I suffered from what most women of my generation suffer from; we don’t know how to cook because we didn’t learn from our moms. The foods that our great-grandparents, or grandparents, and our parents cooked is not being held onto and those food traditions are slowly vanishing.

Food and culture are hopelessly intertwined and as we lose those traditional foods, we lose a piece of the culture that it came from. One of the greatest sources of modern food traditions is the church cookbook. Typically done as a fundraiser, the church cookbook provides the tried-and-true recipes of the church ladies, who are typically the elders of the church. Unfortunately, this particular source of preservation is declining as church membership declines. It is replaced by other sources such as organization cookbooks - my husband has a cookbook from the Physics Department at the University of Pittsburgh called “Quiches, Quarks, Quasars and other favorites of physicists and astronomers”. But, again, as people stop cooking because they don’t have time, they don’t really have recipes to pass along to those kinds of sources. You have to have it to give it away.

There are fewer and fewer people cooking the food that their grandparents and parents served. The fact that it is normal to have two working parents and there isn’t time to cook an elaborate meal every day when you have that family situation. If you come from a family where recipes aren’t being written down if you can’t or don’t take the time to learn how the recipe is cooked, it vanishes when the cook dies.

I was born in 1970 and until I was about nine years old, my mother was a stay at home mom just like everyone else’s. She cooked all of our meals and we would regularly have family over for dinner or would go to a family members for dinner. For a short period of time we even lived across the street from my Gramy and shared a duplex with my mother’s sister and her family. On my Mom’s side of the family there were a lot of casseroles and food cooked from recipes out of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. Food was what you made because it was mealtime, it was the people that were the center of the event.

My father’s side of the family was an entirely different matter. I am the third generation born in the United States (my great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Slovenia). The food that I remember eating at my grandparent’s house were things like Smerdel’s Klobase and home grown and home ground horseradish. Food was an event and I remember my grandfather talking about the various foods that he had while he traveled around the world with his job. In their house, the food was the event and the people were there because the food was there.

Unfortunately, there is a lot that is lost in my family. My maternal great-grandmother made amazing pies that she made without a recipe. No one got the information so that it could be passed along. If there were any family recipes that my paternal great-grandparents had, I don’t know what they are. There are no recipe cards, there are no written records. There are a few hazy memories by a person who didn’t find cooking to be important until she was in her late 20’s.

It is worth saving our food heritage because with that heritage, we preserve the essence of the culture that it came from. Consider spending some time with your elderly relatives and learning how to make the foods that make you happy when they make them. Then write them down to pass along to others. Food History doesn’t have to be about research, it can just as easily be about standing in a kitchen with your grandmother learning one of her recipes.

I had the pleasure of taking a breadmaking class from Larry Lagatutta, owner and head baker at Enrico Biscotti in the Strip District. It started with the class participants sitting around a long table sharing a divine breakfast of: roasted vegetables; hard cheeses; spaghetti and meatballs; biscotti; misc. baked goods; beans and greens with garlic; torta rustica; wine; coffee; and water. Even with that huge list, I am afraid I probably missed something.

As we ate, the words began. Larry Lagatutta is an amazing presenter and teacher. It’s obvious he’s done this many times before and knows how to reach his audience. The title of this update is one of Mr. Lagatutta’s oft-spoken phrases, reminding us that we have to slow down, give things time, and trust the instructions.

We learned to be a loving God, a Princess, and an all-knowing God. We committed the holocaust of a trillion yeasts. We learned all of the things that your Nonna never actually did. We learned the Italian-centric history of bread. We learned that history is all about sex, bread, and world domination. We learned that putting too much water into your dough is not the disaster that you might think it is.

There were beautiful stories about bread, stories from customers, and the importance of keeping our food heritage alive. It was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to put it into action. I am also looking forward to the possibility of taking another class from him at some point (he has a pizza class and a whole wheat bread class).

If you are in Pittsburgh or can be in Pittsburgh, please consider taking a class or participating in one of the other events at Enrico. You can join their fan page on Facebook. There is also a newsletter, which you can sign up for on the website or in person at the store.

Just before we left the shop, the class participants were reminded that we have to teach what we have learned so that it is not lost. It sounds like I need to work on my technique and then share it with others.

David’s Cooking Site: Cooking Martino

David Walddon decided to take on an enormous task and cook his way through “Libre de Arte Coquinaria” by Martino di Como and blog about it. Just the kind of thing I find terribly interesting and exciting. The recipes that he has completed are cataloged here and include his translation and redaction of the recipe.

He also has a general medieval cooking blog at David’s Blog: Old Food. The latest entry is his redaction of Turkey Polpette from Scappi. There is an in-depth analysis of how the Scully translation is being interpreted and the process of making the dish is included, however, there is currently no complete redaction (since it was posted on Tuesday, no surprise there).

