Ingredients:
3 ounces spelt
2 fluid ounces pork fat
10 eggs
2 tablespoons powder douce
1 pound Farmer’s cheese
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 pound Parmesan cheese
5 saffron threads
1 cup chicken stock
~~ Garnish
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pie crust
1 teaspoon rosewater
2 lasagna noodles
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon (grnd)
Clean the spelt and cook in broth with pork fat. Drain broth. Mix spices, cheese, sugar, saffron and eggs and add to spelt.
Place in pastry crust. Cover with cooked lasagna noodles. Garnish. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes until set.
Yield: 1 pie
Source:
The
Neapolitan Recipe Collection ,by Terence Scully
Primary
Source:
Spelt Torte
(#130): Clean the spelt very well and cook it in fat broth, then drain
it; get a pound of new cheese and half a pound of old, grinding or grating
bothe; get a veal belly that is well cooked by boiling and almost disintegrating,
beat it with a knife, add fine spices, sugar, and saffron with fifteen
eggs, and mix everything together; make a pastry crust on the bottom of
a pan, pu the mixture in it with enough butter; when half cooked, put lasagne
closely together on top, then let it cook a little more; take it out and
garnish it with sugar, cinnamon and rosewater.
Notes: Used a recipe from a book called "The Splendid Table" by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as a reference.
Per serving:
364 Calories (kcal); 20g Total Fat; (51% calories from fat); 19g Protein;
25g Carbohydrate; 210mg Cholesterol; 815mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 2 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
A
Summer Compote of Pears
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 10
Ingredients:
1/2 pound
Pears
1/8 pound
celery hearts
1/4 pound
carrots
1/4 pound
parsnips
1/2 bunch
parsley sprigs -- chopped
1/8 pound
prune
1/8 pound
dates -- pitted and chopped
1/2 teaspoon
mustard seed -- ground
1/4 teaspoon
horseradish -- grated
1/8 cup
cider vinegar
1/8 cup
white wine
1/2 teaspoon
sugar
1/4 teaspoon
anise seed -- ground
1 bunch
fennel -- beaten
1/8 cup
honey
Parboil pears
and veggies until fork pierces. (al dente)
Mix liquids
and spices. Layer sauce and veggies in dish. Let sit overnight.
Yield: 2 quarts
Source:
The
Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages, by Terrence Scully; ref:
Neopolitan
Collection, Recipe 149)
Source: No primary original.
Translation: Get Ruggine Pears or some other sort of pears that are hard and good enough, cook them a little; get carrots and parsley leaves, celery hearts (chorone d'appio) and parsnips (pasticciani), and if you cannot get all of theses, get what you can; cook them enough; get dates and prunes - that is susine, whether these be bitter or dry - and cook them a little; and when everything is cooked, let it cool; get mustard seed which is moistened with good white wine with which is mixed a little vinegar and add in honey, sugar, anise, and beaten fennel and a little horseradish; Then put in pears and everything you have cooked in the pot or in some other container in which you wish to keep them; and make a layer, then cover it with the mixture you have made, and so layer, by layer, put in everything; then keep it covered and it will turn out good.
Per serving:
69 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 1g Protein;
17g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 5mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 0 Fat; 1/2 Other
Carbohydrates
Basic
White Bread
Recipe Modification By: Catherine
Hartley/Caitlin of Enniskillen (with apologies to James Beard)
Serving Size: 20
Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups bread flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 package yeast
1/4 cup water
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 pinch salt
egg white ~To brush on top
of bread
Proof yeast with water and sugar. Mix 2 cups flour, melted butter and milk. Add yeast mixture and 1 more cup of flour. Turn out and knead, adding flour as necessary.
Let rise for 1.5 hours. Knead again; shape into two loaves. Let dough rest then raise to double in size. (45 min to hour)
Bake at 400 deg for 20 minutes. Add egg white wash if desired. Reduce to 350 and bake for another 20 min.
Yield: 2 loaves
Reference:
Six Thousand Years of Bread,
H.E. Jacob, (see notes)
No primary source recipe used, just references...
Notes: As there aren't a whole lot of "period" bread recipes. I chose this one (with a few changes) from James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking. It is a basic and simple recipe that can be easily modified depending on the effect you wish to create. In many recipes for sops and other "pan pardue" type dishes, there will be a call for "toste of brede" or " tost whit bred". Therefore I use a recipe I have found to be simple and basic as opposed to the "fine white bread" of The English Housewife by Markham. Markham's bread has much sugar in it, and seems more cakelike than the previously mentioned bread references. I use a loaf shape seen in lots of medieval illustrations (a small ball shape).
Per serving:
118 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat; (19% calories from fat); 4g Protein;
20g Carbohydrate; 6mg Cholesterol; 31mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Capons
Stewed
"Chickens
with Currant Sauce"
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 10
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, skinned
and boneless
4 chicken legs
4 chicken thighs
giblets
1/2 cup parsley -- chopped
and fresh
16 leaves of sage -- bruised
10 sprigs Hyssop
1 tablespoon rosemary
20 sprigs thyme -- bruised
2 quarts white wine
Pinch saffron
~~
Currant Sauce
2 cups broth
1/3 cup currants
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ginger -- ground
Place spices and liquid in pot with chicken and giblets. Sprinkle with saffron tempered in water. Cover pot with lid and let simmer for 4 hours until done.
