Sunday is a day of celebration in Lent. In the 16th Century, you still couldn't eat meat but it looks like a small amount of butter might have been allowed (or at least, a blind eye was turned) and you ate whatever else you pleased. I ended up only eating fish and chips at Lunch and a vegan chocolate chip cookie in the evening. I just wasn't hungry! The fish and chips was good but I couldn't finish it all. My brother teased me about it since he went out to lunch with me.
The vegan chocolate chip cookie was because they are really good and I can't have solid chocolate the rest of the week. Yeah, they don't have milk or eggs but they do have chocolate chips which weren't invented until much later.
This morning, I decided on some rye bread with just oil and herbs. Oh, and orange juice! Which probably sounds like an odd combo but I love orange juice in the morning. And I wanted something yummy for breakfast that wasn't jam so I ended up with a bit of olive oil, oregano, basil, garlic powder, and onion salt all mixed together. I'll probably go back to jam tomorrow. For lunch, it's roasted almonds and apples and dinner is probably going to be a fish pie - unless I decide apple pie looks better. ;-)
Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday Dinner
I didn't really have lunch. I munched on crystallized ginger and rosemary flatbread through most of the day. I didn't want a lot of dinner and the fish pie I was going to make - well, the salmon is frozen and I don't have pears which would be a problem. A fixable one but I didn't feel like going back out so...Apple Fritters! (And more fried mushrooms!)
I changed up the mushrooms a bit - I used a fresh chopped onion with the mushrooms, garlic powder, and regular salt (not onion salt). It was different but just as good. The onions caramelized and were fabulous with the mushrooms.
For the apple fritters, I combined two period recipes. I had everything for the batter in this recipe but I can't eat currents (I'm allergic to pretty much everything in the berry family. Thank goodness Strawberries are in the rosa family!) and I'm not fond of figs. However, I have apples! Just like this recipe but I don't have safforn until tomorrow (Mom got me some! Thanks Mom!)so....
Use the batter from the first recipe and cut up apples instead!
For the batter:
1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of flour
Mix it together. Peel the apples (2) and cut them into thin slices. Once you have a nice thick batter, coat the apple slices. Heat up a pretty thick amount of olive oil in a frying pan. Enough to cover any slice almost half way. Cook the apple slices covered in batter about five minutes, each side on medium high heat. Basically, the batter will turn a nice brown. If you don't cook them well enough it will taste doughy (I screwed up the first batch).
Sprinkle a good amount of powder sugar on the fritters once they've been cooked both size and taken out of the pan. They are so yummy!:-)
I changed up the mushrooms a bit - I used a fresh chopped onion with the mushrooms, garlic powder, and regular salt (not onion salt). It was different but just as good. The onions caramelized and were fabulous with the mushrooms.
For the apple fritters, I combined two period recipes. I had everything for the batter in this recipe but I can't eat currents (I'm allergic to pretty much everything in the berry family. Thank goodness Strawberries are in the rosa family!) and I'm not fond of figs. However, I have apples! Just like this recipe but I don't have safforn until tomorrow (Mom got me some! Thanks Mom!)so....
Use the batter from the first recipe and cut up apples instead!
For the batter:
1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of flour
Mix it together. Peel the apples (2) and cut them into thin slices. Once you have a nice thick batter, coat the apple slices. Heat up a pretty thick amount of olive oil in a frying pan. Enough to cover any slice almost half way. Cook the apple slices covered in batter about five minutes, each side on medium high heat. Basically, the batter will turn a nice brown. If you don't cook them well enough it will taste doughy (I screwed up the first batch).
Sprinkle a good amount of powder sugar on the fritters once they've been cooked both size and taken out of the pan. They are so yummy!:-)
Medieval Cream of Wheat!
I found a recipe that is not exactly cream of wheat but it has about the same look to it. The amandelye or cream of almond, really, is quite good. It's supposed to be a sauce for fish but it looked good enough for breakfast as well. ;-) I'm going to play with the measurements since it was a bit watery and needed more pepper. Here's the translated original:
[8] For an amandeleye within the fasting time. Take almonds, [9] cinnamon, ginger, a little pepper and a little bread therewith [10] and pass it through a strainer. But it must [11] be well ground up with hot water. One simmers this all together [12] over the fire until it is thick enough and let pot sugar [13] boil with it. When it is off the fire add it [14] and loaf sugar then stir and let cool. In this [15] one lays and serves fried/roast fish. Over [16] this one strews cinnamon powder or white sugar.