He has presented at the Oxford Symposium of Food History and been published in Petite Propos Culinaires. He has a weekly syndicated food column called “The Vast Repast” and has presented various topics in food history in a number of cities. He is also active with the Madrone Culinary Guild in Seattle, WA. If you aren’t reading him, you probably should be.

Recently I was sent a link to an article about a very interesting study done in England that identified that food taste in that country was as unique and identifiable by region as accents. The why for this was quite varied and some of it struck me as a bit of a stretch such as, “the artisan industries, such as pottery and textiles, where workers have used their hands, meant the region already had a predisposition to curry, as naan bread and poppadoms can be eaten by hand.” (Tucker, 2009) The primary thrust of it I found to be extremely true; food taste is formed by experience.

This study makes me wonder what the results would have been if the study was done in the United States. I know that in my region (Western Pennsylvania), we have a particular love of carbohydrates delivered in the form of pasta (pierohi, ravioli, spaghetti, etc.) and think that sandwiches should be a full meal affair with the sandwich filling, french fries, and cole slaw all on two slices of Italian bread. We do have a steak preparation method named for us (”Pittsburgh Rare”) and we have an increasingly diverse population that introduces different foods as they arrive and settle in. It’s really the same as anywhere else in that matter, though.

The fact is that there are not only a huge number of regional foods but local variants on the same regional food: Buffalo Wings, Garbage Plates, Philly Cheesesteak, etc. You could spend years just driving around and tasting regional delicacies without fear of serious repetition. It’s really kind of amazing to consider that even in the advent of an age where we can get pretty much anything we want over the internet, there are things in the world that we may never taste if we don’t actually go there.

Regional cuisine is something that is in the “things that I know that I don’t know” category Medievally. I can give some generalizations about national cuisine in the Low Countries based on what I’ve learned from Dutch cookbooks. I can make some generalizations about national cuisine during specific periods of time based on the same information, but to say “they ate X in this region” is not something that I am comfortable with. Because cookbooks were kind of specific to the cook and who the cook was cooking for I find it difficult to extend that information to a region. It’s far easier to look at several books and see where they match up to make a national generalization (assuming that the books were written in different areas, which most of them were) than it is to look at one or two books and say definitively that they represent the whole of a regional cuisine.

Maybe I’m too attached to the uniqueness of regionalism to be able to get out of my own box and be more willing to be specific and run the risk of being wrong. I’m not unwilling to admit that. It’s something that I need to look into, clearly.

I guess that what I should do is start making a list of what goods were shipped in and out of the various ports in the Low Countries during what time period and see what ingredients were available. Probably on the 2010 “giant project that requires help” list, though. I have enough for 2009. Really.

Regionalism is something that I look forward to having for a very long time, or at least until such time as teleportation technology advances to the point that I can send a Primanti’s Sandwich anywhere. It’s what makes each bit of the world unique within the context of people of the same nationality in the same country. It provides variety and makes it worth getting on a train or in a car or on a bus to see what someone else has that you don’t. Or better, invite someone to your area to enjoy your regional cuisine. Then you get the bonus of seeing a far away friend as well as having a nice meal.

Links:

“Why Taste is as Regional as Dialect”
http://refreshingnews9.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-taste-is-as-regional-as-dialect.html

Much coolness happened this weekend. 

I was contacted by the Zwei Fat Chicks, Canadian Podcast Divas. Their most recent podcast is primarily a review of The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating. As part of their discussion about the idea of the 100 mile diet, they feature medievalcooking.org.

If you are not listening to the Zwei Fat Chicks, you should. They are delightful to listen to and I recommend them very highly. Click on the link above to hear them at Pod Bean, or subscribe to them at iTunes. If you subscribe at iTunes, please consider rating the podcast and writing a review.

I also spent a good portion of the weekend doing chicken research, specifically about the breed that I own. The big generality is that the Polish date to pre-1601 and that the breed is so old that its origins are obscured. There is also a lot of conflicting information about where the crested breeds come from and while the common wisdom is that there really were no such things as breeds until the 17th century, I am finding that there were common names for shared characteristics in animals prior to the 17th century. The gene pools would have been regional, rather than there being a standard that existed in different places and times.

According to The Field Guide to Chickens, the Polish are also called “Crested Fowl, Crested Dutch, Polands, Poland Fowls, Paduan, Padoue, and Patavinian.” and were cataloged and illustrated by the Italian naturalist, Ulisse Aldrovandi. Aldrovandi maintains that the breed originated in Padua, but there is also evidence that the breed was imported from the Near East.

