Benes Yfryed – Forme of Curye

BENES YFRYED. XX.IX. I.

Take benes and seeþ hem almost til þey bersten. take and wryng out þer water clene. do þerto Oynouns ysode and ymynced. and garlec þerwith. frye hem in oile. oþer in grece. & do þerto powdour douce. & serue it forth.

Forme of Curye Online

Translation

Take beans and cook them until they burst. Take them and drain them. Peel and chop finely some onions and also garlic, and then fry in oil or in lard. Add sweet spices and serve it forth.

Ingredients
1 packet of frozen broad beans (500g)
2 onions
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of powder douce (cinnamon, clove, ginger)

Method
Boil the broad beans until they burst out of their shells. Drain them and set aside. Finely chop the garlic and onions and fry them in the olive oil until the onions are starting to go brown. Add the beans and the spices back and then serve while still warm.

My favourite thing about Benes yfryed is that it’s a classic example of how easily things can be changed or misremembered. The very first year that we tried these out, Louise had found the recipe and then left myself in charge while she went to run some other errands. As it happened, I had some left over bacon that needed eating, and we had no vegetarians. So, fry up the onions, and garlic, fry up some bacon, add the boiled broad beans, fry that up a little, serve it up. Everyone enjoyed it, job well done. A few years later, benes yfryed have been served again, as they have been a few times before, and once again someone asked Louise “What happened to the bacon?”

Louise: “What bacon? The recipe doesn’t have bacon. Why does everyone keep asking about the bacon?”
Roxy: “Of course it has bacon, it’s always had bacon, ever since the first event we…. oh right, I had extra bacon and added it in while your back was turned.”
Louise: “…do I have to go back and check all of your recipes now?”

 

Although in my defence, Forme of Curye’s first recipe is broad beans with bacon so, it’s not completely out of the question

 

FOR TO MAKE GRONDEN BENES [1]. I.

Take benes and dry hem in a nost [2] or in an Ovene and hulle hem
wele and wyndewe [3] out the hulk and wayshe hem clene an do hem to
seeth in gode broth [4] an ete hem with Bacon.

[1] Gronden Benes. Beans ground (y ground, as No. 27. 53. 105.)
    stript of their hulls. This was a dish of the poorer householder, as
    also is 4 and 5, and some others.
[2] a nost. An ost, or kiln. Vide Gloss. _voce_ Ost.
[3] wyndewe. Winnow.
[4] gode broth. Prepared beforehand.
Forme of Curye Online