Place chicken on a platter and reserve liquid.
Place broth and sauce ingredients in saucepan and simmer until reduced by half.
Yield: 7 pounds
Source:
Two Fifteenth Century Cookery
Books
Primary Source Recipe:
Translation: (Harleian MS
4016 #19): Take parsley, Sage, Hyssop, Rosemary, an thyme, and break it
between thy hands, and stuff the Capon therewith; color him with Saffron,
and put him in an earthen pot, or of brass, and lay splints underneath
and all about the sides, that the Capon touch no thing of the pot; strew
good herbs in the pot, and put thereto a pottel of the best wine that thou
may get, and no other liquor; cover the pot with a close lid, and stop
it about with dough or batter, that no air come out; And set in on the
fair charcoal, and let it seethe easily and long till it is enough.
And if it is an earthen pot, then set it on the fire when thou take it
down , and let it not touch the ground for breaking; And when the heat
is over past, take out the Capon with a skewer; then make a syrup of wine,
Raisins of Corinth, sugar and saffron, And boil it a little; mix powder
of Ginger with a little of the same wine, and put thereto; then put away
the fat of the stew of the Capon, And put the Syrup to the stew and pour
in on the capon , and serve it forth.
Notes: I used chickens instead of capons for several reasons: in quantity chicken is less expensive, and I didn't have carving utensils for each table, so therefore I served stewed chicken pieces (you could use leg quarters, I wanted some white meat). I recommend the whole chicken (or capon) as it is extremely delicious done as a whole bird. I would also recommend pouring the sauce over the bird before serving, instead of on the side as I have done here out of deference to finicky palates.
Per serving: 382 Calories
(kcal); 15g Total Fat; (49% calories from fat); 20g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate;
87mg Cholesterol; 98mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch);
2 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates
Darioles
Redaction by: niccolo difrancesco
(Nick Sasso)
Serving Size: 8
Ingredients:
1 cup milk
5 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup ale
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
-- melted
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar --
sprinkled on top (garnish)
1 pie crust (9 inch)
Prebake pie shell for 15 minutes at 425F. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F.
In saucepan, combine milk, sugar,
ale and egg yolks. Heat gently over medium heat, stirring constantly
until steam begins to rise off the surface. Stir in salt and melted butter
with whisk. Pour into pie shell.
Bake 10 to 15 until top just sets.
Sprinkle sugar across top of tart and continue cooking until just set (it will continue to cook slightly after removing from the oven).
Serve warm (or at room temperature if necessary).
Yield: 2 pies
Source: Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books
Primary Sources:
Daryoles. Take Milke an Eyround,
& thn fatte of the Freyssche brothe, Pepper and Safroun & Honey;
dry thine coffin, & cast thine mixture thereon & serve if forth.
(Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books. Harleian MS. 279. Xxxix)
Daryoles. Take wine & Fresh broth, Cloves, Maces & Marrow, & poweder of Ginger & Saffron & let all boil together & put thereto cream (& if it is clotted, draw it through a strainer) & yolks of Eggs, & mix them together, & pour the liquor that the Marrows was seethed in thereto; then make fair coffins of fair paste, & put the Marrow therein, & mince dates & strawberries in time of year, & put the coffins in the oven, & let them harden a little; then take them out & put the liquor thereto, & let them bake, & serve forth.(Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books. Harleian MS. 279. Iiij)
Per serving:
240 Calories (kcal); 16g Total Fat; (59% calories from fat); 4g Protein;
20g Carbohydrate; 153mg Cholesterol; 433mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 3 Fat; 1/2 Other
Carbohydrates
Dried
Plum Sauce
"Sapor
de progna secche"
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 10
Ingredients:
12 prunes -- pitted
1/4 cup almonds -- blanched
1 toast slice
1 cup red wine
2 tablespoons verjuice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grains of paradise
Soak prunes in wine for several hours.
Grind almonds. Mash the prunes. Add the bread to the wine from the prunes and then mash the bread. Combine all ingredients, adding liquid until desired consistency. Press though a strainer (or use blender).
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Source: The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, by Odile Redon et al.
Source Recipe:
Habi le prrogne e mittile a maglio
nel vino rosso, et cavagli fora l'ossa, et pistarole molto bene con poche
de amandole non mandante, et un pocho di pane rostito, o bruschulato, stato
a moglio nel preditto vino dove erano le progne. Et tutte, queste cose
pistarai inseme con un pocho d'gresto, et de questo vino sopra ditto, et
un pocha di sapa, overo zuchharo, che serrebe molto meglio, distemperarai
et passarai per stamegnia mettendovi dentro di bone spetie, spetialmente
de la cannella.