The particular variant that I have at my house are the White Crested Black Polish and were standardized in 1938 (again, according to “The Field Guide to Chickens”). This does not mean that the color variation didn’t exist prior to 1938, but that it was a recognized standard in that year. I need to find illustrations of Polish chickens to get an idea of what they would have looked like during the middle ages, most specifically in 1593 in Bruges.

The more daunting part of this little research project of mine is trying to find out how chickens would have been kept. There are some great resources for feeding chickens (including in Digby) and I want to do a reasonable analysis of the real content of the feed and how it differs from the modern high-protein diet that is typically recommended, if it varies at all.

There has been some great advice given to me and I am so happy to have people in my life that understand my insanity.

One of the best pieces of information I got was that if you have access to a University or large library with a large microfilm catalog do a key word search on “pre-1700″ (or whatever their cut off is for the early stuff) and “husbandry” or “animal” or “poultry” you should find a number of resources.

There is also the Catalog of Rare Veterinary Books and Allied Subjects in Animal Husbandry (http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/vetmed/html/foreword.html) is a fantastic resource not only for those studying animals during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but for those studying later time periods as well.

There will be more updates as I continue forward with this project. It’s a huge undertaking while I have two huge undertakings going on (including the full data entry and analysis of the Dutch cookbooks) because I am apparently unable to just engage in some light, floofy research project.

h/t to THL Femke de Roas, Maitress Anne-Marie d’Ailleurs, and Abot Master Johann von Metten.

This was nearly a year without Pennsic for my family which would have been sad. But since it was for good reasons it would have been okay. Our situation changed enough to allow us to go, but we weren’t sure until the very last minute. This weekend we registered and today I was reviewing what classes are available in cooking and wanted to share this with all of you.

You can go to The Pennsic University Page for the schedule sorted either by date or by subject. You can even download it as an Excel spreadsheet and do your own sorting, if you would like.

Here is a cut and paste of the cookery classes. I have done only very minimal formatting to make it a bit more readable in this context.

Anglo-Saxon Food
What foods and drinks were available to the Anglo-Saxons, and how did they prepare them? Also social customs associated with food., Handout Fee: $5, Instructor: Hlafdige Arastorm the Golden, 9 AM on 8/3 at Tent 02.

Baking in the Middle Ages
Types of Ovens used, ingredients used, taste test. Time periods and changes in foods., Handout Fee: $1.00, Instructor: Lady Merit de la Rose/Von Windaven, 12 PM on 7/31 at Tent 06; 12 PM on 8/2 at Tent 06; 12 PM on 8/7 at Tent 06.

Before Béchamel & Hollandaise
Sauces are a wonderful way to spice up a meal. This introductory course will review some of the basic sauces used during the Middle Ages. There will be hands-on making of these sauces with the opportunity to sample the resulting sauces., Handout Fee: $2, Instructor: Mistress Euriol of Lothian, 10 AM on 8/6 at Tent 13.

Bread Baking In Your Firepit
Students will be shown bread baking techniques in and over a firepit, using Dutch ovens, griddles, and other methods. Class is mainly period with some just-out-of-period for both recipes and cooking methods., Length: 2 hr., Handout Fee: $3.00, Instructor: Viscountess / Mistress Aramanthra the Vicious, 10 AM on 7/30 at Private Camp; 10 AM on 8/6 at Private Camp.

Care and Feeding of Cast Iron Cookware
Does your cast iron cookware rust? Does it smoke? Does food stick or burn easily? Do you hate cleaning your cast iron? Awwwwwwwwwww, it’s okay, Auntie Eleanore will help you! Come to this class and learn the Four C’s - how to cure, cook with, clean and care for the Original Non-Stick Cookware without stress! If you have a “problem child” (i.e. cookware that is rusted or ruined) bring it along, we might even be able to fix it!, Instructor: Mistress Eleanore MacCarthaigh, 10 AM on 8/6 at Private Camp.

Cooking from Primary Sources
How to start with a recipe written down in period and end up with something consistent with that recipe that is good to eat. There will also be a discussion of sources for recipes., Instructor: Master Cariadoc Mistress Elizabeth of Dendermonde, 11 AM on 8/4 at Tent 09.

Cooking from the Bancetti of Christoforo Messisbugo
New redacted recipes from the 16th century Northern Italian cookbook The Bancetti/Libro Novo by Christoforo
Thursday, June 11, 2009

Fish Cookery in Scappi
One of the most neglected portions of many cookbooks is the Lenten and fish cookery. We will survey selected recipes from Scappi to give you some non-scary fish dishes., Handouts for: 20, Instructor: Mistress Helewyse de Birkestad, 12 PM on 7/31 at Tent 05; 12 PM on 8/6 at Tent 06.

