The latest video in my new series Easy Medieval Food. Douce Jame. Chicken cooked in milk. Easy & delicious!
(Photo credit: Veitsen via DeviantArt) One of the most effective ways to transport your senses to another time and place is through food. But even if you don’t have amazing cooking skills or …
Since my kitchen is being remodeled and I am unable to cook I thought I might try something a little different. The plumbing and electric have been completed and the tile is laid, simply waiting to be grouted. Soon, very soon....I will be back to interpreting again. Simply click the link to be taken to the page to find the recipe. Please leave me a message and let me know if you would like to see more posts like this. Thank you! Harliean MS 279 (about 1430) Smale Byrdys y-stwyde - Small Birds Stewed - chicken or other small fowl stewed gently in a flavorful broth made of wine, seasoned with onions, saffron, and medieval spices. When this was tested the commentary ran from unintelligible mumbling around spoonful's of soup, to groans of pleasure and an excited exclamation of "You have GOT to get this recipe to my mom". Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) -.xv. Bowres - Braised Fowl - duck, goose, or another form of fowl is braised in a flavorful broth of ale, sage and salt and served as a soup. The taste testers squabbled over who would get to eat the rest of it. Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - .lxxxx. Hennys in Gauncelye - Chicken in Garlic Cream Sauce - a classic dish that is still enjoyed in modern times. A beautifully golden cream sauce, seasoned liberally with garlic served with chicken. Fit for king! Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - Chykonys in bruette - Chicken in Broth - What could be simpler then pieces of tender chicken in a flavorful broth seasoned with pepper, saffron and ginger? Simple and filling. Harleain MS 279 (ab. 1430) Henne in Bokenade - Stewed Chicken in Sauce - This is a very comforting and filling dish, which could be made as saucy or as brothy as the cook desires. This dish is on my "must serve at a future feast" list. Tender bits of chicken served in its own broth, thickened with eggs and seasoned with sage, hyssop, parsley, mace, saffron and a bit of vinegar. It caused quite the uproar with the taste testers, who finally battled it out with a game of paper, rock and scissors to see who scored the leftovers.
The roasting range in the kitchen of Gainsborough Hall, probably being used for the first time in four hundred years as it was intended, ...
The very first medieval recipe I ever experimented with was Tart de Bry, an open pastry tart made with, yes, you’ve guessed it, Brie cheese. Well, at least Brie was probably the cheese in the origi…
Fish and Eagles zoomorphic mount When I think of St Patrick (387-493), I always think of Irish myth, not Christian martyrs –– lo...
A loaf that has been baked and sliced into "sops" Baronial 12th Night Recipe for Rastons This month I have decided to focus on various sops and pottages from Harleian MS 279. Sops are thick slices of bread which have been soaked in liquid, usually a broth and then eaten. They were quite common during the period, yet we seldom see them featured at the banquets that are recreated in the SCA. An example of a modern day sop, would be the bread you find on top of french onion soup! Pottage is another word that can be used for a soup or a stew. For my next several posts you will see that this kind of cooking is a very simple kind of cooking, using ingredients that many cooks have on hand. I believe it would be an easy way to "add" an extra dish at the beginning of a course without breaking the budget. Given my focus on simple soups or stews, I wanted to create bread that would have been used in the same period. I am using a recipe for "Rastons". This recipe creates a small round loaf of bread that has been fortified with eggs. Traditionally, the top is cut from the crown of the bread, the bread removed from the inside of the loaf, crumbled up into crumbs mixed with clarified butter, the hollow refilled, the top put on and the bread baked till it was warmed. I am not planning on using a traditional method; however, as I plan on simply cutting the bread into "sops" for my next few posts. The recipe below can be found here: Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55 / edited by Thomas Austin .xxv. Rastons.