What I used:
1 cup of almond flour
1/2 a cup of finely ground plain bread crumbs
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1/2~ a tablespoon of ginger
1/8~ a teaspoon of pepper
about 1/4 of a cup of brown sugar
1/4 of a cup of white sugar
I brought two cups of water to a boil and then added all the stirred up all the ingredients except the white sugar to the water. I probably could have used a cup and a half of water but it was okay. It looks really watery at first but thickens up nicely after a few minutes. You need to stir this every few minutes until it gets to your desired thickeness. Just like cream of wheat, it clumps.
A note, I have no idea what "pot sugar" is. I have some idea of what loaf sugar is and I know exactly what white sugar is. I used brown sugar but my guess is that pot sugar is really raw sugar. Loaf is probably light brown sugar and white is well, what I use in tea! I'll do more research on this but I'm really not sure. Since I didn't have any raw sugar (something I'll go get later today as I need some vanilla almond milk anyway...and trash bags.) I used brown sugar.
Once you get it to something resembling cream of wheat, take it off the burner and add the white sugar. I ended up adding a bit more pepper and more cinnamon. I think it needs about 1/4 of a teaspoon pepper and 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon. It tasted much better.
Right now, I'm waiting for it to cool but I wanted to write this down so I'd remember later! And yes, though it's a sauce, it's still period and sounded yummy enough to try. ;-)
EDIT: Add raisins. It's delicious.
[8] For an amandeleye within the fasting time. Take almonds, [9] cinnamon, ginger, a little pepper and a little bread therewith [10] and pass it through a strainer. But it must [11] be well ground up with hot water. One simmers this all together [12] over the fire until it is thick enough and let pot sugar [13] boil with it. When it is off the fire add it [14] and loaf sugar then stir and let cool. In this [15] one lays and serves fried/roast fish. Over [16] this one strews cinnamon powder or white sugar.
What I used:
1 cup of almond flour
1/2 a cup of finely ground plain bread crumbs
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1/2~ a tablespoon of ginger
1/8~ a teaspoon of pepper
about 1/4 of a cup of brown sugar
1/4 of a cup of white sugar
I brought two cups of water to a boil and then added all the stirred up all the ingredients except the white sugar to the water. I probably could have used a cup and a half of water but it was okay. It looks really watery at first but thickens up nicely after a few minutes. You need to stir this every few minutes until it gets to your desired thickeness. Just like cream of wheat, it clumps.
A note, I have no idea what "pot sugar" is. I have some idea of what loaf sugar is and I know exactly what white sugar is. I used brown sugar but my guess is that pot sugar is really raw sugar. Loaf is probably light brown sugar and white is well, what I use in tea! I'll do more research on this but I'm really not sure. Since I didn't have any raw sugar (something I'll go get later today as I need some vanilla almond milk anyway...and trash bags.) I used brown sugar.
Once you get it to something resembling cream of wheat, take it off the burner and add the white sugar. I ended up adding a bit more pepper and more cinnamon. I think it needs about 1/4 of a teaspoon pepper and 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon. It tasted much better.
Right now, I'm waiting for it to cool but I wanted to write this down so I'd remember later! And yes, though it's a sauce, it's still period and sounded yummy enough to try. ;-)
EDIT: Add raisins. It's delicious.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Honey In Lent
This is an interesting slight problem I'm running into. Honey. Was honey, since it comes from bees, considered a meat product or, because Saint John the Baptist ate nothing but grasshoppers and honey while in the desert, is it considered a fasting food?
It's hard to tell. All the recipes that are specific for Lent that use a sweetener, say sugar. Even a lot of the older ones. For example, this 15th C recipe for what is, basically, the creamy center of a Cadbury egg:
Take Eyroun, & blow owt that ys with-ynne atte other ende; than waysshe the schulle clene in warme Water; than take gode mylke of Almaundys, & sette it on the fyre; than take a fayre canvas, & pore the mylke ther-on, & lat renne owt the water; then take it owt on the clothe, & gader it to-gedere with a platere; then putte sugre y-now ther-to; than take the halvyndele, & colour it with Safroun, a lytil, & do ther-to pouder Canelle; than take & do of the whyte in the nether ende of the schulle, & in the myddel the yolk, & fylle it vppe with the whyte; but noght to fulle, for goyng ouer; than sette it in the fyre & roste it, & serue f[orth].
- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.
In Modern American English:
Take Eggs, and blow out the yolks with a hole at the other end; than wash the shell clean in warm water. Then take Almond Milk, sit it on the fire. Take some cheesecloth, pore the milk on it and let the water run out. Take the cloth (with the almond remains) and put it on a baking sheet. Then put sugar in it. Take half of the dough and put some yellow in it, roll it in a ball, and roll it around in cinnamon (to make the yolk). Wrap the white dough around the middle yolk and put it back in the egg shell. Make sure it's not too full! Set it in the fire, roast it, and serve.
