Something New- Wenn du eine gute eingelegte Zunge machen würdest. - If you would make a good pickled tongue (beef)

I fully believe that everyone should try something new, and so I will be making one pickled and smoked cow tongue for this event.  I prefer "Neat's tongue", it sounds better.  The recipe I will be using is from Welserin, and it calls for first salting the tongues, and then smoking them. It is a long process, that I hope to speed up just a bit. Wish me luck!

Wenn du eine gute eingelegte Zunge machen würdest. - If you would make a good pickled tongue (beef)

27 If you would make good pickled tongue. They are best made in January, then they will keep the whole year

First take twenty five tongues or as many as you will and take them one after the other and pound them back and front on a chopping block, then they will be long. After that pound salt small and coat the tongues in salt. Take then a good small tub and put salt in the bottom, after that lay a layer of tongues as close together as possible, put more salt on them so that it is entirely white from salt. In this manner always place a layer of tongues, after that a layer of salt, until they are all laid out. Then weigh them down well so that they are covered by the brine and allow them to remain for fifty days, afterwards hang them for four days in smoke. When they have smoked enough, hang them next in the air, then you have good smoked tongue.

202 To make smoked tongue, recipe from Herr Jörg Fugger

Take fresh tongues and cut the throat completely from it. Then they should be well pounded or beaten, lengthwise, over a block or a chair, not too hard, so that they are not smashed or do not become mangled. One must beat them until they become soft underneath and also at the tip. They do not, however, become as soft at the tip as at the back on the thick end. When they are so beaten, then put them into a trough with salt for a good while. Then they should be salted like other meat and a nice red raw beet cut into cubes and also peas sprinkled under them and in between them and over the top of them, but not all too much, and let them stay thus for a day or overnight in a warm place. Then lay a small board over them and a good heavy stone and let it remain so for four weeks. If, after four or five days, they should not be covered with brine, finely chop some red beets and cook them in water and drain the water off the beets and pour a glassful of vinegar into the water. The water should be cool enough that one could just bear to dip a finger into it. One could also cook a few peas with the beets, if the broth would otherwise be too red, and put the red beets and the likewise red peas together with the salt on the bottom and in between and on the top. They can lie for five weeks or longer, and when they are hung, the thick ends should be turned to the top, poke a hole through them with a baling needle and hang them on a coarse thread in a kitchen, which has no chimney, and not over the fire in the thick smoke, so that the outsides become nicely brown, they become splendidly brown.

Ingredients

Tongue

Salt

Smoke

Recipe

To cure the tongue

1 beef tongue

4 cups water

1/3 cup kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. pink curing salt

Opt.  Spices for seasoning - juniper, pickling spice, common spices?? 

To cure the meat, I will be bringing all of the ingredients, with the exception of the tongue, to a boil in a pot, and then I will allow it to cool, at least to room temp if not overnight.  At which point I plan on adding the tongue and the spices to the brine and I will cure it  not for 50 days, but for at least a week, if not longer.  Each day I will be checking to make sure that tongue is properly covered with the brine. To do this, I am going to be placing it in a freezer bag.  With luck, this will mimic the very long curing process used by Welserin. I've included the pink curing salt in order to create the "red color" that the beets might have added in the smoked tongue recipe.

Once the tongue has been cured, I will cook it in a simple tock which will include onions, garlic, celery and carrots. If you want a super tender tongue it should be cooked in a low oven (250 degrees) for several hours. 

The next part is VERY IMPORTANT, you have to remove the skin from the meat while it is still warm.  Wait till the meat has cooled enough for you to handle and the skin will peel right off. If it is resistant, just put it back into the stock and allow it to cook a few minutes longer.  You can serve it right away if you like, or you can move onto the next step.  

Rub a little bit of oil over the tongue and season with salt and pepper.  Because this tongue is already cooked and all we want to do is impart the smoke flavor, cold smoking at 80 degree's is perfect! You should be able to smoke a three pound tongue for about two to two and half hours.  

Allow the tongue to cool, slice very thin, and serve.  Delish!

Finalized Recipe - Eine Sauce aus Sauerkirschen - Sauce of Cherries - Cod Pal Germ 551

Here is another tried and true, well respected recipe that was located in two separate books. The first "Hienach volgt vonn dem kochenn vnd hat gemacht meyster Eberhart ein koch herczog Heinrichs zu Landshut." translated to "Hereafter follows (a text) about cooking,and Master Eberhart, a cook of Duke Henry of Landshut made it".  The second book, "Cod Pal Germ 551".  This is very similar to a cherry pudding recipe that I made often in the past so I find no need to test the recipe in advance.  The methodology is simple, with the exception of keeping it saucier then a pudding, the recipe is the same. 

Here is the finalized recipe that will be part of the "desserts" served in the second course of the 12th Night Feast

Zum ein salsenn von weichselnn zu machen.

Item wiltu machen ein gutte salsenn von weichselnn,
so thue die weichsell in einen hafen vnd
secz die auff ein glut vnd laß sie siedenn vnd
laß dann wider erkaltenn vnd streich sie durch ein
tuch vnd thue sie dann wider in den hafenn vnd
secz sie auff ein glut vnd laß sie wol sieden
vnd rurr sie, piß sie dick wirt, vnd thue dann
honig dar an vnd geribens prot vnd negellein vnd
gut gestu:ep vnd thue sie in ein feßlein. Sie
pleibt dir gut drew oder vier iar.

1 A sauce of tart cherries

If you would make a good sauce of tart cherries, put the cherries into a pot, set it on the embers and let them boil. Cool them, pass them through a cloth, put them into a pot again, set it on the embers again and let them boil well. Stir it until it grows thick and add honey and grated bread and cloves and good spices enough. Put it into a small cask and it stays good for a year etc.

Ingredients

Tart Cherries
Honey
Grated Bread
Cloves
Good Spices - "Common Spice Powder"

Recipe

1 pound cherries
~ 1/4 cup honey
~ 1/4 cup bread crumbs
Pinch of cloves
1- 2 tsp. Good Spices - "Common Spice Powder"

**Pinch of salt for modern taste

I plan on using frozen cherries that have already been cleaned and stoned.  Place these in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil.  As they are frozen they should create their own "juice" but if you are afraid that it may burn add a tablespoon or so of water to get the process started.  Once the cherries have cooked until they are soft, remove them from the fire and allow them to cool.  Place them in a blender and blend, then strain through a sieve back into the pot and set them to boil again.  Add honey, and bread crumbs, pinch of salt and spices until you get the desired thickness.  This sauce can be made ahead of time, heated and served at the event. 

Testing Recipe - To bake cake - Fennel and Bacon Bread - Nyeuwen cooc boeck by Gheeraert Vorselman

Platina's "De honesta voluptate"

According to Christianne Muuser this recipe found in Gheeraert Vorselman, Nyeuwen coock boeck was directly borrowed from Platina's "De Honesta Voluptate Et Valetudine".   It took some research but I located it. It follows a very long recipe for bread. This is the bread that I will be serving with the cheese sop in the first course of 12th Night.  I will be using Christianne Muuser's own interpretation  with a few changes noted in the recipe below.   If you have not visited her site Coquinaria, you are missing out! 

Van coeck te backen

Neemt tarwenmeel oft bloemen met warmen watere also vele als ghi behoeft, ende wercket een luttel samen, dan neemt venckelsaet ende spec ghesneden terlincxwijse ende doeget int deech ende wercket wel tsamen tot tay deech ende maect eenen ronden coec ende bacten in den oven metten brode oft op den heert, &c. Inde plaetse vanden spec moech dy nemen boter oft olijfoly. Men bact ooc coec onder de asschencolen, mer sonder spec, met sout, venckel ende olie.

To bake cake

Take wheat meal or flour with warm water, as much as you need, and blend it a little. Then take fennel seed and diced lard. Add it to the dough and knead together into a tough (elastic?) dough. Make a round cake and bake that in the oven [together] with the bread or on the hearth, etc. You can also use butter or olive oil instead of lard. One also bakes cake under the ashes of the coals, but without lard, with salt, fennel and oil.

