Medieval cuisine is like a parable in the town - a lot has been written about it, and even more is said. Of course, before reading this review, you should understand that the main dishes and dishes of the peasants differed significantly until a certain time (namely, until the 13th century). From this period, the boundaries between the estates began to blur, and some subjects were allowed to eat dishes from the master's table as an incentive.
Features of the kitchen in the medieval castle: introduction
For modern people, the abundance of sauces and seasonings used in those days may seem like some kind of exoticism. In fact, spices and dressings were used not only to improve palatability, but also for long-term preservation of the freshness of dishes. In addition, the variety of spices in the recipes of medieval cuisine testified to the level of wealth of the owner.
Foundation basis
The most common food was bread. One has only to recall the medieval food of the knights, which traditionally consisted of bread, cheese and jerky (these products were preserved much longer than others on the way).
The quality of bread acquired by a family depended directly on its income. For example, the softest and white bread was made from wheat grown on well-fertilized and plowed soil (such a luxury was only affordable for the owners of the estate, the owners of large land).
Ginger bread
Of course, there were no exact recipes in those days. Only now recipes are being recreated, so it is impossible to say with accuracy that this or that cooking method is original.
To prepare a medieval dish, you will need the following ingredients:
- 500 grams of flour;
- 4 tsp ground ginger;
- 3 tsp baking powder;
- 1 tsp table salt;
- 1 tsp soda;
- 250 grams of sugar;
- a pack of butter;
- 200 grams of black molasses;
- 200 grams of light molasses;
- 400 ml of milk;
- 1 chicken egg (you need to beat).
How to cook
Grease a square shape with butter (23 x 5), cover with parchment. Sift all dry ingredients except sugar. In a saucepan, heat the granulated sugar, molasses, butter and syrup over low heat until the butter has melted.
Mix dry and melted liquid ingredients, add milk and beaten egg. Using a wooden spoon, beat. Pour into the prepared form, bake in the oven at 200 degrees for about an hour and a half - the dough should rise and become elastic to the touch. Leave it in the form for a quarter of an hour and transfer to the grate. When completely cooled, wrap in foil, leaving parchment.
Then you need to store for a week before cutting the bread into pieces.
Types of bread in medieval European cuisine
The most common type of bread in those days was considered āsurzhikā, which was baked from a mixture of rye and winter wheat. The cuisine of medieval Russia also favored this type of bread.
Dark bread was baked only from rye flour. In English medieval cuisine, bread made from oats and barley was considered popular - basically this kind was prepared in the north of the country, since the climate there is more damp and cold.
Often flour was diluted with non-cereal plants: this technology was used in lean years. Thus, acorns, beans and peas became a component of cheap varieties of the product.
Eating bread
Those who belonged to the upper classes ate brown bread made from rye flour. It was used as plates (they were called trainers) for other dishes of medieval cuisine. Such loaves of bread were prepared ahead of time, cut into slices and put food in the middle of them. Wealthy people allowed themselves a whole stack of dishes in various trainers. People, constrained in material means, could afford no more than a few such āplatesā at a time.
Bread in its usual or toasted form was used as a component for cooking other culinary products in the medieval style. In the kitchen of that time, bread crumbs were used to make sauces and thick custard.
Ginger gingerbread in the Middle Ages was also made from breadcrumbs flavored with spices and honey. Such a treat when served on the table was decorated with boxwood leaves.
Other types of buns and pies in the recipes of medieval cuisine were varieties of bread products: it was a slightly sweetened pastry with spices.
The villagers baked bread on their own. In those days, there were professional bakeries that were "famous" for their swindle. A royal decree of 1267 legitimized a number of measures to verify the price of bread. Such an innovation helped to avoid a predatory mark-up on commonly used goods.
Fish
Also a very important food product in those distant harsh times. In addition to lengthy fasts, according to the decree of the Roman Catholic Church, on Fridays, Saturdays and Wednesdays it was forbidden to use dairy products, eggs, meat. That is why for 180 days a year for dinner it was supposed to eat fish and fish products.
For some time the church attendants had a rather āhard timeā: in accordance with the law of St. Benedict, all monks (except seriously ill) had to abandon the "meat of four-legged animals." But already from the 13th century, such restrictions lost their severity, and by the end of the 15th century turned into a pure formality.
The diet of the poor was limited to either salted or pickled herring. The rich catch of sea fish was in the summer. In numerous processing farms, pickling and pickles were the only way to preserve fish for sale in areas remote from the sea coast.
Poor Englishmen who lived far from the coast could afford dried cod (ādriedā), which was too hard for their weak teeth. Londoners and residents of the eastern regions of the country were considered lucky - they managed to try oysters and other seafood, which in those places were worth mere pennies.
