Seed |
| 1/2 oz, | Coriander Seed |
| 1/2 oz. | Horseradish |
| 1.5 oz. | Cloves |
| 1.5 oz. | Cinnamon |
| 1.5 oz. | Long Pepper |
| 1.5 oz. | Ginger |
| 1.5 oz. | Nutmeg |
| 1.5 oz. | Grains of Paradise |
| 1.5 GRAMS | Saffron |
| 3 GRAMS | Red Sandalwood |
| 2 T. | Salt |
| 2.5 oz. | Seedless Grapes |
| 12 oz. | Fortified Wine, such as Port |
| 2 c. | Comfits |
- This recipe was accomplished following the explicit directions provided in Le Ménagier de Paris. I encourage you to source a copy of the original recipe if you wish to reproduce it.
Process Photos
