Wednesday, September 30, 2015

A riddle

I am valued by men, fetched from afar, 
Gleaned on the hill-slopes, gathered in groves, in dale and on down. 
All day through the air, 
Wings bore me aloft, and brought me with cunning safe under roof. 
Men steeped me in vats. 
Now I have power to pummel and bind, 
To cast to the earth, old man and young. 
Soon he shall find who reaches to seize me, 
Pits force against force, that he's flat on the ground, 
Stripped of his strength if he cease not his folly, 
Loud in his speech, but of power despoiled 
To manage his mind, his hands or his feet. 
Now ask me my name, who can bind men on earth, 
And lay fools low in the light of day.


Kennedy, Charles W. Riddles from the Exeter Book. An Anthology of Old English Poetry. Oxford University Press: New York.1960.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

German Sage Mead

This is documentation that I wrote for the 2008 Pennsic Iron Brewer Challenge. The challenge was to brew something with sage.

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Sage Mead


"A wine is also made of only water and honey. For this it is recommended that rain-water should be stored for five years. Some who are more expert use rain-water as soon as it has fallen, boiling it down to a third of the quantity and adding one part of old honey to three parts of water, and then keeping the mixture in the sun for 40 days after the rising of the Dog-star. Others pour it off after nine days and then cork it up. This beverage is called in Greek ‘water-honey’ [‘hydromeli’]; with age it attains the flavour of wine." [1]

The purpose of this project is not to prove that mead was available in period, for we have plenty of documentation that it did. I will not take up the reader’s time with the many pages required to document the history of mead. I will, instead, concentrate on the project and the steps I used.

The secret ingredient of this year’s Pennsic Iron Brewer Challenge is sage. A period herb that grew through out most of Europe. It was a simple matter to find a period recipe that called for sage. This mead is a simple redaction of a period recipe, brewed using modern equipment, but keeping true to the original intent. I chose a recipe from Ein Buch von guter spise: [2]

14. Wilt du guten met machen: Der guten mete machen wil, der werme reinen brunnen, daz er die hant dor inne liden künne. und neme zwei maz wazzers und eine honiges. daz rüere man mit eime stecken, und laz ez ein wile hangen. und sihe ez denne durch ein rein tuch oder durch ein harsip in ein rein vaz. und siede denne die selben wirtz gein eime acker lane hin und wider und schume die wirtz mit einer vensterehten schüzzeln. da der schume inne blibe und niht die wirtz. dor noch giuz den mete in ein rein vaz und bedecke in, daz der bradem niht uz müge, als lange daz man die hant dor inne geliden müge. So nim denne ein halp mezzigen hafen und tu in halp vol hopphen und ein hant vol salbey und siede daz mit der wirtz gein einer halben mile. und giuz ez denne in die wirtz, und nim frischer hoven ein halp nözzeln und giuz ez dor in. und giuz ez under ein ander daz ez geschende werde. so decke zu, daz der bradem iht uz müge einen tae und eine naht. So seige denne den mete durch ein reyn tuch oder durch ein harsip. und vazze in in ein reyn vaz und lazze in iern drie tac und drie naht und fülle in alle abende, dar nach lazze man in aber abe und hüete daz iht hefen dor in kumme und laz in aht tage ligen daz er valle. und fülle in alle abende. dar nach loz in abe in ein gehertztez vas und laz in ligen aht tage vol und trinke in denne erst sechs wucher oder ehte. so ist er allerbeste.

14. How you want to make good mead: He, who wants to make good mead, warms clean water, so that he can just stand to put the hand in. And take two maz water and one honey. One stirs that with a stick and lets it set a while and then strains it through a clean cloth or through a hairsieve into a clean barrel. And boil then the same wort against an acre long there and back (as long as it takes to walk this distance and back) and remove the foam from the wort with a bowl with holes. The foam stays in the bowl and the wort does not. Next pour the mead in a clean barrel and cover it, so that vapor can not get out, until one can bear the hand there in. So take then a half maz pot and add until half full hops and a hand of sage and boil that with the wort against a half mile (as long as it takes to walk this distance) and give it then in the wort and take a half nut of fresh yeast (the amount that could be held in a nutshell) and give it there in and mix it together so that it will ferment. So cover also, so that the vapor can get out, a day and a night. So strain then the mead through a clean cloth or through a hairsieve and pour (it) in a clean barrel and let it ferment three days and three nights and fill (it) in all evenings. There after one lets it go down and looks that yeast comes therein. And let it lay for eight days, so that it falls and fill in all evenings. There after let it down in a resined barrel and let it lay eight days full and drink in the first six weeks or eight. So is it the best. [3]

