Monday, January 28, 2019

Medieval Master Chef 2016

This is a long time ago, so many details are foggy, but I thought I should put up what remains of the Medieval Chef held at GSG in 2016.

Judges where Mistress Nicolette and Mistress Genna.

Round 1
The first round was a spice identification. List of Spices

Lisbet     Leif    Euphenir    Emery


Round 2
Second round was a redaction of a Torte with a number of examples given. List of ingredients on hand.

Lisbet     Leif    Emery


Round 3
Seige kitchen with limited ingredients.

Lisbet     Leif    Emery


Judges Tallies

Lisbet     Leif    Emery

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Chestnuts

Now is the time to buy chestnuts in Melbourne. And a nice drive in the Dandenongs can net some bargains. I found 1kg bags of raw chestnuts for $8 each near kallista.

chestnut growers website describes how to cook chestnuts, and has some really great looking recipies, Melbourne style.
http://www.chestnutsaustralia.com.au/

Now a brief survey of medieval cookery with chestnuts:


A dish of Chestnuts with lamb




soups:
two similar recipies from France, only 20 years apart:
for a subtle English brouet
"For a subtle English brouet - If you want to make subtle English brouet, take hens and cook the livers, then take chestnuts then cut them from the hulls and grind together, then temper with the broth that the hens were cooked in, and add ginger, saffron and long pepper and mix with clear broth, then put together."

subtle english soup
"Subtle English soup. Take cooked peeled chestnuts, egg yolks cooked in wine, and a bit of pork liver. Crush everything together, soak with a bit of lukewarm water, and sieve. Grind ginger, cloves and saffron (to give colour), and boil together."

Quick & Dirty Redaction:
chicken stock
ground chestnuts (roasted or boiled)
ginger, safron, cloves or long pepper
optional: hard boiled eggyolk
optional: minced pork or chicken

Either mince/grind ingredients small before adding them, or puree final mix. Put in pan, bring to boil, probably simmer.

Interestingly nearly two centuries earlier, in spain, a similar recipie is used:
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?aac:305
"Preparation of Chestnut Qaliyya. Take a piece of meat and cut it. Put it in the pot and add in salt, pepper, coriander seed, pounded onion and clarified butter. Fry it gently and put in the same amount each of vinegar and murri and some pepper and saffron. Take chestnuts and clean them, pound them well and stir them with water. Put enough of the broth of it to cover the meat. When it has cooked, beat for it three eggs with pepper and chopped cilantro. Put it on the coals and when it has settled, pour it out, present it and eat it, if God wills."

The other option for interpretation of the above is as something more like a casserole, or in fact a tarjine, lke this one from the same book:
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?aac:351
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?aac:304

pig
a popular use of chestnuts seems to be to stuff pigs or piglet.
roasted piglet - stuffing of entrails, hard boiled egg, cheese, roast pear, chestnuts, spices
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?ens:8


fish caserole
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?ldc:195
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?ldc:214
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?ldc:218


http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?nboc:73
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?nboc:122


http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?ebe:45
implies that one might like to eat chestnuts just as roast chestnuts at the end of a meal.

Burgundian Feast Menu

Order of Removes
1st Service
Bread & butter
Platter of nuts and dried fruits
Pickles
Trout on a bed of greens
Vegetable soup
Un prepared Soup (Beef & turnip broth)
Honeyed carrots
Parma tart (As served by Master Chiquart, cook for the most dread lord, the duke of Savoy, in the year of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ one thousand four hundred and twenty )

2nd Course
Roast lamb
Apple almond sauce Fennel on rice Cheese tart
Herb & leek tart
Salad
Pears

Supper
Macaroons
Strawberry tarts
Fruits
Mulled white wine
Mulled apple juice



Not quite Rosee

http://cunnan.sca.org.au/wiki/Rosee_%28recipe%29

Rosee (recipe)

From Cunnan

Period Recipe

From the Forme of Cury.
ROSEE. XX.II. XII.

Take thyk mylke as to fore welled. cast erto sugur a gode porcioun pynes. Dates ymynced. canel. & powdour gynger and see it, and alye it with flores of white Rosis, and flour of rys, cole it, salt it & messe it forth. If ou wilt in stede of Almaunde mylke, take swete cremes of kyne.

Translation

(tentative, unfinished) Take thick milk as before directed. Cast into sugar a good portion of pynes, minced dates, cassia and ginger powder and seethe it, and alye it with flowers of white roses and riceflour, cole it, salt it and serve it. If you wish, instead of almond milk, use sweet cream of kyne.