—Take fayre Flowre, & þe whyte of Eyroun, & þe ȝolke, a lytel; þan take Warme Berme, & putte al þes to-gederys, & bete hem to-gederys with þin hond tyl it be schort & þikke y-now, & caste Sugre y-now þer-to, & þenne lat reste a whyle; þan kaste in a fayre place in þe oven, & late bake y-now; & þen with a knyf cutte yt round a-boue in maner of a crowne, & kepe þe cruste þat þou kyttyst; & þan pyke al þe cromys withynne to-gederys, an pike hem smal with þin knyf, & saue þe sydys & al þe cruste hole with-owte; & þan caste þer-in clarifiyd Boter, & Mille*. [melle A. (mix). ] þe cromeȝ & þe botere to-gedereȝ, & keuere it a-ȝen with þe cruste, þat þou kyttest a-way; þan putte it in þe ovyn aȝen a lytil tyme; & þan take it out, & serue it fortℏ. Dan Myers offers this interpretation for the recipe above at his site Medieval Cookery. If you have not visited his site. I urge you to do so! xxv - Rastons. Take fayre Flowre, and the whyte of Eyroun, and the 3olke, a lytel; than take Warme Berme, and putte al thes to-gederys, and bete hem to-gederys with thin hond tyl it be schort and thikke y-now, and caste Sugre y-now ther-to, and thenne lat reste a whyle; than kaste in a fayre place in the oven, and late bake y-now; and then with a knyf cutte yt round a-boue in maner of a crowne, and kepe the cruste that thou kyttyst; and than pyke al the cromys withynne to-gederys, an pike hem smal with thin knyf, and saue the sydys and al the cruste hole with-owte; and than caste ther-in clarifiyd Boter, and Mille (Note: melle A. (mix)) the crome3 and the [correction; sic = MS. the the] botere to-gedere3, and keuere it a-3en with the cruste, that thou kyttest a-way; than putte it in the ovyn a3en a lytil tyme; and than take it out, and serue it forth. 25. Rastons - take fair flour, and the white of eggs, and the yolk, a little; then take Warm Barm, and put all these together, and beat them thereto, and then let rest a while: then caste in a fair place in the oven, and let bake enough: and then with a knife cut it round above in the manner of a crown, and keep the crust that thou cut; & then pick all the crumbs within together, and pick them small with thine knife, and save the sides and all the crust whole without; and then cast therein clarified butter and mix the crumbs and butter together, and cover it again with the crust, that thou cuttest away; then put in the oven again a little time; and then take it out and serve it forth. Interpreted Recipe: 3-4 cups flour 2 tbsp. sugar 1 cup warm ale 2 eggs beaten 1 package dry yeast I read somewhere, and I wish I had thought to save the information, that to recreate the "flavor" of ale barm, which many recipes call for, you add yeast to ale. In order to attempt to recreate the flavor of the "ale barm" the recipe calls for that is what I did. I used The Hairless Hare Brewery's "Brown Barrel Bomber" which is a bourbon barrel aged ale. I also mixed my flours with a 3:1 ratio of unbleached white to whole wheat in an attempt to simulate what the bolted flours of the time period would have been like. I also added a tsp. of real salt to the flour. Sponge after proofing 20 minutes I mixed a1/2 cup of flour with the ale (warmed to about 110 degrees), sugar, eggs and yeast together, let the yeast dissolve and then let it ferment until it created a sponge. I added the fermented yeast mixture to the remainder of the flour and then shaped it into a round loaf. I covered the loaf and let it rise until it had doubled in size. Note: The dark color is coming from the very dark ale I used. After the loaf had doubled in size I baked it in a 450 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes, until it sounded hollow. If I were following the traditional recipe at this point, I would let the loaf cool, cut the top off, hollow out the loaf, and mix the crumb with butter. Eventually, I plan to come back and revisit this recipe, completing it as it should be completed. The bread itself is very pleasant in taste, soft textured with a good crust. I prefer it to my beloved Manchet of the French bread. The loaf is good sized, and it is not as time consuming as the other breads that I have made in the past. This is definitely on my "keeper" list. It has been pointed out that the use of the word "bread" in this post may not be correct. Jim Chevallier, who is much more learned then I states "CECI N'EST PAS UN PAIN (roughly --it's not bread) I was just browsing an academic study of language which cites what the author calls a fifteenth century recipe for bread. Intriguing, since I know of no bread recipes that early. Then, following up, I found it was in fact the classic recipe for "rastons" - that is, in French, ratons, or little rats. These were NOT breads. The recipe in question includes egg whites and yolks, reflecting the fact that that a raton was a PASTRY. But this is not the first time I have seen this recipe presented as being one for bread. It is not. That is, if you make this recipe, it will not tell you what common bread was like in fifteenth century England. A nice enough recipe. But not for bread. #medievalfood #scafeast #scacook #historicfood #harleianMS279 #bread
Conceptions of food in the Renaissance were also still influenced by the humoral-Galenic theory, which said that to keep the different 'humors' of the body in balance, a good diet had to be the result of foods balancing the moist/water and the dry/air, the warm/fire and the cold/earth, recalling again the four Aristotelian elements.