Translation: Take prunes and put them to soak in red wine, and remove the pits; pound them very well with a few unskinned almonds and a little roasted or grilled bread soaked in the wine where the prunes had been. And pound all these things together with a little verjuice and the above mentioned wine and a little boiled grape must, or sugar, which would be much better; mix and strain, adding good spices, especially cinnamon.
Per serving:
74 Calories (kcal); 2g Total Fat; (28% calories from fat); 1g Protein;
10g Carbohydrate; trace Cholesterol; 83mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Fennel
and Leeks with Saffron
"Delle
foglie minute"
Redaction by: Niccolo difrancesco
(Nick Sasso)
Serving Size: 12
Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds fennel bulb
1 pound leeks
2 ounces fresh pork belly
(or lard)
1/2 teaspoon salt -- to taste
1 egg -- lightly beaten
12 saffron threads
1 cup warm water
Pace saffron in the warm water to infuse. Slice thinly the fennel bulb, not much of the green, and the leeks. Dice the pork belly fine and render slowly in large fry pan, or melt lard. Add fennel and leek, and pinch of salt, and fry until it just begins soft and turn translucent. Add saffron with water. Bring to simmer and cook to desired doneness. When done, remove pan from heat. Temper your egg with some of the pan juices and stir well back into the vegetables off the heat.
Yield: 1 1/2 pints
Source:
Libro della Cucina del secolo
XN/The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from
France and Italy, by
Odile Redon et al.
Primary Source:
Delle foglie minute: . . . del
predetto - togli finocchio bianco trito minuto e poi lo fà
friggere con un poco di bianco di porro trito minuto, con ovo, o lardo,
e ponvi uno poco d'acqua e zaffarano e sale, e fà bullire, e ponvi
ova dibattute, se vuoli, dentro.
Translation: Of little leaves: . . . as above - Take white fennel, finely chopped, and then fry with a little finely chopped white of leek, with oil or some pork fat; add a little water, saffron and salt, and put it to boil; if you like, add some beaten eggs.
Per serving:
66 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat; (38% calories from fat); 2g Protein;
9g Carbohydrate; 19mg Cholesterol; 137mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Fish
in Jelly (Dela gelatina di pesce)
Description:
"Trout in Aspic"
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 8
Ingredients:
6 trout
5 cups white wine
5 ounces cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon
grains of paradise
1/3 capsule
long pepper -- grains
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch cloves -- ground
4 bay leaves
8 saffron threads
1 teaspoon lavender blossoms
Boil wine and vinegar. Skim and cool. Salt fish and wrap in cheese cloth. Simmer fish until cooked and remove. Boil all the skins and heads and spices. Strain broth. Let cool. Layer trout and aspic and cool in between. Place bay leaves on sides as desired.
Yield: 1 mold
Source:
Libro della cucina del secolo
XIV/ The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from
France and Italy, by
Odile Redon et al.
Primary Source:
Togli buono vino con un poco
d'aceto, e, sciumato che sia quando bolle, meetivi, dentro il pesceie,
e cotto, cavalne, e fa bullire il vino tanto, che torni a la terza parte:
poi mettivi dentro zaffarano e altre spezie, con alloro: poi colato il
vino, mettivi spico, e lassa che sia freddo; poi metti, sopra'l pesce,
nel catino.
Translation: Take good wine and a little vinegar, and when it has been skimmed upon boiling, put in the fish, and when they are cooked, remove them, and boil the wine so that it reduces to one third; then add saffron and other spices, with bay leaves;then when the wine has been strained, add lavender and leave to cool; then put it over the fish in a dish.
Notes: I chose not reduce
the gelatin only through fish bones and skin. I thought it might be a bit
"fishy" for most tastes here (although I like it myself) and used some
beef bones to assist in mellowing the flavor and adding more "jell" power.
I did use the
Odile Redon spicing as a guide as I thought his choice would go well with
the fish. I have modified the spicing and have gone with my "powder fort"
recipe.
Per serving:
205 Calories (kcal); 4g Total Fat; (35% calories from fat); 14g Protein;
4g Carbohydrate; 37mg Cholesterol; 44mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates
Flavored
Butters
Recipe By: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 10
Ingredients:
3 sticks butter
3 tablespoons honey
1 bunch mint -- chopped fine
1 bunch fennel -- chopped
fine
Cream butter with honey or herbs or leave plain. Press into molds. Chill. Briefly place mold in hot water. Remove from water and turn upside down. Arrange on plate.
Yield: 3/4 pound
Source: Come on, its butter!!! See The English Housewife on butter making...
Notes: See The Banquetting Stuffe edited by Anne Wilson for other butter fun things.... I served one stick of each kind per table. (plain, honey, and minted)
Per serving:
266 Calories (kcal); 28g Total Fat; (90% calories from fat); trace Protein;
6g Carbohydrate; 75mg Cholesterol; 286mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 5 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other
Carbohydrates
Fruit
Rissoles
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 12
Ingredients:
1 apple
1
pear
1/4 cup
raisin
1/4 cup
figs -- dried
1/2 cup
walnuts
1 tablespoon powder douce
1 teaspoon rice flour -- as needed
Pastry dough (see notes)
Roast apples and pears until cooked. Core the apple. Mix the fruit together and add spices. Thicken with rice four if needed. Drop balls of filling into pastry dough and seal. Fry in oil at about 350 degrees until brown. Sprinkle with sugar if desired.