Notes

  • Rosee. From the white roles therein mentioned. See No. 41. in Mi. Ed. but No. 47 there is totally different.
  • welled, f. willed; directed.
  • Also Forme of Cury, but can't find it on Cunnan: (from here)

XLI. For to make Rosee [1].

Tak the flowris of Rosys and wasch hem wel in water and after bray
hem wel in a morter and than tak Almondys and temper hem and seth hem
and after tak flesch of capons or of hennys and hac yt smale and than
bray hem wel in a morter and than do yt in the Rose [2] so that the
flesch acorde wyth the mylk and so that the mete be charchaunt and
after do yt to the fyre to boyle and do thereto sugur and safroun
that yt be wel ycolowrd and rosy of levys and of the forseyde flowrys
and serve yt forth.

XLVII. FOR TO MAKE ROSEE [1] AND FRESEE AND SWAN SCHAL BE YMAD IN THE
SELVE MANER.

Nym pyggus and hennys and other maner fresch flesch and hew yt in
morselys and seth yt in wyth wyn and [2] gyngyner and galyngale and
gelofre and canel [3] and bray yt wel and kest thereto and alye yt
wyth amydoun other wyth flowr of rys.

[1] Vide No. 41.
[2] Perhaps, _in wyn with_.
[3] Cinamon. Vide Gloss.



cream 100ml
100g pine nuts
2 big handfuls white minature rose petals
2 big handfuls finely chopped dates
white sugar (3 handfuls?)
?1/2 handful riceflour

ingredients over heat - with shake of sugar - curdled. added skinny milk. didn't stop curdling, so added LOTS of sugar. kept heating over bare flame till reduced into somethign confectionary like and with nasty sugar spits. removed from heat, stirred in rose petals and rice flour until thick. poured into lined tray. shook extra riceflour on top. refridgerated.

Ideas for using up plentiful parsley

I have a surfeit of parsley in the garden. Working my way through the an excellent index of recipies, looking for dishes that are primarily parsley.

The sources say:

Le Viandier de Taillevent (French, 1375-1390)
  • fry meat (especially poultry) in parsley, onions and fat
  • serve fish with a green sauce or parsley and vinegar
  • add to herb mixes
  • green colouring agent
84. Green egg and cheese soup.
Take parsley, a bit of sage, just a bit of saffron in the greens, and soaked bread, and steep in puree [of peas] or boiled water. Add ginger steeped in wine, and boil. Add the cheese, and the eggs when they have been poached in water. It should be thick and bright green. Some do not add bread, but add almond milk.

26. Bright green soup.
Cook whatever meat you wish in wine, water and beef broth, with pork fat to give it taste. Brown your meat well. Grind ginger, saffron, parsley, a bit of sage (if you wish), some raw egg yolks, and bread; strain everything through cheesecloth; and steep in your broth. It needs a bit of verjuice, and good cheese (if you wish).
74. Bright green soup of eels.
Skin or scald them, and cook them in wine and water. Crush bread and parsley, with just a bit of saffron in the greens (to make it bright green), and soak in your broth. Crush ginger steeped in verjuice, and boil everything together. You can add good cheese cut into little cubes if you wish.
215. Green Sauce.
Take bread, parsley and ginger, crush well, and steep in verjuice and vinegar. (BN manuscript, p. 33.)

216. Green Verjuice [Sauce].
Take sorrel including the stem, steep in some other verjuice, strain [through cheesecloth], and add a bread crust so that it does not turn. (A 1490 printed edition quoted by Pichon et al., p. 194.)
Not a recipie for parsley, just interestign to see that parsley was not the only thing used this way.

221. Sauce for keeping saltwater fish.
Take bread, parsley, sage, avens, vinegar, ginger, cassia flowers, long pepper, cloves, grains of paradise, saffron powder and nutmeg. When everything is strained it should be bright green. Some add the avens including the root. (BN manuscript, p. 33.)