We tend to think of medieval food as bland or boring. After all, there were no chocolates, potatoes, or tomatoes. (They all came from America.) But some medieval foods were so strongly flavored that we would find them unpalatable today, especially because people back then loved to mix fragrances like rose water or lavender with
Medieval Pease Pie laced with Bacon “We must take you out of that vile dungeon, then. Scrub you pink again, get you some clean clothes, some food to eat. Some nice soft porridge, would you like tha…
Positive responses continue to pour in on these kinds of posts. Today I thought I would bring to your attention five very different vegetable dishes that were enjoyed in the late Medieval period. I hope you try them and let me know how you liked them. Simply click the link to be taken to the page to find the recipe. Please leave me a message and let me know if you would like to see more posts like this. Thank you! .xxx. Soupes dorroy. (Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430)) Soup Dorroy - A delicious twist on "creamed" onion soup. The onions when cooked with the wine take on a very fruity flavor, and the almond milk adds creaminess in the background that tempers the sweet fruity taste of the onions. A budget friendly, easy to cook, tasty dish that would not be amiss at a luncheon, tavern, feast or camp meal. .v. Whyte wortes. (Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430) - Creamed Wortes - A true comfort dish from Harleian MS 279 (~1430) -- Tender cabbage and kale, or other "worts" (mustards, kale, collards (known to the Greeks and Romans), kohlrabi (first described in Europe in 1554), broccoli (known to Greeks and Romans), cauliflower (sixth century), rapini (aka broccoli rabe, known to the Romans), and turnips) creamed with almond milk thickened with rice flour, flavored with saffron, salt and a touch of honey. A dish that is as delicious as it is beautiful to look at! Compost (The Forme of Cury, c. 1390)- despite its name this recipe creates a lovely mustardy, sweet and spicy variety of pickled vegetables that are as delicious as they are pretty to look at. This recipe comes courtesy of Daniel Myers who hosts the excellent site Medieval Cookery (if you have not visited this site I urge you to do so). These pickles were served as part of the Curia Regis Brunch. Canabenys with Lekys- Dried Beans with Leeks - Constance Hieatt "Ordinance of Pottage"-a thick, flavorful medieval soup made with dried beans (preferably fava, broad or black-eyed peas), cannelini or navy beans, leeks and/or, onions flavored with sausage and fortified with a handful of leafy greens. Great for SCA lunch or feast or an easy period camp meal. Can be made vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth and vegetarian sausage. .Cxlv. Blaunche Perreye. White Pea Soup (Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430)) Very simple and humble ingredients come together to make great flavors in this 15th Century soup for a king. Bonus: .iij. Joutes. - Braised Spring Greens with Bacon
When the Ancient Israelites fled Egypt, they had unleavened flatbreads which had been baked in tabuns, or outdoor wood fired mud ovens. They did not have matzah balls. Jews had to wait about 2,500 years, until the Middle Ages, to be introduced to the gastronomic delight of biting into a matzah ball immersed in …
Meteen naar het recept Middeleeuwse aardbeienpudding uit Engeland met granaatappelpitjes Je komt niet vaak een middeleeuws recept voor zomerfruit tegen. Aardbeien, bramen, frambozen, bosbessen: wij…
Medieval Apple Fritters “For the sweet, Lord Caswell’s servants brought down trays of pastries from his castle kitchens, cream swans and spun-sugar unicorns, lemon cakes in the shape of…
DAWNA WIEBE PHOTO RECIPES FOR CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE QUICK RECIPES FOR COOKING FOR TWO HORSE SNACK RECIPES WILMETTE IL WEDDING CENTERS PAY BUSINESS RATES HILLINGDON SALT FREE SUGAR FREE RECIPES EASY TO MAKE MEDIEVAL RECIPES GROUND CHICKEN TACO MEAT RECIPES 1500 CALORIE RECIPES FREE
The middle ages made it socially acceptable to eat everything with your bare hands like a big fat slob. Bonus: you didn't have to wash any dishes when you were done! Take that, Adulthood!
