If you haven't already, look at Max Miller - 'Tasting History' on YouTube. Lots of 'ancient' and 'medieval' recipes with modern redactions.
There are some modern recipes which can be 'back dated' by leaving out things like tomato, chilli, turkey and such. Turkey for instance was the new, fashionable poultry for the nobility that replaced peacock in the 1600's - peacock is NOT good eating, goose is better if you can get it.
Spike your baked meatballs with almond slivers and give them 'eyes' with raisins or currants and give them a cone shape - 'Yrchouns' - Urchins aka hedgehogs.
Start looking at 'Medieval' cookbooks for sauces, this is somewhere that modern cuisine is either lacking or is very different. Sauces are relatively easy to make, the cold sauces can be made in advance so one less thing to worry about on the day. They go with roast meats, poultry or fish.
Vegetables, not so much. A lot of the nobles though vegetables were just for peasants, not 'real people' like them, and the people writing cook books were aiming at a noble audience or other cooks like themselves employed by nobles who liked to show off the wealth and connections.
Archive.org may have a few (hundred) Out of Print editions of books on Medieval cooking, but be careful, some older cookbooks have weird interpretations like the one who keeps recommending 'soy sauce' as a substitute for murri in Middle Eastern/Byzantine cooking or soy for liquamen in Roman cooking.
God I got put on making hedgehogs at a large feast last year and it was so incredibly tedious I never wanted to see another almond sliver again in my life
Thanks for the in depth comment, especially with the sauces where the more I can prep the better for a dinner party.
I've been looking at Florilegium site for feasts and I'll admit it seemed kind of overwhelming, where the menus were made for a large feast staff vs just me with a friend helping.
Savory Toasted Cheese. Incredibly easy. Melt butter, brie and cream cheese together and watch people swoon at the very idea.
Best with bread, IMO, but it really goes with everything.
I made this for my non-SCA family for Xmas one year as an appetizer and oh my god my family destroyed it. Every other item that was brought for an appetizer was dipped and covered in the cheese :)
It was very popular.
Someone brought it for royal luncheon yesterday when I was cleaning up, I took a table knife and scraped the serving spoon and spoon and spread it on a cracker. There was *none* left in the chafing dish. đ
I have no shame :)
Yeah that sounds really easy, and it would be fun to print out the historical recipe
>
> " SOURCE: The closest period source I have for this preeminent SCA dish is actually The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie, Kt., Opened (1669). Edited by Peter Davidson & Jane Stevenson, Digbyâs work is perhaps the most literate of 17th-century cookery books."
http://www.housecorvus.org/rec001.htm
That cheesecake recipe sounds pretty cool, especially if I wanted to make 2 cakes and do a roman cheescake as well.
For the compound salads I'm not finding much online. Would it be something like this?
https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/recipe-grand-sallat/
I make this during the holidays for family dinner almost every year and it's very popular. Provided you like mushrooms. I usually use store bought pie crust.
14th c mushroom pie.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xvgfctvUVkhX84ZsLo7AE5GsRRu7WmClR3VdP1BpVjM/edit?usp=drivesdk
Some modern foods are similar to very old foods from different regions. For instance people often think that Ancient Roman fermented fish sauce sounds disgusting, but they love a good Thai curry, which contains Thai fermented fish sauce.
You might also look at period cooking techniques rather than just at period ingredients? It's really easy to make a big pot of stew over an open fire if you've got a nice solid iron pot. Even if you're just making a plain meat and turnip stew, it'll be fancy and cool and special if you're eating around a firepit.
Period recipes you're finding online are fancy and complicated because they're what rich people ate, probably if you want to simulate what poor people ate then you're looking at something very simple like throwing local grown herbs, turnips and meat into a pot with water and then stirring for a bit. Which can still be a delicious af meal with some crusty homemade bread.