Exotic fish species, as well as seals, whale and dolphin meat, were supplied exclusively to the royal family. The monarch could give the surplus from the table to his subjects. The medieval cuisine of Europe at the royal court was full of lobster and crab dishes.
Wealthy Englishmen could own their own ponds and breed carps in them (unheard of luxury by that standards!).
Over time, medieval dishes were enriched with another delicacy - pickled salmon. This delicacy came to Europe from Scotland and Ireland, it was especially popular when in other countries it was āout of seasonā.
Thus, all the "fish days" of ordinary and noble people were bursting with dishes with sea or river reptiles all year round.
Interesting fact: medieval cuisine regarded petrels and sea ducks as āfishā, because they were āborn in the seaā! So beavers in general were ācreatures with fish tailsā!
It is clear that a huge amount of salt was used in cooking. To diversify the menu, medieval cuisine introduced various sauces that were served with pickled and salted fish. One of the most favorite side dishes of that time was fried parsley sauce.
Cooking stockfish: ancient ways
Old recipes differ from modern technology. And even if you do not use them, you can at least get acquainted.
Boiled flounder: it is necessary to gut the flounder, make a marinade from water, a decent amount of ale and salt. After boiling, peel the fish from the skin, dip into the cooked marinade, boil and serve.
Shrimp: you need to take the shrimp, pour them with water, add a couple of a pinch of salt, boil. Serve the dish better when chilled with lemon and vinegar.
Cooked flounder (another way): you need to clean, gut the fish, cut off the head, remove the skin. Again, you need to cook the marinade, this time from water, salt and parsley. After boiling the marinade, filter it and bring it to a boil again. Dip the fish in the marinade after boiling.
Another option (fried flounder): gut, peel the fish, chop in several places with a knife so that the skin does not tighten during the frying process, fry in melted or vegetable oil.
Meat
Sheep breeding was widespread in those days ( cattle breeding was less popular).
Goats in the Middle Ages are a source of meat and milk. Lamb and beef were then inferior to "white meat" (veal, goat).
There was always at least one piglet in the āreserve stockā of each peasant. By the way, then pigs grazed in the meadows for a whole year - greens and acorns were more than enough!
Domesticated pigs of those times were more like wild boars, but their meat was great for making bacon or pickling. In winter, the peasants' medieval food consisted of one third of the meat obtained from an adult piglet during the winter season.
Nothing was wasted - the entrails and blood were used to make blood pudding and black pudding, and lard, which at all times was famous for its popularity, was used to make sandwiches with bread, and also as the basis for frying.
Goats and cows, unlike pigs, could not feed themselves on their own in the cold season, and it was not so easy for them to protect themselves from predators, so the food and conditions of these pets were especially difficult for any peasant. The medieval cuisine of ordinary people was always full of meat of these animals earlier than pork - until winter, all cattle went for slaughter, and then ham, smoked and salted products were made from meat.
A feast for the whole world!
Fresh young lamb was usually used for frying, and the old one was boiled. In those immemorial years, slaughter animals were much smaller than current livestock.
Only Norman kings and court nobles could enjoy such a privilege as poultry.
In those harsh times, poaching was punishable by mutilation or the death penalty. Wild buffaloes, wild boars and deer in medieval cuisine were also the gastronomic privilege of aristocrats. Since the 13th century, the poor have the right to hunt rabbits and rabbits, which significantly helped to diversify the table of ordinary people.
The feudal lord's traditional Christmas dish was jelly from a boar's head. In the paintings of artists of that time, you can see not only the design of medieval cuisine, but also this famous dish at a feast meeting.
Also in those days, special attention was paid to the bird. At banquets and feasts peacocks and swans were served (they were usually located in the central part of the table for special guests).
Often the table of the rich was decorated with bustards. The weight of such birds, fed for special celebrations, reached 11-12 kilograms, which is why they could hardly fly.
Also, the "interior" of medieval cuisine also contained another game: crane, white heron, common heron, gull, quail, curlew, snipe, plover, blackbird, snipe, thrush, lapwing, greenfinch, bittern.
Dishes from birds of various species were prepared in all prosperous houses: the birds and lay people ate the clergy (which, incidentally, could eat two-legged animals at that time). Sometimes a holiday table could break from 20 dishes from various birds.
Dairy menu
Dairy products were also widely used in the Middle Ages. Goat and cow milk were used by both nobles and peasants. By 1500, cow's milk began to gain great popularity, since milking a cow is easier than a dozen goats - the result was still the same.
Milk, cream, cheese and butter made from milk, as well as eggs were then called "white meat".
Cream, soft cheese and cottage cheese, as well as butter - all this was the privilege of the masters and owners of large estates. By the way, nothing was left without use - the remaining whey and buttermilk were used to make hard cheese for servants and workers. The cheese was so hard that it had to be beaten with a hammer or soaked!