  • herb tarts
  • herb mixes
  • sauces (recipie not specified) for poultry
  • green colouring agent for chicken basted in 6 colours
Portions of Ein New Kochbuch (c. 1581)
  • garnish (with vinegar on hard boiled eggs, obn rice)
  • salad
  • colouring agent (for turkey)
  • in chicken hamburger patties (ok, no hamburger)
  • boil meatballs, harts lung in a broth of parsley
Du Fait de Cuisine (1420)
Bruet of Savoy
3. And again, another potage, that is a bruet of Savoy: to give understanding to him who will be charged with making this bruet, to take his poultry and the meat according to the quantity of it which he is told that he should make, and make ready his poultry and set to cook cleanly; and meat according to the quantity of potage which he is told to make, and put to boil with the poultry; and then take a good piece of lean bacon in a good place and clean it well and properly, and then put it to cook with the aforesaid poultry and meat; and then take sage, parsley, hyssop, and marjoram, and let them be very well washed and cleaned, and make them into a bunch without chopping and all together, and then put them to boil with the said potage and with the meat; and according to the quantity of the said broth take a large quantity of parsely well cleaned and washed, and brayed well and thoroughly in a mortar; and, being well brayed, check that your meat is neither too much or too little cooked and salted; and then according to the quantity of broth have white ginger, grains of paradise, and a little pepper, and put bread without the crust to soak with the said broth so that there is enough to thicken it; and being properly soaked, let it be pounded and brayed with the said parsley and spices, and let it be drawn and strained with the said broth; and put in wine and verjuice according as it is necessary. And all of the things aforesaid should be put in to the point where there is neither too little nor too much. And then, this done, put it to boil in a large, fair, and clean pot. And if it happens that the potage is too green, put in a little saffron, and this will make the green bright. And when it is to be arranged for serving, put your meat on the serving dishes and the broth on top.

looks like annother version of green soup

Liber Cure Cocorum (15th century English)
  • garnish
  • herb mix (including chicken stuffing, herb pies, haggis)
  • green colouring

114. For cabbage.
Take fresh broth of mutton clean,
Of veal and pork all anon;
Hack small your coleworts100 and parsley, then
When that it boils, cast them thereto,
Add a few groats among your coleworts
And seethe them forth I understand.
If you have salt flesh sethand101 I know,
Take a fresh piece out of the pot,
And seethe by itself, as I teach you;
Take up, put [it] in your coleworts then,
In the meanwhile you get good gravy
To garnish your coleworts at the last heat.
groats - crushed hulled cereal grains

I'm cooking:


Peaches

http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?ghj:66


To make all maner of fruit Tartes



This is an excerpt from The Good Housewife's Jewell
(England, 1596)
The original source can be found at Chef Phains - Free Cookbooks
To make all maner of fruit Tartes. You must boyle your fruite, whether it be apple, cherrie, peach, damson, peare, Mulberie, or codling, in faire water, and when they be boyled inough, put them into a bowle, and bruse them with a ladle, and when they be colde, straine them, and put in red wine or Claret wine, and so season it with suger, sinamon and ginger.




165. Pottage called Peach dish







This is an excerpt from Libre del Coch
(Spain, 1520 - Robin Carroll-Mann, trans.)
The original source can be found at Mark S. Harris' Florilegium
165. Pottage called Peach dish. You will take the peeled peaches, and cut them into slices, and cook them in good fat broth; and when they are cooked, take a few blanched almonds and grind them; and when they are well-ground, strain them rather thick with that broth. And then cook this sauce with sugar and a little ginger, and when it is cooked, cast in enough pot-broth or that which falls from the roasting-spit. And let it stew well for a little; and then prepare dishes, and upon each one cast sugar; and in this same way you can make the sauce of quinces in the same manner; but the quinces need to be strained with [the] almonds, and they should not be sour, and likewise the peaches.



Platter: Grapes and peaches in little pies



This is an excerpt from Le Menagier de Paris
(France, 1393 - Janet Hinson, trans.)
The original source can be found at David Friedman's website
Platter: Grapes and peaches in little pies.




a surfeit of onions

I had a surfeit of onions (about 8kg), so I surveyed the medieval recipes to decide what to do with them, and then cooked two dishes. My criteria were - the main ingredient was onion, and the dish could be preserved (frozen, bottled, etc) for a few months until the next potluck event.

Survey of recipes
I used the lovely search feature at the medieval cookery site - it still misses a lot of cookbooks, but it does search a larger collection than anywhere else I know of (and by the time you read this, their collection is probably larger). I present my results below, because these results are sorted by type, and have been checked to ensure they contain large quantities of onion, where many search results contain only smaller quantities. If you too have a surfeit of onions, you might find something else from this list useful.

Tart of scallions or of onions
summary: boil (well) onions, dry, mash/chop, add lard, then add eggs, cheese, saffron, make tart.

Sauce for eggs poached in oil / Egg Broth
summary: parboil then fry onions, boil in water(wine) & vinegar. Serve over oil poached eggs.

See here how onions are cooked: in water for a long time before the peas
summary: boil in pea water.

The liquid from the peas on a meat day is of no account
summary: fry onions, add breadcrumbs, spices, vinegar & wine.

Pottage of Onions That is Called Cebollada
summary: parboil then fry onions, add almond milk made with meat broth, add cheese, egg yolks and optional cinnamon & sugar.