Ingredients

Wheat meal or flour

Water

Fennel Seed

Diced Lard (butter or olive oil)

Recipe

1 1/2 cup sour dough starter

~ 5 cups mixed flours (2 1/2 cups stone ground wheat, 1 1/2 cup bread flour, and 1 cup stone ground rye flour)

~ 2 - 2 1/2 cups warm water
1½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp fennel seeds
6 strips of bacon, diced 

**Alternate to sourdough- dry yeast**

This recipe follows a recipe for Platina's (aka Bartolomeo Sacchi) which includes leavening not mentioned in the recipe that follows it. 

"... Therefore I recommend to anyone who is a baker that he use flour from wheat meal, well ground and then passed through a fine seive to sift it; then put it in a bread pan with warm water, to which has been added salt, after the manner of the people of Ferrari in Italy. After adding the right amount of leaven, keep it in a damp place if you can and let it rise.... The bread should be well baked in an oven, and not on the same day; bread from fresh flour is most nourishing of all, and should be baked slowly."

The mix of wheat and rye flour is to create the flavor one would find in Bauernbrot, Farmer's bread, and I wanted to recreate that hearty flavor in this bread. 

The sourdough starter will be a modern starter.  The instructions can be found here: Eating Well Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter. I will be using this as my previous attempts to create a wild yeast starter have led to a mouthpuckering experience, I don't want to recreate!

Mix 1 1/2 cups of the starter with warm water, a pinch of salt and slowly add in the remaining flour.  Place into a bowl, cover and allow to rise until doubled.  This process could take up to 24 hours depending on many conditions.  Practicing patience is a must when working with sour dough!

The next day - turn the dough out onto a floured surface, add remaining ingredients (bacon and fennel seeds) and shape into loaves, and allow to rise for another hour. Sprinkle fennel seeds and some bacon on tops of the dough before baking. 

Bake in a 350 degree oven approximately 45 minutes or, until done.  Bread should sound hollow when picked up and thumped on the bottom.  

This is something I am definately going to have to taste. The starter takes five days to create and the concern is that it may be very sharp to begin with and overwhelm the taste of the bread.  

Cross your fingers!

Update: 

Re-Read through the Bauernbrot recipe. I will be trying their Sourdough starter instead and following along with their recipe as much as I can.  It is much quicker and has the same flavors I am looking for. 

Recipe to Make Starter

1 c unbleached all purpose flour ** will sub 50/50 mix bread flour and stoneground whole wheat
1 c rye flour
1 Tbsp honey
1 c water, warmed to 80F
1 tsp active dry yeast

To Make Starter

Mix all starter ingredients in a large bowl. Cover the starter with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for 24 hours, until very bubbly.

Testing Recipes - Of various accompaniments to roasts/ for dipping. Marx Rumpolt, Ein New Kochbuch, c. 1581

I would not consider these "dishes" so much as garnishes--things to put around the roast to make it look pretty.  This is one of those "if there is room in the budget" dishes.  Still fun to decipher and try to create a recipe for.  These are from Rumpolt's Ein New Kochbuch. 

2. Weiß Ruben im Senff/ mit neuwem Wein/ der süß ist/ angemacht/ wol dick gesotten/ vnnd durch ein Härin Tuch gestrichen/ die Ruben in Wasser erst gesotten/ das fein steiff ist. Oder daß man die Ruben brat/ vnd wenn sie gebraten seyn/ so schelet man sie/ vnd leßt sie kalt werden/ schneidt sie zu vier stücken/ vnd thu sie in Senff/ laß darinnen ligen/ so wirdt es gut vnd wolgeschmack.

2. White turnips in the mustard/ mixed with new wine/ that is sweet/ cooked until thick/ and strained through a hair cloth/ the turnips are first boiled in water/ that are nicely stiff/ Or one can roast the turnips/ and when they are roasted/ then peel them/ and let get cold/ cut them in four pieces/ and put them in the mustard/ and let them lay in it/ so it becomes good and well tasting.

Ingredients

Turnips

Wine

Mustard

Note: Can be boiled or roasted. 

Since this is a second course dish, the turnips should be roasted--to roast I will need to add a bit of oil, and salt and pepper to satisfy modern taste. 

My recipe

1 pound turnips

2 tbsp. Oil

2 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Pepper

1 tbps. Wine (sub vinegar)

1 tbsp. Mustard (Do you use same mustard as you used for sausages?? or an alternate mustard recipe?)

Opt.  Additional oil for sauce to thin it?? 

Peel turnips and cut into quarters, liberally salt and pepper, and lightly coat with oil.  Heat oven to 375, and roast turnips until fragrant.  Mix wine with mustard, add turnips and serve. Add additional oil if sauce appears to thick to properly coat turnips.

4. Nim~ ein rot Häupt Kraut/ wirffs in einen heissen Ofen/ da man dz Brot hat außgebacken/ wenns wol gedempfft ist/ so zeuchs herauß/ vnd laß kalt werden/ schneidt das verbrannte hinweg/ schneidts viertheil weiß/ vnd thu es in ein Hafen oder in ein Feßlein/ thu ein wenig Fenchel darzwischen/ geuß halb Wein vnd halb Essig darüber/ schneidt auch rote Ruben/ die vorhin gesotten/ vnd kalt seyn/ darein/ thu ein wenig gestossenen Merrettich darvnter/ so ist es gut vnd wolgeschmack.

4. Take a red head cabbage/ throw into a hot oven/ that one has baked bread in/ when it is fully steamed/ then pull it out/ and let become cold/ cut the burned away/ cut in fourths/ and put it in a pot or in a cask/ put a little fennel between/ pour half wine and half vinegar over it/ also cut red beets/ that cooked earlier/ and are cold/ into it/ put a little grated Horseradish under it/ like this it is good and well tasting.

Since vegetable "steaks" are all the new rage, it's nice to see that everything that is old is coming around again.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE roasted cabbage, so this is a definate must have on the list. Question..fennel seeds or fennel bulbs?? Sauce or marinated? Maybe a slaw?? Ohh the possibilities--something is missing in translation, or maybe there is an assumption the cook knows what to do?  

Since the recipe specifically states putting the cabbage into a cask, we are led to believe this is similar to a kraut.  Yummmm

Ingredients

Red cabbage

fennel

wine

vinegar

red beets

grated horseradish

My Recipe

1 head red cabbage cut into quarters

1 fennel bulb thinly sliced

1 tbsp. Salt (for modern taste)

1 tsp. Peppercorns  (for modern taste)

5 tbsp. Wine 

5 tbsp. Vinegar

1 Beet cubed

Opt: Pinch of Sugar

Heat oven to 375.  Place cabbage in a baking dish and put in the oven.  Cook cabbage approximately 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  While cabbage is cooling, cut fennel into very thin strips.  Grate about a teaspoon of fresh horseradish into the bottom of the jar, begin layering cabbage and fennel in the jar, sprinkling with a little bit of salt and pepper between layers.  Finish with a layer of beets. 

Heat together wine and vinegar and a pinch of sugar, pour over cabbage.  

Note: this might be good to make a few days in advance and to allow to mellow. Also note: Fill any remaining space with water and place in fridge. 

10. Seudt Birn in süssem Most/ thu sie auß auff ein saubers Bret/ vnd laß kalt werden/ laß den Most weiter sieden/ biß er dick wirt/ laß jn darnach kalt werden/ streichs mit braunem Senff durch/ thu alsdenn die gesottenen Birn darein/ so wirt es gut vnd wolgeschmack.  Wiltu aber ein guten Senff haben/ so stoß Aniß vnnd Coriander durcheinander/ streichs durch mit braunem Senffmehl/ vnd süssen gesottenem Wein/ so wirt es gut vnnd wolgeschmack.

10. Seethe pears in sweet grape juice/ take them out on a clean board/ and let cool/ let the juice boil again/ until it becomes thick/ then let it become cold/ strain through with brown mustard/ and then put the boiled pears in it/ so it becomes good and well tasting. However if you want to have a good mustard/ then crush anise and coriander together/ strain through with brown mustard powder/ and sweet boiled wine/ so it becomes good and well tasting.

Doesn't this sound decadently delicious? This is a thought for mustard in the second course to serve with the turnips.  The brown mustard referred to is a very simple dish of brown mustard seeds that have been mixed with vinegar. The recipe goes on to say, that if you want to make a good mustard, yyou add spices to the powdered mustard seeds and this is the part of the recipe that I would be interested in recreating. 