Fresh milk in those days was supposed to be drunk only by children and the elderly. Although thick cream (curd or simple) was then considered to be everyone's favorite delicacy. They were consumed with strawberries and other fruits.
Since medieval doctors called the oil an enemy of an adult stomach, they consumed it only until noon (children were allowed to eat it at any time of the day).
Cooking dairy dishes then opened the platform for the imagination of cooks. Milk became the basis for hot drinks: for example, āpossetā (spices were added to heated milk, then curdled with wine) and codle cough mix (a mixture of beer or wine with milk, sugar and eggs).
In addition to drinks, a delicious custard and various mashed soups were made from milk.
Cream was used to make soft thick cream cheese, which was called āruin,ā which, in turn, became the basis for cheesecakes (cheese pies), which really look like the modern version, but they were served rather as accompaniment to meat dishes, but not as a dessert.
A cow for peasants is a vital source of nutrition. Not everyone, of course, could afford such a luxury. But those who were lucky could diversify their food with cottage cheese, whey, highly salted butter, buttermilk, cheeses.
In the summer, the medieval peasant also feasted on soft cheese, which was called "green." The main food of many peasants, servants, knights, pilgrims and travelers then consisted of simple sandwiches (bread and cheese made from skim milk).
Soup
In the Middle Ages, an obligatory component of the diet in every family (and without reference to its position or well-being) is chowder. This dish was prepared on the basis of a broth with meat and boiled vegetables, as well as the addition of grain and legumes.
This type of chowder resembles today's āScottish soupā, which can easily be found in the modern menu.
The stew could be either thick or liquid (the thickest could be cut into slices like a Moldavian mamalyga with a knife).
The most common was such a variety of stew as "fruments." This is a simple wheat soup with milk.
Simple peasants could be content with the simplest version of the stew - pea, which resembles loose pea pudding.
Chowder with vegetables was especially loved: white or red cabbage, leek, lettuce, garlic and onions. This recipe is called Lange Wortys de Chare. Since this dish is still popular among gourmets, then you can familiarize yourself with the recipe for stew in a modern reconstruction.
Beef Stew Recipe with Vegetables
Have to take:
- 1 kilogram of beef shank;
- 5-7 short pieces of cerebral bone;
- 2.5 liters of water;
- 3 feathers leeks;
- 3 onions;
- half a dense head of white cabbage;
- 150 grams of breadcrumbs;
- a couple of sprigs of saffron;
- 3 tablespoons of salt;
- ground black pepper - optional.
We cut the meat into cubes 5 cm in size. Put it in a pot with water and bones. Bring to a boil, remove the foam. Reduce the heat, cook without covering for several hours (no more than 2.5 hours).
In the meantime, prepare the vegetables and boil them in a separate pan in a chopped or whole form. When the meat is ready, take out the bones, add vegetables to the broth, continue cooking until the vegetables soften. Add bread crumbs, seasonings, saffron. Bring to a boil again and cook for several minutes. Remove fat from the surface before serving.
Fruits in the Middle Ages
People did not like raw fruits in those days, they were suspicious of them: it was believed that their use leads to diarrhea and fever. However, quite freely the inhabitants of England and Europe ate wild berries, for example, wild cherries. For raw consumption, grapes, plums and thorns were grown. Pears and apples were usually baked - mostly pies were made from them.
In 1290 in England began to supply citrus fruits. A little while later, āSeville orangesā and lemons gained wide popularity - they were consumed fresh and pickled (they were very inexpensive then).
Enterprising English quickly mastered the technique of making jam from sweet lemons, which they borrowed from the importing countries.
Figs, prunes, raisins, dates were brought from abroad. All these delicacies, due to their high cost, were initially intended only for the rich.
Dried fruits mixed with spices became a popular treat of those times - they liked to serve them on holidays and celebrations. Among the nobility, it was quite common to decorate the table with dishes with overseas dried fruits, which can not be said about the poor - such a treat came to them only at Christmas.
The most valuable imported goods were considered almonds. During fasting, ground almonds were used as dressing for various dishes, as its nutritional value was close to that of chicken meat.
Almonds also served as cow's milk: it was dissolved in water and used in all kinds of recipes. āAlmond milkā was a fairly popular ingredient in the kitchen of the time. Now this expensive product densely migrated to vegetarian dishes.
The poor people of the Middle Ages made oat milk instead of almond. On fasting days it was supplemented with walnuts and corn cobs ground into flour.
Sugar
Thanks to the actions of the Crusaders, cane sugar was imported from the East (about 1100 AD). It was imported ready-made in the form of cones or "heads". Brown sugar was a dirty brownish color, and refined sugar was white. Even in the last years of the Middle Ages, sugar was considered an extremely expensive āspice,ā which was carefully locked with a key in the pantry.