Onions with cuminsauce with almonds
summary: boil onion with cummin, safron & bread ground with almond milk. Salt & cool.

Soupes dorrees
/ Soupes dorroy / Sowpys Dorry / Soupes dorye / Soppus Dorre and versions without onions (generally spiced) Sowpus dorre / Golden Sops / Golden toasts / Soppis Dorre / soupes dorrey / Soppes Dorre / Sowpes Dorry
summary: onions fried (then boiled), serve on toasted bread moistened with almond milk and or wine.


George Soup / russet soup / russet soup is made like george soup / german soup / seeded soup
summary: 5 variants on the same theme - meat in broth with fried onions, breadcrumbs, spiced.


recipes with a bit less onion:
White Geneva tarts
summary: tart of cheese & onions.

English puree
summary: boiled pea & onions mash.

Benes yfryed
summary: fried beans with onion

Sauce for peiouns (pigeons)
summary: minced parsley, onion, garlic.

Ambroyno (a sweet food) and a version without onion
summary: sauce of onion, almond & spice for chicken.

Noumbles in Lent / Chawdon for Lent
summary: fish & fish blood & breadcrumbs & onions & spices.

Rew de Rumsy
summary: roast pig foot & onion?

Bukkenade
summary: meat & onion soup?

Bruet of Almaynne / Bruet of Almayn
summary: meat broth with almonds and in these 2 versions (but not others), (equal weight of ?) minced onion.
Fylettes in Galytyne / ffelettes in galentyne / felettes in galentyne / Fylettys en Galentyne and versions without onions Filetus in Galentine / Fylettes Of Galyntyne
summary: veal broth with breadcrumbs & onions.

Pottage of alideme of eggs
summary: onions & herb broth thickened with egg yolks.


And the recipes I chose...
A common theme of a lot of the above recipes is an onion broth thickened with breadcrumbs. I decided to try a couple from le menagier de Paris (France, 1393):

seeded soup
SEEDED SOUP is a winter soup. Peel onions and cook them all chopped up, then fry them in a pot; it is appropriate to have your poultry split through the back and browned on the grill over a coal fire, or if it is veal, the same; and whether it is veal cut in pieces or chicken cut in quarters, put it with the onions in the pot; then have white bread browned on the grill and moistened with some other meat stock: and then grind ginger, clove, grain and long pepper, mix with verjuice and wine, without sieving, and set aside: then grind the bread and put through the sieve and add to the soup, and strain it all together and boil; then serve.

my version:
  • parboiled onions about 25 mins
  • drained and fried onions in a pan in oil
  • added onions to a pot
  • cut up some old lamb roast (didn't have chicken or veal)
  • toasted (oops burnt) bread, poured some beef stock over it, soaked up all stock, 5 mins later ground in food processor. added to pot.
  • soaked ground ginger, cloves and extra black pepper (lacked other spices) in verjuice, 5 mins then added to pot.
  • boiled pot.
  • froze and reheated later

Comments:
The burnt toast ruined the taste of this dish.


Onions
also from le menagier de Paris (France, 1393):
"The liquid from the peas on a meat day is of no account. On a fish day and in Lent, fry the onions as is told in the preceding chapter, and then put the oil in which the onions were fried and the onions in along with bread-crumbs, ginger, cloves and grain, ground: and sprinkle with vinegar and wine, and add a little saffron, then adorn the bowl with slices of bread."

Obviously I also needed to read the preceding bit to do with onions:
"On a fish day, when the peas are cooked, you should have onions which have been cooked as long as the peas in a pot and like the bacon cooked separately in another pot, and as with the bacon water you may nourish and serve the peas, in the same way; on fish days, when you have put your peas on the fire in a pot, you must put aside your minced onions in another pot, and with onion water serve and nourish the peas; and when all is cooked fry the onions and put half of them in the peas, and the other half in the liquid from the peas of which I spoke above, and then add salt, And if on this fish day or in Lent there is salted whale-meat, you must do with the whale-meat as with the bacon on a meat day."

my version:
  • had no pea water. parboiled onions about 25 mins
  • drained and fried onions in a pan in oil
  • added fried onions to a pot of water. (washed out that last bit of caramel on bottom of frypan into pot too, since I probably wasn't using enough oil)
  • added breadcrumbs (air dried) and spices (ground cloves, ground ginger, and ground black pepper as I hoped grain referred to grain of paradise, a gingery pepper taste, so extra ginger too)
  • added a little white wine and verjuice to pot (hadn't a vinegar open)
  • omitted saffron as expensive, and probably mainly a colouring agent (and caramel was doing that)





dorres, note
http://www.godecookery.com/pepys/pepys03.htm