Ingredients

Anise

Coriander

Brown mustard paower

Sweet boiled wine

Recipe Courtesy Ranvaig the Weaver. 

Sweet Pear mustard 1 lb pears, 1 c sweet grape juice, 2 T brown mustard seeds Soak the mustard overnight in a little water or juice. Simmer pears and juice until thick. Cool and process with the mustard. Age at least 3 days before serving. 

Spicy mustard 1/2 c black mustard seed, 1 1/2 c sweet wine, 1 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp anise Soak the mustard over night. Process until smooth. Age at least 3 days before serving.

Testing Recipes If you would make boiled dumplings - Sabrina Welserin cookbook 1553

 The cookbook of Sabrina Welserin offers this surprisingly modern recipe to make "boiled dumplings"!  which sounds delicious however, one important bit of information is missing..how do you make the dumpling dough??  Fortunately, she offers two additional recipes for dumplings, one of which refers us to "making a dough of good flour as if you would make a tart".  

119 If you would make boiled dumplings

Then take chard, as much as you like, some sage, marjoram and rosemary, chop it together, also put grated cheese into it and beat eggs therein until you think that it is right. Take also cinnamon, cloves, pepper and raisins and put them into the dumpling batter. Let the dumplings cook, as one cooks a hard-boiled egg, then they are ready.

The ingredients for boiled dumplings are: 

Chard

Sage

Marjoram

Rosemary

Cheese

Egg

Cinnamon

Clove

Pepper

Raisins

Dumpling dough

Further research finds the recipe for the dough here:

70 A tart with plums, which can be dried or fresh

Let them cook beforehand in wine and strain them and take eggs, cinnamon and sugar. Bake the dough for the tart. That is made like so: take two eggs and beat them. Afterwards stir flour therein until it becomes a thick dough. Pour it on the table and work it well, until it is ready. After that take somewhat more than half the dough and roll it into a flat cake as wide as you would have your tart. Afterwards pour the plums on it and roll out after that the other crust and cut it up, however you would like it, and put it on top over the tart and press it together well and let it bake. So one makes the dough for a tart.

Ingredients for Dumpling Dough

2 Beaten eggs

Flour

Test Recipe: 

For the dough: 

2 eggs

1 cup flour

pinch of salt (to satisfy modern taste)

For the Stuffing:

1 bunch of Chard cleaned and chopped

1- 2 tsp. each Sage, Marjoram, Rosemary

1/2 - 1 cup Cheese (emmantal, quark, parmesan or cottage)

1- 2 Eggs

1/2 tsp. Strong Spices 

1 tbsp. Raisins

Salt and Pepper for modern taste

Mix the ingredients together for the dough and allow to rest at least 30 minutes. Mix the ingredients for the stuffing.  Roll out the dough and cut into 3" rounds, fill with a bit of the stuffing, seal, and then boil in lightly salted water approximately 6-10 minutes.  Remove from water, and serve. 

Opt.  Serve with a sauce? Or Pan drippings? 

GTOD Vigil Recipe - Ein condimentlin (A Condiment) - Pickled cucumbers and radish (Hausbuch, 1350)

You are missing a treasure trove of information if you have not visited Dan Myer's Medieval Cookery Site.  It is one of my most often used resources when looking for online cookbooks or specific instructions on how to make different recipes.  The search function is phenominal in helping you to locate similar recipes among the varied recipes available.  I urge you to check this site out. 

Below is a small peek into the research that I do in order to recreate a reciept from period. The pickled vegetables were delicious. 

[Ein Buch von guter spise, A. Atlas (trans.)]: 48. Ein condimentlin (A condiment). Mal kümel und enis mit pfeffer und mit ezzige und mit honige. und mach ez gel mit saffran. und tu dar zu senf. in disem condimente maht du sulze persilien, bern und clein cumpost oder rüeben, waz du wilt.

Flavor caraway seeds and anise with pepper and with vinegar and with honey. And make it gold with saffron. And add thereto mustard. In this condiment you may make sulze (pickled or marinated) parsley, and small preserved fruit and vegetables, or beets, which(ever) you want.

Question? What vegetables/Fruits?? 

Answer--Parsley (root) and Beets are mentioned

Consider "Composte"?  Similar ingredients and process.  

Ingredients:

Caraway seeds

Anise Seed

Pepper

Vinegar

Honey

Saffron

Mustard (preferably Black)

An Anonymous Tuscan Cookery Book  <==Most Closely Resembles

[62] Compost. Take carrots well cleaned and boiled, and let them cool: and in their water cook turnips (rape) cut in four pieces and not cooked too much, and likewise let them cool. Then take parsley roots, radishes, ... and the white part of leeks, and fennel, pears, capers, and heads of cabbage, and boil everything separately, and cool them as above: according to the Lombard custom, you can put in garobbi [see note]. Then take good mustard, made with strong vinegar, fennel seeds, anise; and arrange them individually in batches. And put finely sliced radish in each batch of the aforementioned vegetables, and put in mustard and then particular vegetables, as is convenient. These things thus arranged, put them in a jar, and put a large board on top, and let it stand for eight days.

[63] Another preparation. Take finely minced radishes, anise, fennel seeds, and set them to cook in must; and cook them so much that the must is reduced to half: and with this must dilute the mustard. Then take small turnips (rape piccioli) and turnips (naponi), and quince, and apples, cut into four pieces, and pears cut in half, and whole carrots, and parsley roots, and fennel bulbs, and set all of these things to cook. And when they are cooked, arrange them in order in a clean jar, interspersing the diluted mustard on top, in the aforementioned batches. And if you like, you can put in some honey; and this can be made with sugar and cinnamon diluted with the aforementioned things and with vinegar, and put it away and serve it.

Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen

One may also make it thus. When one boils the quinces in wine vinegar and also in wine together, this dish gives a good appetite. And if it is too sweet for you or you wish to save honey, so take white bread and toast it as one puts in black peper [sauce]. Then you shall soften it and pass it through a cloth. And replace half the honey with this. One may also do this in compost and also in all things where one should put in much honey. But not much of the bread. Because otherwise it will encourage mould.

Forme of Cury

COMPOST. C. Take rote of parsel. pasternak of rasenns. scrape hem waisthe hem clene. take rapes & caboches ypared and icorne. take an erthen panne with clene water & set it on the fire. cast all þise þerinne. whan þey buth boiled cast þerto peeres & parboile hem wel. take þise thynges up & lat it kele on a fair cloth, do þerto salt whan it is colde in a vessel take vineger & powdour & safroun & do þerto. & lat alle þise thinges lye þerin al nyzt oþer al day, take wyne greke and hony clarified togider lumbarde mustard & raisouns corance al hool. & grynde powdour of canel powdour douce. & aneys hole. & fenell seed. take alle þise thynges & cast togyder in a pot of erthe. and take þerof whan þou wilt & serue forth.

BINGO! After further research, I believe I have found a list of appropriate ingredients in this recipe from "Wel ende edelike spijse"  as translated by Christianne Muusers. 

.xv. Compost neemt worttelen van pedercelle reene wel gezoden in watere ende vercoelt hebt dan soffraen Caneele ghinghebare naglen al wel ghewreuen tempert met goeden mostaerde Ghemaect van 
wijnasijne ende doeter suker toe frijt die worttelen wel cleene kensenruwelen of anguwissen ende dadelen den steen daer vutgedaen Cabuse coolen gesoden ghescheeden vercoelt maect een sausse pentenine doeter vp die voorseide dingen ende doeter toe vinckel saet anijs vygen kernellen van criekelsteenen zeem ende suker Ghesoden wel ghe scuymt ende dan minget metter voorseide saussen

Vegetable Stew. Take cleaned parsley roots, well boiled in water and cooled. Then have saffron, cinnamon, ginger and cloves, well brayed. Temper with good mustard made of wine vinegar, and add sugar. Fry the roots, [cut in] very small [pieces], pears (either "kensenruwelen" or "anguwissen"), stoned dates, white cabbage, boiled, the leaves separated and cooled. Make a sauce "Poitevin". Add the afore mentioned things, and add fennel seed, aniseed, figs, cherry stones, honey and sugar, boiled and skimmed off. Then mix it with the afore mentioned sauce.