Yield: 12 patties
Source: Forme of Cury/Le Menagier de Paris
Primary Source:
Rysshews of fruyt. Take fyges
and raisouns; pyke hem and waisshe hem in wyne. Grynde hem wiþ apples
and peeres ypared and ypiked clene. Do þerto gode powdours and hole
spices; make balles þerof, frye in oile, and serue hem forth. (Forme
of Cury recipe 190)
Translation: Take figs and raisins and pike them over and wash them in wine. Grind them up with peeled apples and pears that have been picked over. Add good powders and whole spices. Make into balls and fry in oil and serve them.
Rissoles au common: L'en es faits de figues, riosins, pommes hastees et noix peleees pour contrefaire le pignolat, et pouldre d'espices: et soit la paste tres bien ensaffraneee, puis soient frites enhuille. S'il y conveint lieure, amidon lie et ris aussi.
Translation: These are made of figs, raisins, roasted apples, and peeled walnuts to resemble pignolat, and spice powder; and the dough should be well flavored with saffron, then fried in oil. If they need thickening, starch will bind them so will rice.
notes: I have used pre-made wonton wrappers to make assembly quicker. I have also used filo pastry to wrap the filling in. They both work well. (These were a big hit!)
Per serving:
57 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat; (42% calories from fat); 1g Protein;
8g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; trace Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Frumenty
Redaction by: Niccolo difrancesco
(Nick Sasso)
Serving Size: 8
Ingredients:
1 cup barley, pearled --
cracked or whole
3 cups venison stock
1 egg yolk
5 saffron threads
3 ounces venison or mutton
-- cooked
Bring the stock (or water) to boil then add the barley. Cover and let slowly boil 30-35 minutes stirring occasionally or until berries just begin to burst (whole berries will take longer to cook). BE WARY as this can scorch easily. Add saffron in last 15 minutes. Stir at end of 20 minutes. Check doneness. Add cooked, chopped venison or other meat at this point. When just ready to serve, add the eggs or yolks and stir. Serve hot with meat dish.
Yield: 1 quart
Source:
Two Fifteenth Century Cookery
Books
Primary Source:
Venyson with Furmenty: Take whete
and pyke it clean, and do it in a mortar, ancaste a lytel water per-on;
and stampe it with a pestel tyl it hole; þan fan owt þe holys,
an put it in a potte, an sethe tyl it breke; þan set yt douun
, an sone after set it iver þe fyre, an stere it wyl; an whan
þow hast sothyn it wyl, put þer-inne swete mlk, an seþe
it y-fere, an stere it wyl; and whan it is y-now, coloure it wyth safeon,
and salt it euene, and dress it forth, & þin venyson in a nother
dyshhe with fayre hot water.
(There is more than one frumenty recipe in this source)
Translation: Venison and Furmenty: Take wheat and pick it clean, put it in a mortar, and cast a little water theteon; and stamp with a pestle till it loses the hulls; then blow out the hulls, and put it in a pot and let it seethe till it breaks; then set it down, and soon after set it over the fire and stir it well;and when thou hast seeted it well, put therein sweet milk, and seethe it together, and stir it well; and when it is enough, color it with saffron, and salt it evenly, and dress it forth, & thine venison in another dish with fair hot water.
Per serving:
99 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (8% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 20g
Carbohydrate; 27mg Cholesterol; 5mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1
1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates
Lasagne
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 12
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup Parmesan cheese --
grated
pepper -- to sprinkle
~~ Spice
Mixture
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon clove
-- ground
1/2 teaspoon grains
of paradise
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-- ground
Pasta: Dissolve the yeast in a bit of water and let proof. Dissolve salt in remaining water and add flour to form a dough not too stiff. Knead as you would dough. Cover and let dough rise for an hour. Bring pot of water to boil.
Punch down dough and knead dough. Roll it out until very thin (1/16th"). Use lots of flour to roll out dough. Slice long thin strips. If you stack dough, place noodles on parchment Use quickly or noodles will dry out.
Boil noodles about 2-3 minutes.
Layer noodles and grated cheese along with spices. Serve immediately. To melt cheese you can bake for a few minutes to speed up process.
Yield: 1 pan
Source:
Liber de Coquino/ The Medieval
Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, by Odile Redon et al.
Primary Source:
Translation: To make lasagne take
fermented dough and make into as thin a shape as possible. Then divide
it into squares of three fingerbreadths per side. Then take salted
boiling water and cook those lasagne in it. And when they are fully
cooked, add grated cheese.
And, if you like, you can also add good powdered spices and powder them on them, when they are on the trencher. Then put on a layer of lasagne and powder [spices] again; and on top another layer and powder, and continue until the trencher or bowl is full. Then eat them by taking them up with a pointed wooden stick.