The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages, by Terence Scully, [4] references the same recipe but translates it slightly differently:

For those who want to make good mead, warm pure water from a well, only as warm as you can bear your hand in it, and for each two maz [each about two pines] of water take one maz of honey; stir this with a stick, let it sit for a while and afterwards strain it through a clean cloth or through a hair sieve into a clean barrel. Then boil the usual mead spices for as long as it take to walk around a field, and do that again, and skim the spices using a bowl with holes in it so that the foam stays but not the spices; the pour the mead into a clean barrel and cover it, so that the steam cannot escape, leaving it there until [it has cooled to the point that] you can bear your hand in it. Then get a pot the size of half a Maz [roughly one pint], fill it half with hops and a handful of sage. [5]

The recipe calls for a two to one ratio of honey to water and a half of a pint of hops for every three pints of must. This may appear to be a lot of hops, but we are not only talking about whole hop leaves, but hops that most likely were dried when they were harvested then transported and stored until they were needed. It is most likely that the hops used on a daily basis were not as strong as the hops we use today. Also, since the recipe uses pint pots as a unit of measurement, I can only conclude that this recipe was intended for the home brewer; the alewife who would have brewed for the family’s daily consumption.

Ingredients:
Five pound of Clover Honey
1 gallon of spring water
1/2 ounce of Cascade Hops, pellets
3 ounces of California Sage.
1 ounce of Ale yeast

I used modern ingredients found around the house for this project. I found it next to impossible to get fresh, European Sage and had to settle for California Sage. I am told that the California variety has a slightly different taste then it’s European counterpart. [6] The sage I had purchased from a local farmer’s market earlier this year and had frozen the remains of the bundle after I had finished the dish I had used it for.

In modern terms, a handful of whole hop leaves is about an ounce, [7] and when packed well, is about a half a pint in volume. As it is the wrong season to use fresh hops, I was forced to dip into my hop stash and pull out what I had in the kitchen. As the recipe for a half of a pint of whole hops, which is, as I had stated, about one ounce, which was most likely dried from the previous harvest, I substituted 1/2 ounce of hop pellets that were vacuum sealed when picked. My reasoning is that my hops would be twice or even three times as strong as what was available to the average 14th century alewife. 

While the recipe calls for a two to one honey to water ratio, I went with a five to one ratio, in order to get a sweeter mead, and to offset stronger hops. Also, I had a five pound bottle of honey that I had opened to get a few ounces of honey at one point, and I wanted to finish it up to get it off of my counter.

Since I am of the camp of "Do not boil honey to make mead", I chose instead to pour a small portion of the water into a small sauce pot and make a tea out of the hops and the sage. While the tea was steeping, I poured a half gallon of the water into a larger pot and added in the honey. The remainder of the water went into the fermenter. I simmered the honey and skimmed the scum out for about twenty minutes. [8] By this time the tea was a dark shade of green and smelled great.

I strained the tea before I added it to the must, then poured the entire mess into the fermenter. It sat in the fermenter for a week and a half. I racked the must directly into bottles: I did not attempt to strain or clarify the must. I was not interested in a clear mead, but was attempting to produce a mead that would not be out of place at the time the recipe was written. Also, the cloudy nature of the mead, is, for the most part, protein and nutrients.

The resultaning mead was sweet, savory and bitter at the same time. The one-dimension flavor of the honey was enhanced by the contrasting flavors of hops and sage. I used the American variety of hops called Cascade hops, when I made this mead for the Iron Brewers Challenge, because it was what I had in the house. I have made this mead dozens of times and when I have the time, I try to use imported German hops that have been around for centuries, such as Spalt, Hallertau and Hersbruck.