Interpreted

4 cups assorted firm vegetables - I used cucumbers, parsnips, radish, white and yellow carrots

1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp.  sweet powder)
1 tsp. anise seed
1 tsp. fennel seed

1/2 teaspoon cubeb or pepper

Saffron

1 cup vinegar

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 tbsp. prepared mustard (maille original)

Prepare as for compost.

GTOD Vigil Recipe - Von eingepickten hünern - Pickled Chicken - Inntal. In: Ostbairische Grenzmarken 12 (1970) 118-128.

As you can see, I had originally worked on translating this recipe in anticipation of the 12th Night event that did not happen.  I found it such a unique dish, I wanted to bring it to Appolonia's Vigil.  It was quite popular.  And will be making an appearance at a future event. 

Slightly disappointed that what I thought was cheese soup (Käeßsuppen does mean cheese soup just ask google!!) but was more of a spread to go on bread, I thought I needed to "round out" the first course of the 12th Night feast with a meat cooked in a broth, or a soup like substance :-/.  To be fair, the cheese sops, the fennel and bacon savory pastries, smoked neat's tongue, various sausages & mustard, pickled vegetables and pears in syrup should be enough! However, I want to offer something for individuals who may not be interested in trying the pork or beef dishes. I really need a "chicken" dish.

Fortunately, I don't need to make a lot of this dish to satisfy the nibbley-appetizer part and this does fit the very definition of something to be served to open the stomach--it is vinegary, and contains warm spices! Perfecto!

I think on first look, people would be turned off by the idea of a "pickled chicken". I was and I had bypassed the recipe in my search for that "little something else" before actually looking at the ingredients.  I had cooked something similar before for a private dinner!! Chicken Ambrogino with Dried Fruit from "The Medieval Kitchen; Recipes from France and Italy" by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban & Silvano Serventi--it is absolutely delicious, and should be served again at a future date.  Voila!  

According to the author's, this dish falls into the category of escabeches- dishes that are marinated in vinegar and spices used for preserving meat, fish or vegetables.  No wonder it is referred to as "pickled".  I must admit, that having cooked to great success a similar dish, I did not do a lot of testing of this recipe. I know that the portions presented in the previously mentioned cookbook appeal to modern tastes, so I pulled it down and am using a similar method for this dish.  There are some things that are present in the Chicken Ambrogino not found in this dish, for example, the bread that thickens the sauce.  I may need to do a bit more cooking down of the sauce to form the syrup.  

Stefan's Florilegium is an abslute Gem! If you have an interest in things Medieval, please visit. It is where I found this translation of the Inntal.

Von eingepickten hünern
Nim weinper, zwifal, mandel, essich ader
wein vnd mach dy h¸ner zu III tailen vnd
legs ein vnd mach sy ab mit gew¸rcz vnd
richcz an.

Pickled chickens

Take raisins, onions, almonds, vinegar and wine, cut the chickens into three parts, put them into the pickle, spice them and serve.

Ingredients

3-4 Chicken breast and thighs cut into chunks

1/2 cup Raisins

1 large Onions

1/2 cup Almonds

3 tbsp.  Red Wine Vinegar added to 1/2 cup chicken broth 

1/4 cup Red Wine

For Spices; 1 tbsp. fine spice powder.

I'm cutting the chicken into manageable chunks instead of leaving it whole as this will be an appetizer served alongside roasted neat's tongue, and sausages so it needs to be easily skewearable.  The plan is simple, mix all ingredients together and cook in a pot until the chicken has cooked through, and the sauce has thickened up. Note: I may need to add more liquid to this, and if so I will simply double it up, but I have no idea at this point how much "sauce" will be needed for that amount of chicken to "stew" properly.  Serve.

Addendum: I cooked the sauce down till the pot was dry.  The chicken grabbed onto the flavors of the dish.  This was a great "make ahead" dish, that was delicious cold. 

Testing Recipe - Thus you must roast a pig.- The Registrum Coquine of John of Bockenheim

In order to determine which of the mustard sauces would best with the pork roast that will serve as the main dish of the second course of 12th Night, it has become necessary to interpret the recipe for it. This recipe can be found in the translation by Volker Bach here, The Registrum Coquine of John of Bockenheim.

I know I will not be roasting a whole pig, that would be entirely way too much meat for the expected 50ish people. The two proposed sauces with this dish are an apple mustard and a gingerbread sauce.

14 – Thus you must roast a pig. Take its organs, that is to say liver and lung, and chop them with a knife, and temper them with hard-boiled eggs, fat bacon (lardone), and parsley, marjoram, and raisins, and sweet spices. And then cut the pig along the side (per latus), and put it on a spit, and fill it with the mixture, and close up its side well, and draw one foot across the other, so that it stands well, and make it roast all through. And that will be for the rich.

Stuffed with this stuffing found in the Kuchenmaistrey

If you want to make a stuffing for a roast or poultry, hard-boil two eggs and chop parsley among them well, with a few Italian raisins and roast apples or pears. Knead it together with raw egg, add spices, a little saffron and salt, and fill it in. After you have reached through (hollowed out) the roast with your fingers or a piece of wood or a knife and have filled it, close it up with slivers of wood or sew the stuffing up with a thread so it does not come out. You can also put chopped bacon or butter into the stuffing if you want. (kuchenmaistrey 2.ix)

Ingredients

Pork Loin Roast
Opt. Liver and Lung (I can't get it where I live) sub ground pork?

Hard boiled Egg

Bacon

Parsley

Marjoram

Raisins

Sweet Spices

Roasted Apples or Pears

I plan on butterflying the pork loins and then stuffing them with the stuffing, rolling them up before roasting in the oven.  I know that there are at 8 people per table so the pork should be 2 1/2 to 3 pounds so that each person can get at least 1/4 pound of meat in this course.  I plan on garnishing the dish with apples stuffed with the same sausage mixture, so I will be using apples rather then pears in the stuffing. 

Here are my thoughts on initial recipe:

2 1/2 to 3 pounds pork 

1/2 pound ground pork 

2 hard boiled eggs

3-4 slices of bacon

2 tsp. each parsley and marjoram

1 tbsp. raisins

1 tsp. strong spice powder

1 roasted apple

Salt for modern taste

I plan on mixing the spices together and sprinkling them on the inside of the pork after it's been butterflied.  I also plan on adding salt and pepper on the outside of the pork. I plan on browning off the bacon and then mixing the remaining ingredients together (pork, chopped boiled eggs, chopped roasted apple, bacon diced, raisins and the spices) and stuffing the pork.  I plan on using kitchen twine to keep the roast together, lightly browning it and then I will cook it in a moderate oven (350)  until throughly cooked--I'm guessing a 40 t0 50 minutes. 

Now to test it :-)

Testing Recipes -- Om mosterdsaus te maken - To Make Mustard SauceNyeuwen Coock Boeck

Taken from Gent KANTL 15, volume 1: [Nyeuwen Coock Boeck, C. Muusers (trans.)]:

1.32. Om mosterdsaus te maken

Neem wat appelmoes en doe er wat mosterd bij met wat gemalen paradijskorrels. Meng dit samen goed.

1.32. To make mustard sauce 

Take some applesauce and add some mustard with ground grains of paradise. Mix this well together.

The first recipe to come together is this sweet mustard that will be served alongside the pork.  It reads very simply. I do feel that I should make a period "Apple Sauce" to add  the mustard to, in order to ensure that the flavor is as authentic as I can make it.  

Into the rabbit hole....

Ein Buch von guter spise is a logical source. It is dated between 1345 and 1354, a bit early for most of the reciepts that I will be using, but how much could a basic apple sauce change? 

The original recipe is located here: Ein Buch von Guter Spice

The recipe reads thus: 

(69.) Ein apfelmus.

Wilt du machen ein apfelmus. so nim schöne epfele und schele sie. und snide sie in ein kalt wazzer. und süde sie in einem hafen. und menge sie mit wine und mit smaltze und ze slahe eyer mit wiz und mit al. und tu daz dor zu. und daz ist gar ein gut fülle. und versaltz niht.