Notes: This is always a big hit...Ilike the noodle recipe as it is leavened. A lot of the macros and other "losyn" recipes make pasta that is not.
Per serving:
147 Calories (kcal); 2g Total Fat; (14% calories from fat); 6g Protein;
24g Carbohydrate; 5mg Cholesterol; 126mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1 1/2 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Marinated
Fish
(with Malt
vinegar)
Redacted by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 10
Ingredients:
6 trout filets
1 1/4 cups malt vinegar
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sage -- powdered
3 tablespoons sea salt
Prepare brine by adding salt and vinegar to malt vinegar. (if no malt vinegar add water and up salt amount)
Marinate for 3 hours. Remove from vinegar and layer between parchment/plastic warp for about three hours. Dry fish.
Lightly basting fish with oil, add pepper and a touch of sage. Bake for about 10 minutes or until flaky. (Depends on the thickness of the fish) at about 400 degrees.
Yield: 6 fish filets
Source:
Libro de arte coquinaria/
The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, by Odile
Redon et al.
Primary Source:
Translation: To prepare carpione
of trout as you would cook a carpione, clean the trout well and gut them,
then pierce them in many places all over with the point of a knife.
Then make a brine with equal parts of water and vinegar, adding plenty
of salt which you must dissolve thoroughly; and put the trout in for half
a day or more. And when this is done, transfer them to a table, putting
them under a weight for three or four hours, and fry them well in plenty
of good oil, so that they are nicely cooked but not burnt. You can
keep these trout for a month, refrying them if you like, and preparing
them again as you would a carpione.
Notes: I used a batch of period beer (no hops) that had received some mother of vinegar. So we ended up with some malt vinegar to marinate the fish. The recipe says to pan fry fish, however, I chose to bake for the large numbers needed in feast.
This recipe, obviously, has a high degree of vinegary taste. It is not very fish if you use trout. Be sure to warn your guests about fish bones.
Per serving:
53 Calories (kcal); 5g Total Fat; (84% calories from fat); trace Protein;
2g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 1692mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates
Meat
Pies
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 20
Ingredients:
1 1/3 pounds ground beef
2/3 pound venison
1 1/3 cups wine
1 1/3 cups broth
1 egg
1 Egg Yolk
2/3 teaspoon ginger
2/3 teaspoon salt
2/3 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup minced currants
Pinch black pepper
Pinch clove -- ground
Place wine, stock and Meat in pot. Bring to boil. Simmer for ten minutes. Drain liquid and let cool. Beat egg and add some cool liquid. Add to stock. Mix spices, stock and meat together and heat until thickened. Add more egg if necessary.
Fill pasties and bake at 350 - 400 for half an hour or until crust is done.
Yield: 20 pasties
Source:
Epilaurio, or an Italian
Banquet…
Primary Source:
To Make pies of Veale, Capon, or
any other flesh: To make Pies of Veale, Capon, Birds or any other fleshe.
Take as much of the leanest part thereof as you think good, and mince it
small, and take the suet, or fat of a calkf , mixed with the meat and spice
it according to the common manner,that done, make your paste as you did
fot teh pasties and bake then in an oven. And when they are baked, take
the yols of two eggs, verjuice, a little saffron, and mix them with butter
and water which pour into the pies. And if you cannot make the crust, then
boil the meat so dress as aforesaid in a pan like a white pot, in such
pies you may put one or two hens, capons, pigeons or any other fowles,
either whole or minced.
Notes: I used other meat pie references from Two Fifteenth Century cookery books for some variation of flavors. (See Pies of Parys, among others...)
Per serving:
132 Calories (kcal); 9g Total Fat; (67% calories from fat); 9g Protein;
1g Carbohydrate; 65mg Cholesterol; 114mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Pastry
Which They Call Canisiones
"Marzipan
Tarts"
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
Serving Size: 20
Ingredients:
2 cups almonds -- blanched
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup
rosewater
~~ Pastry:
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup ice water
Pinch salt
You can use the pastry to make a crust wafer.
Blanche almonds and grind. Add sugar and rosewater (add a little at a time until the dough forms a ball). Turn out unto wafer or pastry and bake at about 250 degrees until top is lightly golden (about one hour or so, you can go higher, but be careful not to dry it out)
Yield: about 1 pound of marzipan
Source:
Platina, Book 8, "On Good
Health and Right Pleasure
Primary Source:
Translation: When you have
rolled out your pastry made of meal with sugar and rosewater and formed
it like a crust, put into it the same mixture as the one I said in the
section on marzipan [Take almonds that have soaked in fresh water for a
day and night and when you have cleaned them as carefully as can be, grind
them up, sprinkling them with fresh water so that they do not make oil.
And if you want the best, add as much finest sugar as almonds. When all
this has been well ground and dissolved in rosewater...]; this time, it
should be formed like rolls and cooked in the oven as I said before, with
a gentle flame.
