The Opening Broth

This recipe comes from an English household manuscript dated between 1625 and 1700, a period of immense culinary transition. Broths like this were not merely consumed for pleasure, but often for their perceived health benefits, especially as 'opening' or purifying potions for the body. Such recipes would have appeared in the handwritten collections of well-to-do families, reflecting both domestic medicine and fashionable cookery. Ingredients like sorrel, asparagus roots, and 'grish grass' (likely chickweed) were widely considered to have gentle laxative or diuretic effects—hence the title 'Opening Broth.' The use of veal, raisins, and prunes indicates a delicate, sweet-savory early modern palate and an understanding of balance in medicinal cookery.

In the past, this broth would have been prepared in a large glazed earthenware pipkin—the clay helping maintain gentle, even heat and avoiding harsh metallic flavors. Roots and greens would be foraged or pulled from kitchen gardens, bread would have been coarse and dense, and straining was done through a 'harie sive,' or a sieve lined with coarse cloth or even horsehair. The broth would be stored in stoneware or glass jugs. Ladles, knives, and a hearth or open fire completed the essential toolkit.