Google Translates offers this rather hilarious translation: 

Will you make an apple sauce.  so take beautiful apples and scold them. and cut it into cold wazzer. and south you in a harbor. and mix them with wine and with smaltze and ze slahe eyer with wiz and with al. and close it. and there is even a good fullness. and not oversalted. 

 

Pretty funny, right? Further research found that this recipe is rather common and has been translated from by multple sources whom I consider peers.  Dan Myer's offers this translation on his Medieval Cookery site. 

How you want to make an apple puree. So take fine apples and skin them. And cut them in a cold water. And boil them in a pot. And mix them with wine and with fat and also beat eggs with white and with all. And do that thereto. And that is a very good filling. And do not oversalt. [Ein Buch von guter spise]

My own interpretations for recipes of a similar nature can be found here: lxxix. Apple Muse - Apple Mousse &  .Cxxxiiij. Apple Moyle - Apple Soft.  

Ingredients for Applesauce 

Apples

Wine

Fat (butter or lard)

Eggs

Salt

I find these ingredients confusing, because the addition of fat and eggs means that the sauce itself will be thicker and richer and not what we traditionally think of when we think of applesauce. Traditional fats in medieval cooking were lard, oils, and when available butter. It reminds me a little bit of lemon curd recipes (eggs, sugar, butter and lemon zest and juice).  

It's been ages since I made mom's lemon curd, but that is the recipe I first look up.  Here it is: 

Mom's Lemon Curd

Juice of 2-3 lemons ~1/3 cup

Zest of 1 lemon

4 egg yolks

2/3 cup granulated sugar

6 tbsp. butter

pinch of salt

This gives me an approximate idea of how much of each ingredient for the interpreted recipe I will need.  

Here are my guesses at interpreting the recipe: 

Wine would substitute for the juice of the lemon. 

Apples to replace lemon zest and lemon juice. 

2 Whole eggs instead of four egg yolks

No Sugar??

Keep salt to enhance flavor and please modern tastes

No Spices??? 

Interpreted Recipe

1-2 Apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks - Use a mix of apples - better flavor

2 whole Eggs

~ 1/3 cup wine  - use lemon juice in lieu of wine for more "child friendly" sauce

up to 6 tbsp. of butter

salt

*Opt. Sugar and Spices

Following the recipe, the apples should be peeled and cored and added to a pot with water.  The assumption is that you boil them until they are soft and then mix the softened apples with wine, butter and then the eggs to thicken it.  At the end of the recipe salt is mentioned so salt should also be added.  Noteably what is missing are spices!  You would expect to have spices in this sauce.  The only flavorings are the apples and the wine.  

Having made lemon curd in the past I know that I am going to use a double boiler to create this dish.  I know my first step will be to cook the apples until they are soft in either water or the wine/lemon juice, and since I want this to be a sauce, I know I will puree the apples before moving into the next step. 

The next step will involve heating the  pureed apples with the eggs,  sugar and the eggs  until the eggs are fully cooked --approximately two to three minutes - at which point I will add in the butter a tablespoon at a time until the mixture begins to thicken.  I assume that like lemon curd, apple curd can be stored in sterilized jars up to a month or so. 

I am wrestling with the idea that there is no sugar or spices, and after the first test, I may add sugar to it.  We will see.  The other recipe I found for applesauce in lent also foregoes sugar, so it may not have been used in this region during this period.

1.16. Appelmoes in de vastentijd

Neem appel, geschild en in stukken gesneden. Doe ze in een pot, neem de lever van kabeljauw of schelvis en laat deze met de appels koken. Roer het vaak. Wrijf saffraan fijn. Stoot dan [de saffraan] in [het appelmengsel] en vermeng het met amandelmelk. Pureer het als het klaar is, schep het op schotels en strooi er specerijen bovenop.

1.16. Apple sauce in Lent

Have apples, peeled en cut in pieces. Put them in a pot, take the liver of cod or haddock and bring this to the boil with the apples. Stir it frequently. Grind saffron finely. Pound [the saffron] in [the apples] and temper with almond milk. When it is ready purée it, serve it on plates and sprinkle spices on top.

Modern Adaptation: Medieval Apple Sauce

Day 2: Moving Forward and testing this recipe to make apple curd

Time to test making apple curd- because I do not have wine we will be using water and lemon juice to cook the apples. I only have medium eggs available, and I'm using three apples that are past their eating prime--yay me.  With those exceptions I will be using the recipe I created yesterday.  If it works, I will be adding mustard and grains of paradise to it.  I must confess that while I've made mustard from scratch in the past, I currently use a stoneground mustard that is pre-made.  

Test Results

I followed the recipe for the applesauce exactly as I wrote it.  It does create a soft pale colored sauce that is very "fragrant" with apples, however the texture is not what I would think of as  modern "Applesauce"--it is a sauce, similar to a gravy. With the savory flavoring of butter and egg so prevalent this dish could be offputting if it was not served correctly--as a sauce.  

If I were to serve this as a side dish, I would add some sugar or honey to enhance the sweetness a little bit more, and cut down on the butter and egg..maybe using half as much as the recipe called for, 

As a savory sauce--it is good, and it was a great way to use up older apples that were starting to go a bit mealy. That said, I moved ahead and prepared it with the mustard.  I was very aggressive with the seasoning for the mustard and veered off from just the grains of paradise.  I found a recipe for a traditional sweet german mustard and used just the spicing from that. 

The traditional german sweet mustard recipe can be found here. Bavarian Sweet Mustard (Bayerischer Süßer Senf)

For the mustard part of this dish I used stoneground mustard mixed 1/3 with dijon mustard.  

Spice Mix

4 Juniper Berries

1/2 tsp. Grains of Paradise

4 Cloves

8 Black Peppercorns

It is currently mellowing in the fridge so the flavors can meld together. I will test it next week.  The guinea pig enjoyed the mustard sauce and pronounced it good. 

No pictures as yet, because this is just a test run.  

On to the next rabbit hole.....

11/9/2021 - Update

I had to do more research on the applesauce...I thought perhaps I had misunderstood what kind of an apple sauce was needed. I may need to rethink the recipe above based on this recipe I found while rsearching "apple sauce". Sabrina Welserin suggests this as a proper sauce for game and small birds. 

8 To make a sauce with apples for game and small birds

Take good apples and peel them and grate them with a grater and put a little fat in a pan over [the fire] and let it become hot and put the apples in it and let them roast therein. After that put good wine thereon, sugar, cinnamon, saffron and some ginger and let it cook together for a while, then it is ready. One should boil the small birds first and then roast them in fat.

Instead of a smooth sauce I might be looking at a chunkier sauce of apples cooked with wine, spices and then mustard added?? Time to research the roast and to determine how much is too much on spicing. 

Yay!

Into the Rabbit Hole!

 I have been asked to try to document my process on creating the recipes I use for a feast.  This is difficult for me to put into words as I have been cooking since I was old enough to stand at a stool at the stove.  Sometimes my mind just *knows* how to put something together to make it work.  That being said...welcome to the Adventure. 

I'm excited to be asked to cook for this event.  Our SCA is opening up after the pandemic and I must confess that the loss of the ability to share food which I have researched and prepared with friends had effected me more then I had expected.  I still cooked for family during this time, stretching my boundaries and making new and interesting dishes.  I've discovered that a new family favorite is Navajo Fry-bread.  I have fond memories of fry-bread from my youth and it was exciting to share what I consider a festival treat with my family on a regular basis.  But--these things are for modern day cooks, and not things I could write about in a blog I had designed for quick reads and immediate access to workable recipes. 

I must confess, that I have kept my toes in the pond by finishing up interpretations for the remainder of the pottage recipes in the HarlMS279. I also started combining similar recipes together, and I've decided to make changes on the blog to reflect my idea of how to create a "Modern Medieval Feast".  You may have noticed a new section in the blog "Index of Recipes by Category".  Here I am starting to index the work I have done, to fit into appropriate medieval appetizers, first course, second course and dessert dishes.  I am also working to create categories for Medieval Breakfast foods which are mostly the cereal based pottages, breads and pastries and drinks. Indexing the large body of work is tedious and slow--but it is getting done.  So I've not been entirely quiet during this time. 