Sugar. Not honey. Hmm..
Another recipe from around the 14th/15th C also calls for sugar, not honey:
CXV Good tortellini made like white fritters for lent.
To make white tortellini for twelve people. Take a pound of almonds, a quarter (of a pound) of hazel nuts and half a pound of sugar. Take the well peeled almonds and hazel nuts and grind them together and mix in enough of the sugar to make a paste, this batter is used to make the fritters, and make them small. Take flour and saffron and blend them with water so that it is a soft, yellow dough, and wrap the tortellini in this and fry them in good oil. When they are cooked dust them with sugar and send them to the table before the other dishes.
So, far now, until I can find something that says honey is fine during Lent, I'm going to stay away from it. I'm good with sugar. :-)
EDIT:
I found one recipe, in Dutch, from the 15th Century.
xxij Loesengen inde vastenen of daer buten
nemt bloemme huenich melc tempert
ende wriuet dynne ghelijc een blat
Teender taerten ende dan snijdet naer
Juwen wille ziedet inde vastenen
in olyen ende buten vastenen in smoute
vercoelse ende dan hebt wijn ende
huenich ende siedse in een panne
met sukere ende met een lettel wijns
dan heetse waerm
I don't know Dutch (let alone, middle Dutch like this is written in) but, according to the person who translated it, it calls for honey. I double checked and "huenich" or "HONICH" is the Middle Dutch word for honey. It doesn't look to be one of those can mean many things words (suiker or suker is the word for sugar) so this probably really did call for honey.
The problem is simple - if you needed a cough drop or a lozenge like this recipe is for, then you were probably sick. Even back then, there were exceptions made for the sick when it came to the Lenten fasting rules. Although it looks like I'm on the right track, I'm still not sure if honey is allowed or not.
It's hard to tell. All the recipes that are specific for Lent that use a sweetener, say sugar. Even a lot of the older ones. For example, this 15th C recipe for what is, basically, the creamy center of a Cadbury egg:
- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.
In Modern American English:
Take Eggs, and blow out the yolks with a hole at the other end; than wash the shell clean in warm water. Then take Almond Milk, sit it on the fire. Take some cheesecloth, pore the milk on it and let the water run out. Take the cloth (with the almond remains) and put it on a baking sheet. Then put sugar in it. Take half of the dough and put some yellow in it, roll it in a ball, and roll it around in cinnamon (to make the yolk). Wrap the white dough around the middle yolk and put it back in the egg shell. Make sure it's not too full! Set it in the fire, roast it, and serve.
Sugar. Not honey. Hmm..
Another recipe from around the 14th/15th C also calls for sugar, not honey:
CXV Good tortellini made like white fritters for lent.
To make white tortellini for twelve people. Take a pound of almonds, a quarter (of a pound) of hazel nuts and half a pound of sugar. Take the well peeled almonds and hazel nuts and grind them together and mix in enough of the sugar to make a paste, this batter is used to make the fritters, and make them small. Take flour and saffron and blend them with water so that it is a soft, yellow dough, and wrap the tortellini in this and fry them in good oil. When they are cooked dust them with sugar and send them to the table before the other dishes.
So, far now, until I can find something that says honey is fine during Lent, I'm going to stay away from it. I'm good with sugar. :-)
I found one recipe, in Dutch, from the 15th Century.
nemt bloemme huenich melc tempert
ende wriuet dynne ghelijc een blat
Teender taerten ende dan snijdet naer
Juwen wille ziedet inde vastenen
in olyen ende buten vastenen in smoute
vercoelse ende dan hebt wijn ende
huenich ende siedse in een panne
met sukere ende met een lettel wijns
dan heetse waerm
I don't know Dutch (let alone, middle Dutch like this is written in) but, according to the person who translated it, it calls for honey. I double checked and "huenich" or "HONICH" is the Middle Dutch word for honey. It doesn't look to be one of those can mean many things words (suiker or suker is the word for sugar) so this probably really did call for honey.
The problem is simple - if you needed a cough drop or a lozenge like this recipe is for, then you were probably sick. Even back then, there were exceptions made for the sick when it came to the Lenten fasting rules. Although it looks like I'm on the right track, I'm still not sure if honey is allowed or not.