Notes: Marzipan recipes can be found in a multitude of period resources. I added a touch of fresh squeezed orange juice to help thicken marzipan. This was another big hit. I used pre-made wafers to layer the marzipan with. It worked well. I use more rosewater than most, but I like the flavor.
Per serving: 158 Calories
(kcal); 7g Total Fat; (40% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 22g Carbohydrate;
0mg Cholesterol; 2mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch);
1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates
Pies
of Whole Pears
“Pastes
de poires crues”
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 12
Ingredients:
~~ Pastry
3 1/2 cups flour
2 sticks butter -- softened
2/3 cup water
1 teaspoons salt
~~Filling
6 Pears -- large
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg yolk
dab of butter
Prepare pastry in advance. Let chill
Wash pears and stand in pie dough (can use loaf pan). Add sugar around pears. Melt some butter if desired and pour over top. Seal dough with stem poking through. Glaze with egg yolks.
Bake about 90 minutes at around 400 degrees.
Yield: 2 pies
Source:
Viandie de Taillevant/ The
Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, by Odile Redon et
al.
Primary Source:
Muses sur bout en paste, et emply
le cresux de sucre a trois grosses poires comme une quarteron de sucre,
bien couverte, et doree d'ouefs ou de saffron, et mis au four.
Translation: Stand three large pears in a pie and fill the gaps with about a quarteron (about 4 ozs/120g)of sugar and glaze with eggs and saffron, and put in the oven.
Notes: This is rich dish. I estimate about a half a pear per person.
Per serving:
403 Calories (kcal); 16g Total Fat; (36% calories from fat); 4g Protein;
61g Carbohydrate; 59mg Cholesterol; 336mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1 Fruit; 3 Fat; 1 1/2 Other
Carbohydrates
Pomegranate
Sauce
Redaction by: niccolo difrancesco
(Nick Sasso)
Serving Size : 1 tbsp
Ingredients:
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ginger -- ground
1 1/2 tablespoons almond
-- ground
1/4 cup Pomegranate syrup
(If you can't find the syrup at Middle Eastern Grocers: use
juice, but boil a lot longer and omit the water)
Simmer these together in a small saucepan to blend and dissolve the sugar, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Source:
Libre del coch/The Original
Mediterranean Cuisine by Barbara Santich
Primary Source:
Salçero Para Perdius O
Gallines En Ast: Ametles belles e blanques e pcar-les has bé en
un moter. E quant sien ben picades, destempra-les ab suc de magranes agres.
E aprés met in lo morter sucre polvorizat, canyella e gingembre,
perqué la sua color e sabor vol tirar casi canyella. E no la cal
passar per nengun cedáç. E vet así tot fet.
Translation: Take fine white almonds and grind them well in a mortar. And when they are well pounded, blend with the juice of sour pomegranates. Then ass to the mortar powdered sugar, cinnamon, and ginger, because in the colour and flavour cinnamon should predominate. And this sauce does not need to be strained.
Per serving:
164 Calories (kcal); 7g Total Fat; (36% calories from fat); 3g Protein;
25g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 5mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1 1/2 Other
Carbohydrates
Pumpes
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 8
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds pork -- ground
1/2 pound beef -- heated
to boiling
5 cups beef stock
1/3 cup almond -- ground
1 tablespoon rice flour
2 tablespoons currants
1/2 tsp. mace
1/4 teaspoon clove -- ground
Salt – to taste
Cook meat in stock until tender. Drain and reserve the stock.
Make almond milk, adding rice flour with the broth.
Add spices and currants to meat.
Roll meatballs and fry until brown.
Serve with sauce of almond milk.
Yield: 18 meatballs
Source:
Two Fifteenth Century Cookery
Books
Primary Source:
Cxxxviij. Pumpes. Take
an sethe a gode gobet of Porke, & noyt to lene, as tendyr as thou may;
than take hem vppe & choppe hem as smal as thou may; than take clowes
and Maces, & choppe forth with-alle, & Also choppe forth with Roysonys
of courance; than take hem & rolle hem as round as thou may, lyke to
smale pelettys, a .ij. inches a-bowte, than ley hem on a dysshe be hem
selue; than make a gode Almaunde mylke, & lye it with floure of Rys,
& lat it boyle wyl, but loke that it be clene rennyng; & at the
dressoure, ley .v. pompys in a dysshe, & pore thin potage ther-on.
An yif thou wolt, sette on euery pompe a flos campy flour, & a-boue
straw on Sugre y-now, & Maces: & serue hem forth. And sum men make
the pellettys of vele of Beeff, but porke ys beste & Fayrest.
Translation: Take and boil a good piece of pork, & not to lean, as tender as you may; then take it up and chop it as small as you can; then take cloves and mace, and chop with the pork, & also chop with currants; then take it and roll it as small as you can, like small pellets, 2 inches about, then lay them on a dish by themselves; then make a good almond milk, & thicken it with rice flour, & let it boil well, but make sure it's not too thick; & at the table, lay 5 pumpes in a dish, and pour the sauce on. And if you will, set on every pumpe a decorative flower, and strew on sugar, & mace: and serve. And some men make the pellets of beef veal, but pork is best & fairest.