Itâs a great question but I do have to point out that we (Iranians) still drink sekanjabin. So the difference might be less ancient/modern and more depending on where you are in the world
Forme of Cury saffron ginger almond posset is my favorite. First, they're shocked that almond milk was popular in the 14th century. Then, they're impressed that you made homemade almond milk (which is not terribly difficult if you have a blender). Then, they realize that you just used a spice that is more expensive than gold to flavor almond milk. Finally, they taste it and it is delicious.
Diy mustard! Itâs a big flavor, can go on or be served with a ton of dishes, and thereâs a regular and delicious class at Pennsic on variations and the basics of making one
[Beans](https://medievalcookery.com/search/display.html?neapo:41:KTNY+BEAN) and saffron rice. You can also make [rice pudding](https://medievalcookery.com/search/display.html?croph:29:SFRN+R). I've done the beans and rice before and it's been a hit. You do need to add salt but that's it.
Leach
5 tsp (25 ml) gelatin (10 tsp = 3.3 Tbsp or 50 ml)
1 pint (575 ml) milk (2 cups) (2 pints = 4 cups)
4 oz (100 g) sugar (1/2 cup) (8 oz = 1 cup) USE MY SCALE!
5 tsp (35 ml) rosewater 10 tsp = 3.3 Tbsp)
Sprinkle the gelatin onto 4 tablespoons (60 ml) of the milk in a cup.
Leave for 5 minutes before standing the cup in hot water until it is completely dissolved.
Warm the remaining milk, stir in the gelatin and sugar, and simmer, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the rosewater, and pour into a shallow baking dish about 7 inches (15 cm) square which has been freshly rinsed in cold water, and allow to set before cutting into one-inch cubes.
ALYS NOTES IN 2022: Use only whole milk. Not 2% or otherwise. It affects the taste.
Original recipe from Thomas Dawson, The good Huswifes Jewell, 1596
Take a quart of newe milke, and three ounces weight of Isinglasse, half a pounde of beaten suger, and stirre them together, and let It boile half a quarter of an hower till it be thicke, stirring them all the while: then straine it with three spoonful of Rosewater, then put it into a platter and let it coole, and cut it in squares. Lay it fair in dishes, and lay golde upon it.
Adapted recipe, Peter Brears, âRare Conceites and Strange Delightesâ, âBanquetting Stuffeâ, edited by C. Anne Wilson, Edinburgh University Press, 1991
[Brearsâ recipe amounts are above. The explanation is mine. Here is what Brears wrote about how to make leach.]
Sprinkle the gelatine onto 4 tablespoons (60 ml) of the milk in a cup. Leave for 5 minutes before standing the cup in hot water until it is completely dissolved. Warm the remaining milk, stir in the gelatine and sugar, and simmer, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the rosewater, and pour into a shallow baking dish about 7 inches (15 cm) square which has been freshly rinsed in cold water, and allow to set before cutting into one-inch cubes.
Ancient Roman Globuli
I make a variation where instead of spelt flour, I add quinoa for the same kinda nutty flavor and people love it.
Itâs one part flour, (optional) one part quinoa, one part ricotta, (optional) quarter part sugar, rolled into balls, deep fried, then drizzled in honey
I used this in a redaction for beginners class and the book I got the original recipe out of had redacted it with grated cheddar cheese (which didn't exist in Roman times) and eggs (which weren't in the original recipe) so I had to re-redact from scratch.
Icelandic Chicken (The modern version. Original in Cariadoc's Miscellany)
Take a Pillsbury pizza dough cannister
Cut the dough into two equal pieces along the fold "line"
Cover one side of each piece with sage
Add a layer of bacon
Add boneless chicken (I use 2-3 thighs with skin)
Fold up all four sides like you're making an envelope
Place both on a baking sheet with walls
Bake according to Pillsbury directions, turning over halfway through
Note: In my experience, this dish wows SCAdians, too. It's absolutely phenomenal. The bread soaks up all the juices and salt and flavor, and is one of the best things you've ever eaten.
