Month: April 2019

In the late Middle Ages, well-off children were sent out of their homes at age 7-8 to be tutored in the household of great magnate or church dignitary. They would learn about serving, manners, meals, courtesy and housekeeping there was a manuscript collection describing this education called The Babees Book. It was translated into more modern English and is available as part of the Gutenberg project. It is a fascinating read, exploring aspects of medieval life in a lord’s manor.

Here is a great quote from the 1908 introduction: “although we are not today so plain spoken, our ideals are similarities those of our ancestors. But theirs was the greater difficulty of attainment. Personal cleanliness, self-respect, reverence for one’s betters, and consideration for one’s neighbor seem to have been then as they are now, the foundation-stones.”

On the menu tonight are dishes that would have been served in these households. We will have Braised beef, Green pea pottage, Lasagne layered with cheese, and Fried fig pastries.

this weekend we are at our mountain vintage Boles Aero trailer. So food preparation and HBO access will be interesting.

I started Sunday afternoon with the fried fig pastries. I brought a handheld blender and hooked it to our inverter. We have 12 volt solar power here. Last time I tried this blender it took too much power but this one with a new solar battery it work great. But the minced figs were too hard to get fuller blend. But I was able to whip egg whites with it. The minced figs, spices and egg yolks were rolled into filo pastry and then fried. Here they are all done minus one for quality control.

Next I prepared the Lasagne. I boiled the noodles in our beef broth.

and here is the Lasagne all ready to go in the oven. The pan is greased with butter and then there are layers of cinnamon, pepper grated cheddar and the boiled noodles.

The braised beef was next. A 2# beef rib roast was roasted in the oven with some beef fat for 49 minutes. Then parsley, onions, currants, peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, juniper berries, saffron, salt, red wine and red wine vinegar were added. It was the cooked gently on the stovetop covered for 45 minutes.

The oven was then available to bake the lasagna. I also got the table and the laptop ready. We have a 12 volt TV but no access to any form of HBO on it. So I made WiFi with my phone and pulled up HBO Go on the laptop. It is not ideal but it will work. Plus we can rewatch it tomorrow on a real TV.

Next came the green pea pottage

I boiled peas and onions and the purred them and simmered them some more.

then I assembled the meal. Here is my view.

And here is my meal.

I will let you know how the meal and episode are tomorrow

So the meal (Braised spring greens, White bread and rolls, Golden leeks and onions, Civey of hare, and Fig and raisin ‘cream’) was excellent.  The spice combinations were unusual but everything was tasty.

The Civey of hare (rabbit stew) could have used more vegetables like carrots.  But the spices were interesting but good, and the meat was very tender.  And it was very medieval with the bones sticking out of the bowl.

The Golden leeks and onions actually taste liked saffron and had a gorgeous deep yellow color.  The summoner in Chaucer’s company loved leeks and onions so its felt very authentic.  And I was able to get saffron on sale at Fred Meyer for only $7 (usually it is ~$20) so I did not feel too guilty using a teaspoon of it for this recipe.  The other spices (white pepper, cinnamon and cloves) added a little zing as well.

The Braised spring greens were basically just spinach, but the pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon added a nice spiciness to it as well.

The White bread and rolls were basically just white bread, but fresh-baked bread is always good.  Plus it sopped up the liquids nicely.

Fig and raisin ‘cream’ was kind of a warm, sweet, somewhat seedy soup.  But if you like figs and raisins, you will like this.  It was spiced with pepper, cinnamon, cloves and salt.  I am thinking the leftovers will be great mixed with yogurt for breakfasts.

One thing I noticed about this meal is there was more spices than any other of the medieval meals I have had.  I may be because most of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales were well off, but prior meals I have had were meant for Kings.  Maybe just a different era, but it was welcomed.

Tom even liked it.  He did not have the spinach or the fig/raisin dessert, but the rest he raved about.  He prefers the white meat on the rabbits as compared to the dark, but I am not sure which part on a rabbit is dark versus white.  But I am thrilled he had a nice meal too.  And it all felt very medieval as we watch the episode.

