Ingredients
Green Peas, Butter, Milk (Cow’s Milk,) Ginger, Salt, Egg Yolks
The author of LM gives us a wide variety of choices to thicken this pottage, but is clear that fresh peas, ground ginger, and whole milk are the important ingredients. LV agrees, but also instructs us to fry the peas in bacon grease after pureeing as an intermediate step. I can only conjecture that this was intended to add flavor by the fat or perhaps also to concentrate flavors by removing the last of the water from the straining. I preserved this step, but use butter, which is rare but attested, to keep the dish vegetarian-friendly. LM and LV both suggest saffron for color if needed. I was content with the color, so I did not include it. LV insists on egg yolks as the thickener – a great deal of them stirred into the boiling soup at the end. This likely resulted in fully cooked yolks, and with enough skill and effort, a smooth, thickened soup, however we will turn again to modern methods and standards of food safety to achieve the same effect.
Both the cooking time and the choice of green peas (then Pisum sativum, now Lathyrus oleraceus) are verified by Chantran’s reproductive archaeological experiments regarding cooking methods of starch (2021)
References
LM 95, LV 11
Modern Redaction
| 24 oz. | Green Peas, fresh or frozen |
| 4 T. | Butter |
| 2 c. | Milk |
| 1 t. | Ginger |
| 1/2 t. | Salt |
| 6 each | Egg Yolks |
- Bring the peas to a boil in water and boil for 30 minutes
- Drain the peas and melt the butter in the pot
- Fry the peas in the butter then add the Milk.
- Add the Ginger and bring just to a boil
- Put the Pea mixture into a blender and blend on high until fully puréed, straining and re-blending as needed until no solids remain
- Add the Egg Yolks and pulse to blend
- Return the Cretonée to the pot and cook gently, stirring constantly, to 170F
- Strain the mixture and cool before serving