GTOD Vigil Recipe - Pressmetzen zu Ostern

Pressmetzen Zu Ostern, Precedella, Torten von Epffel and Sugared Mint Leaves

I'd like to send thanks to Volker Bach for the inspiration for the festive centerpiece of the Vigil Feast.  Shortly after I was asked to do the Vigil daybard, he shared a memory for an Easter Feast from 2021.  I knew that I needed to make this pastry and the Dockenmilch.  If you have not visited culina vetus you are doing yourself a disservice. The breadth of the material found there is staggering. 


The cookbook of Balthasar Staindl from Dillingen in 1544 entitled “How to bake the Pressmetzen at Easter”.

Pressmetzen zu Ostern (from Balthasar Staindl)

ccxxii Make a good gentle egg cheese (like a custard) and do not burn it. Put it on a draining board so that it sinks down (drains) well, then take the egg cheese and stir it apart with a spoon, add more eggs, a little sweet cream, also grate manchet bread into it, yellow it (with saffron), season it, add sufficient raisins. Then take manchet bread (semmel) dough from a baker, roll it out wide, put the above mentioned egg cheese on it, and wreath (kräntzel) it around and around (make a plaited edge). Bake it in an oven, but before you put it into the oven, add figs, put almonds on top. Anoint the wreath outside with yellowed (saffron-dyed) egg yolks and put it back into the oven briefly. These flecken (tarts) are blessed for Easter.

Pressmetzen zu Ostern (from Balthasar Staindl)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 packet or 2 tsp. yeast

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup lukewarm milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. salt 

1 egg

Stir together yeast, flour, sugar and salt.  Mix butter, milk and egg together. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. The dough will be very sticky and "shaggy" at this point. Work the dough until it is smooth and pliable ( about five minutes).  Place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Ingredients: egg cheese ( Ayerschotten ):

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 egg yolks or 3 large eggs

Pinch salt

1 tbsp sugar

Whisk eggs with milk, sugar and salt. Put in a saucepan and heat slowly stirring constantly until the liquid starts to boil.  Continue to stir until the whey separates from the egg cheese allow to cool to room temperature. Place a cheesecloth in a strainer, add the egg cheese, weight with a plate and add some cans to the top in order to press the cheese.  You want it as dry as possible before you add the remaining ingredients. Note: this can be made a day ahead. 

Other filling ingredients:

2 eggs

~1/3 cup breadcrumbs

1-2 tbps. sweet cream 

Pinch of saffron

1 tbsp. sugar

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup chopped figs

1 egg yolk

Once the egg cheese is dry,  stir in remaining eggs,  breadcrumbs and sweet cream into the egg cheese. Fold in the raisins, color with saffron and sugar to taste.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle and spread the egg cheese filling on top. Fold the dough over and twist into a ring on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Let this rest for another 20 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped figs and almonds. Bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes. Brush with egg yolk. Bake again for about 15 minutes.

Lemon and Ginger Syrup

Tacuinum Sanitatis: Medieval Horticulture and Health

Drink syrups are an easy way to bring flavor to the feast. They are easily portable and do not require refrigeration. They can also be diluted "to taste". I am uncertain where I found the ginger syrup recipe but would like to give the attribution to the author. If someone knows where this is located, please let me know.

If you are interested in other kinds of drinks that have been served at past events, please consider visiting the following link:

What to Drink? Four Drink Syrups for Recreation Feasts 

Lemon Syrup courtesy of   David Friedman

Take lemon, after peeling its outer skin, press it and take a ratl of juice, and add as much of sugar. Cook it until it takes the form of a syrup. Its advantages are for the heat of bile; it cuts the thirst and binds the bowels. [Translation from the Miscellany:http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/drinks.html]

Ingredients:

1 quart lemon juice
4 1/2 cups sugar

Heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for about 15 minutes-half an hour. Refrigerate. To use, dilute about 8 to 1 with water.

Ginger Syrup:

Ingredients

Approximately 2/3 cup Ginger
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup lemon juice
4 cups sugar

Peel a big hunk of ginger and mince. (About 2/3 c. per batch) Mix 2.5 cups water with 4 cups sugar. Bring to a boil. Add 1 cup lemon juice and reduce heat. Add several spoonful's of the ginger. Simmer until reduced by 1/6. Add rest of ginger. Simmer until reduced by about 1/3 from start. Cool. Strain & bottle. To use, dilute about 8 to 1 with water.

Note: if you cut the ginger into chunks rather than mincing, you can use the strained out chunks, put them in sugar syrup at the soft ball stage, and roll them in sugar to candy them.

GTOD Vigil Recipe - Rindfleisch Knödel (Rumpolt, 1581)

One of the things I wanted to do when requested to put together the vigil table was to make sure that there was a little something for everyone from the savory to the sweet.  For the carnivores I planned on offering a selection of meats; smoked pork, sausages made of pork, and pork and beef, chicken and meatballs of beef.  I wanted to make sure that everything was bite size.  In the past I have used meatballs to "round out" a course.  They are inexpensive and easy to make and if you use a tablespoon measure, you can get approximately 30 meatballs for a pound of meat. In this case, I was able to get more meatballs because of the addition of the bread.  My original intention was to roll them out into a log shape, but I served them up as balls instead.  They were delicious with the spicy brown mustard, cherry sauce and Käeßsuppen. 

