Morcelas 15th C

Donha Maria’s Morcela de Arouca
Sweet Nut Sausages
This is the oldest recipe we have for this dish. See Morcelas de Arouca for a more contemporary (i.e. 19th century?) version of the dish. The older version shows up in a collection referred to, somewhat misleadingly, as Um tratado da cozinha portuguesa do século XV (see the original transcript) a manuscript associated with the household of the niece of the Porguguese king Manuel I, the Infanta donha Maria (1538-1577) who married into an Italian family. This would explain why the manuscript was discovered in Naples. She married in 1565 so presumably the recipes are somewhat earlier, most likely it is a collection that spans the period roughly from 1480 to 1550.
Here’s the original Portuguese followed by a translation by the Baroness Faerisa Gwynarden (sic). See http://www.sca.org.au/cooks/Pages/articles/Faerisa/portuguese15thC.html for a translation of the entire manuscript. My comments are in square brackets.
Com farinha de rosca, pinhões, amêndoas em pedaços, gema de ovo, banha de porco derretida, calda de açúcar, sal, cravo-da-índia, canela em pó e algumas gotas de água-de-flor façam uma massa e encham com ela as tripas. Em seguida lancem estas na água fervente, até ficarem duras. Ao cozerem-nas, dêem-lhes uns piques com um garfo, para não estourarem.
With plain flour [fine bread crumbs appears to be the more common translation], pine nuts, chopped almonds, egg yolk, melted pork fat, sugar syrup, salt, Indian clove, powdered cinnamon and a few drops of flower water) make the filling and fill the intestines with it. Afterwards, cast them into boiling water, until they become hard. While they are cooking, prick them with a fork, so that they don't rupture.
Just what the texture of this is supposed to be is altogether a mystery since we haven’t the foggiest idea of the proportion of the ingredients. The more contemporary version of Morcelas de Arouca is more or less the texture of baklava filling and that is what I have tried to replicate but who is to say that the sixteenth century version wasn’t more the consistency of an English boiled pud-ding with more bread-crumbs and eggs. I’ve played with this recipe quite a bit and prefer it lightly browned before serving. It hardens quite quickly so you may want to make it in two batches. Filling the guts while they’re still warm. I’ve used a heavy piping bag fitted with a very wide plain metal tip which seems to work well enough though if you’ve got a sausage stuffing attachment to your stand mixer that would work even better. See the other Morcelas recipe for the pig gut instructions. 450 g sugar (2 1/4 cups) 250 g (2 cups) chopped almonds 100g (3/4 cup) pinenuts 70 g (1/2 c) finely ground dry white bread crumbs 6 tablespoons lard or clarified butter 4 egg yolks 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 2 tablespoons orange flower water pig intestine 1. Combine the sugar and 1 1/4 cups of water and cook to the soft ball stage (230°F/110°C). 2. Stir in the almonds, pinenuts, bread crumbs, and lard. Bring to a boil. 3. Over very low heat, add the egg yolks, one at a time and then the cinnamon and cloves. 4. Cool until it is just cool enough to handle. Stir in the orange flower water. With a piping bag, stuff the pig intestine. Tie off at 4-inch intervals. Blanch in boiling water for about 1 minute. Dry for about a day at room temperature. For longer storage, refrigerate. 5. To serve, brown the room temperature sausages in butter over gentle heat. Makes about a dozen small sausages serving 6 people