17^th century

Tort de Moy

To the ear, ‘tort de moy’ sounds more French than English; indeed, the word ‘moy’ is derived from the French word ‘moelle’, for bone marrow. Early mentions of the tart give it the name ‘Turt de moil’. It might have been popular in France at one time but it was in England that it continued to be favoured. The tart uses bone marrow as one of its prime Ingredients and was served at the coronation of King James II in 1685. We know this because of Francis Sandford’s History of the Coronation (1687), a most interesting record of the festivities. ‘Turt de moil’ appears at number 98 on Sandford’s list of dishes and a plan of the king and queen’s banqueting table even shows us alongside which other dishes it was served: five partridge pies, cold marinated smelts and three soused pigs.

The early tort de moy was made with the white meat of a capon, while later versions are made solely with marrow, candied peel, cream, eggs, spices and grated or crumbled sponge biscuits, omitting any meat. I have here a recipe from a manuscript referred to as The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies (c. 1690), which is held at Westminster City Archives. The oldest recipes in this manuscript are believed to date back even earlier. This recipe uses the white meat of a chicken, while later recipes use almonds beaten to a purée.

Mrs Gibbs’ Tort de Moy

Pound a quarter of a pound of almonds with sack, and beat the white part of a young pullet that is very tender & half boiled. Skin it and pound it very small. 4 naple biscuits grated, some pounded cinnamon, half a pint of sack, 6 spoonfuls of rose water, some pounded mace, half a nutmeg, some sugar to your taste, sliced citron & candied lemon peel. Then beat 4 eggs, two whites and mix it with half a pint of cream. When you have beaten your eggs and cream well together, put your other Ingredients to it and mix them well together and put them in a skillet over the fire and keep continually stirring [it] one way till it is as thick as a tansy. Your fire must be slow. Then have a dish with puff pastry at the bottom and sides, and when it is pretty cool, put half of [the mixture] in your dish and then a layer of whole marrow and the juice of a lemon over it. Then put the other half in, then cross bar it with pastry [on the] top and bake it in a very slow oven. 3 quarters of an hour bakes it. You can leave out the marrow if you like.

The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies, c. 1690