Rice fritters from the Kuchenmaistrey

A standard recipe, it seems

3. xxix. Item if you would make a good fritter of prepared (? furgetragen) rice, do not let it boil away strongly in water (i.e. parboil it briefly?), drain it and let it dry in the sun or in the parlour by an oven. Pound it well in a mortar, pour it out into a pan, add eggs and do not make it too thin. Set the fat over the fire, let it heat and pass (scheus, as of sliding or pushing) the dough into it through the hand like you do ‘burned fritters’ (gebrante kuchlein). Serve it and strew sugar on it.

This is almost a parallel of a recipe in Cod Pal Germ 551, and that is not the only instance these occur. The technique of how to pass them into the hot fat is interesting because it suggests this was also how less distinguished fritters were commonly made. But on the whole, it is not very interesting.

I will continue posting recipes from the Nuremberg Kuchenmaistrey produced around 1490, but my mode will change. Instead of translating one daily and posting it here, I will try to use what time there is to translate as much as I can and post only some of them here. Once the entire text is done, I will try to get it published either as a book, or online.

The Kuchenmaistrey (mastery of the kitchen) was the earliest printed cookbook in German (and only missed being the earliest printed cookbook in any language by a few years). The book gave rise to a vibrant culture of amended and expanded manuscript copies as well as reprints spanning almost a century. The recipes seem designed to appeal to a wealthy, literate and cosmopolitan clientele.

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