Which brings me to the next feast.  Specific rules indicate that it can be served either potluck or tavern style.  Hopefully by January, we will have moved beyond the restrictions that I must create the menu within.  Either way, there will not be servers at this point.  My last 12th Night feast was extremely elaborate in terms of menu and food prep, and I have to confess, it is my preferred style of cooking. It consisted mostly of dishes I had interepreted myself and the style of the feast was using my "Modern Medieval Feast template".  

What is this template? The template is a method of serving food that closely follows the dietary regimen of the 15th Century based upon Greek Dietetics, the idea that food must be eaten in the appropriate manner to retain maximum health. When looked at this way, the layout of the feast is very easy--appetizers meant to awaken the appetite and open the stomach, brothy or saucy dishes, heavier roasted dishes, then foods meant to close the stomach and prepare it for digestion.  Yes, it is remarkably modern in design. It also makes it easy for me to create a menu that not only is cost effective, but easy to arrange. 

For this feast I am limited in what and how I can serve.  So I already know that I will be serving "Pot-luck" in two courses, because that is what fits my cooking preference the best. Tavern style means limited dishes in a two course settting.  I can't recall the last time I created a feast that had six dishes or less :-/ Part of the challenge for me is to expose my diners to as many dishes as I can to create the illusion of an elaborate feast for nobles. 

I know from my template that appetizers and pottages will create the first "course" and that roasted/baked and dessert dishes will create the second course. I know that I am cooking for a very limited number of people so I have room to play with fussier dishes if I want to.  I know that I have suggested to the Event Stewards that they should plan for 24-36 diners, and that they should consider limiting to tables of 6 versus tables of 8 to increase the space between diners and lower the possibility of infection rates.  I have also suggested that feast be reservation only.  I am still waiting the event stewards decisions.  Should the stewards take my suggestions there will be six tables with six diners each, or, if we keep to eight per table as usual, then I will be cooking for five tables and 40 diners. No servers, so I will not need to worry about cooking for servers, but there will be staff to help cook day of (masked and gloved of course), so one additional table of food to plan so everyone can eat.  

I reached out to a friend of mine, Volker Bach, who has been posting regularly in my "Historic Cooking" facebook group and asked permission to use their interpretations of manuscripts to create my own recipes.  I got a YES! This is the first of many attributions to Volker Bach you will see. This gives me a  direction to research in and a "style" of cooking to use, German/Dutch for 12th Night. 

To reiterate at this point in time where the rabbit hole is taking me: Pot-Luck Style, Two Courses, Multiple dishes--some can be very fussy!, and limited people to cook for.  Pandemic precautions in place in the kitchen. 

Some thoughts on things I might like to do: 

Pork Roast, stuffed with fruit and served with gingerbread sauce

Cheese Soup served in a pastry (the original recipe does not call for yeast, and is a mix of flours, wheat and rye) that is flavored with fennel and bacon--this may not work as I might want.  Thoughts include adding sour dough to ferment and raise the dough a bit, or just serve it to dip on the side. 

A Neat's Tongue (it sounds better then a cow's tongue doesn't it?) that has been first salted, then smoked, and served very thinly sliced 

Roasted Peas - looks fun, although flavor may be doubtful

A pickled component or two along with other cured meats to serve with the soup similar to a garnish then an actual dish..however, could be part of a salad if using "winter greens" like kale. 

Gingerbread to be made for the sauce

Roasted Milk - this dish seems to be a staple in this style of cooking and therefore is a must in the feast--it should technically be served either in appetizer or second course.

Herbed Dumplings or Rice Fritters for the starch component of the roast--it's up in the air at this point--both are easy to make-- rice fritters are fussier then dumplings and dumplings might add a needed "green" component beside the pork and gingerbread sauce. 

Mustard-found great recipe made with roasted apples and hot mustard...reflects fruit used in pork..might be a good accompaniment. --need to find recipe again... :-/ should have saved it--Found it!

Marchpane-- easy 12th Night Must Have Dish

Comfits and candied peels - chamber spices -- coriander and cinnamon? Maybe Anise..but may be too much "licorice" given fennel in the pastry and possibly sausages. Can Mint be saved from frost? Sugared mint leaves would make a nice background for the comfits.

Pears in wine to be served over a custard (cream pudding) for sweet dish--note..if using roasted milk do you want custard? That puts dairy in every course..cheese soup, roasted milk, custard.  Yeowches...perhaps funnel cakes instead? Serve with "Snow" fruit sauce (cherries?)

Baked oranges?? Sounds delish and easy --should be a stunning presentation if served as described

Things to avoid -- "expected dishes" like pickled beets and saurkraut..because..they are expected--this does not mean that beets and kraut won't show up, they may be components of another dish or serve as garnishes.  They won't be main or side dishes. 

Sotelty - Here be the bean and the pea - Sugar Paste Walnuts filled with sugar candies (Holliplen?), red and green ribbon - will need the reservations to ensure there are enough red/green walnuts to denote male/female for bean/pea. 

You are encouraged to visit Volker Bach's website here: Culina Vetus

Mustard Sauce Testing and Recipe Creation 

Baronial 12th Night - To Make Muscadines, Commonly called Kissing Comfits

To Make Muscadines, Commonly called Kissing Comfits, Delightfull daily exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1621 - Take halfe a pound of double refined Sugar beaten and cearsed [sieved], put into the beating thereof, two graines of Muske, 3 grains of ambergreese, & a dram of orris powder: beat all these together with gum Dragogon steeped in damaske-rose-water, in an aliblaster [marble] mortar to a perfect paste, then slicke a sheete of white paper, slicked with a slick-stone very smooth, and rowle your sugar pate upon it, then cut it like lozenges with a rowel, & so dry them upon a stone, and when they bee dry they will serve to garnish a marchpaine, or other dishes, tarts, custards, or whatsoever else, if you will have any red you must mingle it with Rosa Paris, if blew, with blew bottles growing in the corne.

Kissing Comfits

3 tablespoons rose water
1 teaspoon gum arabic powder
3 eyedropper drops essence of ambergris
2 eyedropper drops essence of musk
4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon powered orris root
2 drops yellow food color (optional)
2 drops blue food color (optional)

Pour rose water into a saucer, add gum arabic and stir until the gum is dissolved. Add the ambergris and musk, set aside until needed. Sift two cups of the sugar and the orris root into a bowl, Add the gum arabic mixture, a tablespoonful at a time and work into the sugar until the paste is smooth.

For white pastilles, sprinkle the third cup of sugar on a large plate and, with your fingers, work the paste into the sugar until it is smooth. For colored pastilles, divide the white paste into two equal parts, add a drop of food color to each part. Blend in each of the colors and set one aside covered (they dry out very quickly) while you work with the other.

Sprinkle half the remanning sugar on a clean plate and work in until smooth. Pat the paste into a square and cover it with a piece of wax paper. Roll it out gently to a sheet about 3/8 inch thick. Mark and cut off small squares, triangles and rectangles with a knife. Sprinkle a cookie sheet with the remanning sugar and place the pastilles on it about an inch apart.

When the pastilles have hardened, loosen them gently with a spatula (they break easily) and store them in an airtight container. You should be able to get about four dozen pastilles from this recipe. They will keep for six to eight weeks.-- "Dining with William Shakespeare" by Madge Lorwin

Baronial 12th Night - To make Manus Christi - A Closet for Ladies and Gentlevvomen, 1602

To make Manus Christi - A Closet for Ladies and Gentlevvomen, 1602

To make Manus Christi - Take halfe a pound of refined Suger, and some Rose water, and boyle them together, till it come to sugar again, then stirre it about while it be somewhat cold, then take your leaf gould, and mingle with it, then cast it according to art, That is in round gobbetts, and so keep them.

Manus Christi

2 cups sugar
2 tbsp. rosewater
1/4 cup water
Opt. Edible gold (I used stars for this event), food color (I used Wilton's pink), pearl luster dust

Place sugar, rosewater and water into a pan and allow the sugar to dissolve over low heat. Add a bit more water or rosewater if the sugar seems to dry and will not dissolve into a syrup. Heat till syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove pan from heat immediately, stir in gold or pearl luster dust, add food color if you wish and using a fork, whisk your hot sugar syrup until it starts to cool and becomes opaque in color. At this point, you can drop it by spoonfull's onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet or pour it into candy molds.