Food Challenges in SCA Cooking
This class explores how to cook for people with food challenges, including allergies and dietary restrictions. Covers safe food handling, cross contamination risks and educating your kitchen/feast crews., Handouts for: 25, Instructor: Lady Alesone Gray, 12 PM on 8/2 at Tent 11.

Gluten-Free Feasting - Period Concepts & Reasonable Substitutions
In many times and places not everyone could not afford wheat; alternatives were available. Come, help cook period possibilities, and explore simple substitutions to produce gluten-free feast possibilities., Length: 2 hr., Handout Fee: $0.50, Instructor: Lady Katherin verch Rhys Master Aiden Elfeadur, 1 PM on 8/3 at Private Camp.

How Not To Starve in the SCA
Introduction to medieval food for those new to the SCA or to period food. Period recipes, simple foods to bring to events, food myths and more., Instructor: Baronne Guenièvre de Monmarché, 2 PM on 8/1 at Tent 06.

How to Make Butter
We will make butter from pasteurized heavy cream. Handout on the history of butter with web links for more information., Instructor: Jylaen de Marcel, 2 PM on 8/2 at Tent 08.

Introduction to Sugarpaste Subtleties
Examines sugarpaste subtleties, their manufacture and uses in the 15th and 16th centuries. Discusses the same in the Current Middle Ages., Handout Fee: $2.00, Handouts for: 25, Instructor: Mistress Rosamund Beauvisage, 5 PM on 7/30 at Tent 07; 4 PM on 8/3 at Tent 07.

Islamic Pastries and Confections
A review class of a few basic styles of Islamic sweets, some of the early cookbooks and their recipes. We will be reviewing some recipes from Andalusia, Persia and Turkey with modern version included with discussion about some of the differences in ingredients and cooking styles. Samples if possible., Handouts for: 25, Instructor: Sayyida Dinah bint Ismai’l, 11 AM on 8/2 at Tent 06.

Japanese Pickles and Preserved Food
An introduction to pickled vegetables and other preserved Japanese food and the context in which they were eaten including: Buddhist Monasteries, Banquets, Festivals, and on Military Campaign. Samples will be available., Instructor: Solveig Throndardottir, 12 PM on 8/6 at Private Camp.

Kicking it Up a Notch - better dining at Pennsic
Practical ideas and recipes for how to eat better -and more authentically -at Pennsic. This class is also appropriate for those who are NOT major cooks / foodies in the Society or in mundane life., Instructor: Mistress Maria of Oxenford Baron Ealdred of Gwyntarian, 1 PM on 8/5 at Private Camp.

Lost in Translation
The Scully translation of Scappis’ Opera is a masterwork, there are problems with the translation which we will cover and correct., Handouts for: 20, Instructor: Mistress Helewyse de Birkestad, 12 PM on 7/30 at Tent 06; 12 PM on 8/5 at Tent
11.

Making Molded Gingerbread
We will make gingerbread according to Forme of Cury & other medieval receipts and then will work hands-on with a variety of period molds., Instructor: Master Hogge de Watlynge, 1 PM on 8/7 at Tent 14.

Medieval English Feasts
Feasts in the SCA are often based mainly on English cuisine, but does that make them English feasts? Let’s take a closer look at feast planning as seen in period English sources., Instructor: Lord Henry of Maldon, 12 PM on 8/6 at Tent 11.

Medieval Food Myths AKA Rotting Meat is Rotting Meat (and they didn’t eat it anyway)
The return of last year’s most popular class. Please bring you own medieval food myths and find out the truth. Oh, and the instructor loves homemade cookies., Length: 2 hr., Instructor Master Llewellyn ap Teirnon, 9 AM on 8/7 at Tent 08.

Medieval Mustards
Medieval Mustards offers a quick look at the place of mustards in medieval cookery, a tasting of some common medieval mustards, and some hands-on experience in makin a simple mustard., Instructor: Lord Edward fitzRanulf, 1 PM on 8/2 at Tent 01.

Now You’re Cooking With FIRE!
Planning and cooking meals over a fire in a safe, easy and delicious manner. Drive your neighbors INSANE with jealousy from wondrous smells coming from your fire! Peri-oid and period foods will be discussed. A hands-on class, we will cook lunch for ourselves - please come dressed for cooking and handling fire. Interested teens should be accompanied ban adult! Class fee is to cover food for lunch, handouts will be provided free. Please bring a drinking vessel, all else will be provided!, Length: 2 hr., Materials Fee: $3.00, Materials for: 12, Instructor: Mistress Eleanore MacCarthaigh, 10 AM on 8/5 at Private Camp.