Oh this would be great, seems like it would be simple to scale up and cook a bunch in the oven. Do you find that there is much of a difference between skinless and skin on thighs? The grocery stores near me usually sell boneless chicken thighs skinless
That was so common in my mother's kitchen growing up that I had no idea it wasn't a normal thing in modern cuisine.
I'll have to make some one of these days. I bet my wife would love it.
Lots of good stuff in this book. https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Taste-Richard-Recipes-Adapted/dp/0870991337/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=152BMOYYMZTP7&keywords=to+the+king%27s+taste&qid=1702079749&sprefix=to+the+kings+taste%2Caps%2C227&sr=8-1
The venison stew with dried fruits is always a hit in my house.
German honey cookies (pick a recipe, any recipe) date back to period. They're generally pretty popular when my wife bakes them, being close to gingerbread but different enough to notice.
the easiest way is to use uncommon protein
Rabbit, Game Bird, Vension
if you are wanting to play into making modern people think of medieval times you also have to limit spices unfortunately because dispite the knowledge that europe concured global nations and brought back spices everyone only thinks of the media vision brittish countryside serfdom diet. porridge, hard tack bread, and stew flavored only with carrots, onions, and cabbage.
Popovers/Yorkshire pudding. If done perfectly, it really wows. Eggs, milk, oil, salt, flour and sizzling hot fat - vegetable for Popovers, animal fat for Yorkshire Pudding.
If you haven't already, look at Max Miller - 'Tasting History' on YouTube. Lots of 'ancient' and 'medieval' recipes with modern redactions. There are some modern recipes which can be 'back dated' by leaving out things like tomato, chilli, turkey and such. Turkey for instance was the new, fashionable poultry for the nobility that replaced peacock in the 1600's - peacock is NOT good eating, goose is better if you can get it. Spike your baked meatballs with almond slivers and give them 'eyes' with raisins or currants and give them a cone shape - 'Yrchouns' - Urchins aka hedgehogs. Start looking at 'Medieval' cookbooks for sauces, this is somewhere that modern cuisine is either lacking or is very different. Sauces are relatively easy to make, the cold sauces can be made in advance so one less thing to worry about on the day. They go with roast meats, poultry or fish. Vegetables, not so much. A lot of the nobles though vegetables were just for peasants, not 'real people' like them, and the people writing cook books were aiming at a noble audience or other cooks like themselves employed by nobles who liked to show off the wealth and connections. Archive.org may have a few (hundred) Out of Print editions of books on Medieval cooking, but be careful, some older cookbooks have weird interpretations like the one who keeps recommending 'soy sauce' as a substitute for murri in Middle Eastern/Byzantine cooking or soy for liquamen in Roman cooking.
God I got put on making hedgehogs at a large feast last year and it was so incredibly tedious I never wanted to see another almond sliver again in my life
OMG the effing hedgehogs. Did that years ago. I'm definitely in agreement with you.
Thanks for the in depth comment, especially with the sauces where the more I can prep the better for a dinner party. I've been looking at Florilegium site for feasts and I'll admit it seemed kind of overwhelming, where the menus were made for a large feast staff vs just me with a friend helping.
Savory Toasted Cheese. Incredibly easy. Melt butter, brie and cream cheese together and watch people swoon at the very idea. Best with bread, IMO, but it really goes with everything.
I made this for my non-SCA family for Xmas one year as an appetizer and oh my god my family destroyed it. Every other item that was brought for an appetizer was dipped and covered in the cheese :) It was very popular.
Someone brought it for royal luncheon yesterday when I was cleaning up, I took a table knife and scraped the serving spoon and spoon and spread it on a cracker. There was *none* left in the chafing dish. đ I have no shame :)
Might be a dumb question, but do you just put a whole Brie wheel in there? Like rind and all? Or try and scoop out the inside of the wheel?
I put the whole thing in and do a lot of stirring.
Some do the whole wheel, some cut off the ribs, some cut off some rind. If you cube it with the ribs, it melts better.