Fans, the Game of Thrones Season 6 premiere is upon us. Here are victuals for your viewing party.
light was perfect last sunday
Meteen naar het recept Dit recept heet genestada, uit een Catalaans kookboek uit het begin van de vijftiende eeuw. Het is een pudding op basis van amandelmelk en rijstebloem, speciaal voor de vaste…
In the medieval times, our modern emphasis on easy, speedy meals would’ve been an inconceivably foreign concept to a noble family. In my previous post on medieval food, I discussed the raw ingredie…
Thoughts: Last year, when we posted the recipe for a modern Strawberry Pie, many of you objected that there was no medieval version accompanying it. We’d tried several recipes, and thought th…
Even though medieval recipes for Gyngerbrede (or gingerbrede) do include ‘breadcrumbs’ and ‘ginger’, it is nothing like a modern ‘gingerbread’, which is soft and cake like, with a hint of ginger warming the mouth. A medieval gingerbread is a hard honey paste cut into small squares, and flavoured with spices. It is far more like …
A simple 14th-century wheat porridge cooked in almond milk.
“The wedding feast began with a thin leek soup, followed by a salad of green beans, onions, and beets…” -Storm of Swords Medieval Leek Soup Thoughts: This was a simple, tasty reci…
What makes a dish fit for a Queen? If past royal delicacies are anything to go by then pretty much anything, including seagull, marigolds or peacock - with the skin and feathers put back on after cooking, of course. Lavish banquets and feasts have always been part of royal celebrations and as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, schoolchildren in the UK were asked to create a special menu for Her Majesty. The winning school saw its recipes served to the Queen at a special reception. But what was on the menu in times gone by and would serving a canape directly to the monarch have resulted in you losing your head? There was a very well established etiquette. Victoria's famous line “we are not amused” was uttered when someone told her a joke at the dinner table, breaking strict rules. Ironically, Queen Victoria had fairly poor dining manners by today's standards, but many of today's rules about manners were formalised in the "Victorian era" named for her reign. Queen Victoria 1837-1901There were big changes in service style through Queen Victoria's 63-year reign, says food historian Annie Gray. Towards the end food was served to guests at the table sequentially, known as “a la russe.” It's silver service as we now know it. There were four to six courses, with seven to nine dishes in each. For big occasions dishes often included cod with oyster sauce, ballotines of duck in Cumberland sauce and roast lamb. There would be a dessert course, with dishes like chocolate profiteroles. A buffet of hot and cold meats was also kept on a sideboard during the meal, just in case you got hungry between courses. What was unusual about Victoria was the speed with which she ate. Usually a banquet would last for hours, but she could put away seven courses in 30 minutes, says Gray. The Victorian Era is regarded as one of gentility and graceful manners, though Queen Victoria herself was known to have very poor table manners. A speedy-eater, Queen Victoria could eat seven courses in 30 minutes, while a number of dinner guests of hers were left hungry. Royal protocol was that Queen Victoria was served each course first. Her numerous guests were then served as well. Protocol dictated that after Queen Victoria finished eating each course, all guests' plates were to be cleared for the next course. As Victoria didn't wait for guests to be served before eating, her guests were barely served before their plates were taken. Many guests of Queen Victoria's considered invites to dine at the palace, onerous honors; Dining, yet not really dining at all with the Queen. "For many people eating with her was purgatory. Everyone was served after the Queen and when she had finished all the plates were cleared for the next course. If you were the last person served often you wouldn't get a chance to eat anything before your plate was taken. She also insisted on all the windows being open whatever the time of year because she got hot." Like all monarchs Victoria had a master chef, but on big occasions help was bought in. For her Diamond Jubilee banquet 24 chefs were brought over from Paris to help, according to the Royal Collection. There was a very well established