[1] Natural History, by Pliny the Elder, Book XIV, section XX, p. 261.
[2] The Book of Good Spices, published between 1345-1354
[3] Translated by Alia Atlas, 1993
[4] p154
[5] Unfortunately, the digital copy of this book skipped page 155 and the rest of the recipe.
[6] Some people say that there is a lemony aftertaste.
[7] Tested in personal kitchen and brewing classes over the years.
[8] My estimate on how long it would take me to walk an acre.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:


Ein Buch von guter spise c. 1350. Translated by Alia Atlas. http://cs-people.bu.edu/akatlas/Buch/
buch.html

Pliny, the Elder. The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3. Translated by John Bostock and Henry T Riley. H. G. Bohn; London. 1855

Scully, Terence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Boydell Press, 1995. Digitized by Google Books.


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Observations from 2015:

I enjoy this mead. It is easy to make and tastes great. It is my go-to beverage if I want to brew something. The balance of sweet to bitter to savory is just right and even people who hate mead like the flavor of this one. I think that I've brewed this recipe about 50 times and it's never turned out bad.

Just a quick note about skimming scum: place the pot off set on your burner. The heat from the burner will create a hot spot which will set up a convection current which will push scum towards the coldest spot. Since all of the scum collects in one area, it is easier to scoop up.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Dijon Vu

This was a project that I did for the 2015 Summer's End A&S competition. I did not win but people did tell me that they liked the flavor. No documentation was required but I typed up the following and included it along with the documentation I did ten years ago.



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Dijon Vu


Purpose:


While the theme of this A&S competition is to do something that one learned in a class at Pennsic, I wished to do something that I re-discovered while others were at Pennsic. While guarding the home front, I went through my digital documents and uncovered some documentation for mustard that I wrote for the 2005 Ice Dragon Pentathalon. While re-formatting it for my blog, I decided to re-visit this condiment and see if I could mustard the strength to enter this competition as a seasoned SCAdian.

Documentation:


Please see the attached documentation, Medieval Mustard, for the history of mustard and for a variety of period sources. I wished to improve upon the mustard that I made ten years ago:

3 ounces White mustard seeds, whole
An equal volume of stout (home brewed, of course)
2 teaspoons, Honey
½ ounce, Ginger root
1 pinch, Kosher salt
1 grind, Black pepper

I soaked the mustard seeds in the stout but I had miscalculated the volume and added more beer than seed. This mixture I let soak for three days. Then the seeds, which had absorbed most of the beer, and ginger were ground using a mortar and pestle and returned to the remainder of the beer. The mixture was left to soak for another night. To the mixture I added the honey, a pinch of salt and a single grind of black pepper. The salt was not added for flavor, but to enhance the flavors of the rest of the ingredients.As the end product tasted of mustard floating in a puddle of beer, I heated the mustard in a small saucier over very low heat for a couple minutes to cook off some of the alcohol and to reduce the mustard to a firmer consistency.

If I recall correctly, the mustard had little to no heat and tasted more of beer than mustard. This time, I did a little research on mustard in order to get a more pungent mustard. The Romans combined ground mustard seeds with unfermented grape juice to make a paste that they called mustum ardens [burning must]. This turned into “mustard” by the time the English language developed.

The heat of mustard is determined by a few things, the first being the type of mustard seed: White being the mildest, then yellow, the brown and the hottest are the black seeds. On their own, mustard seeds have no heat; the compounds that cause the heat (myrosin and sinigrin) are separated from each other. It is only when water is added that enzymes within the seed are activated and break down the cellular walls that hold myrosin and sinigrin away from each other. Once these two compounds meet, they produce an oil that causes a pleasant flavor in small doses and can cause burning and blistering in large quantities. Mustard gas is made from the myrosin and sinigrin reaction.

The temperature of the water can affect this reaction. Hot water can deactivate the enzymes and break down some of the pungent compounds. The hotter the water, the milder the mustard. Soak time also affects the final heat level. The heat level will rise for the first 15 or 20 minutes and then taper off as the enzymes and mustard compounds are used up and the mustard oil dissipates. An acid can fix the heat level at a particular point. Vinegar, ver juice, pickle juice and wine are often added. Alcohol can slow the process down, but not stop it.

