A mortis, also spelt mortrose, mortress, mortrews, or mortruys, was a sweet

pâté ''Pâté'' ( , , ) is a paste, pie or loaf filled with a forcemeat. Common forcemeats include ground meat from pork, poultry, fish or beef; fat, vegetables, herbs, spices and either wine or brandy (often cognac or armagnac). It is often ser ...

of a meat such as

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

, mixed with ground almonds, made in

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Tudor and

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

England. It is known from one of England's earliest

cookery book A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cours ...

s, ''

The Forme of Cury ''The Forme of Cury'' (''The Method of Cooking'', from Middle French : 'to cook') is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most fa ...

'' (1390), and other manuscripts.

Dish

A Tudor mortis recipe for chicken is given in ''

The Good Huswifes Jewell ''The Good Huswifes Jewell'' is an English cookery book by the cookery and housekeeping writer Thomas Dawson, first published in 1585. It includes recipes for medicines as well as food. To the spices found in Medieval English cooking, the book ...

'', an English cookery book of 1585 by Thomas Dawson. He instructs: The dish consists of meat, such as

or fish, boiled and pounded with blanched almonds and milk into a smooth paste. This is then cooked gently with sugar. An earlier recipe for "mortrose of fyshe" (fish mortis) is given in the 1390 cookery book, ''

'', written for King Richard's cooks. It called for

houndfish The houndfish (''Tylosurus crocodilus'') is a game fish of the family (biology), family Belonidae. It is the largest member of its family, growing up to in length and in weight. It is also often called the crocodile needlefish. Description Whi ...

, haddock, or cod, using the liver as well as the flesh, mixed with milk, white breadcrumbs and sugar. A similar recipe appeared in ''Gentyll Manly Cokere'' in the Pepys Manuscript 1047, dating from around 1490. The Beinecke manuscript describes a

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in ...

-yellow "mortruys" of mixed chicken and pork, thickened with egg: The name of the dish most likely derives from the

mortar and pestle Mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used from the Stone Age to the present day to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The ''mortar'' ( ...

used to prepare it. Terry Breverton, in ''The Tudor Kitchen: What the Tudors Ate & Drank'' (2015), suggests putting the mortis into individual

ramekin A ramekin (, ; also spelled ramequin) is a small dish used for culinary purposes. Name The term is derived from the French ', a cheese- or meat-based bowl baked in a small mould. The French term is in turn derived from early modern Dutch ', whi ...

s and chilling them before serving.

References

{{English cuisine English cuisine Medieval cuisine British chicken dishes Fish dishes