On Being a Feast Steward
We will look at the history of serving feasts within the middle ages and how that may translate to being a head server during SCA feasts., Materials for: 30, Handouts for: 30, Instructor: The Honorable Lady Hillary of Langeforde Lady Fiona ni Chiardubhain, 3 PM on 8/1 at Tent 11.
Thursday, July 11, 2009

Period Islamic Cooking
A description of surviving period Islamic cookbooks and some of the dishes in them., Instructor: Master Cariadoc Mistress Elizabeth of Dendermonde, 10 AM on 8/4 at Tent 09

Pomegranates, Peacocks, and Pork: A 16th Century Spanish Cookbook
Overview of food and cooking in late-period Christian Spain as revealed in the 1529 “Libro de Cozina” by Ruperto de Nola, and other contemporary sources. Handouts will include some translated recipes., Instructor: Mistress Brighid ni Chiarain, 2 PM on 8/5 at Tent 13.

Preparing Period SCA Feasts
A detailed walk through of the process of planning, researching, and preparing period feasts for SCA events., Length: 2 hr., Instructor: Lady Symonne de Villeneuve, 11 AM on 8/3 at Tent 14.

Spices and Their Effects in History
From Trade Routes to Guilds, from War to Brideprice, From Birka to China, and from your kitchen cabinet to your fabulous dish, We will learn all about the medieval spices that affected change and taste thru history. We will be covering Pepper, Cinnamon, Grains of Paradise, and Ginger. If we have time, I will gladly cover any other spices of that time period., Length: 2 hr., Materials Fee: $15.00, Handout Fee: $1, Materials for: 25, Handouts for: 25, Instructor: Lady, Master Pepper. Mikalina Lydushka Pavlovna of Clann O’Choda, 1 PM on 8/3 at Tent 09; 1 PM on 8/6 at Tent 09.

Staples of Medieval Cookery
We will examine the staples of the medieval kitchen which every period cook relied upon when preparing dishes. We wil not be looking at the most popular foods in period; rather, we will discuss the most important food items in medieval cookery, their preparation, and use., Instructor: Master Hogge de Watlynge, 3 PM on 8/6 at Tent 12.

The Care and Feeding of an Earthen Bread Oven
This will be a multi-day class, first building on day 1, and then baking in an Earthen Oven on the other days., Length: 2 hr., Instructor: THL Ealdred of Gwyntarian Angharad ferch Tangwystl, 10 AM on 7/29 at Private Camp; 12 PM on 7/30 at Private Camp; 12 PM on 8/5 at Private Camp.

The Classical Age of Ottoman Cuisine
Cuisine of Ottoman Turkey Research, Execution based on E-book “Celebration at the Sarayi; Reliving a Feast in the Palace of Suleyman the Magnificent.” Handout Fee: $2, Handouts for: 20, Instructor: Mistress Hauviette d’Anjou, 3 PM on 8/3 at Tent 01; 3 PM on 8/7 at Tent 12.

The SCA After Gastric Bypass
This class explores challenges faced after bariatric surgery, including care and feeding of fighters, how to stay hydrated and feast dietary considerations., Instructor: Lady Alesone Gray, 5 PM on 8/6 at Tent 11.

The Well Appointed Feast Table
Whirlwind tour of pottery, suitable for your feast kit, from select regions and centuries. After class, we will take a walking tour of merchants with authentic pottery., Instructor: Mistress Matilda Hanscombe, 11 AM on 8/4 at Tent 04.

Vegetarian and Vegan Options in the SCA
Whether you’re a vegetarian, vegan, or a feastocrat who cooks for them, learn viable options for recreating history in an ethical, environmentally-friendly fashion. Teachers will cook period vegan food for you to sample!, Handouts for: 25, Instructor: Lady Felice Debbage Alexander Jericho, 5 PM on 8/6 at Tent 03.

Vegetarianism and Animal Welfare in Medieval Asia
Tofu is period?! Come learn about historical vegetarian foods, philosophies about being a vegetarian, and concern for animal welfare and conservation in medieval Asia. Teachers will cook a period recipe for you to sample during the class., Handouts for: 25, Instructor: Lady Felice Debbage Alexander Jericho, 9 AM on 8/7 at Tent 14.

This past week was a week where I was not feeling it as far as blogging goes. The week before that took a lot out of me and I fell behind on basic house maintenance and self-care. Last week was more about making my environment comfortable than about food and food blogging, which is sometimes what it needs to be.

This past Saturday I invited a group of people over for Elizabethan Dinner and a reading of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. I’m very excited about this as it’s the beginning of something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now - hosting regular play readings.

The recipes are from Gode Cookery. The translations and redactions were done by me.

The Menu:
A Hare Hashed
Chickens and white broath
Herb Pye
Furmentie

The Recipes:

A Hare Hashed

DESCRIPTION: Rabbit stewed in wine and flavoured with nutmeg & lemon.

