pappe

Ingredients

floure, glayre

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The preparation of materials involves grinding the components on a marble slab ('marbulle stonne') until the mixture achieves the thickness of 'pappe' (porridge). The viscosity of the resulting substance is carefully controlled: if it is too thick ('to þik'), it is thinned by adding 'a litelle more of þe glayre' (egg white binder). If the mixture becomes too thin ('to thyn'), the practitioner is instructed to 'þik hit with more of þe floure' (wheat flour used as a thickening agent) until the correct consistency ('as þik as a thyn pappe') is restored (p. 44).

Evidence

"Then grynde alle þe forsayde materys on a marbulle stonne tille hit be as þik as a thynne pappe. and if hit be to þik be vertu of þe floure .’ þen put a litelle more of þe glayre þerto."

Remarks

This entry documents the use of 'glayre' (egg white) and wheat flour as binding and thickening agents in a technical preparation recorded in MS Douce 78. The author utilizes this specific passage to illustrate the 'antithesis, chiasmus, and parallelism' found in medical recipes, noting how these clausal structures were used to 'explain a practical, hands-on process' (p. 44). The process of grinding on a marble stone is a classic technique shared between the medical and scribal arts for the preparation of uniform, fine-grained suspensions of pigments or medicinal ingredients (p. 44). The use of the punctus and punctus elevatus by the scribe served to highlight the repetitive, structured nature of these material instructions (p. 44).