These recipes from more than 500 years ago show the great care with which medieval cooks made sauces and jellies The broth recipe is remarkable for its exact descriptions of consistency and stirring time off the heat to prevent curdling Fish or Meat Jelly Cook [the fish or meat] in wine, verjuice, and vinegar…then grind ginger, cinnamon, cloves, grains of paradise, long pepper, and infuse this in your bouillon, strain it, and put it to boil with your meat; then take bay leaves, spikenard, galingale, and mace, and tie them in your bolting [flour-sieving] cloth, without washing it, along with the residue of the other spices, and put this to boil with your meat; keep the pot covered while it is on the fire, and when it is off the fire keep skimming it until the preparation is served up; and when it is cooked, strain your bouillon into a clean wooden vessel and let it sit Set your meat on a clean cloth; if it is fish, skin and clean it and throw your skins into your bouillon until it has been strained for the last time Make certain that your bouillon is clear and clean and not wait for it to cool before straining it Set out your meat in bowls, and afterwards put your bouillon back on the fire in a bright clean vessel and boil it constantly skimming, and pour it boiling over your meat; and on your plates or bowls in which you have put your meat and broth sprinkle ground cassia buds and mace, and put your plates in a cool place to set Anyone making jelly cannot let himself fall asleep… — Taillevent, Le Viandier, ca 1375, transl Terence Scully A Fine Thick Broth For ten servings, get three egg yolks per serving, good verjuice, good meat broth, a ... certain that your bouillon is clear and clean and not wait for it to cool before straining it Set out your meat in bowls, and afterwards put your bouillon back on the fire in a bright clean vessel and boil it constantly... and pour it boiling over your meat; and on your plates or bowls in which you have put your meat and broth sprinkle ground cassia buds and mace, and put your plates in a cool place to set Anyone.. .and let it sit Set your meat on a clean cloth; if it is fish, skin and clean it and throw your skins into your bouillon until it has been strained for the last time Make certain that your bouillon is clear and clean