William the Conqueror’s Hen with Cameline Sauce
Larded and roasted Cornish game hen served with a spiced medieval sauce and William the Conqueror’s Hippocras
City/Region: France
Time Period: c. 1300
The Bayeux Tapestry is an absolutely beautiful piece of embroidery that depicts the military campaign that would make William, Duke of Normandy into William the Conqueror. A good portion of it is dedicated to the first meal William had in England after his men pillaged the surrounding area for food. Here, I’m recreating part of the meal shown there by roasting some Cornish game hens and serving them with Cameline Sauce, a highly spiced and delicious medieval sauce.
We should really go back to larding more things. The guanciale helps keep the game hens incredibly juicy, and while the hens are otherwise unseasoned, the sauce packs enough of a punch to make up for it. It’s a rather thin sauce, but it’s meant for the meat to be dipped in it, not have it poured over the meat. The warm spices are lovely, along with a bit of bite from the vinegar. Since we’re not given measurements for it, feel free to change up the amounts of any of the sauce ingredients to suit your taste.
“Poules rostis: Roast Pullets.
They should be plucked in water, larded and roasted; they are eaten with Cold Sage Sauce or with Cameline Sauce or with verjus.
To Make Cameline Sauce.
Take ginger, cinnamon in great abundance, cloves, grains of paradise, mace and as much long pepper as you wish; then strain bread that has been soaked in sour wine, and season well with salt.”
Ingredients:
Hen
- 1 Cornish game hen
- About 1 ounce (30 g) guanciale, cut into small pieces
Cameline Sauce
- 1 slice white bread, toasted or very stale
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) red wine
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- Pinch ground cloves
- Pinch salt
- Pinch grains of paradise*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mace*
- Pinch long pepper*, about 1 piece
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- For the hen: If you’re roasting the hen in the oven, preheat it to 450°F (230°C).
- Make shallow cuts all over the Cornish game hen and stick pieces of the guanciale into the cuts. Use more or less guanciale depending on the size of your hen and how much guanciale you want to use.
- Tie the legs together with some kitchen twine. If desired, run a large skewer through the bird from end to end. Unless you’re roasting it on a spit of some kind, this is just a decorative nod to the Bayeux Tapestry. If you’re cooking in an oven or barbecue, you don’t need it.
- You can now cook the hen however you like. Whichever way you choose, having a pan underneath the hen to catch the drippings is a good idea. To roast yours in the oven like I did, place it in a baking dish, then roast for 20 minutes at 450°F (230°C), then reduce the heat to 350°F (175°C) for another 20 minutes, or until the thickest part of the meat hits 165°F (74°C).
- For the cameline sauce: Remove the crust from the bread and tear it into small pieces. Place these in a bowl and pour the red wine and the vinegar over it. Let it soak for about 10 minutes.
- While the bread soaks, grind any of the spices that are whole. Grains of paradise and long pepper often come that way. Mix all of the spices together.
- Whisk the spices into the bread and wine. Let this sit for another 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, taste the sauce and add more of any of the ingredients that you like.
- When the sauce is how you like it, pass it through a strainer, pressing on the bread to get all of the liquid out. The sauce will be thinner than what we normally think of as sauces today.
- Serve the roasted hen forth with the Cameline Sauce on the side for dipping and a glass of William the Conqueror's Hippocras.
Notes
Grains of paradise have a complex flavor that is peppery with hints of citrus, ginger, and cardamom.
Mace comes from the outside of a nutmeg seed and tastes similar to nutmeg with notes of cinnamon and black pepper. It's used in a lot of historical recipes and is definitely worth getting.
Long pepper is hotter than black pepper and has a more aromatic, almost flowery quality to it that's wonderful.
Link to grains of paradise: https://amzn.to/3V4OPaW
Link to mace: https://amzn.to/3SMkVJ5
Link to long pepper: https://amzn.to/3ZfRLDR