I made the Perry of Pesoun which, despite what it looked like, was incredibly good. I used a bit too much sugar in the recipe but it was fine other than that. I used split dried green peas, dried chopped onions, and brought them to a boil. When I did that, I added a 1tbl of olive oil, probably about the same in sugar (I just shook the box of sugar until it looked like I had enough), and salt. It doesn't take long to boil but it does take a while for the peas to soften. By the time they do, they explode and you get green mush. Which is why you add the safforn - it makes everything a nice bright colored yellow mush. And yes, exploded peas porridge is perfectly period. (I think it's an Italian cookbook that says to make it into the shape of a worm and serve it.)
I also made brown rice in almond milk with cinnamon and sugar. I think I'll add some raisins to it tonight for extra yumminess.
The only other thing I had was bread with oil. I didn't have any salad because I forgot to stop by the grocery store and I was too tired to make the mushrooms. :-(
I'll eat a lot of the same tonight. For lunch today, I have sort of a trail mix. It's roasted almonds and crystallized ginger - which are really surprisingly delicious together. Breakfast today was a nice yummy mug of hot chocolate. Also known as vanilla flavored almond milk with nesquik heated up in the microwave. :-)
For tomorrow, I'm thinking salmon fish fry! And mushrooms. Must have mushrooms. Tonight, if possible.
So, by now you've probably noticed not all the recipes are from the 16th c. Some are from the 15th and some are from the 14th. Just like today, they used the older cookbooks and just added on to them. How many still have Joy of Cooking in their cookbook collections? It was first published nearly 80 years ago now. I have Martha Washington's Cookbook (which actually contains a lot of late 16th/early 17th c recipes in it because it was a family cookbook handed down) that I've used in the past. I think the cookbook regarding Southern cooking my Mom always uses is from the late 19th C. Tastes change slightly from generation to generation but how to cook various things doesn't. Just like today, back in the 16th Century, they used the older cookbooks for various reasons.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday
I'm thinking of keeping it simple tonight. A salad with oil and vinegar, rice boiled in almond milk with sugar and cinnamon, bread with oil (which is what I had for breakfast again), and maybe try my hand at peas. Oh, and mushrooms. Can you tell I like the mushrooms yet? ;-)
New Peas on a Fish Day sounds good. However, I have a supply of dried peas I'd like to try. Maybe this recipe for Perry of Pesoun?
In related news, I just found Antiquitates culinariae or Curious tracts relating to the culinary affairs of the Olde English. It's a book regarding medieval and Tudor English food customs written in the 18th C. It's fabulous. I'm pouring over it now for information.
New Peas on a Fish Day sounds good. However, I have a supply of dried peas I'd like to try. Maybe this recipe for Perry of Pesoun?
In related news, I just found Antiquitates culinariae or Curious tracts relating to the culinary affairs of the Olde English. It's a book regarding medieval and Tudor English food customs written in the 18th C. It's fabulous. I'm pouring over it now for information.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Epic Fail
So, the Salmon pie? Yeah...that wasn't a good idea. I tried to make my own dough recipe and I know that's where I went wrong. Don't put the fish in the dough until the dough itself has been mostly cooked. The dough was super sticky and looked like instant mashed potatoes. Yes, I tried to make my own and not follow the recipe like I should have. That was another mistake. The salmon still turned out okay but the dough ruined it.
So, I did have a salad and fried mushrooms. I also ate some plain rye bread. I'm going to have some hot chocolate and I already ate some ginger. Tomorrow, I'm going to drown my sorrows in apple pie. ;-)
So, I did have a salad and fried mushrooms. I also ate some plain rye bread. I'm going to have some hot chocolate and I already ate some ginger. Tomorrow, I'm going to drown my sorrows in apple pie. ;-)
Possibility for Monday's Dinner
You must take the salmon, well-cleaned and washed, and take your spices, which are long pepper, galingale, and ginger, and all this well-ground with salt, but in such a manner that there is not too much spice, but moderate; then make the empanadas, and put the salmon inside. And cast the spices on top and beneath, and all over. And then cover the empanada and let it go to the oven to cook; and when it is cooked, if you wish to eat the salmon cold, make a hole in the empanada under the bottom crust so that the broth comes out, because with it, it cannot be kept well.
And you must know that the salmon ought to be eaten in the month of October when it starts to get cold.
This comes from Libre del Coch which is a book filled with recipes from both Naples and Spain. Since my persona is from Naples, this will be a great recipe to try! I don't think I can get galingale (I'll check out a couple of stores on my way home) but I have everything else at home.
What I love is the book does tell you how to make a fish pastry or pie in general earlier in the book (so you aren't left guessing unlike in some). A general recipe is here:
You must take meat or fish, and give it a boil. But if it is meat, boil it more than the fish. And when it is well-boiled, take it from the fire and put it in cold water. And then make the empanada. And put in the meat or fish which is cut into small pieces, as big as two fingers, or even smaller. And put them in the empanada, and then go to the oven and make a vent hole on top of the lid of the empanada so that it can breathe, or else it will burst in the oven. And when you put the meat in the empanada, also put fine spice with it. And if it is fish, use a good deal of pepper. And if it is meat, use a good deal of spice; and a little before it is time to remove the empanada from the oven, put into the vent hole some eggs beaten in a dish with verjuice or orange juice or rose-scented white vinegar. And then return it to the oven for the space of a Paternoster and an Ave Maria. And take it out and put it on the table.
:-) I love the whole "poke a hole or else it will pop in the oven!" thing since I remember well the exploding hot dogs in the microwave of my childhood. It sounds like a very similar issue. However, making the crust is still an issue. How do you do it without eggs or butter?
It sounds like, based on two sources (Flans in Lent) almond milk and rice flour were used to make some sort of crust. This Lady has a recipe that I'll probably use. So, salmon pie tonight!
Sunday and Monday Morning
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. ;-)
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. ;-)
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.
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