Notes: I mix pork and beef to vary the taste of the pork a bit.
Per serving:
320 Calories (kcal); 22g Total Fat; (65% calories from fat); 22g Protein;
4g Carbohydrate; 78mg Cholesterol; 1390mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 3 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 2 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Ranciata
"Candied
Orange Peel"
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 16
Ingredients
2 oranges
1/4 cup honey
Ginger to sprinkle
Soak Orange Peels in water for 24 hours changing water every so often. Dry the skins and place in pot with honey. Honey should cover skins. Boil until honey reaches softball stage (15-30 minutes). Honey should be absorbed into peels and skins will be mostly translucent. Let skins dry. Cover in sealed container after sprinkling with ginger.
Yield: 16 slices
Source:
Libra per Couco/The Original
Mediterranean Cuisine, by Barbara
Santich"
Primary Source Translation:
Take orange peel and cut it into
pieces as desired and clean the inside and set them to soak for two weeks
and boil them in water until soft, leave dry for three days and then put
them into honey for three days, then boil them a little and change this
honey for the one with spices; but first the spices have to be put in the
honey; boil these together skimming, until honey is well cooked, then leave
dry for several days in the fresh air, out of the sun.
Notes: After looking through various resources, I found some that mentioned letting skins totally dry before cooking in the honey. I did half with totally dry skins, and some still partially "damp". Some folks like the crunchy candy like pieces; others preferred the chewy.
Per serving:
48 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (0% calories from fat); trace Protein;
13g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; trace Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates
Sawse
Camelyne
"Cameline
Sauce"
Redaction by: niccolo difrancesco
(Nick Sasso)
Serving Size : 1 Tbsp or so
Ingredients:
1/4 cup vinegar (Mix at 3
parts vinegar to 1 part white
grape or apple juice)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup raisins -- of courance
1 tablespoon cinnamon --
ground
Pinch salt
1 Teaspoon almond -- powdered
water -- as needed
Soak breadcrumbs in vinegar to soften (30 minutes). Grind all other ingredients together and mix together with breadcrumbs. I added a little water to loosen it as it was too tight to use as a sauce to dip or pour. I used about 2 tablespoons water. This sauce mellows over a week, but is best the next day.
Source:
"Forme of Curye, #149"
Primary Source:
Take raysoens of coraunce and
kyrnels of notys & crustes of brede & powdour of ginger, clowes,
flour of canel; bray wel togyder and do Þerto salt. Temper it up
with vyneger, and serve it forth.
Per serving:
251 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat; (11% calories from fat); 5g Protein;
54g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 239mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 2 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Sinapeum
Rubeum
"Red Mustard"
Redaction by: niccolo difrancesco
(Nick Sasso)
Serving Size: 1 tsp
Ingredients:
1/2 cup mustard flour, yellow
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup grape juice -- white
2 tablespoons zante currants
-- (raisins)
4 large dates -- pitted
1 toast slice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
salt -- to taste
Combine the two liquids and stir; set aside.
In mortar or food processor grind mustard flour, bread, raisins, dates and cinnamon until fine. You may need to add a little of the liquid to loosen it. When ground, turn out into the mustard in large mixing bowl and add salt and add 3/4 of the liquid. Stir with a spoon or whisk until smooth. Pass this mixture entirely through a fine mesh sieve. This will make a very smooth paste and remove fibrous material left from raisins and dates.
Let stand covered overnight. Stir in more vinegar/juice liquid to desired consistency.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Source:
On Good Health and Right
Pleasure, Platina translated by Milham
Primary Source:
Liber ovtavus, <14> :
Sinapeum Rubeum: Sinapum, passalas, sandalos, buccellas, pinas tostas,
cinnami parum, seorsum autsimul conterito, vel molito. Trita cum
acresta aut aceto cum-que modico sapae dissolvito, in patinasque per setaceum
transagito. Hoc minus praedicto concalefacit, ac sitim movet, nec incommode
nutrit.
Translation: Book Eight, <14> Red Mustard sauce: Grind in mortar or mill, either separately or all together, mustard, raisins, dates, toasted bread, and a little cinnamon. When it is ground, soak with verjuice or vinegar and a bit of must, and pass through a sieve into serving dishes. This heats less than the one above and stimulates the thirst but does not nourish badly.
NOTES: This recipe is very strong after first made. It mellows with time. Let age 30 days or more.
Per serving:
275 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (3% calories from fat); 4g Protein;
71g Carbohydrate; trace Cholesterol; 142mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 3 Fruit; 0 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates
Small
Bird Without Bones
"To cook
a pigeon and make it be without bones"
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley) and niccolo difrancesco (Nick Sasso)
Serving Size: 2
Ingredients:
~~ Bird
16 ounces STRONG vinegar,
white (grocery grade will be too weak)
1 quail or YOUNG small bird
~~ Stuffing
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg -- boiled
1 teaspoon powder fort
1 tablespoon raisin
Parboil bird in vinegar for about 15 minutes. Let steep for 24 hours.
