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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Alcohol and Lent

So, some fun this morning.  I came across a book called Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It looks like it's going to be a GREAT help and it already has been. I was concerned since - in the modern era- we have plenty of stuff to drink when alcohol is forbidden. There's any variety of sodas, milk, juices, tea, coffee, ect. However, in the 16th C it was tea, water, hot chocolate (towards the end of the 16th C), wine, beer, and a whole bunch more alcohol. If you couldn't afford/get tea and alcohol isn't to be consumed during Lent, then what the heck did you drink? Water? For 40 days? Ick. (Yes, I know there are other medieval drinks out there that are not alcoholic but wine and beer were the drinks of choice.) Turns out, not so. Although hard alcohol was forbidden, wine with dinner or beer was perfectly acceptable. Yay! :-) I'm not a big fan of beer but wine is good. The main issue for me was I kept coming across recipes that looked delicious and very good for lent except they called for wine. Cooking wine is different and most of the alcohol should burn off but I wasn't sure if it was allowed or not even given all of that. Turns out, it is. :-) Now, to figure out what I want for dinner for the next few days before heading over to the Amish Market. Yes, I know - I'm spoiled by that place. My actual grocery store isn't much better since that's where they have the almond milk, almond butter, and a bunch of other things to eat. Oh! Ginsie got a bit of the rice, carrots, and raisins last night (the bit I gave her didn't have raisins). She loved it. Those of you that know the pup know she's spoiled she'll only eat certain things. I have to put chicken broth on her food to get her to eat it. Silly puppy. The only reason she got some of it was because it's VERY filling and I couldn't finish what I had on my plate last night. The recipe was based on a few period ones; Recipe for rice from the 15th Century, Recipe for rice from the 14th Century, and I think this influenced the dish a lot.

What to eat for breakfast

I realized that I had a bit of an issue this morning.  Normally, I either don't eat breakfast or I just eat some toast and butter.  However, I'm trying to avoid butter since they wouldn't have used it in the Renaissance if you were Catholic.  The protestants had no issue and some sources say that the Catholic church did relax the whole butter rule in the late 16th C but I can't find a direct source.

Anyway, I was trying to figure out if almond butter with cinnamon and sugar - all things found in period- was okay when I realized something, Jam!   My nephew's favorite food is "toast and butter and jelly and toast!" which probably should have made me realize earlier that I could just eat toast and jam.Jelly and Jam were both well known in the 16th Century and there was a huge variety.  Luckily, thanks to friends and family who know I love anything "Elizabethan" and jellies in particular, I have a ton of good jams and jellies to choose from - like plum and mint.  :-)

Now, it does seem that some animal products were used in period (and today) to make the gelatin but there is also vegetarian jams and jellies.   That, and boiling some fruit to oblivion to make a decent spread is nothing new.   I have no idea -as of now- if there was vegetarian (or if you can get gelatin from fish) jelly in period.  My guess is yes based on this: http://www.godecookery.com/trscript/trsct049.html

I know the mint jelly I have is based on an Elizabethan recipe and, based on my reading, I know they had plum jellies and jams. Also, according to some sources, when the meat or animal product was clearly not the main part of the meal, it was considered against lent. This was in conjunction with "sweetmeats". Today, we are perfectly okay in cooking using things like chicken broth to season noodles as long as there isn't any chicken in the actual noodles.  Not sure if they had the same mentality back then.

I apologize for not keeping up with this blog.  I've been sewing, really!  I know those of you on LJ have seen some of the items I've been creating.

I've decided to put my latest "project' up over here.   I'm going to try a modified Renaissance Lenten diet.   Being Catholic, I always celebrate Lent.  Today, being Ash Wednesday, even in modern practice, is  a day of fasting.  You can read about the modern Lenten practices here if you are curious.  Practices in the 16th C -the time period I typically depict in the SCA- were far more strict.  There is a lady that has already tried to recreate the Lenten season of the middle ages and I've already learned a lot from her pages.  It was reading her website a while ago that made me think that it might be an interesting idea to try - that and given my food allergies, these seemed like a "fun" way to celebrate lent.  I'd be able to give up stuff and learn about one of my favorite time periods at the same time!  Woohoo!

Some deviation from the true Renaissance diet is necessary - like I'm not fasting on Saturday, just Wednesday and Friday.   The reason for this is two fold - I know what I can handle and like I can give up eating on Saint Patrick's Day?   (It happens to fall on a Saturday this year.  :-)  )   Although I'm giving up a LOT of modern food, I'm not giving up my Orange juice.  Yes, they had oranges and I'm sure they had fresh squeezed oranges at some point in the 16th C in the morning but I doubt they consumed the quantities I consume.   Actually, a lot of the fish recipes I'm looking at call for oranges to be cooked with the fish.  Hmm...

Anyway, I'm going to try the no eggs/no butter thing.   It won't be possible if I go out to eat to avoid that but I should be able to at home.   Since most of the time, I'll be eating out only on Sundays, it won't be an issue anyway - Sunday is a "mini Easter" as Sister Mary Ann says.  :-)

Some of the links I've been using:

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lcc/parallel.html

Oh my goodness. I am sort of shocked I haven't found this beauty before.  It's filled with transcribed recipes from the 15th Century in England. There are some good recipes in it for Lent (Fish days according to the cookbook :-) ) that sounds really good. I mean, peas boiled in honey with some sort of fatty fish (they say whale meat but I don't think I'll find that). Sounds very interesting!

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html

A list of a whole bunch of recipes from various centuries and places. Some are translated, some aren't.

http://www.foodtimeline.org/

Not a recipe site but very interesting to read. It's exactly what the website states - a time line of when certain foods were introduced. I also have a few cookbooks at home that contain 16th c recipes that I'll be using.

So, for today, what I've eaten:

Breakfast was a glass of orange juice.  :-)

At lunch, I had tea.  Tea was known in the 16th C but not common until the early 17th C.   This is one of those mini deviations I'm doing.   They knew what tea (or chai) was so I'm not too far off the reservation on this one.   I also ate toasted almonds.   Since today is a day of fasting, that was it.   Almonds were a staple in the 16th C diet.   They are in anything for the lenten season and a lot that aren't.  

For dinner (the priest decided that 7pm mass shouldn't be let out until 8:20!   I was STARVING. )   the "starter" was Sourdough bread.   From what I've read, it seems that sourdough was a popular choice.   It doesn't have milk or eggs and is delicious.  It's actually my favorite bread so I'm quite happy. 

In one of the many links I've been looking over, bread was dipped in an oil with herbs on fasting days. My guess is this is similar to what I've been eating since I was small - olive oil with oregano, onion salt, thyme, and basil.  So, that's what I had. 

For the main meal, I had rice cooked in almond milk.  It's the store bought almond milk and not something I made myself.  I don't have a grinder to grind up my own almonds and make the milk.  The modern almond milk is probably different but it should work.  To the rice, I added nutmeg, cinnamon, raisins, and carrots.   It's delicious.   I did have to add a bit of sugar to it for my tastes (the almond milk was sweetened but not enough).

I'm also drinking tea with dinner.  :-)

If anyone has any good links for medieval or Renaissance lenten observations, feel free to post them!