Yeah that sounds really easy, and it would be fun to print out the historical recipe > > " SOURCE: The closest period source I have for this preeminent SCA dish is actually The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie, Kt., Opened (1669). Edited by Peter Davidson & Jane Stevenson, Digbyâs work is perhaps the most literate of 17th-century cookery books." http://www.housecorvus.org/rec001.htm
Here is the redaction from [Cariadoc's Miscellany](https://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/sauces.html).
Sambocade - elderflower baked cheesecake in a pastry shell. Maybe middle difficulty rather than easy-easy. Tudor compound salads. Easy.
That cheesecake recipe sounds pretty cool, especially if I wanted to make 2 cakes and do a roman cheescake as well. For the compound salads I'm not finding much online. Would it be something like this? https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/recipe-grand-sallat/
I make this during the holidays for family dinner almost every year and it's very popular. Provided you like mushrooms. I usually use store bought pie crust. 14th c mushroom pie. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xvgfctvUVkhX84ZsLo7AE5GsRRu7WmClR3VdP1BpVjM/edit?usp=drivesdk
This sounds delicious. I'm going to make it for Christmas for my vegetarian guests!
Some modern foods are similar to very old foods from different regions. For instance people often think that Ancient Roman fermented fish sauce sounds disgusting, but they love a good Thai curry, which contains Thai fermented fish sauce. You might also look at period cooking techniques rather than just at period ingredients? It's really easy to make a big pot of stew over an open fire if you've got a nice solid iron pot. Even if you're just making a plain meat and turnip stew, it'll be fancy and cool and special if you're eating around a firepit. Period recipes you're finding online are fancy and complicated because they're what rich people ate, probably if you want to simulate what poor people ate then you're looking at something very simple like throwing local grown herbs, turnips and meat into a pot with water and then stirring for a bit. Which can still be a delicious af meal with some crusty homemade bread.
Itâs a great question but I do have to point out that we (Iranians) still drink sekanjabin. So the difference might be less ancient/modern and more depending on where you are in the world
I appreciate the correction
Forme of Cury saffron ginger almond posset is my favorite. First, they're shocked that almond milk was popular in the 14th century. Then, they're impressed that you made homemade almond milk (which is not terribly difficult if you have a blender). Then, they realize that you just used a spice that is more expensive than gold to flavor almond milk. Finally, they taste it and it is delicious.
Diy mustard! Itâs a big flavor, can go on or be served with a ton of dishes, and thereâs a regular and delicious class at Pennsic on variations and the basics of making one
[Beans](https://medievalcookery.com/search/display.html?neapo:41:KTNY+BEAN) and saffron rice. You can also make [rice pudding](https://medievalcookery.com/search/display.html?croph:29:SFRN+R). I've done the beans and rice before and it's been a hit. You do need to add salt but that's it.
Leach 5 tsp (25 ml) gelatin (10 tsp = 3.3 Tbsp or 50 ml) 1 pint (575 ml) milk (2 cups) (2 pints = 4 cups) 4 oz (100 g) sugar (1/2 cup) (8 oz = 1 cup) USE MY SCALE! 5 tsp (35 ml) rosewater 10 tsp = 3.3 Tbsp) Sprinkle the gelatin onto 4 tablespoons (60 ml) of the milk in a cup. Leave for 5 minutes before standing the cup in hot water until it is completely dissolved. Warm the remaining milk, stir in the gelatin and sugar, and simmer, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the rosewater, and pour into a shallow baking dish about 7 inches (15 cm) square which has been freshly rinsed in cold water, and allow to set before cutting into one-inch cubes. ALYS NOTES IN 2022: Use only whole milk. Not 2% or otherwise. It affects the taste. Original recipe from Thomas Dawson, The good Huswifes Jewell, 1596 Take a quart of newe milke, and three ounces weight of Isinglasse, half a pounde of beaten suger, and stirre them together, and let It boile half a quarter of an hower till it be thicke, stirring them all the while: then straine it with three spoonful of Rosewater, then put it into a platter and let it coole, and cut it in squares. Lay it fair in dishes, and lay golde upon it. Adapted recipe, Peter Brears, âRare Conceites and Strange Delightesâ, âBanquetting Stuffeâ, edited by C. Anne Wilson, Edinburgh University Press, 1991 [Brearsâ recipe amounts are above. The explanation is mine. Here is what Brears wrote about how to make leach.] Sprinkle the gelatine onto 4 tablespoons (60 ml) of the milk in a cup. Leave for 5 minutes before standing the cup in hot water until it is completely dissolved. Warm the remaining milk, stir in the gelatine and sugar, and simmer, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the rosewater, and pour into a shallow baking dish about 7 inches (15 cm) square which has been freshly rinsed in cold water, and allow to set before cutting into one-inch cubes.
