14 July 2006
A Simple Medieval Dinner - or Feast
A couple of years ago I dabbled in the SCA for a while. Although it didn’t work for me in the long term, it did leave me with a realisation that yes, it was perfectly possible to cook food in a Medieval way and yes, it is delicious and even reasonably healthy (if in many cases also hearty). I have tried out things here and there before but last weekend was the first time I actually set out to produce a reasonably authentic dinner from period recipe and following period advice. At the same time, I must emphasise, that I have not followed the recipe blindly - there is no way even period cooks would not have used their own creativity, as well as whatever they happened to have at hand. I have followed the rough principles but I have adjusted and adapted, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, and neither should you.
My main source for this was the Gode Cookery website, which is absolutely awe-striking in its resources and advice. I found instructions not only as regards to authentic recipes, but also general principles concerning feasts and food and drink in general, such as what was actually available in Europe during the Middle Ages. I decided on four courses, following the principle that feasts and meals started with foods that were considered “moist,” light and easily digestible, and proceeded to heavier and richer foods. Not unlike our modern day practices, then. Interestingly, I discovered that cheese was eaten throughout the meal as an aid for digestion and that the meat course typically included cheese at the end. Our custom of serving cheese at the end of the meal therefore goes way back!
Originally I thought to begin with Oyle soppes - an onion soup/sauce which considerably resembles our French onion soup, although instead of wine and beefstock it uses ale and instead of topping the soup with bread it places the bread on the bottom, on which the soup would be poured. With this I would serve brown bread and cheese, following the recommendations to use Port Salut and Cheddar due to their resemblances to Medieval cheeses. As I was doing my shopping, though, I began to have second thoughts, first about following the recipe at all and instead following a modern recipe for the French soup, then about making the soup from scratch due to the large amount of work I was facing anything, and in the end decided to buy the French soup ready made. As it happens, I was unable to find French soup of sufficient quality, but while I was looking for something else, I did discover organic pea soup. Having considered the matters I could see no reason why I shouldn’t serve pea soup instead of onion soup, and ended up doing so, along with (bought) onion and bacon bread and the aforementioned cheese.
The second course would contain white meats and/or fish or seafood, along with various greenies. I decided to serve roast chicken done according to the recipe for Chike endored along with smoked salmon. As fish would typically be accompanied by nuts, I mixed pine nuts in my spynoches yfryed, which despite its fancy name is just parboiled and panfried spinach. As “Wortes” - green things - I served rocket and steamed asparagus. Now naturally I forgot all about the yellow glaze for the chicken, but it was beautifully browned and tasted delicious in its standard form also. I should perhaps point out that I purchased an organic chicken for this from Morton’s - it’s not cheap, but the taste makes up for the high price.
Now we’re moving into the serious stuff. This is where you serve the best and most impressive: dark meat, game, hearty and rich things. And, as it seems, pears, which were considered rich and suitable for the end of the meal. After a lot of humming and uhmming I decided to go for brawn en peuerade, which isn’t far removed from coq au vin, although, like oyle soppes, instead of a combination of alcohol and broth it uses alcohol only. “Brawn” means the dark meat of chicken or pork. Having done the chicken thing already, I used pork. I was liberal with the spices and used what I had in the house, without bothering to be too strict about the instructions. Where I did bungle it a bit was the application of red wine vinegar: unaccustomed to using it in cooking as I am, I applied it far too much. However, while the end result was very strong and slightly peculiar, it was not unpleasant. This I served fine white bread (pandemayne), Brie (again with the Medieval connotations) and tinned pears, figuring they had to have a way to preserve pears for when they were not in season.
The last course to be served would be Voidë, somewhat separate from the rest of the meal in that it would be served after entertainments and mingling, just before retiring. It would consist of wine, cakes, sweets and the like. I had been serving wine throughout the dinner and saw no reason to stop at this point. Alongside, I offered tourteletes in fryture, which I have documented elsewhere, dates, Bonne Maman’s jam tartlets and very fine bought organic gingerbread, along with all the cheeses I had had on the table before. At this point I also cheated and served lokum, or Turkish delight, for although it was probably not a period treat, in my mind it should have been.
All in all, the feast was not as much work as I had feared, and cooking it, not to mention eating it, was extremely satisfying!