The resulting candy is very soft and will need a few days to dry out a bit before trying to serve. It almost reminds me of fudge in consistency.

Baronial 12th Night - How to cover all kinds of Seeds, or little pieces of Spices, or Orange or Limon Pill, with Sugar for Comfits. The queen-like closet (1670)

How to cover all kinds of Seeds, or little pieces of Spices, or Orange or Limon Pill, with Sugar for Comfits. The queen-like closet (1670)

Thomas Dawson lists comfets (comfits) as one of the "necessaries appertaining to a banquet".

How to cover all kinds of Seeds, or little pieces of Spices, or Orange or Limon Pill, with Sugar for Comfits. First of all you must have a deep bottomed Basin of Brass or Latin, with two ears of Iron to hang it with two Cords over some hot Coals. You must also have a broad Pan to put Ashes in, and hot Coals upon them. You must have a Brass Ladle to let run the Sugar upon the Seeds. You must have a Slice of Brass to scrape away the Sugar from the sides of the hanging Basin if need be. Having all these things in readiness, do as followeth; Take fine white Sugar beaten, and let your Seeds and Spice be dry, then dry them again in your hanging Basin: Take to every two pounds of Sugar one quarter of a pound of Spices or Seeds, or such like.

If it be Aniseeds, two pounds of Sugar to half a pound of Aniseeds, will be enough. Melt your Sugar in this manner, put in three Pounds of Sugar into the Basin, and one Pint of Water, stir it well till it be wet, then melt it very well and boil it very softly until it will stream from the Ladle like Turpentine, and not drop, then let it seeth no more, but keep it upon warm Embers, that it may run from the Ladle upon the seeds.

Move the Seeds in the hanging Basin so fast as you can or may, and with one hand, cast on half a Ladle full at a time of the hot Sugar, and rub the Seeds with your other hand a pretty while, for that will make them take the Sugar the better, and dry them well after every Coat. Do thus at every Coat, not only in moving the Basin, but also with stirring of the Comfits with the one hand, and drying the same: in every hour you may make three pounds of Comfits; as the Comfits do increase in bigness, so you may take more Sugar in your Ladle to cast on: But for plain Comfits, let your Sugar be of a light decoction last, and of a high decoction first, and not too hot.

For crisp and ragged Comfits make your decoction so high, as that it may run from the Ladle, and let it fall a foot high or more from the Ladle, and the hotter you cast on your sugar, the more ragged will your Comfits be; also the Comfits will not take so much of the sugar, as upon a light decoction, and they will keep their raggedness long; this high decoction must serve for eight or ten Coats, and put on at every time but one Ladle full. A quarter of a pound of Coriander seeds, and three pounds of sugar, will serve for very great Comfits. See that you keep your Sugar in the Basin always in good temper, that it burn not in Lumps, and if at any time it be too high boiled, put in a spoonful or two of water, and keep it warily with your Ladle, and let your fire be always very clear, when your Comfits be made, set them in Dishes upon Paper in the Sun or before the Fire, or in the Oven after Bread is drawn, for the space of one hour or two, and that will make them look very white.

Comfits

1 tbsp. seed of choice (anise, fennel, caraway)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water

To make smooth comfits you will want your sugar syrup heated to a lower heat, while jagged comfits you will need to heat your sugar to a higher heat. To make smooth comfits, I put the sugar and the water into a pot and then I heat it on low until the sugar has melted. At this point I heat the seeds in a large flat pan, similar to a wok or frying pan on low heat. If you can't comfortably reach into the pan and stir the seeds with your hand, then the pan is too hot.

Once the seeds are fragrant, and your syrup is heated take a teaspoon of it and pour it over the seeds in the pan. Using the back of a wooden spoon, (or your hand) stir the seeds until the sugar dries. If the seeds stick together, you have used too much syrup. If the sugar forms pellets in the bottom of the pan then you have used too much syrup.

The first few charges (coats) of the syrup the seed will look grayish, and then they will gradually begin to turn white. Continue to add syrup to your seeds until your comfits reach the size you want. They will lighten and whiten as they cool. If you wish to add color to your comfits add it to the syrup a few charges before your comfits reach the size you want.

Baronial 12th Night - Fig, Walnut and Candied Ginger Fruit Paste

Fig, Walnut and Candied Ginger (a rift of Rapeye--I claim cooks perogative)

Updated 6/15/2022 to include two steps I forgot!

I took several liberties with this recipe in order to accommodate allergies. First, the fruit was not cooked in wine, secondly I did not use pine nuts, apples were substituted for currants in order to get pectin and make the paste set up, and lastly, I added candied ginger in place of the other spices. It is in fact almost a completely different recipe then the original, but the method is the same.

Ingredients  (Serves 24)

4 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp. lemon juice
3 cups sugar
1 1/2-2 cups finely chopped dried figs
2-3 tbsp. candied ginger sliced into small slivers
1 cup toasted walnuts

OPT: Cinnamon Stick

Directions

1. Place cored apples and figs into a pot and add water. Bring to a boil and cook until the fruit is very tender and starting to fall apart. 

2.  Place your fruit into a food processor and process until it forms a very smooth puree. Do not strain your fruit. 

3. Return fruit puree to the pan and add lemon juice, optional cinnamon and sugar and heat on low until the sugar has melted. 

4. Once sugar has melted into the fruit puree, increase heat to medium, and stir constantly until mixture becomes extremely fragrant, darker and thickens enough that a spoon pulled through the fruit leaves a furrow behind. 

5.  Remove from heat and add candied ginger and toasted walnuts. Stir until thoroughly mixed. 

6. Pour your paste into a lightly oiled mold, or onto a lightly oiled parchment lined cookie sheet and leave in a warm oven overnight. Alternatively, you could pour your paste into a cupcake or muffin pan. 

7. Unmold before serving. 

 

Fig. Walnut and Candied Ginger Fruit Paste in the pan 

Baronial 12th Night - To make Marmalade of Damsins or Prunes, The treasurie of commodius conceits (1573)

To make Marmalade of Damsins or Prunes, The treasurie of commodius conceits (1573) - TAke Damsins, which ar ripe, boyle them on the Fyre with a lyttle fayre water tyll they bee softe, then draw them through a course Boulter as ye make a tart set it on the Fyre agayne seeth iton height with sufficient sugar, as you do your Quinces, dash it with sweete water. &c. and box it. If you wil make it of Prunes, euen likewise doo put some Apples also to it, as you dyd to your Quinces.

This wise you may make Marmylade of Wardens, Peares, apples, & Medlars, Seruits or Checkers, strawberys euery one by him selfe, or els mixt it together, as you thik good. Partridge, John., The treasurie of commodius conceits (1573)

Plum Paste

2 pounds plums, quartered with core removed
2 cups water
2 pounds sugar

Place stoned and quartered unpeeled plums into a pot, and bring to a boil. Simmer until the plums are very tender and starting to break apart. Put your plums into a blender and blend until they create a smooth paste. Strain your plum paste into your pot and add your sugar. Cook stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened, darkened and a spoon passed through the center of the paste leaves a trail behind it. Pour your paste into a lightly oiled mold, or onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet and allow to dry. Alternatively, you can pour your paste into a jar, and can it. Cooking times vary on your fruit. I found that the plum paste was ready in about 35-40 minutes.

Plum Paste drying in the pan 

Baronial 12th Night - To Make Candied Orange Peel, Le Menagier de Paris, 1393 and To candy any roote, fruite or flower - English Housewife, 1615

To Make Candied Orange Peel, Le Menagier de Paris, 1393

To Make Candied Orange Peel, divide the peel of one orange into five quarters and scrape with a knife to remove the white part inside, then put them to soak in good sweet water for nine days, and change the water every day; then cook them in good water just till boiling, and when this happens, spread them on a cloth and let them get thoroughly dry, then put them in a pot with enough honey to cover them, and boil on a low fire and skim, and when you believe the honey is cooked, (to test if it is cooked, have some water in a bowl, and let drip into this one drop of the honey, and if it spreads, it is not cooked; and if the drop of honey holds together in the water without spreading out, it is cooked;) and then you must remove your orange peel, and make one layer with it, and sprinkle with ginger powder, then another layer, and sprinkle etc., and so on; and leave it a month or more, then eat.