And since we are talking about sweets, you canāt just get around the topic of desserts. Almond pudding with cherries, the recipe of which has been known since 1350, was considered one of the popular delicacies of the nobility of that time.
How to cook? A simple recipe says that you need to take a pound of almonds, crush it, mix with wine to get almond milk. Then you need to take a pound of cherries, pass the berries through a sieve, add to milk. Next, take a quarter pound of rice, crush it and send it to milk. Then it was required to take the bacon and melt it in the boiler. Then add three ounces of refined sugar to the overall mixture and complete the job.
Seasonings in the Middle Ages
Since ancient times, in England and other European countries, this valuable product has been mined in salt mines. Also, salt was obtained by evaporation of salt water. It was used to preserve food, as well as improve the taste of various dishes.
Homemade mustard was considered very popular then. It was added to various dishes as the main seasoning. The only available seasoning that was supplied from other countries was pepper. Well, then the dishes were well-known both rich and poor - and the taste is better, and the food seems fresh!
Over time, basic spices (salt, pepper and mustard) have lost their appeal. Therefore, continental Europe diversified the taste of dishes with aromatic and tasty interspersing of the following spices - cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, husks and nutmeg kernel, as well as other spices that have come out of modern life.
Seasonings helped not only to mask the taste of spoiled products, but also gave the taste monotonous dried and salty products, which were prepared during the cold weather. New spices became the fun of the rich - only they could afford to vary different flavor combinations.
By the way, even then, enterprising grocery merchants put up ready-made mixes of vegetables for sale. The āhotā mixes of pepper, ginger, dried husk of nutmeg and dried garlic were considered the most popular then. āSpicyā mixtures included cinnamon or ginger, nutmeg, cloves, a small amount of pepper and sugar.
Feeding Features
One of the curious aspects of medieval cuisine is the addition of seasonings to food for coloring. For example, jelly was prepared from a large number of layers, each of which was different in its own color. The result was a multi-story "striped" dish. Rice pudding was made of two colors, custard was tinted in reddish color (sandalwood), and yellow (saffron) was used to color meat balls. Also popular were green color from parsley juice and violet from "litmus tint". At festive events, it was customary to "gilt" dishes through the use of gold foil.
In peaceful and fruitful times, residents did not have to go hungry: nature generously endowed people with fertile soil and forest animals. In those days, not everyone could afford proper nutrition by today's standards: the abundance of flour products and salted meat significantly affected people's life expectancy. However, this is not surprising when you consider their complete disregard for raw fruits and vegetables.
If you look closely at the recipes of the Middle Ages, you can note the general trend - an abundance of seasonings, fuzzy following instructions, proportions are made by typing, and then you couldnāt even dream about step-by-step instructions - all recipes passed from mouth to mouth and only later were recorded in family books recipes.
Here, for example, the recipe for Scottish chicken and leek soup consisted of the following recommendations: take chicken (one and a half to two kilos), onion (1 piece - after cleaning, stick a lot of cloves in it), 10 large feathers of leek, 1 bay leaf, thyme sprig (1 piece), parsley (6 sprigs), black pepper (6 peas), seedless prunes (24 pieces), fresh chopped parsley (2-4 tablespoons).
As you can see, the above recipe suggests the ability to constantly experiment while cooking.
Is reconstruction possible today?
First of all, the owners of such establishments as restaurants of medieval cuisine should take into account the main qualities that will fully help present the good old tradition - quality, quality and a thorough approach will bring success to any enterprise. The special atmosphere of such places is fascinating.
Medieval-style cuisines are once again becoming popular - people are tired of the boring and gray routine, they lack a certain fabulousness of the Middle Ages. Arriving at such a place, a man leaves the carriage and the cart of his worries over the threshold of the institution and allows himself to fantasize about the times when the knights rescued beautiful ladies, and the nobility was on a big foot with the clergy and rolled up huge feasts. Photos of medieval cuisine often show us the basement, which can be accessed by going down the stone stairs. The doors of such institutions are decorated with handles in the form of a lion's head and make impressionable people tremble in awe due to their massiveness.
Reconstruction of the decoration of British castles in the medieval-style kitchen includes the use of forged candelabra, large candlesticks, heavy beams. All this should cause awe among history buffs. Throne chairs and tables with granite countertops - all this decoration can also be seen in the photo of the "medieval" kitchens. There are no problems with recipes.
Such institutions are aimed at the public with a good income, so the institutions are focused on quality. Recipes of medieval dishes are lovingly collected by chefs. After a series of trials and failures, such restaurants develop their own "medieval" menu, which will certainly include expensive and rare wines.
The interior of medieval cuisine will turn out to be the most advantageous, if you combine it with expensive dishes and well-trained "by the servant" waiters. And the dishes according to the recipes of medieval food, brought to perfection, will help visitors feel important and noble nobles.