With all of this in mind, this mustard consists of the following:

3 ounces yellow mustard seeds, whole
3.5 ounces of cold water
4 tablespoons of red wine (home brewed, of course)
2 teaspoons, clover honey
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 pinches, kosher salt
4 grinds of black pepper (about 2 teaspoons)

I ground the mustard seeds in a mortar as fine as I could along with the kosher salt, which I added as an abrasive as well as for flavor. I used kosher salt because it does not contain any iodine or anti-clumping agents. It also has large crystals that allow it to act as a good abrasive. Once all of the seeds were ground, I added 3.5 ounces of water and mixed so that all of the water was absorbed by the powder. I added the minced garlic, and the ground pepper, and let the mixture sit for six minutes, stirring with a whisk. After the soak, I added the wine and mixed in the honey. I whisked the mustard for another five minutes and then transferred it to a container to sit.

I hope that my mustard offers a good balance of heat to flavor.


Bibliography: 


DeWitt, Dave. 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes. Agate Publishing, 2010.

Ledgard, Jared. A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents. Lulu.com, 2006.

Kiple, Kenneth F. The Cambridge World History Of Food. 2 (2000), Volume 2. Cambridge University Press, 2001

Man, Rosamond; Weir, Robin. The Mustard Book. Grub Street, 2010




Some useful research lingo.


Monday, September 7, 2015

Three more scrolls ready for calligraphy


Three scrolls are halfway done. Two are for assignments for Harvest Raid (Heavy Championship and an award to be named later) and the third was the backup scroll for the Heavy Championship. I had done the fighting knights and horses before, (about a year an a half ago) but the image just makes me laugh. I don't know the story behind the image, but the thought that the duel was so hardcore that their steeds had to get in on the action just makes me giggle.

Of course, the horses could be comforting each other: "Mabell, I haven't seen you in so long." "How long has it been, Alice? Two years? How are your colts?" "All grown up, 'cause we're horses."


Friday, September 4, 2015

Some brief notes about table forks


The following is an extract from a paper that I wrote a few years ago: The Humble Table Fork: It’s Life and History in Europe, which is based on a research paper I wrote for the 2005 Ice Dragon Pentathalon (The Tines They Are A’Changing: A Brief History of the Fork in Western Europe). I was in the process of getting it published in the Compleat Anachronist and kind of put it aside mid-way through its fourth re-write. A friend suggested posting a section might help me re-gain my enthusiasm for forks. I have already posted a section from this document, in this blog. 

The following is from the 6/23/2010 revision, pages 36 to 41.


On Top Of Old Spaghetti:


The difference that allowed forks to spread in Italy before the rest of Europe was pasta, or more exact; long pasta noodles. Try to eat a plate of hot, buttery linguine with your bare hands. It can be done, but not easily or cleanly. I would guess that the fork was pressed into service to eat noodles, rather than being "invented" to fit the job. We have already seen that forks have been around for a long time, it would be easy for us to imagine some unknown chef trying different methods of eating vermicelli before hitting upon the fork.

While pasta-like dough has been around since the ancient Greeks, [244] macaroni [245] dates back to at least the year 1000. In that year the first documented recipe for macaroni was written. De arte Coquinaria per vermicelli e macaroni siciliani or The Art of Cooking Sicilian Macaroni and Vermicelli written by Martino Corno, chef to the powerful Patriarch of Aquileia. [246] I will assume that pasta dough that was rolled into balls or folded around a filling (such as ravioli) was easy enough to eat with a spoon, the point of a knife or with one’s fingers. But the long, thin noodles of vermicelli would require a special tool. "The slippery strings of spaghettini either burned or slipped elusively through the diner’s fingers. Hence the ingenious fork, with allowed one both to spear and to twirl." [247]

Weird Pasta Fact #1: it may have led directly to the popularity of the fork. According to The Medieval Kitchen, the fork was in use from the 14th Century in taverns and manors alike, for eating pasta. Eating food with the fingers and a knife had been common practice, but eating pasta this way is difficult. Initially, a pointed stick was used to eat hot pasta, but the fork was eminently more practical. [248]
-
That is because the fork was not yet used for this purpose - except in Italy, where it was in use from the late 14th century, even in tavern, for eating pasta. A tale by Franco Sacchetti depicts two people sharing the same plattern of steaming-hot macaroni, one wolfing it down and the other remaining hungry (Tables florentines, p21). Could not the spread of the fork in Italy be connected with the consumption of pasta, which was already typical of that land? What other tool, apart from chopsticks, could be better for eating noodles? And the author of one of our recipe collections, which probably predates Sacchetti’s story, suggest eating lasagne with a pointed stick (lc and recipe 6), which amounts to a preliminary design for the fork. But we must also link the use of forks to the generally more highly evolved customs of urban Italian society, who were less frozen in terms of social hierarchy and therefore more willing to accept new practices. [249]

