Original Recipe
Nim von der brust des huones vnd hacke ez cleine vnd stoz ez in eime moerser vnd tuo dar zvo ein wenic melwes vnd grobes brotes, pfeffer oder ingeber, saltz zvo mazze, ein ey oder zwei noch der menge, roeste daz wol zvo sammene, snit zwei clueppelin eines vingers lanc, als ein eln schaft fornen sleht sinewel, vnd nim des gesoten als groz als ein morche, walkez sinewel in der hant vnd fuege ez vemme den spiz als ein marach vnd zwengez vzzene, daz ez krusp si, legez in ein phannen, laz ez sieden mit dem stecken. die wile daz siede, so bewirke den andern stecken – als du den einen vz nemest, so lege den andern in. Vnd mache ir als vil als du wilt. wenne sie gar sin gesoten, so nim sie vz, ruere ein gehacketz muos mit butern, daz fuelle in die morchen vnd stecke sie entwerhes an den spiz, mache sie heiz vnd betraufe sie mit butern vnd gib sie hin. Also mahtu auch machen morchen von hecheden vnd von lehsen vnd wo von du wilt.
Translation
Take a chicken breast, chop it finely, and pound it in a mortar. Add a little flour and coarse bread. Also add pepper or ginger. Season with salt to taste. Add one or two eggs to the mixture. Cook this mixture as follows: Cut two sticks about a finger’s length long, and one that is a cubit long and rounded at the front. Take a piece of the mixture about the size of a carrot (in size). Shape it into a round ball in your hand and wrap it around the stick so that it encloses it. Shape it so that it resembles a carrot. Place it in a pan and let it cook with the skewer. Let it fry while you prepare the next skewer in the same way. When you take one out, put the other one in. Make them however you like. When they are fully cooked, take them out. Mix a chopped (herb?) purée with butter. Fill the carrots with this mixture and skewer them crosswise. Heat them, drizzle with butter, and serve. You can also make carrots from pike, salmon, or whatever you like.
Recipe Review and Experience
This recipe was fun to recreate! Especially because the sauce from another recipe (garlic sauce) went perfectly with it. I do hope the reference to “carrots” was meant for this recipe and not actual carrots, though I assume it was (since the ginger in the “carrots” paired very well with the vinegar in the sauce).
In this recipe, “morche” (carrot) is a measurement and shape specification that was easy to follow when recreating the dish. However, a bit more preparation was needed this time to prepare the described pieces of wood: two finger-length sticks and a one-cubit-long piece. For this, I stripped the bark off a birch branch and cut it to size.
The ingredients are then shaped into a mixture, which is formed around the sticks and fried. The stick is then removed so the “carrot” can be filled with parsley butter (or decorated with parsley leaves!). The long stick serves as a skewer for serving the carrots. This isn’t strictly necessary, but it looked very nice in the end.
These are actually a type of meatball, but there were a few special touches here that made the whole dish very interesting and unique: starting with the addition of “coarse” bread (I used whole-grain bread) and ginger. Then there’s the cavity that’s later filled with parsley butter. But it was especially the combination with the (tangy!) garlic sauce that made this something special—something I’d still serve to my guests today.
Ingredients
Method
- Chop the ginger in a food processor. Add the chicken breast, salt, and pepper, and chop finely.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl and mix in the flour.
- Shape the mixture in portions around the birch twigs to form “carrots” and fry in oil in a pan until golden brown on all sides. Remove the twig afterward and shape the next “carrot.” The above quantities yielded five “carrots” for me.
- Melt the butter in the pan and add the parsley.
- Skewer the “carrots” onto a long skewer and fill the cavity with the parsley butter (optionally insert parsley sprigs). Pour the remaining butter over the “carrots.”
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