Fasting on Fridays
Today is pretty simple. During the 16th c, Wednesdays, Fridays, and sometimes Saturdays (I'm finding there is some arguments on whether Saturday was a fasting day or not, Wednesday seems to have a similar issue) were fasting days. This meant one full meal and one collation during the day and evening. The idea of two collations is from the 19th Century.
Although during the period the main meal was lunch and you had your collation in the evening, that doesn't work quite as well in the modern world. I can't stand by a stove all morning and cook up the main meal when I have to be at work. So, I've switched them. Bringing in some roasted almonds and a few pieces of crystallized ginger is a lot easier than trying to bring in a full meal. Even if all I'm going to have is leftovers. :-) Mushrooms! Really, they were that good. I'm going to fry up some more tonight, have another salad, and eat up the rest of the already cooked salmon.
This morning, I had a cup of hot chocolate. Pope Gregory XIII ruled that hot chocolate didn't break the lenten fast. I don't have access to all the stuff needed for period hot chocolate (more research!) so mine ended up being Nesquick with vanilla flavored almond milk. Honestly, other the few preservatives in the Nesquick, it doesn't sound like it was that far off from period hot chocolate. It's pretty much sugar and powdered chocolate. (One of the reasons I buy it is that there isn't any corn in it - something I'm allergic to) Anyway, the hot chocolate was delicious and I think I'll have another cup using the vanilla flavored almond milk when I get home.
Although during the period the main meal was lunch and you had your collation in the evening, that doesn't work quite as well in the modern world. I can't stand by a stove all morning and cook up the main meal when I have to be at work. So, I've switched them. Bringing in some roasted almonds and a few pieces of crystallized ginger is a lot easier than trying to bring in a full meal. Even if all I'm going to have is leftovers. :-) Mushrooms! Really, they were that good. I'm going to fry up some more tonight, have another salad, and eat up the rest of the already cooked salmon.
This morning, I had a cup of hot chocolate. Pope Gregory XIII ruled that hot chocolate didn't break the lenten fast. I don't have access to all the stuff needed for period hot chocolate (more research!) so mine ended up being Nesquick with vanilla flavored almond milk. Honestly, other the few preservatives in the Nesquick, it doesn't sound like it was that far off from period hot chocolate. It's pretty much sugar and powdered chocolate. (One of the reasons I buy it is that there isn't any corn in it - something I'm allergic to) Anyway, the hot chocolate was delicious and I think I'll have another cup using the vanilla flavored almond milk when I get home.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Thursday's Dinner
Oh my! It was so good!
First, I went shopping today. Basically buying an entirely new food supply is not cheap but it wasn't horrible either. I ended up with a nice large fillet of salmon, grated orange peel, grated lemon peel, marjoram, rice, crystallized ginger, a beef bone for the dog, almonds, more almonds, sliced almonds, not yet cracked almonds, almond milk, almond flour (seriously! They had it at my local grocery store for $9.99; it was the most expensive item after the salmon.), rice flour, another flour I can't recall right now that wasn't normal white flour, parsley, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and probably a few more things that I can't recall off the top of my head right now.
When I eventually got home, I looked up good recipes using what I had. I ended up landing on this page for a decent salad. My salad was a spring mix with spinach, carrots, mushrooms, and chopped almonds. The dressing was olive oil with red wine vinegar and black pepper. It was quite good.
The side dish was a fabulous mushroom dish I'd love to make again. I used fresh mushrooms rather than dried and used dried minced onions rather than fresh. I then added garlic powder once everything was almost done. I fried it up in olive oil. Towards the very end, I added chopped almonds. It smelled delicious and only needed a small amount of salt to make it absolutely perfect.
The main course was the salmon dish which I overcooked a slight bit. Still, it was quite good. I just used the beer my brother brought over once that had been sitting in the fridge - I doubt it's period but it worked.
I was going to make apple fritters as well but I really just don't have the time. I've never cooked fish before and had NO idea what to expect. (One of the reasons I liked the recipe above, they had the modern adaptation.) Now, I have some idea at least.
Overall, a delicious meal. Ginsie is in love with her beef bone. Since I gave it to her two hours ago, she has not stopped chewing at it other than to growl warnings at Jasper.
First, I went shopping today. Basically buying an entirely new food supply is not cheap but it wasn't horrible either. I ended up with a nice large fillet of salmon, grated orange peel, grated lemon peel, marjoram, rice, crystallized ginger, a beef bone for the dog, almonds, more almonds, sliced almonds, not yet cracked almonds, almond milk, almond flour (seriously! They had it at my local grocery store for $9.99; it was the most expensive item after the salmon.), rice flour, another flour I can't recall right now that wasn't normal white flour, parsley, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and probably a few more things that I can't recall off the top of my head right now.