etiquette. Victoria's famous line “we are not amused” was uttered when someone told her a joke at the dinner table, breaking strict rules, says Gray. Many of today's rules about manners were formalised in the Victorian era. Top table: For the most important guests, with the most favoured at the Queen's direct right. Other guests: Seated in order of importance, highest ranking closest to top table. Food: At start of Victoria's reign food would be placed on table and guests would serve themselves. Flowers: After self-service went out of fashion and dishes were not left on table, elaborate flower displays were used as decoration. Drinks: Fine wine and Madeira would be served, but Victoria often had whiskey with her meal. Minor guests: Furthest away from the Queen and served last, they often hadn't even eaten by the time plates were cleared for the next course. Public gallery: On big occasions members of the public were allowed to watch the banquet from viewing galleries. By Charles II's reign, a dessert course had developed. Charles loved fruit and was one of the first people in the country to eat a pineapple. This painting depicts Charles II being presented with a pineapple, a rare and exotic fruit for the time period. Charles II 1660-1685 For Charles II dining was extremely important, it was one of the things that defined him as a king. At a banquet he would sit at a top table, under a canopy. The table would be raised so he could be seen by everyone and to show his status. Only a very select group of people could sit with him, a maximum of just six. The King would always be served on bended knee. He had three "officers" to attend to him - a carver, a server and a cup bearer. Cleanliness was extremely important and Charles would have someone whose sole job was to dab his mouth during the meal. “At that time dining was one of the things that absolutely defined royalty,” says English Heritage's Dr Anna Keay. "Even when Charles was in exile and living in poverty in Germany, he followed the royal form of dining and was served on bended knee." At state banquets no table decorations were needed as elaborate dishes did the job. They included a 2ft-high, silver salt cellar, made in the shape of a castle and encrusted with jewels. Often there were also silver fountains on the table flowing with wine or water. There were not courses as we know them, more stages of service. Each could involve hundreds of plates. At one banquet in 1671, guests were served 145 dishes alone during the first course, says Kathryn Jones, curator at the Royal Collection and author of For the Royal Table: Dining at the Palace. By his reign a dessert course had developed. Charles loved fruit and was one of the first people in the country to eat a pineapple. Charles IISeating: Only people who could sit with the King were his own family, royalty from another country and high-ranking officials. Table: Fine linen, gold and silver plates and crystal glasses. No decoration due to amount of food and ornate serving dishes. Dishes: First recorded mention of ice cream is on a banquet menu for Charles II. Root vegetables were considered common. Customs: Dinner would start at about 3pm. It was someone's job to design exactly how food would be laid out in front of the King. "We have a lot of mistaken ideas about how the Tudors ate. They didn't gnaw chicken greedily and throw bones on the floor, and there were no dogs fighting over scraps under trestle tables. In a well-conducted house, the dogs - except for little spaniels - were exiled to kennels. Table manners were strict and refined. Knowing how to cut your bread and what to do with your napkin was an infallible social signal that separated a gentleman from an oik, and every young noble learned to serve at table and to carve." Writer, Hilary Mantel Henry VIII 1509-1547 Food in the Tudor era was very exciting, say historians. Big feasts could include venison, swan, peacock, heron, porpoise and seagull. "Sometimes the skin of a peacock would be carefully removed along with the feathers," says Peter Hammond, author of Life In A Medieval Town. "Once cooked they were replaced, as if it were still alive. They did this to show wealth." While a lot of meat was served, there were also vegetables. Whatever could be grown was served, including cabbage, peas and lettuce. Flowers were also eaten, such as marigolds. They were used in salads and as a garnish. There was a top table and the highest ranking