Sapor de Progna Secche

Dried Plum Sauce

Original Recipe: (from Libro de arte coquinaria by Maestro Martino da Como)

Sapor de progna secche. Habi le progne e mittile a moglio nel vino rosso, et cavvagli fora l’ossa, et pistarale molto bene con un poche de amandole non mandate, et un pocho di pane rostitio, o bruschulato, stato a moglio nel preditto vino dove erano le progne. Et tutte queste cose pistarai inseme con un pocho d’aresto, et de questo vino sopra ditto, et un pocha de sapa, overo zuccaro, che serrebe molto meglio, destemperarai et passarai per le stamegala mettendovi dentro di bone spetie, spetialmente del la canella.

Translation: (from The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy)

Dried-plum sauce. Take prunes and put them to soak in red wine, and remove the pits; pound them very well with a few unskinned almonds and a little roasted or grilled bread soaked in the wine where the prunes had been. And pound all these things together with a little verjuice and the above-mentioned wine and a little boiled grape must, or sugar, which would be much better, mix and strain, adding good spices, especially cinnamon.

My Interpretation:

Soak prunes in wine several hours before, or night before. Remove prunes from wine and pit them if necessary. Grind almonds in blender, add remaining ingredients and blend.

Works Referenced:

The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy; Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, & Silvano Serventi, translated to the English by Edward Schneider; The University of Chicago Press, 1998