A Hare Hashed.

Cut it out in quarters, chine it, and lay it in Clarret, mixed with three parts of water, and parboyl it, then slice the flesh in thin pieces, and lay it on your stew pan, let this be off the Body, but the legs wings, and head whole, almost cover it with some of the liquor it was boyled in, add some Butter, sliced Nutmeg, the juce of Lemon, and a little beaten Ginger, serve it upon sippets, Garnish it with Lemon, and sliced Onion.

Translation:
Cut it out in quarters, chine [chine is the whole or part of the backbone of an animal, with the adjoining flesh, I'm taking this to mean that you remove the backbone] it, and lay it in Clarret mixed with three parts of water, and parboil it. Then, slice the flesh in thin pieces, and put it in your stew pan. The flesh from the body should be what is cut in pieces, the legs, arms, and head should be whole. Pour enough of the parboiling liquid over the rabbit in the pan until it is almost covered. Add some butter, sliced nutmeg, the juice of one lemon, and a little crushed ginger. Serve it upon pieces of crustless toast. Garnish with lemon and sliced onion.

Redaction:
9 cups water
3 1/3 c claret (one bottle)
Four rabbits
The juice of two lemons
3 T nutmeg
1″ fresh ginger, mashed

I could not find rabbits with the heads on, so this redaction is done with headless rabbits.
Cut the rabbits in quarters and remove the backbone.
Bring the water and wine mixture to a boil.
Parboil the rabbits.
Whole the rabbit is parboiling, mix together the ginger, nutmeg, and lemon juice in a bowl.
The legs and arms should be preserved as whole and the rest of the body should be sliced.
Put the parboiled rabbit in a crock pot.
Pour about a ladle-full of the liquid that the rabbit was parboiled in into the bowl with the ginger, nutmeg, and lemon juice and mix.
Pour this into the crock pot and then ladle in the parboiling liquid until it’s nearly to the top of the crock.
Cook on “low” for approximately 4-5 hours.
You could also do the same thing in a dutch oven for about an hour rather than using the slow cooker.

---

Chickens and white broath

DESCRIPTION: Chicken stewed in white wine with herbs and eggs
Original:
Put three points of Strong Broath, to a quart of good white-wine, then put it into a Pipkin or some other Earthen Vessel, as many Chickens as it will Conveniently boyl, and when it begins to simmer slice some Dates, and put into it, with three or four blades of Mace, and half a pound of Beef Marrow, shred some white Endive small, and strew in a few sweet herbs; let them stew over a moderate fire, and the Broath being a little strong, strain in the yolk of two or three Eggs, stir them about till enough, then take them up, Dish it with Marrow, Dates, large Mace, the Broth, and Sippets; Garnish with pickled Grapes, and Barbaries, or for want of them, Parsly, and red Beats.

Translation:
Put three parts of strong broth to a quart of good white-wine, then put it into a pipkin or some other earthen vessel as it will conveniently hold [Ed. Note: The chickens and the liquid.]. When it begins to simmer, slice some dates with three or four blades of Mace and half a pound of beef marrow, shred some white endive small, and strew in a few sweet herbs. Let them stew over a moderate fire and the broth being a little strong, strain in the yolk of two or three eggs, stir them about until enough, then take them up. Serve it with marrow, dates, large Mace, the broth and pieces of crustless toast. Garnish with pickled grapes, or if you don’t have those, with parsley and red beets.

Redaction:
Notes:

• The beef marrow was not included as I couldn’t find it when shopping. I have since identified a source and would definitely include it next time.
• I also did not add the white wine as I forgot to get some from the state store and did not have time to fix the mistake.
• I did this in an electric roaster as I only have one oven and it was a dinner party. You can do this in a conventional oven by following the same instructions. Just use a roasting pan in the oven and set the temperature the same as I set it on the electric roaster).

2 qts broth
2 whole roasting chickens
1 1/3 c whole dates
2 T mace
1/2 c roughly chopped parsley
3 large heads of Belgian endive, roughly chopped

Heat the roaster to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 celsius, gas mark 4).
Put in the broth, add the chickens, and put the endive and parsley over it.
Cook for four hours.
The chicken will be beyond tender and will require gentle extraction from the pan. I decided to quarter the chickens while in the pan and serve them that way.

I served the onions and beets with both the chicken and the rabbit and it was quite good.

---

To make an herb pye
DESCRIPTION: A pie of lettuce & spinach, with herbs, cream & wine

Original:
Take lettuce and spinage, a little time, winter savory and sweet marjorum, chop them and put them into the pye, with butter, nutmegg, and sugar, a little salt, when it is drawn and a little cooled, put in clouted cream, sack and sugar.