and most highly favoured guests would sit on the right of King Henry VIII. Everything was about hierarchy, even the way you walked into the room. Gold and silver dishes were also displayed on sideboards to show wealth. Food was served in stages called "removes". These consisted or up to 20 dishes. They were not all served together, individual dishes would be served in procession. Only the King's table was offered all the dishes. It's a misconception that banquets were raucous and messy. "The way banquets are portrayed in many films is ridiculous," says Hammond. "They were extremely civilised, with a very firm code of etiquette." Dining with Henry VIII ~ If you were wealthy, your cakes would be decorated with marzipan, and after dinner there would be nuts, thin and delicate wafers, and sweets made with aniseed and ginger to help digestion. Henry and his guests would have eaten with a knife and fingers, as forks hadn't been introduced. This would have been very delicately done and again involved very complicated rules about what could be touched with fingers. Henry VIII Seating: Top table including King and the most important guests, the most favoured to the King's direct right. Table: Fine linen tablecloths, laid with gold and silver plates, dishes and crystal glasses. No forks. Dishes: Sweet dishes were served throughout the meal, not at end. Fruit and nuts were eaten at the end. Customs: Definitely no bone throwing or feeding dogs from the table. That would have been the height of bad manners. A medieval banquet Edward IV 1461-1470 and 1471-1483 Royal banquets got a lot more elaborate under Edward IV and the whole notion of behaviour more complex, says Chris Woolgar, professor of history and archival studies at Southampton University. Courtesy books were produced to explain the etiquette. Edward would have "servants of honour" to tend to his needs at banquets. These were people senior in rank. Often their tasks were menial, but it was still considered a great honour. A very important servant was the carver, who would cut the King's meat at the top table. Guests would have their meat carved in the kitchen and brought up to them. One of the "servants of honour" would test the King's food using a "unicorn's horn", basically a fossil shell. In an elaborate performance they would use the "horn" to touch the food, then deem it safe. Elaborate silver salt cellars would be on the table. Often shaped like a ship, they would be encrusted with jewels. Fine wines were served for the higher ranking guests and ale for others. In between the stages of services there would be dramatic performances, usually with a political message. Some were more entertaining, like someone jumping out of a cake, says Prof Woolgar. Edward IV Seating : A top table seating the King and important guests, most favoured to the King's right. Table : Fine linen tablecloth, with gold, silver and silver-gilt plates and cups. No glass or forks. Dishes : The finest meats and fish. Sweet dishes were served with meat and fish, not separately. Customs: The King and guests would sit for a banquet from 11am and it could last for up to four hours. William the Conqueror traveled with a very large household . If they stayed a long time, it could nearly bankrupt the lord who was their host. William the Conqueror 1066-1087 During William the Conqueror's reign a trestle table was used and it would only be set up after the King was seated. It would then be laid with a linen table cloth and the finest gold and silver. Lower ranking guests would have eaten out of a trencher, this was a piece of stale bread cut into a square shape and used as a plate. At the end of the meal, having soaked up all the juices from the food, they were frequently given as alms to the poor. The top table would seat high-ranking guests, with a cleric seated directly to the right of William. Sometimes it was his almoner, an official who gave out alms to the poor on the King's behalf. All of the King's food would be cooked separately from everyone else. He would often give out food from his plate to guests, this was considered a great honour and a sign of favour. There were several stages of service, with many dishes. Food would get more elaborate as each dish was served. Only the top table would have roast meat, those of junior ranks would be served boiled meat. Banquets in Norman times were very dignified affairs, with strict etiquette rules. Noise and mess were not acceptable, neither was burping. William the Conqueror Seating: King would sit at a top table with senior guests, including important religious figures Table: Elaborately embroidered linen, gold and silver plates and cups. No glass or forks Dishes: The finest meat, including venison and game birds, and fish, including turbot, were served Customs: Would sit from 11am. The King would often give out alms to the poor from the banquet . –Originally printed January 2012, By Denise Winterman BBC News Magazine Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia
