Poached eggs in golden sauce…nom! It is a dish that is important to serve right away. When the eggs and the sauce cool it won’t taste as good. Living in the countryside, we have our own chickens but they are small cochin chickens that lay very small eggs. So three our small eggs are as big as two normal sized eggs. I am using our own eggs for cooking when ever we have them, which is almost all the time. Funny thing is that one would thought that the chicken stop laying eggs when it is dark and winter. Here in Finland it is really cold at the moment and winter is in its peak and we get eggs every day. I have moderated the recipe for normal sized eggs.

I cannot tell for sure how big the medieval chicken eggs were but there is some pictorial evidence like the one below (picture from Tacuinum sanitatis) where you can see that the eggs were probably same size than our modern day eggs that you can get from grocery store.

Suomenkielinen resepti löytyy yläpalkista!

Picture from Tacuinum sanitatis 14th century -Wikimedia Commons

Pochee – poached eggs in golden sauce

Take ayrenn and breke hem in scaldyng hoot water and whan þei bene sode  ynowh take hem up and take zolkes of ayren and rawe mylke and swyng hem togydre, and do þerto powdour gyngur safroun and salt, set it ouere the fire, and lat it not boile, and take ayrenn isode & cast þe sew onoward & serue it forth.

Serves 4

Poached eggs:

• 4 eggs
• water for boiling
• splash of wine vinegar (to hold the egg better, this is only optional)

Sauce:

• 2 normal sized egg yolks
• 2 dl whole milk
• pinch of ginger
• pinch of saffron
• salt for the taste

Make the poached eggs:

Break an egg to a glass gently so the yolk won’t break. Make poached eggs one by one. Bring the water boil in a large pot. When it is simmering nicely add wine vinegar (if you want, it will make the poaching easier but it is only optional) and make a whirlpool with your spatula. Drop the whole egg from the glass in the middle of the whirlpool. Let it simmer in a slowly boiling water for 3-4 minutes and take the egg away with a slotted spoon.

Make the sauce:

Whisk milk and egg yolks together for about a minute in a pot. Turn the heat on and keep whisking. Add saffron, ginger and salt. When the sauce starts to steam it is almost done. Keep whisking for couple of seconds and take the sauce away from the heat and keep whisking. Be careful not to boil the sauce. Serve hot with poached eggs.

Source

• Forme of Cury, 1390