Translation:
Take lettuce and spinach, a little thyme, savory, and sweet marjoram, chop them and put them into the pie with butter, nutmeg, sugar, and a little salt. When it is pulled from the oven and has cooled slightly, put in clouted cream, sack, and sugar.

Redaction:
Notes:

• I did not use lettuce in this recipe as I had a really great price on spinach and it was more expensive to include the lettuce than it was to use straight spinach.
• I also did not use clotted cream as I did not find any in time and was not comfortable with making it.
• I made a hot water pastry with the intention of using it as a coffyn, but that wasn’t communicated at the table, so it was eaten as a very thick-crusted pie.

10 ounces of fresh, adult spinach
1 T thyme
1 T savory
1 T marjoram
3 T butter
1 T nutmeg
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 celsius, gas mark 4).
Cook down the spinach in the butter with the herbs and spices.
Put the filling into the crust.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Take it out and let it cool for about 10 minutes and then sprinkle sack, some cream, and a pinch of sugar over the top.
Serve.

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DESCRIPTION: A recipe for frumenty

Original:
Frumentie
Take a quart of sweet Cream, two or three sprigs of Mace, and a Nutmeg cut in half, put into your cream, so let it boil, then take your French Barlie or Rice, being first washed clean in fair water three times, and picked clean, then boyle it in sweet milk till it be tender, then put it into your cream, and boil it well, and when it hath boiled a good while, take the yolks of six or seven eggs, beat them very well, and thicken on a soft fire, boyl it, and stir it for it will quickly burn, when you thinke it is boyled enough, sweeten it to your taste, and so serve it in with Rosewater, and Musk Sugar, in the same manner you may make it with wheat.

Translation:
Take a quart of heavy cream, two or three springs of mace, and a nutmeg cut in half. Put the mace and nutmeg into the cream. Cook rice or barley in whole milk until it’s done, then add the cream and boil it well. When it has boiled for a while, take the yolks of six or seven eggs, beaten well and add it to the cooking frumenty. When you think that it is done, sweeten it to your taste and so serve it with rosewater and musk sugar in the same manner that you would with a wheat frumenty.

Redaction:
Note: I cut out a lot of the fat in this particular dish because it was insanely rich and after everything else that people ate, it would have been impossible to eat more than a spoon full of this. I did this by cooking the rice in cream and not adding the egg yolks (I tasted it and it was devastatingly rich without them).

1 qt heavy cream
2 1/2 c white rice
1 nutmeg, cut in half
3 T ground mace
1/2 c sugar

Heat the cream until just boiling.
Add the rice.
Drop the heat on the rice to low and simmer for about 20 minutes.
The rice I had was done by then.
I added the sugar and then removed the nutmeg before serving.
Before it went to the table, I did splash a bit more cream on the top.

I had this idea in my head to create an opportunity that would span skill levels and everyone would gain something from it. The plan was to allow people that were new to redacting to approach redacting medieval recipes in a less stressful fashion and for those already comfortable with redacting to give them the opportunity to do so as a group activity so that they would be exposed to different ways of approaching a recipe and perhaps gaining a slightly different POV that would help them. What I decided to do was to hand them three recipes, a bunch of ingredients, split them into teams, and see what they did with it.

I wanted to write out an analysis of what I did so that I can improve on the experience the next time that I do it. There will definitely be a next time - at an event that I’m not cooking.

Successes
I had seven participants that all not only had a good time, they learned something.
The interpretations were extremely good on the recipes that were selected.
The more experienced did lead the less experienced, however, they did guide the choices made in a non-pushy way - which is more about the participants than the competition.
We had two very tasty interpretations.
Everyone was a great sport and despite some of the shortfalls in the structure of the competition itself, they did their absolute best.

Shortfalls
I did not plan as well as I should have because I was focused on preparations for the feast. There were ingredients that were left out because I did not give it the time that it needed as I didn’t really have the time in this context.
This was done with very little structure, which I liked, but the judging structure needs to be more than “Odriana makes a decision”.
Prizes are a plus.

In general, I was happy with the selection of the “Secret Ingredient” (eggs from my chickens) and how the recipes were approached. Everyone had fun with the activity and with some additional planning, I think that it will be even better for the participants the next time.

Also, I can not stress how valuable the cookbook search at Medieval Cookery is for this kind of thing. I was able to shave hours off of the job of selecting the recipes and making sure that they were diverse enough and included somewhat simple recipes.

If you would like to run this kind of challenge, please contact me and let me know how it went. You can use the “Steel Chef Challenge” name as long as you let me know you’re going to do it. If you want to do something similar, please contact me and I would be happy to talk with you.