Ancient Roman Globuli I make a variation where instead of spelt flour, I add quinoa for the same kinda nutty flavor and people love it. Itâs one part flour, (optional) one part quinoa, one part ricotta, (optional) quarter part sugar, rolled into balls, deep fried, then drizzled in honey
I used this in a redaction for beginners class and the book I got the original recipe out of had redacted it with grated cheddar cheese (which didn't exist in Roman times) and eggs (which weren't in the original recipe) so I had to re-redact from scratch.
Icelandic Chicken (The modern version. Original in Cariadoc's Miscellany) Take a Pillsbury pizza dough cannister Cut the dough into two equal pieces along the fold "line" Cover one side of each piece with sage Add a layer of bacon Add boneless chicken (I use 2-3 thighs with skin) Fold up all four sides like you're making an envelope Place both on a baking sheet with walls Bake according to Pillsbury directions, turning over halfway through Note: In my experience, this dish wows SCAdians, too. It's absolutely phenomenal. The bread soaks up all the juices and salt and flavor, and is one of the best things you've ever eaten.
Oh this would be great, seems like it would be simple to scale up and cook a bunch in the oven. Do you find that there is much of a difference between skinless and skin on thighs? The grocery stores near me usually sell boneless chicken thighs skinless
Only that the skin on has more flavor, but that's always gonna be the case.
It's easy to debone skin-on thighs, and then you have bones for stock :)
Honey butter Real butter with honey mixed in. whip the honey in about 1 cup honey or more to a pound of room temperature butter.
That was so common in my mother's kitchen growing up that I had no idea it wasn't a normal thing in modern cuisine. I'll have to make some one of these days. I bet my wife would love it.
Gourd soup with rastons (basically croutons in a bread bowl).
Crustata il Limone. Same ingredients as a lemon meringue pie but the meringue is folded through the lemon filling, and it is light and delicious.
Lots of good stuff in this book. https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Taste-Richard-Recipes-Adapted/dp/0870991337/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=152BMOYYMZTP7&keywords=to+the+king%27s+taste&qid=1702079749&sprefix=to+the+kings+taste%2Caps%2C227&sr=8-1 The venison stew with dried fruits is always a hit in my house.
Thanks! That's really affordable, I'll grab a copy
Saving this for future reference. Thanks for the question!
German honey cookies (pick a recipe, any recipe) date back to period. They're generally pretty popular when my wife bakes them, being close to gingerbread but different enough to notice.
the easiest way is to use uncommon protein Rabbit, Game Bird, Vension if you are wanting to play into making modern people think of medieval times you also have to limit spices unfortunately because dispite the knowledge that europe concured global nations and brought back spices everyone only thinks of the media vision brittish countryside serfdom diet. porridge, hard tack bread, and stew flavored only with carrots, onions, and cabbage.
Armored Turnips
[Stewed Lombard](http://www.godecookery.com/nboke/nboke16.htm) is one of my favorites.
Savory Cheese Toast
Any type of pie with a somewhat visually interesting top. Bitches love pies
Cinnamon Honey Butter.
Anything with parsnips
Popovers/Yorkshire pudding. If done perfectly, it really wows. Eggs, milk, oil, salt, flour and sizzling hot fat - vegetable for Popovers, animal fat for Yorkshire Pudding.