One of the earliest references linking forks to pasta appear in a cookbook compiled at the Angevin court in Naples and presented to King Robert of Anjou. [250] In this book we find a recipe for lasagna:

On Lasagna: for lasagna take fermented dough and roll into a hollow tortellini shape as tightly as you can. Then divide the dough into four quarters measured and shaped by the fingers. Afterward you have salted boiling water and into which you put the aforementioned lasagnas to cook. And when they have been thoroughly cooked you add grated cheese. If you so desire you can add quality powered spices and sprinkle these over the mixture. Then you make a serving of lasagna and this concoction and serve until the bowl is full. Then eat picking up the lasagna with a single-pronged wooden utensil (punteruolo). [251]

This punteruolo appears to be a proto-fork; a single-tined fork, if you will. I would imagine that using a punteruolo would be like using a skewer or a toothpick to move food: If the food were firm, like a piece of cheddar cheese or a cube of salami, one could easily spear the item and move it from dish to mouth. However, if the item were soft and limp, like brie or an oyster, or like a cooked lasagna noodle, it would not work very effectively. Still, Robert’s cookbook recommends the punteruolo despite it being inconvenient and awkward. It did not take long for the fork to replace the punteruolo. Where ever pasta was eaten, it appears, forks were used. [252]

Franco Sacchetti, in the middle of the Fourteenth-Century, wrote a book entitled Three Hundred Novellas: Story 124 of that book tells a tale of a Giovanni Cascio who sat at a table with Noddo d’Andrea, a glutton, able to swallow food "ancor che boglienti" (still hot). When "boglienti maccheroni" were served, "Noddo cominciò a raguazzare i maccheroni, avviluppa e caccia giù; n’aveva già mandato sei bocconi giù, che Giovanni aveva ancora il primo boccone sulla forchetta" (Noddo began forking the hot maccheroni, gulping them down. He had already swallowed six mouthfuls when Giovanni still had his first on his fork). [253]

It chanced upon one occasion that when Noddo was dining together with others, he was put to share a dish with a pleasant man named Giovanni Cascio. And when boiling hot macaroni was brought to table, this Giovanni, having several times heard tell of Noddo’s habits and finding himself put to share a dish with him, said within himself: "Truly, I am fortunate! I thought I was coming here to dine, and I shall have come only to behold Noddo devouring, and macaroni too, to make matters worse! Provide he doth not eat me, I shall do well."

Noddo began to stir the macaroni, to wrap it round his fork and hurry it down his throat, and he had already disposed of six mouthfuls whilst Giovanni still had his first upon his fork, not daring to put it in his mouth as it was smoking hot. And reflecting that the whole of this dish would disappear down the same road if he did not do something, he said within himself: "Of a certainty this man shall not devour all my share." So when Noddo took up one mouthful upon his fork, Giovanni took another and threw it on the ground to the dog, and when he had done this several times, Noddo cried: "Alas! what art thou doing?"

Said Giovanni, "Nay, what art thou doing? I will not have thee eating my share, I wish to give it to the dog."

Noddo laughed, and ate still more hurriedly, and Giovanni Cascio likewise more hurriedly flung the food to the dog. [254]

The gesture of twirling macaroni on a fork must have been familiar enough to his Fourteenth Century readers for Sacchetti simply to use the verb "avvilupparte" to evoke the image. [255] But pasta wasn’t the only dish that drove the fork to new heights: cuisine was changing throughout Europe. In the year 1000, the cuisine of most of Europe consisted of roasted meats and vegetables, meat pies, bread, stews and porridges. The kitchen of John of Guant, [256] Europe’s wealthiest man, served him, "meat pies and elaborate desserts of custard or spun sugar. Barbecued meat was still the staple serves at aristocratic tables, but the better chefs learned how to season the roasted or broiled meat with Oriental or Islamic spices. Pickled fish was also considered a delicacy." [257]

From Bread to Plate.