Original German (Ein New Kochbuch by Marx Rumpolt)

Ochsen 67. Knödel zu kochen auff ein andere manier von Rindtfleisch. Nim~ Rindtfleisch/ schneidt es klein/ vn~ klaub das Fett darvon/ hack es klein durcheinder/ nim~ ein wenig gestossen Pfeffer/ gerieben Saffran/ vnd ein wenig Saltz/ auch drey oder vier Eyer/ weich ein beschnitte~ Weck oder Sem~el eyn/ druck sie wol mit den Händen auß/ vnd hacks vnter das Fleisch/ thu saubere groß vnd kleine schwartze Rosein darvnter/ mach runde oder lenglichte Knödel darauß/ wie es dir wirt gefallen/ mach Butter heiß/ vnd rößt die Knödel darinnen fein langsam/ daß sie fein braun/ vnd nicht schwartz werden. Vnd wenn du sie hast außgerößt/ so thu sie in einen gekochten Pfeffer/ der wol


English Translation: (by M. Grasse)

Beef #67: Meatballs of beef to cook in another manner. Take beef/ and cut it small/ and trim the fat away/ hack (mix) it small and together/ take a little pounded pepper/ rubbed saffron/ and a little salt (salz in German)/ also three or four eggs/ soak a trimmed loaf or roll/ press (the liquid) out well with the hands/ and hack (mix) under the meat/ put clean large and small black raisins thereunder/ make (form) round or longish dumplings (meatballs) therefrom/ as it pleases you/ heat butter/ and slowly fry the meatballs therein/ that they become fine brown/ and not black. And when you have cooked them through/ put them in a cooked pepper/ that well testing and fixed is/ let them come to a boil again in the pepper/ so it is well tasting/ a good meal for poor and rich.

RECIPE:

1 pound ground beef (80/20)
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 c. bread crumbs soaked in water or milk 
¾ c raisins (you can vary this to taste)

Please Note: I deviated from the recipe by boiling the meatballs in broth instead of frying. 

Mix all ingredients together adding water until the meat forms a paste.  Divide meat into portions and roll into shape (balls or logs as you desire).  If you are following the recipe, you will want to brown the meatballs in some fat in a pan.  

If you want to follow my shortcut, season some broth with the seasonings below (vinegar, black pepper, ginger), drop the meatballs in and cook a small batch at a time until they float.  Once they float, they can be removed, cooled and frozen until needed. 

I cannot claim the black pepper sauce recipe.  This is hosted on "The Inn at the Crossroads" website.  Another resource I like to use.  Their recipe is below:

Poivre Noir : Black Pepper Sauce

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

165. Poivre noir: Black Pepper Sauce. Grind ginger, round pepper and burnt toast, infuse this in vinegar (var.: and a little verjuice) and boil it. – Le Viandier de Taillevent, 14th century


Ingredients

1 slice bread, toasted until black
1/3 cup verjuice, or equal parts cider vinegar and water
1 Tbs. wine vinegar
1 Tbs. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Soak the burned bread in the liquid until it has fallen apart; mash with a fork. Stir in the spices and slowly bring to a boil. For a thinner sauce, add more liquid; for a smoother version, press through a sieve.

GTOD Vigil Recipe - Mosterdsaus- Sweet mustard & Spicy mustard (Rumpolt, 1581)

To accompany the meats there was a choice of condiments which included two separate mustards.  I enjoy it when I discover a receipt online and it can create two separate things. This set of instructions from "Ein new Kochbuch" is one such example. 

Please note: I could have made mustard by soaking the mustard seeds overnight and then adding vinegar (per Rumpolt). I also wanted a similar flavor profile between the two mustards, and would have added the wine to the recipe below to make sure the mustards carried a similar flavor.  Maiille's already contained all of the items I was looking for and was less expensive then purchasing the individual ingredients. Hence the substitution in the following recipes. 

Braun Senff mit lauterm Essig angemacht / ist auch gut
Brown mustard made with clear vinegar is also good.

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 tastin

Sweet Pear Mustard

2 pears

1 cup sweet grape juice

Maille Old Style Mustard (water, mustard seeds, distilled vinegar, salt, white wine, sugar, lactic acid & natural flavor) 

Clean, pare, quarter and core the pears.  Add to a pot with the grape juice in it.  Allow pears to cook until they become soft enough to make into a sauce. Mix with mustard to taste.  I found a 50/50 blend added the perfect amount of sweetness. 

Spicy Brown Mustard

Maille Old Style Mustard

1 tsp. Coriander

1 1/2 tsp. Anise

Mix together spices with mustard.

Both mustards should age at least three days.  The longer they age, the better they get. 

Sources

Deutsches Textarchiv – Rumpolt, Marx: Ein new Kochbuch. Frankfurt (Main), 1581.
"Deutsches Textarchiv – Rumpolt, Marx: Ein New Kochbuch. Frankfurt (Main), 1581.". Deutschestextarchiv.De, 2022, https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/view/rumpolt_kochbuch_1581?p=419. Accessed 3 May 2022.