No major spoilers here, but I actually liked this episode more than the first one.  Although there was no deaths and no appearance by Cersei (both of which I am guessing are firsts) it felt warm and interesting.  I loved seeing the characters interacting.  Plus there is the knowledge that an ugly battle is coming soon.  So we enjoyed it and are anxiously awaiting next Sunday’s installment.  Sadly only 4 more medieval meals (and GOT) to go.

 

 

 

Our medieval meal tonight is going to be based on what the cook would have made during the pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales.

Per Wikipedia The Canterbury Tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return.

 

Here is a reading of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Cook’s Tale:

www.youtube.com/

And here is a depiction of The Cook (from Wikipedia):

This is a translation of the Prologue to the Cook’s Tale that I thought was interesting and descriptive:

From The Canterbury Tales:
General Prologue
lines 381-389: The Cook

A COOK they hadde with hem for the nones To boille the chiknes with the marybones, And poudre-marchant tart, and galyngale. Wel koude he knowe a draughte of London ale. 385 He koude rooste, and sethe, and broille, and frye, Maken mortreux, and wel bake a pye. But greet harm was it, as it thoughte me, That on his shyne a mormal hadde he. For blankmanger, that made he with the beste.

A COOK they had with them, just for once, To boil the chickens with the marrow-bones, And poudre-marchant tart and galingale. He knew how to recognize a draught of London ale. 385 And he could roast and boil and broil and fry, And prepare a stew, and bake a tasty pie. But a pity it was, it seemed to me, That on his shin an open sore had he; For sweet blanc-mange, he made it with the best.

So on the menu for tonight is Braised spring greens, White bread and rolls, Golden leeks and onions, Civey of hare, and Fig and raisin ‘cream’.

First I started making the bread dough.  I am not used to weighing flour instead of measuring in cups.  Because of this I did not realize how much flour I needed so I ran out.  Tom was kind enough to go to W.D. Foods to pick some up as well as brown sugar which I did not realize he had used up.  It is a thick dough but otherwise similar to dough I have made before.  Here it is “proving” in the oven.

 

Then I started the Cibey of hare which is just a rabbit stew.  It has beef stockk and onions but lots of interesting spices.  there is free thyme, fresh rosemary, powder douce, fresh parsley, whole cloves, 2 blades of mace and ground ginger.  There is some toast soaked in red wine and a little red wine vinegar.  Here it is before I placed the ribcages on top and cooked it all together. The second picture is of the blades of mace I had to buy.

Next came the soaked figs , raisins and red wine cooked up. It was then blended with some spices and rice flour. Here it is all cooked up.

The bread and rolls were cooked.

The leeks and onions were cooked with saffron water and spices.

And the spinach was braised, drained then fried.

And here is my meal all assembled with some brown ale.

GOT is just about to start. I will give you an appraisal tomorrow.

I did not have time to comment on our meal because we had a premier to watch and then sleep and then work.  So here is our assessment of the meal.

The Frumenty was pretty boring as expected.  Tom did not try it.  The leftovers went to the chickens who were initially skeptical but then ate it.  But it definitely seemed medieval.

The Girdle breads were also pretty boring as expected.  Tom did try one though.  They also went to the chickens who loved them.  But these breads also seemed medieval.

The Sweet-sour spiced rabbits was surprisingly good.  The spice to it was wonderful.  For Tom this was his favorite part of the meal, and for me it was my second favorite.  We will definitely be eating this leftover rabbit.  Very medieval and rabbit does taste like chicken.

The Lamb stew tasted like lamb stew.  It tasted like lamb and onions which is basically what it was. Tom, of course, did not try it.  I will freeze this leftovers and have them from time to time.  Very medieval though.

For me the Grilled quail was amazing.  There was a smokiness to the barbecue that was amazing.  Tom did not like it, said that it tasted like dark meat, but I (like my mother and grandfather) like the dark meat.  They were amazing and incredibly medieval.

No spoilers but for me the GOT episode was not that exciting.  it was nice to see all the characters again, but there was no major event or unexpected news.  Some seasons have started off with a bang, like Arya killing the Freys, but nothing like that this year.  I am sure it will pick up steam over the next 5 episodes though.  And this meal was amazing to eat in the dark in front of the premier.  I did all feel very medieval.

I am really looking forward to the next meal and episode.  The plan is for a Chaucer meal.  I have to work Saturday so it depends on how tired I am whether I will be able to cook a major meal on Sunday or if we will have to wait until Monday for our meal and episode #2.