Recently, I find myself considering what food really means to me. It’s clear that food is important to me, I wouldn’t be what I am if it wasn’t. But, what does it really mean? The answer that I have found is that it is about building community and sustaining family. I create a circumstance under which people gather and share their thoughts, their feelings, and commune with their companions over a meal. Bringing people together is an incredibly important thing and that aspect of food consumption is seemingly lost as our lives move faster and faster and we have less and less time to sit down and eat a meal. I’m just as guilty as the next person and I have made it a point to eat dinner together at the table every night. Most of the time, this works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

The fact is that it is terribly important to bring people together. Without the ability to connect to each other, connecting to the food in front of us is ultimately meaningless. Making the space to create the environment and to re-learn the art of polite dinner conversation is just as important as the food that brings us to the table.

Connections is what it’s about and the most important connection is to each other.

Eating responsibly should include some thought towards waste. What is more wasteful than only eating bits and pieces of an animal that has been slaughtered on our behalf? There is a new movement towards nose-to-tail eating that is gaining steam in the environment of American frugal-chic. It wastes nothing and offal is amazingly cheap right now.

Once one gets over the cultural squick of eating organ meats, you may find that they are rather tasty. If I’m honest, I have to say that I have a long-standing issue with eating liver because of its function in the body. It’s one of the few things that I will not eat and I do understand having specific issues with specific body parts. I haven’t allowed this to limit my sampling of sweetbreads and heart (obviously, prior to becoming a pescatarian two years ago) and found them to be quite tasty.

The epicenter of the nose-to-tail movement has to be St John, an upscale restaurant in London owned and operated by Fergus Henderson. He’s the author of the amazing Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking and has had his praises sung by no less than Anthony Bourdain (who featured Chef Henderson on his “No Reservations” show on the Travel Channel) and Mario Batali. Chef Henderson is praised as being the spiritual father of this current round of nose to tail eating as a norm in the culinary world.

Historically speaking; during most of pre-1650 history in most places eating organ meats was normal. They were considered to be as much a part of the eating experience as the rest of the cuts of meat one got from an animal. There were even recipes for illusion food that resembled cooked offal (”Mock Entrails” in the “Liber Cure Cocorum”). The further back in history you go, the more of the animal people ate. The fact is that wasting parts of an animal is a display of wealth and prosperity as much as the clothing of the time moved from fabric conservative garments to lengths and lengths of draped fabric that showed that not only did you not weave your own fabric, but you could afford to pay someone else to make quite a lot of it. It’s the same with food - if you can throw food away, you have the excess to waste.

The serfs habitually ate nose to tail as they could not afford to waste any part of an animal. Each part of the animal was nutritionally useful and wasting the organs would mean possible hunger later down the road. This is true for rural families, who often use every bit of the animal in order to get the maximum benefit from the food and effort that goes into keeping the animal.

A medieval recipe from A Book of Cookrye, which was transcribed by Mark and Jane Waks and is located here

Original
How to boyle Pigges Petitoes.

Take your Pigs feet, and the Liver and Lightes, and cut them in small peeces, then take a little mutton broth and apples sliced, Corance, sweet butter, vergious and grated bread, put them altogither in a little pipkin with salt and Pepper, perboyle your petitoes or ever you put them in your Pipkin, then when they be ready, serve them upon sippets.

Translation
How to boil pig’s feet

Take your pig’s feet, and the liver and [lightes], and cut them in small pieces, then take a little mutton broth and apples sliced, currants, sweet butter, verjuice, and grated bread, put them altogether in a little pipkin with salt and pepper, parboyle your feet or ever you put them in your pipkin, then when they be ready, serve then upon pieces of bread with the crusts cut off.

As you can see, the pig’s feet are treated as any other cut of meat in a medieval cookbook. The ingredients and processes are the same as it would be for a pork shoulder or loin - because meat in general is dry, boiling or parboiling is recommended to balance the dry nature of the meat. The flavor is the typical sweet/sour (apples and currants balanced with the verjuice) and there is nothing indicating that cooking and serving the pig’s feet is notable in any fashion.

Nose to Tail eating is a very economical way to eat and there are many ways to prepare organ meats in a tasty way. As with everything, it’s finding out what you like and how you like it through trying different things in different ways.

Links:
Nose to Tail at Home - this is a great food blog by a talented writer and cook. His recent experience making a whole ham (a cut from hip to toe) from a recipe in Henderson’s book, “Ham Boiled in Hay” which may make an appearance on my table quite soon.

Deluxe Nose-to-Tail Meals - an article from MSNBC that centers on several New York based Chefs.

Beyond Nose to Tail: More Omnivorous Recipes for the Adventurous Cook - This is Fergus Henderson’s follow-up to his first book.