Mix stuffing ingredients well, and stuff bird cavity. Roast bird over fire until done. (about 30 minutes)
Yield: 1 bird
Source:
The Art of Cookery in the
Middle Ages, by Terrence Scully; ref:
Neopolitan Collection, Recipe
149)
Primary Source:
Translation: Get a pigeon
and clean it well, then set it to steep -- I mean, immerse-- in strong
vinegar for twenty five hours; then wash it well and make a stuffing for
it of cheese, eggs, spices, and raisins and mount it on a spit and roast
it; in this way you will find it has no bones.
Notes: We did lots of trials on this, and it must be that we need some young birds and that vinegar in the Middle Ages was much stronger than it is today. Scully's notes pretty much cover it. We used squab and quail as we couldn't find pigeon. Game hens are too big, in my opinion. We couldn't get it to “not crunch”... We also tempered the vinegar with a little wine by the last recipe to see if the acid would help.(C)
Per serving:
258 Calories (kcal); 17g Total Fat; (58% calories from fat); 21g Protein;
6g Carbohydrate; 166mg Cholesterol; 109mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 3 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates__
Spit
Roasted Hare with Pan Sauce
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 5
Ingredients:
1 rabbit -- skinned
5 ounces fat back, pork fat
1 medium onion
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup verjuice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Lard hare with pork fat or suet (or wrap in bacon or pancetta). Sprinkle salt and peer on hare.
Collect drippings and baste the hare with them for about half an hour or so. Meat should be pink when done.
Slice the onion and add to roasting pan about halfway through. Add liquids to pan. Reduce sauce further if necessary. Serve on side.
Yield: 1 rabbit
Source:
Viandier de Taillevant and
The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, by Odile
Redon et al.
Primary Source:
Sans laver, lardez-le; et le
mangez a la cameline ou au saupiquet, c'est assavoir en la gresse qui en
chiet en la lechefricte, et y mettez des ongnons menuz couppez, du vin
et du verjus et ung pou de vinaigre, et le gectez sur le lievre quant il
sera rosti, ou mettez par escuelles.
Translation: Without washing it, lard it; and eat it with cameline [sauce] or saupiquet--that is, with the fat that falls into the dripping pan, and put in some thinly sliced onions, wine, and verjuice and a little vinegar, and pour it over the hare when it is roasted, or place it in the bowls.
Notes: We served this with the dried plum sauce.
Per serving:
87 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat; (33% calories from fat); 9g Protein;
2g Carbohydrate; 26mg Cholesterol; 20mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates
Spit
Roasted Lamb
"Sacrificial
Lamb of the Gods"
Recipe by: niccolo difrancesco (Nick
Sasso)
Serving Size: 75
Ingredients:
~~~ For
Lamb:
1 Whole lamb
10 garlic bulbs -- peeled
salt -- to rub lamb
black pepper -- to rub lamb
oregano -- to rub lamb
~~~ For
Basting Sauce:
1 pound butter -- melted
8 lemon -- zested and juiced
4 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon grains of paradise
-- ground
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
For either whole lamb or lamb roast: The night before cooking, pierce the flesh all over and insert small garlic cloves. Then, rub the meat all over with thyme, salt and a little black pepper.
To cook, place over coals and rotate lowly, or roast in 350F oven. Baste every 15-20 minutes with butter baste sauce. Cook until last bit of pink is just gone, medium.
Remove from heat, let rest 20 minutes and serve warm.
Yield: 1 whole lamb
Source:
Key to Greek Cooking
Primary Source: No direct primary sources for this recipe. See notes.
Notes: Consultation between Niccolo and Caitlin changed Nick's original concept of the seasoning to bring closer in line with period spicing. We were unable to locate a "spit roasted" lamb, but found many roast meats similarly treated in carious sources including "Epilaurio" and others.
We also did the same spicing with pork tenderloin roasts for those who don't like lamb. We filled in the rest of the feast with lamb leg shanks.
Per serving:
53 Calories (kcal); 5g Total Fat; (78% calories from fat); trace Protein;
3g Carbohydrate; 13mg Cholesterol; 108mg Sodium
Food Exchanges:
0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates
Stained
Glass Candy
Redaction by: Caitlin of Enniskillen
(Catherine Hartley)
Serving Size: 1 piece
Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1 cup water
1 teaspoon extracts
2 drops food coloring
Mix first 3 ingredients in large saucepan. Stir over heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, without stirring, and continue to boil until temperature reaches 310º F, or until drops of syrup form hard brittle threads in cold water. Remove from heat. After boiling has ceased, stir in extract & coloring of choice. Spread out onto a lightly greased baking sheet or rectangular cake pan so that the candy is no more than 1/4 inch thick.
Yield: 2 pounds
Source:
The Joy of Cooking, and Banquetting
Stuffe, by Anne Wilson
Notes: I used this for the
stained glass candy soteltie. I used a dremel tool to cut the pieces.