 

The evening started with a bath with a dragon’s egg I have been saving since I received it from my cousins for Christmas.

I accompanied the bath with a Hodor cocktail.

Then I cooked the lamb stew,

The sweet-sour spiced rabbit,

The frumenty,

The grilled quail,

And the Gridle bread.

Here is the meal all assembled:

I will let you know how it all tastes and how the premiere episode is.

So for the GOT premiere, I am going to recreate the meal that Duke William had before the Battle at Hastings where the Normans then took control over England from the Saxons.  This meal is depicted beautifully in the Bayeux Tapestry.  This meal is shown about 2/3 of the way through this large tapestry.  It is in scene # 42-43.  The author of The Medieval Cookbook Maggie Black discerned from her knowledge and the tapestry what food was likely served at this meal and translated medieval recipes for it.  So on tonight’s menu is Frumenty, Girdle breads, Sweet-sour spiced rabbit (BTW rabbits were imported into Britain by the Normans), Lamb stew and Grilled quail.

The first of the many steps for creating this meal was to gather the ingredients.  The rabbit I purchased at Silvana Meats.  The lamb came from our neighbors at Prairie Road Farm.  And the quail came from University Seafood and Poultry.  The rest of the ingredients came from local grocery stores.

This morning involved prep work.  The first step was figuring out how to crack the barley.

The recipe suggested pounding it, but google said you could use a blender or coffee mill.  I thought if a blender worked, a cuisinart should.  It did not.  I got out a large mallet to start pounding when I remembered that we have an antique coffee mill.  After I cleaned it up, I put a tablespoon of barley in it, and it worked great.  It was a lot of work though but now we have cracked barley, and a new appreciation for how much work our ancestors put in for their meals.

Then came cutting up the lamb into 2 inch cubes for the stew.

Then came cutting up the rabbit into joints and saddle.  I had to google to figure out how to do this.

Finally I flattened the quail and tried to figure out how the wooden skewers are going to go in.

There is chicken stock thawing as well.  Here is the initial preparation work all completed.

And here are the brains of the operation with the dishes clean and ready, the cook book, and my notes with dish starting times.

I made these dishes for the rewatch of last year’s season finale.  So it had to be good!  Thankfully two of the dishes are prepared early and served cold.  So that made it easier.

I started with the “Departed” Creamed Fish.  I poached some halibut.  Then I steeped some ground almonds in some of the poaching liquid.  I pressed the liquid out to the fish and then the fish and the almond sludge went into a blender ( I am wondering how medieval a blender is).  Some rice flour was mixed with some more of the poaching liquid in a saucepan and then heated until it was thick.  This was added to the blender with some salt.  Half of these mixture was colored with saffron water and flavored with ground ginger and sugar.  They are then chilled in the fridge.  For serving, dollop of each were placed in a saucer.  Ginger-sugar was sprinkled on the yellow one and just sugar sprinkled on the white one.  Here they are ready for serving.

While the creamed fish was chilling my attention moved to the Cherry Pottage.  I could not find ripe cherries so used two quarts of our canned Rainier cherries from last year.  These were pureed in the blender with white wine and sugar.  This was then added to a saucepan with melted butter, breadcrumbs and salt and simmered.  Once it was thick, it was poured into serving bowls and put in the fridge.  For serving whole cloves were added to the edge and coarse sugar was sprinkled on the top.  Here is some of the pottage ready for serving.

The last step was getting the salmon ready.  Tom warmed up the grill while I prepared a sauce with white wine, onions and cinnamon heated in saucepan.  A little vinegar and ginger was added.  The salmon (and one halibut fillet for Tom) was brushed with oil and just simply grilled.  The fish was then served with the wine sauce on top.  Here is the whole meal assembled.  I did add a thawed mushroom pastie and some of the mixed pickles.

One thing I did notice is that the departed (which just means bicolored) fish looked a lot like the profile of the moon’s face.

But it did not taste good.  The rest of the meal was great.  The salmon was smokey from the grill, and the sauce was nice.  The pickles were strong and tasty.  And the cherry pottage for dessert was really yummy.  So this meal sustained us through the finale.  So next weekend I am taking a break, and then it gets really medieval!