Recipe #05 – Potage Grenné

Thick, rich, and cheesy. Potage grenné is a bread and egg thicken cheese sauce. The original recipe is just for the pottage itself but going off of the surrounding recipes that were also thick pottages I served it with slices and sauteed pork tenderloin. This was a great dish but then it is hard to go wrong with pork and cheese.

This is the text of the original recipe…

Potage grenné. Prenez pain gratuisié et le mettez boullir en bon boullon gras bien ensaffrené et, quant il est bien cuit, prenez moyeux d’oes bien batus et fromage gracté et, en fillant, y jettez dedens en remuant dilligamment ; faictez boullir une onde puis dreschiez bien et chauldement ; et pouldrez ou chucquerez par dessus ou du fromage gracté.

 

And here is how Scully translated the recipe…

Gravy Pottage. Get grated bread and set it to boil in good fat bouillon with a good lot of saffron. When it is well cooked, get well beaten egg yolks and grated cheese, and pour it in, in a slow, continuous stream, stirring attentively. Bring it to a boil. Then dish it up good and hot; sprinkle spice powder or sugar or some grated cheese.

 

This is how I made the dish….

Reading through this recipe I found that it wasn’t too far off of the way I make homemade cheese sauce for pasta. It doesn’t mention if this is served with meat or grain or on it’s own. I looked at the surrounding recipes which are pottages that have meat prepared separately and the pottage poured over or the meat and pottage mixed just before serving. I decided to follow the example of the other recipes in this section of the book and the pottage was served with pork tenderloin.

 

The ingredients for the pottage are simply but add a good flavor and texture to the dish. Chicken broth which I added a small amount of lard to while cooking to give it “good fat”, saffron I steeped in a small amount of water, egg yolks, french bread grated small and finely shredded munster cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

To start this dish I put the broth on a fairly high heat to bring it to a boil and added a spoon of lard to fatten the broth. While this was heating up I started the pork sauteing in a pan with a small amount of lard. Once the broth started to boil I added the saffron and then the grated bread. While the bread and broth cooked together at a simmer I finished up cooking the pork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the bread was cooked down into the broth I raised the heat back up.  I then added the egg yolks which I had beaten. The yolks were added in a slow stream while I stirred quickly to keep them from cooking before they were mixed into the pottage. Once the yolks were fully incorporated I did the same with the cheese, adding small handfuls at a time and mixing. Before serving the pottage was brought back to a boil and stirred well to make sure all of the cheese was melted  in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spooned the pottage over the pork tenderloin medallions while it was still very hot. Just before serving the dish was sprinkled with powder forte which is a powdered blend of cubebs, grains of paradise, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon.

The Verdict….

I really enjoyed this dish. The pottage was creamy and cheesy and the powder forte was a great addition to the flavor. Since the recipe didn’t say that it was meant to be served with meat I am thinking that next time I make it I will likely use pasta with it because who doesn’t like mac-n-cheese!
The only change I would make is that I would make sure to set my bread out the night before to dry and get a bit stale. The fresh bread proved to be a challenge to grate and drying it a bit would make it much easier to handle.