When I eventually got home, I looked up good recipes using what I had. I ended up landing on this page for a decent salad. My salad was a spring mix with spinach, carrots, mushrooms, and chopped almonds. The dressing was olive oil with red wine vinegar and black pepper. It was quite good.
The side dish was a fabulous mushroom dish I'd love to make again. I used fresh mushrooms rather than dried and used dried minced onions rather than fresh. I then added garlic powder once everything was almost done. I fried it up in olive oil. Towards the very end, I added chopped almonds. It smelled delicious and only needed a small amount of salt to make it absolutely perfect.
The main course was the salmon dish which I overcooked a slight bit. Still, it was quite good. I just used the beer my brother brought over once that had been sitting in the fridge - I doubt it's period but it worked.
I was going to make apple fritters as well but I really just don't have the time. I've never cooked fish before and had NO idea what to expect. (One of the reasons I liked the recipe above, they had the modern adaptation.) Now, I have some idea at least.
Overall, a delicious meal. Ginsie is in love with her beef bone. Since I gave it to her two hours ago, she has not stopped chewing at it other than to growl warnings at Jasper.
Lenten Foods!
I know, y'all are probably reading this think "What the heck?" :-) I'm really having a ton of fun researching all the lenten foods. I mean you can eat Apple Pie as a Lenten dinner!
225. To make a good tart with roasted apples. Peel the apples and cut them into four pieces, cut out the cores, and put them in pot, which should be well covered, and let them stew in the pot. One should watch them frequently, so that they do not scorch. Afterwards spread them on the pastry shell, which should be made of good flour, and put a half pound of sugar and a half ounce of finely ground cinnamon therein.
Don't think that it's really a Lenten dish? Well, there are several recipes for fritters! Including yummy Apple Fritters:
Apple fritters for lent.
Take apples and peel them, then cut in the way of the host (thin circular slices). Make a batter of flour with saffron (and presumably water), and add currants, and put the apples in this batter; then fry them in sufficient oil for each. Powder with sugar when they are cooked, etc.
There is also this recipe for fritters:(The recipe is also available here)
Frutowr for Lentyn. Recipe flour & almondes mylk, & temper þam togyder; þan take fyges & rasyns of corance & fry þam with þe batour with oyle & tyrne þis & serof.
Or maybe you like a nice Flan?
Flans for Lent. Gather good flour and make paste, and take good almond milk and rice flour or starch and boil them together until they are well laden; and when it is boiled thick take it up and lay it on a foot board until it is cold; and when the coffins are ready, take a part and put it in the coffins and carve them in slices, and put them in good almond milk, and figs and dates, in 4 parts. Then bake it; serve it forth
And, according to this source, fish balls instead of fish sticks are totally period:
Sauterys in Lent Ground salmon mixed with fried slivers of pastry, made
into balls, dipped in a light batter and fried.
225. To make a good tart with roasted apples. Peel the apples and cut them into four pieces, cut out the cores, and put them in pot, which should be well covered, and let them stew in the pot. One should watch them frequently, so that they do not scorch. Afterwards spread them on the pastry shell, which should be made of good flour, and put a half pound of sugar and a half ounce of finely ground cinnamon therein.
Don't think that it's really a Lenten dish? Well, there are several recipes for fritters! Including yummy Apple Fritters:
Apple fritters for lent.
Take apples and peel them, then cut in the way of the host (thin circular slices). Make a batter of flour with saffron (and presumably water), and add currants, and put the apples in this batter; then fry them in sufficient oil for each. Powder with sugar when they are cooked, etc.
There is also this recipe for fritters:(The recipe is also available here)
Frutowr for Lentyn. Recipe flour & almondes mylk, & temper þam togyder; þan take fyges & rasyns of corance & fry þam with þe batour with oyle & tyrne þis & serof.
GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:
Fritter for Lent. Recipe: flour & almond milk, & temper them together; then take figs & raisins of Corinth & fry them with the batter with oil & turn this & serve.
Or maybe you like a nice Flan?
Flans for Lent. Gather good flour and make paste, and take good almond milk and rice flour or starch and boil them together until they are well laden; and when it is boiled thick take it up and lay it on a foot board until it is cold; and when the coffins are ready, take a part and put it in the coffins and carve them in slices, and put them in good almond milk, and figs and dates, in 4 parts. Then bake it; serve it forth
And, according to this source, fish balls instead of fish sticks are totally period:
Sauterys in Lent Ground salmon mixed with fried slivers of pastry, made
into balls, dipped in a light batter and fried.
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