This cookbook contains 78 recipes for delicious drinks, hearty breads, soups and hors d’oeuvres, robust entrées, and rich desserts that originate from the folkloric foundations of individual cultures throughout Europe and the English Isles in the Middle Ages. These ancient and exotic foods, libations, and flavors take you through history in a festive time machine—your own kitchen! Each recipe has been researched, translated, prepared by time-honored cooking traditions, and is suitable for modern chefs everywhere. Caws Wedi Pobi “Welsh Rarebit” and sweet and spicy Chawetty Tarts, and rare dishes like Pompys “Medieval Meatballs in Sweet Sauce,” Rissoles Meat Tarts, and roasted Aberdeenshire Pheasant are sure to find great favor with your guests. With simple and fun-to-make recipes, this book includes historical information, preparation suggestions, and a thorough resource guide that takes you and your guests on a culinary journey into the past when our ancestors ruled the ancient world.
A classic cocktail from The Hamilton Cookbook by Laura Kumin.
The modern day convenience of spice blends cannot be denied. Paule Prudhomme and even Emeril have jumped on the Spice Blend Bandwagon, raking in millions off of their conceived blends of perfectly proportioned dried spices. We use spice blends for BBQ, to flavor stocks and soups, and I love using Tony Chachere's Creole blend in my New Orleans dishes. What I found surprising was this notion of spice blends is not a modern day invention whatsoever. In fact, the spice blend as a concept and functioning cooking tool dates back...way back...and all over the world. Case in point: the medieval spice blend. If you've been to Medieval Times you probably remember that roasted chicken you ate with your hands, and those potato wedges. They're slightly sweet, aromatic, savory, and delicious at the same time. Here is the recipe for the simple spice blend the medieval Europeans would use, from England to Romania, and everywhere in between. The use of ginger was huge in medieval cooking. Not only did it add major aromatics to the dishes prepared with it, but it offered the spicy and slightly sweet balance that makes food to delicious. For warmth, a combination of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and/or mace were often included, usually not all together. And grains of paradise were utilized as a daily ingredient. Harder to find now, you can use their cousin the simple black peppercorn in place. Often fresh herbs were also added (and in their dried forms), but the above-mentioned spices were certainly the main deal. Salt was an expensive commodity then, so it's rare you'll find recipes including salt in the seasonings. But feel free to add some to taste when making your medieval-inspired meals today. This spice blend goes beautifully with chicken, poultry meats (incredible with cornish hens), game meats (especially venison), fish (although go lighter with the touch then) and even vegetables. I love looking back to the ancestors to see how they did things, especially how they cooked. If you're tired of the same spice blends, the same salt-pepper-thyme chicken dinners, try roasting a chicken this week using this spice blend instead. You'll be surprised how incredible your house will smell and how tasty it'll be. Medieval Spice Blend aka Powder Fine 6 Tbsp ground ginger 4 Tbsp granulated white sugar 3 Tbsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp whole cloves 2 tsp whole black pepper corns Place all spices in a grinder and pulse until finely ground into a powder. Keep in an air-tight container (preferably made of glass) for up to a month. Use on chicken, foul, game, fish, soups, stews, or vegetables. Add salt to taste.
Yesterday I analyzed Chapters Thirty-Nine and Forty of The Rule of Saint Benedict. If your only knowledge of monastic diets comes from The Rule, you might assume that medieval monks always ate heal…
