Welcome to the kitchens of Henry VIII here at Hampton Court Palace,
for this Tudor cook-along video.
My name is Robin Mitchener and I'll be running you through some 500-year -old recipes
Recipes that we've adapted to make them easier for you to cook at home.
You can find the recipes on tudorcookery.com.
We're going to be making a recipe called 'Ryschewys close and fryez'.
It's a perfect replacement for your Christmas mince pie.
It's a little tiny pasta parcel with dried fruit and spices on the inside.
For the filling, you'll need figs, currants and dates
For the paste, it's made with flour, sugar and saffron.
So let's make the paste.
A little bit of flour. You don't need very much because this paste will go a long way.
A little bit of sugar for shortening the paste,
and some saffron in solution.
Just mix it up with some water and then mix that all together.
There, we have a small amount of paste. You'd be surprised how far this goes.
You should be able to make 12 ryschewys out of this small amount.
The reason you can make so many is you roll it as thin as you possibly can.
The recipes say as thin as paper.
Okay to make the filling first of all: figs.
Remember to take the little hard bit off the top first
and then pound them in a mortar.
Do the same with dates and then pop them in and give them a bit of a mash up too.
Add a few currants and that's it done.
The spices are cannelle, mace and pepper.
Spices were a real sign of wealth.
The further things come from, the more expensive they are.
Even the dried fruit from the Med[iterranean] is still quite expensive.
Okay all we need to do is grind the spices now
and then that gets added to the fruit.
Now we just assemble the ryschewys.
You can use a cutter. I tend to use a little cup to just cut round.
Take some of the paste; You'll be surprised how little you need.
About half a teaspoon is enough for each one.
And now we're just sealing them closed. Just a drop of water.
When you close them over they'll look a bit like a pea pod.
Try and get as much air out of it as you can. Just like any pasta dish.
And now to fry them off. I'm going to shallow fry them.
But you might like to use a deep fat fryer at home.
Now this kitchen may look big, but originally it was 55 rooms.
200 staff to make it work. It's more like a factory than it is a kitchen.
Just two or three minutes will be fine or until golden brown. They don't take long.
And there we are: Ryschewys close and fryez.
You can always sprinkle them with some sugar if you like.
They're always best served hot.
Watch more videos like this, download the details for the recipes
or just find out more about the fantastic kitchen here at Hampton Court Palace.
Go to the website tudorcookery.com