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almond milk, called “Blank-
Mang (White Food), also 
includes rice. Here is their 
recipe, with the spelling and 
a bit of the vocabulary mod-
ernized:

BLANK-MANG
Take capons (chick-
ens) and seethe (simmer) 
them, take them out (of 
the broth). Take blanched 
almonds, grind them 
and mix them with the 
same broth. Wash the 
rice and put it into a pot. 
Put the milk in and let it 
seethe. Then take the 
meat of the chickens, tear 
it small, and add there-
to. Take white grease, 
sugar and salt, and add. 
Let it seethe. Then dish 
it up and decorate with 
anise seeds in comfit 
(sugar coated), red or 
white. And with almonds 
fried in oil and serve it 
forth.

King Richard II’s master 
cooks, like other med-
ieval cookbook writers, 
left out a lot of information 
that we would want to 
see in a recipe: amounts, 
proportions and exact 
procedures. In a modern 
cookbook, it might look 
something like this:

Ingredients
½ cup of almonds, plus a few 
almonds for the garnish. 
Chicken: A whole chicken, or 
about two pounds of chicken 
parts. 
1 cup of rice
1 tbs. of sugar
A bit of oil 
Salt to taste

Directions 
Prepare almond milk, 
using a half cup of 
blanched almonds and 
a cup or more of water 
or chicken broth (see 

sidebar for how to make 
almond milk). 
Cover the chicken in 
water and bring to a roll-
ing boil. Then turn off the 
heat, cover the pot, and 
let the chicken rest in the 
hot water (now you have 
chicken broth). 
Add the rice to the 
almond milk with a table-
spoon of sugar and cook 
the rice in a casserole dish 
until it is nearly done. 
You can debone the 
chicken and shred it into 
small pieces, as in the 
English recipe, but I sus-
pect the rabbinic chefs 
simply cut the chicken into 
parts. Add the chicken to 
the rice and almond milk 
in the casserole, and finish 
cooking. If you need addi-
tional liquid to cook the 
rice, use the broth from 
the chicken.
The English recipe 
calls for garnishing with 
anise seeds coated with 
dyed sugar (comfit) and 
fried almonds. Rabbi 
Luria would approve 
of the almond garnish. 
Other medieval recipes 
call for spicing chicken 
in almond milk with rose 
petals, ginger and/or saf-
fron. Chicken in almond 
milk has a delicate flavor, 
though, so you might want 
to go easy on the spices. 
Rachel Lorenz, who 
posts about medieval 
cooking as the Creative 
Contessa, mentions that 
the master cooks’ version 
of Blank Mang “seems to 
be a solid dish — all liquid 
is absorbed. We know 
this because some of the 
recipes call for molding it, 
which means that there 
can be no liquid left.”
The rabbis’ version, 
however, probably left 
the chicken in pieces, 
surrounded by liquid 
almond milk. It is, as 
Rabbi Eybuschutz says, 
“extremely delicious.” 

How to Make 
Almond Milk

Many medieval recipes 
provide information about 
how to make almond milk. 
Modern equipment makes 
the process less difficult. 
The easiest procedure 
involves buying premade 
almond milk at your gro-
cery, but that product 
may have many other 
ingredients. You can find 
instructional videos on 
how to make almond milk 
on YouTube; a nice one 
appears at the Creative 
Contessa.
The Creative Contessa, 
Rachel Lorenz, starts with 
whole raw almonds. She 
puts the almonds in boil-
ing water to remove the 
dark skins (blanching). You 
can also buy blanched 
almonds. King Richard II’s 
cooks’ recipe, like many 
medieval recipes, calls 
for blanched almonds, 
although you can make 
almond milk from whole 
almonds. 
Moderns make almond 
milk by grinding blanched 
almonds in a food proces-
sor or blender, then cook-
ing the ground almonds in 
about twice their volume 
of water. Some cooks use 
more water, which yields a 
thinner, less creamy bev-
erage. 
The liquid in the blend-
er works as almond milk, 
but medieval recipes 
call for one more step, 
straining the almond milk 
by squeezing it through 
a cloth or strainer. What 
remains in the strainer 
is almond flour, a good 
ingredient in baked goods. 
The liquid that passed 
through the strainer is 
almond milk as described 
in the old recipes. 

Michigan delegates at the BBYO convention

BBYO

BBYO Holds Largest 
Jewish Gathering Since 
Pandemic Began

More than 3,000 teenagers from 40 coun-
tries attended a BBYO convention in what 
is believed to be the largest Jewish gather-
ing since the beginning of the pandemic.
A release from the organizations said 
the event at the Baltimore Convention 
Center running Feb. 17-21 focused on 
Jewish philanthropy and Jewish education.
Speakers included Mike Posner, a 
Grammy-nominated singer and songwrit-
er; Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of New York’s 
Central Synagogue, who fielded calls from 
the hostage-taker in last month’s assault on 
a Texas synagogue; A. J. Dillon, the Green 
Bay Packers running back, and Zach 
Banner, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive 
tackle; Nikki Fried, Florida’s Agriculture 
Commissioner who is running for gov-
ernor; and Jurney Smollett, an Emmy-
nominated actress.
Strict COVID protections, including 
proof of vaccination, testing and masking, 
were in place throughout.
BBYO, the former B’nai B’rith Youth 
Organization, describeså itself as “the 
leading pluralistic Jewish teen movement.
”
As is customary, delegates chose to 
rally around a local organization to collect 
donations for those in need. This year 
they donated school supplies, fidget toys 
and health products to the St. Francis 
Neighborhood Center, Baltimore’s oldest 
youth enrichment center whose mission is 
to end generational poverty. 

By Ron Kampeas, JTA