The various dishes were carried into the hall with great ceremony, a steward, with his rod of office, heading the procession. As we have already stated, the roasts were carried in on the spits, and these were often of silver. In the romance of Garin le Loherain, a quarrel is represented as taking place at dinner, when one of the guests, wanting a weapon, snatched a spit from the hands of an attendant. The fourteenth century Flemish brass of Robert Braunch, at St Margaret’s, Lynn, shews, at a feast given by Edward III. by the corporation of that town, the peacock being carried in with attendant minstrels, &c. The hour of dinner at this period was ten o’clock in the forenoon, and five for the afternoon meal. Each guest washed his hands before sitting down, and when he rose from the table. As forks were almost unknown, this was a very necessary operation. The guests were placed in couples, these eating the same food, and having one plate between them. Care was taken to place those together who were likely to be friendly. This was the origin of the phrase ‘ to eat in the same dish’ (manger dans la mime ecuelle), implying friendship. But plates do not appear to have been generally in use. Mr Wright observes that loaves, were cut into thick slices (called in French tranehoirs; English, trenchers, because they were to be carved upon), and in these the portions of meat were placed, the gravy passing into the bread. Sometimes this was eaten by the guest, but, if not, it went away with the leavings, which were destined for the poor. [258] In great houses, a platter (often of silver) was placed under the trencher, and so, after a time, the use of the latter was abandoned. [259]

The menu of England’s Henry IV’s coronation in 1399 included; braun en peuerarde (brawn in a sort of spiced wine pottage), viaund ryal (a soup of almond milk, wine, and spices), roasted boar’s head with tusks, large roasts (of some animal), syngnettys, capoun de haut grece (larded and fried capons), roasted pheasant, roasted heron, crustade lumbarde (a sort of savoury custard pie with marrow and dried fruit), roasted sturgeon, roasted pike, a subtlety, venison with frumenty, jelly, stuffed sucking pig (roasted), roasted peacocks, roasted cranes, roasted venison, roasted old rabbit, roasted bittern, gilded chickens (roasted), graunt tartez, (great tarts with game, birds, etc, marrow, spices and eggs), braun fryez. (brawn cooked in a sweet batter), leche lumbarde. (a paste of dates, wine, and spices, in slices), another subtlety, a white soup, preserved quinces, roasted egrets, roasted curlews, roasted partridge, roasted pigeons, roasted quails, roasted snipe, small birds (or meat pies depending on the translation of ‘brydys’), roasted young rabbits, meatballs, brawn cooked with almond milk, jellied eggs, fritters, cheesecakes, small tarts, roasted hedgehog, pottys of lylye, a third subtlety. [260] All foods that can be eaten with one’s fingers or with a knife or a spoon. The majority of the meal was roasted meat which could easily be sliced apart with a knife. It is worth noting that Henry didn’t ask for any vegetables. Henry’s son, Five, [261] had a similar menu for his coronation; mostly roasted meats that could be eaten with one’s fingers. [262]

Manorial servants often fed well. In the 13th century they ate two meals a day consisting of beef and ale, fish, in the form of herrings and cod, cheeses and rye or wheat bread. The basic diet of the peasants consisted of carbohydrates in the form of grain, mostly barley and oats, baked or brewed into bread or ale. They ate little protein, meat and eggs being in short supply. The wedding feast menu of Jean du Chesne in 1394 is fairly typical of an upper middle class meal:
Pottage: ground capon thickened with almond milk, pomegranates and red comfits.
Roast: kid, duckling and spring chicken all served on the same dish.
Entremets: crayfish set in jelly, loach fish and young rabbits and pigs.
Dessert: Frumenty (a kind of wheat porridge with eggs and milk) with venison.
Hippocras: (sweetened spiced wine) and wafers.
Boutehors: (The sally forth) spiced wine and spiced sweetmeats. [263]

Even between grand feasts, the cuisine didn’t change much. Richard II appears to have eaten mostly roast meat when at home:

Thys is þe porweaunse for the fest for þe kynge at home for his own table. Venesoun with furmynte in potage, borys hedes, grete flesshe, swan rostyd, capones rostyd of hy grece, pesson, pyke, and ii sotelltees. Potage called blunsorre, potage called gele, pyggys rostyd, crunes rostyd, fesaintes rostyd, herones rostyd, pekokys rostyd, breme, sartes, broken brawn, conyng rostyd, & i soteltee. Potage called bruet of almayne, new lombard, venesoun rostyd, egret rostyd, pekokys rostyd, perteryches rostyd, pegones rostyd, rabetes rostyd, qualys rostyd, larkes rostyd, a mete called payne pufe, perchys, resquyle, longe freturys, and ii sotelteys. [264]

Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century cuisine, particularly English cuisine, appear to be very similar to our modern barbecues: mostly meat that could be eaten with one’s fingers. The menus that I have listed rarely describe a dish; the majority of the items are roasted animals. The few dishes that require an explanation (brawn in a spiced wine pottage, custard pie with marrow and fruit, crayfish in jelly) are very straight forward descriptions and, to my mind, could be eaten with a spoon. When we compare this to what the French were serving in the Sixteenth-Century, it becomes very apparent that one’s fingers might not have sufficed. The famous Renaissance author, Francois Rabelais, wrote of a banquet he attended on the 20th of May, 1529. "The menu consisted of seventeen separate courses. Here is course number two, each dish served in fifteen separate platters while musicians played in the background: trout in pastry; stuffed hard-boiled eggs with sauce; fish entrails fried with orange juice, cinnamon and sugar; sturgeon with garlic (decorated with the Este arms in red sauce); sixty large fried river fish; white almond soup; pizza and little fried river fish. The seafood served included tuna, mullet, lamprey, stuffed crab, shrimp, squid, pike, caviar as well as a thousand oysters." [265]

But in order for the spoon, and knife and the fingers to do the job cleanly, with a modicum of decorum, foods had to be served either a) in bite-sized morsels, or b) in a liquid, mash or paste. Most prepared dishes were just that, either a) or b), dishes for the eating of which either the pointed knife or the spoon were respectively adequate. The whole development at this time of meat- and fish-pies (chopped meat or fish cooked and contained between pastry crusts; the late-medieval sandwich par excellence) can be attributed at least in part to an on going desire to find clean finger-foods. [266]

As cuisine evolved from simple roasts, fritters and pies to more complicated dishes served with sauces and gravies, forks were called into use more and more often. While the English were happy to see whole animals roasted and then served to their tables with side dishes of gravy and sauce, Spain, France and Italy were pioneering the prepared dish. Instead of carving a roast in front of the diners, chefs were pre-slicing the roasts and serving particular cuts already covered with the right amount of sauce.

Naturally, the advent of the fork meant that foods could more often be sauced before presentation, or could be presented in ways that were unusual in the middle Ages. The influence of the fork on the cuisine if Europe in generally underestimated, but it does seem crucial to understanding how cuisine ultimately shifts entirely after the late seventeenth century. [267]-By now [16th century] chefs and chroniclers were, like Scappi, writing down their banquet menus so that we have more details of what was served. Europe diversified into cuisines still identifiable today. In Italy, while table decorations and service became more elaborate, the food itself became simpler, lighter, and less heavily spiced than medieval ‘messes’. ... French cooking became more complex, with dozens of ingredients in each dish, larded meats, and an enthusiasm for sauces. Britain, Germany and other northern countries remained enamoured of their red meat, plain and lots of it. However, accounts start to praise the quality or rarity of food at feasts rather than only its quantity. [268]

Before the dynamic duo of knife and fork could take over European dinner tables, they first needed a solid bedrock for support. A bread trencher, no matter how stale, can not provide enough resistance to allow a diner to slice through a particularly tough cut of meat. The wide spread adoption of wood, ceramic or metal plates assisted the development of "modern" eating methods: Not only could these plates hold up to the stabbing and slicing of the fork and knife, but a meal, or a remove of a feast, could be delivered from the kitchen or sideboard straight to the diner, and then taken away to the kitchen either for the next course, for seconds or to be cleaned. "Wood, metal and eventually china plates replaces the bread trencher; glassware, particularly in Italy, made its sparkling appearance on the table; forks as well as knives started to be used, and intricately folded napkins decorated the table throughout the meal.' [269]

The addition of the fork reflects half of an important change that was coming to northern European tables from Italy in the late sixteenth century. The necessary other half was the replacement of the bread trencher by pewter, silver or glazed ceramic plates, whose firm and impermeable surface made it possible to serve more liquid sauces and to serve preparations most conveniently cut with knife and fork by individual diners. [270]

With the great houses switching from edible to non-edible eating surfaces, kitchens would no longer be spending so much time baking bread for the sole use as trenchers. Cooks would have more time to work on meals as well as their appearance on the plate. Bakers would have more time to bake pastries and cakes. Since used trenchers were thrown into pots to thicken soups, stews and porridges, new methods of thickening were developed; which, in turn, led to thickening sauces and gravies; which, in turn, led to new dishes that the medieval diner would never have thought possible.