Candied Orange Peel (easy method)

Orange peel
2 c. sugar
1 c. water
Additional sugar for dredging peels

To begin, cut your peel into quarter inch strips. Put into a pot and bring to a boil about 15 minutes. Drain, rinse and repeat. At this point you can choose to drain, rinse and repeat the boiling process a third time or, move forward with candying. Since I like a touch of bitter with my candied peels I only do this twice.

Allow peels to drain while you make your syrup. Mix together sugar and water and cook over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase your heat until the syrup comes to a boil. Add your peels, lower to simmer and cook until the peels become translucent (between 30 and 45 minutes).

Place your additional sugar into a ziploc bag, using a fork or slotted spoon remove the peels a few at a time, drain the syrup from them and place them into the ziploc bag (sounds more complicated than it is). Put the drained peels into the sugar, shake until well coated then place the sugared peels onto a wire rack to dry. Drying can take 1-2 days. Store peels in an airtight container. If you wish to recreate the flavor of the peels, substitute honey for sugar, and add ginger to the sugar you coat your peels with.

To candy any roote, fruite or flower - English Housewife, 1615

Dissolue Sugar, or sugar candy in Rose-water, boile it to an height, put in your rootes, fruits or flowers, the sirrop being cold, then rest a little, after take them out and boyle the sirrop againe, then put in more roots, &c. then boile the sirrop the third time to an hardnesse, put∣ting in more sugar but not Rose-water, put in the roots, &c. the sirrop being cold and let them stand till they candie.

Candied Fruit (quince, plums and pears)

I chose to make the candied fruit from quince, pears and plums for this event. The process is simple, and does not require days on end. Simply peel, core and slice your fruit into slices and add them to your syrup using the same portions as you would use for the candied orange peels, and cook till fruit is transparent. Cooking times and drying times will vary.

Baronial 12th Night - Coriander Flavored Marzipan -A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1621

Coriander Flavored Marzipan -A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1621

To Make Callishones - Take halfe a pound of Marchpane paste, a thimble-full of coriander seeds beaten to a powder, with a graine of Muske, beat all to a perfect paste, print it and drie it.

Recipe

10 ounces almond paste

1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander

up to 1/2 cup confectioner sugar

1 tsp. rosewater

This works best if the almond paste is cold, so I put mine in the refrigerator overnight. I grated it into a bowl and added 1/2 tsp. ground coriander to the grated paste. I then added the remainder of the coriander to the sugar, and put a small handful of it onto a piece of wax paper. I took 1/3 of my almond paste and pressed it on both sides into the sugar/coriander mixture. I rolled it out to approximately 1/4" thick and cut it out with cookie cutters. I got about 80 pieces of candy from this.

To finish, I mixed gold luster dust with ground coriander and painted the edges of the callishones with rosewater before running the edges through the coriander/luster dust mix, before setting it out to dry.

To make the almond paste I used a mix of equal parts almond flour to confectioner sugar and then add 1-2 tsp. almond extract, a tsp. of orange flower or rose-water plus an egg white. I know, I should be worried about salmonella, but these were super fresh eggs purchased at the market that morning.

Baronial 12th Night - Marchpane A Book of Cookrye, 1591

Marchpane, Gingerbread, Coriander Flavored Marzipan (Callishones) decorated

with White Coriander Comfits

How to make a good Marchpane. - First take a pound of long smal almonds and blanch them in cold water, and dry them as drye as you can, then grinde them small, and put no licour to them but as you must needs to keepe them from oyling, and that licour that you put in must be rosewater, in manner as you shall think good, but wet your Pestel therin, when ye have beaten them fine, take halfe a pound of Sugar and more, and see that it be beaten small in pouder, it must be fine sugar, then put it to your Almonds and beate them altogither, when they be beaten, take your wafers and cut them compasse round, and of the bignes you will have your Marchpaine, and then as soone as you can after the tempering of your stuffe, let it be put in your paste, and strike it abroad with a flat stick as even as you can, and pinch the very stuffe as it were an edge set upon, and then put a paper under it, and set it upon a faire boord, and lay lattin Basin over it the bottome upwarde, and then lay burning coles upon the bottom of the basin. To see how it baketh, if it happen to bren too fast in some place, folde papers as broad as the place is & lay it upon that place, and thus with attending ye shal bake it a little more then a quarter of an houre, and when it is wel baked, put on your gold and biskets, and stick in Comfits, and so you shall make a good Marchpaine. Or ever that you bake it you must cast on it fine Sugar and Rosewater that will make it look like Ice.

How to make a good Marchpane. - First take a pound of long small almonds and blanch them in cold water, and dry them as dry as you can, then grind them small, and put no liquor to them but as you must needs to keep them from getting oily, and that liquor that you put in must be rosewater, in manner as you shall think good, but wet your pestle therein. When ye have beaten them fine, take half a pound of sugar and more, and see that it be beaten small in powder, it must be fine sugar. Then put it to your Almonds and beat them all together, when they be beaten, take your wafers and cut them round with a compass, the size of your marchpane. As soon as you can after the tempering of your (marchpane) stuff, let it be put in your paste, and strike it abroad with a flat stick as even as you can, and pinch the very stuff as it were an edge set upon, and then put a paper under it, and set it upon a fair board, and lay lattin Basin over it the bottom upwards. Lay burning coals over the basin. To see how it bakes, if it happen to brown too fast in some places, fold papers as broad as the place is & lay it upon that place. And thus with attending you shall bake it a little more than a quarter of an hour, and when it is well baked, put on your gold and biskets, and stick in comfits, and so you shall make a good marchpane. Or ever that you bake it you must cast on it fine sugar and rosewater that will make it look like Ice.

Marchpane

2cups almond flour
1cup confectioners' sugar
1 - 2 tbsp. Rosewater or water, or juice of choice

To Make the Icine

Confectioner sugar
Rose water

I made the Marchpanes over three separate days, and each day, the amount of liquid needed to make the dough varied between 1 and 2 tbsp. To begin, you will want to sift the almond flour and the sugar together, and then you add enough liquid that a stiff dough is formed. I used a spring form tart pan to press the dough into. I then removed the dough from the bottom pan and placed it onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Place the dough into the oven set to your lowest setting. The goal is to dry and bake the dough but not brown it (as you can see I had some difficulty on a few of these keeping them from browning...they were delicious despite being brown). This took about 15 minutes in my oven. I chose not to decorate the marchpanes, but the time to add decorations is when they come out of the oven and before you ice them.

To make the icing, add rosewater to confectioner sugar and pour over your marchpane. Allow icing to dry before serving. Note--these store well.

12th Night Feast - Gyngerbrede Harl. MS 279, 1430 - Gingerbread

Marchpane, Gingerbread, Coriander Flavored Marzipan (Callishones) decorated
with White Coriander Comfits

iiij - Gyngerbrede. Take a quart of hony, and sethe it, and skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, and throw ther-on; take gratyd Brede, and make it so chargeaunt (Note: stiff) that it wol be y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, and straw ther-on y-now; then make yt square, lyke as thou wolt leche yt; take when thou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leves a-bouyn, y-stykyd ther-on, on clowys. And 3if thou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now.

4. Gingerbread - Take a quart of honey and cook it, and skim it clean; take saffron, powder pepper and throw there-on; take grated bread, and make it so stiff that it will be sliced; then take powder cinnamon, and strew there-on enough; then make it square, like as you will slice it; take when you slice it, and cast box-leaves above, stick there-on cloves. And if you will have it red, color it with saunders enough.

Gingerbread

1 pound honey (I use raw honey)
1 pound bread crumbs
2 tsp. pepper ** see below
1 tbsp. cinnamon
Opt. 1 tbsp. ginger, 1 tsp. grains of paradise, ½ tsp. white pepper

Bring honey to boil and skim off the scum that rises.\, once the honey is cleaned remove from heat. Add spices to bread crumbs and mix well (you don't want clumps of spice), mix honey and spiced bread crumbs together, shape, and allow to cool. Once mixture is cool it can be sliced. I prefer to shape the gingerbread into bite sized balls.

**I like to use this mix for pepper which is my version of powder forte)

1 tbsp. mixed peppers (black, long pepper, grains of paradise and cubebs)
1/2 tsp. each nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger
1/4 tsp. clove