While exact recipes vary, surviving medieval cookbooks and manuscript fragments hint at how apple pies could be transformed into mock fish dishes. Here is a rough outline based on historical sources:

Ingredients:

• Apples (usually sour or green apples)
   

• Sugar or honey (expensive but used in noble kitchens)
   

• Spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg
   

• Vinegar or verjuice (pressed unripe grapes) to add a tangy note
   

• Almonds or almond milk for creaminess
   

• Pie crust made from flour and fat (butter, lard, or suet)
   

Preparation:

1. Prepare the filling: Peel and slice the apples, then cook them down with sugar or honey and spices until soft but not mushy.
    

2. Add acidity: Incorporate vinegar or verjuice to mimic the briny, tangy taste of fish.
    

3. Enhance texture: Sometimes almonds or almond milk were added to give the filling a creamy or “meaty” texture.
    

4. Bake in a crust: The mixture was placed in a pastry shell and baked until golden.
    

The final product was a sweet-and-sour pie, resembling in flavor the seafood dishes that were forbidden during Lent. The spices helped create a complex taste profile that distracted from the absence of real fish. shutdown123