The replacement of porous bread trenchers by ceramic plates made it possible to serve both more liquid mixtures and firmer ones requiring the use of knife and fork. Many compositions were suitable for serving in individual portions; the egg-size piece of meat or stuffed vegetable became a standard format. Garnishes of cockscombs, artichokes, and truffles surround larger pieces of meat, such as legs of mutton or roast chickens. Although pies of all sizes continued to be standard fare, their smaller relatives - turnovers, pastries, and little fried crusts - were experimented with and would be immensely popular through the eighteenth century. Well seasoned mixtures of meat, poultry, and fish, either used as farces or formed into meatballs, were very wildly used. [271]
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The bread consumption dropped during the period since 1390 because custom has changed: the court [of Poland] now ate from silver plate, majolica, or gilded pewter. The bread was still either used as sops or torn apart and eaten with the gravies that were served with the meal. On fast days, however, it was customary for the Polish court to eat from bread trenchers rather than from silver plate or fine majolica. [272]


[244] Many sources
[245] From the Sicilian word ‘maccaruni’ meaning "made into a dough by force"
[246] Whittington, Serventi, Barzini. et al.
[247] Rebora; Sonnenfeld, px
[248] Adler-France, Medieval Pasta.
[249] Redon; Sabban; Serventi, p13
[250] Reigned from 1309 to 1343
[251] Rebora; Sonnenfeld, p14
[252] Rebora; Sonnenfeld, p16
[253] Rebora; Sonnenfeld, p16 & Frugoni; McCuaig, p121
[254] Sacchetti, p104
[255] Rebora; Sonnenfeld, p16
[256] 1334-1399
[257] Cantor, p72
[258] Martial de Paris, writing of the episcopal tables of that time (fifteenth century), says : ‘Alas ! what have the poor! They have only the tranchoirs of bread which remain on the table’ Footnote from quoted text.
[259] Chambers; Chambers, p360
[260] Cosman, p20
[261] Actually crowned Henry V
[262] Myers; Douglas, p1160. The documented menu mentions that many of the roasts were also gilded with eggs, saffron or other food dyes.
[263 Medieval Gallery Text
[264] Hieatt; Butler: Curye on Inglysch, p39. Modern translation by "Garay": This is the menu for the feast for the king at home for his own table. Venison with a dish of boiled wheat, a stewed dish, boars’ heads, boiled meat, roasted swan, roasted fat capons, peas, pike, and two subtleties. White pudding, jellied meat or fish, roast pork, roasted cranes, roasted pheasants, roasted herons, roasted peacocks, fish, tarts, meat served in pieces, roasted rabbit, and one subtlety. German broth, spiced pudding of pork, dried fruits and eggs in a sauce of almond milk or wine, roasted venison, roasted small heron, roasted peacocks, roasted perch, roasted pigeons, roasted rabbits, roasted quails, roasted larks, meat in puff pastry, perch, a rice dish, fritters, and two subtleties.
[265] Bowen, p151
[266] Scully, p28
[267] Albala, p7-8
[268] Fletcher, p135
[269] Fletcher, p134
[270] Ketcham-Wheaton, p54
[271] Ketcham-Wheaton, p11117
[272] Dembinska, Weaver, Thomas, p61



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Medieval Gallery Text. Medieval Gallery of the Corinium Museum. Cotswold District Council Web Site: http://www.cotswold.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=2679&tt=cotswold. Last Posted Update: 06/02/2008

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Sacchetti, Franco. Tales from Sacchetti. Translated by Mary G. Steegmann. J. M. Dent & co., 1908.

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Image Credit:

Matching Silver Fork and Spoon With Carved Red-Coral Handles. Nuremberg, Germany. 1600-30. Smithsonian Museum