French Cinnamon Stew c. 1250

A recipe for a kind of cinnamon stew called brouet de canelle, or brouet camelin, was so widely in vogue in French kitchens during the High Middle Ages, that it is encountered in nearly all manuscript works on the subject of cookery.

Some form of this recipe is found in all of the famous Viandier collections, attributed to a certain Guillaume Tirel, master cook of French kings Charles the 5th and Charles the 6th. Guillaume de Tirel, also known as Taillevent, rose from humble beginnings as a kitchen boy under Jeanne d'Evreux, also serving King Philippe de Valois in his youth before blossoming into his role as maitre-queue for the two Charles.

Although Taillevent is often credited as the author and origin of most of the recipes in these Viandier compendiums, his life seems to post-date the oldest of the collections. Taillevent lived between 1310 and 1395, whereas a collection contained in the Sion manuscript dating from the late 1200's repeats verbatim many of the formulae found in the later texts traditionally attributed to him. A recipe like brouet de canelle could therefore date anywhere from decades to centuries earlier.

A brouet, name coming from Old German brod for broth, is quite simply a stew or a sauce made from high-quality broth, so a brouet de canelle or camelin denotes that cinnamon will be the primary seasoning in this concoction.

This is a delicious dish that I have tested and tasted many times, experimenting with the variations found in a number of the Viandiers. It can be fine-tuned to your particular tastes as cook or to the needs of your guests, being as neither amounts of ingredients nor cooking times are given in any of the original formulae.

The resultant dish should be a brothy meat stew, spiced fairly strongly with cinnamon, and thickened with almond, giving it a nutty creaminess delectable to the palette. Tempering this, there should be an undertone of tartness provided by verjuice (the sour juice of unripe grapes) or a little lemon.

To make brouet de canelle you need to have:

1. Some chicken, or whatever meat you wish
2. Good beef bone broth
3. [White wine]
4. A good quantity of almonds (almond flour is easier)
5. A good quantity of ground cinnamon
6. Salt
7. Some ground ginger
8. Some ground cloves
9. Some pepper
10. Some sugar
11. [Verjuice or a little lemon juice]
12. Last, but not least: bacon, cut into bits

[Note: if cooking with wine as well as broth, the verjuice or lemon is omitted. If the sauce is made with broth only, then a touch of sour can be added at the end.]

• First, take your chicken, and cut into stewing pieces, then brown bacon bits in a stewing pot. When it is crispy and the fat has rendered, remove the bacon and reserve.
• Then brown the chicken in the hot bacon fat; when browned, add a liquid mixture that is one third white wine and two thirds beef bone broth [or use only beef broth]. Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.
• When it has simmered for a little while, add the desired amount of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, pepper and sugar, stirring to incorporate. Let it cook a little while longer.
• Add a good quantity of almonds ground as finely as possible (this was done with a mortar and pestle, but almond flour works very well). Stir well and continue to cook until the meat is stewed through to desired tenderness.
• Salt it to taste, and temper it with a little verjuice or freshly squeezed lemon if you did not use wine in the beginning. Stir, and serve garnished with the reserved bacon bits and a sprinkle of powdered cinnamon.

In conclusion, some variation of this cinnamon brouet continued to be immensely popular for centuries, examples of it persisting in cookbooks up until the seventeenth century. It is a hearty and satisfying stew which deserves to be tasted again as a little piece of time travel. It is fairly simple to put together, fragrant and rich with spice and indefinable harmonies: perfectly adaptable to the modern kitchen.