Midwinter's Debrief
Yesterday, (as a majority of the people on my Friends List already know), I feastocratted midwinters. Though it was my first time doeing so, I did enjoy the process and am glad that everything came out as well as it did, and Iearned a lot about the process should I ever be insane enough to do it again. Everything came out more or less as intended, though I did set the meat on fire, leading to a more crispy carbonized exterior (fortunately in the controlled space of my grill).
And now for the moment that everyone has been waiting for: Recipes!
The bulk of the feast came out of the book "Dining With William Shakespeare" by Madge Lorwin (copyright 1976, ISBN 0-689-10731-5) This unfortunately exceedingly difficult-to-find book is wonderful and grab a copy if you see one for a reasonable price.
Potato Pie
The Potato Pie can be found on page 40, originating in Joseph Cooper's The Art of Cookery Refin'd and Augmented printed in 1654. The original text reads:
Boyle your potatoes tender and blanch them; slice them but not very thin, and mix them with some apple pared and sliced: season them with cynamon, Ginger, Sugar, and Salt. Your pie being made, put in these meats with a good store of marrow on hte top, bing cut into lumps as big as a walnut: Por a little verjuyce on the pye and close it; bing baked put to it verjuyce, sugar, butter, cynamon, and ginger, beat up thick together, cut up the lid, and fill it with leare [this sauce], reaising it up with the knife to let in the liquor. You must put in Butter when you close up the pie to bake it, otherwise it will burn in the oven, they being of very dry substance. Less than two houres will bake it. Scrape sugar on it, and serve it up hot.
The redaction that Madge Lorwin came up with is: (for one pie)
Filling
1 pound sweet potatoes
1 pound tart cooking apples
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
4 tbsp butter, diced
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 ounce beef marrow (omitted in my version for vegetarian friendliness)
The Pastry
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup cold butter
1 egg yolk and enough cold water to make 1/2 cup liquid
The sweet potatoes are baked at 400F for 40 minutes, then peeled and sliced 1/2" thick. The apples are peeled, cored and sliced to 1/4" thick (I put the slices directly in the vinegar to keep them from turning brown). I used a Cuisinart with a plastic dough blade for assembling the pie crusts, which speeds up the process a lot. The pastry is made by mixing the salt and flour, then working 1/2 cup of the butter into the flour until it's mostly incorporated (20 seconds of continuous operation of the cuisinart), then th remaining 1/4 cup of butter is diced up and added and folded in (3 1-second pulses of the cuisinart). Finally the egg yolk and water are added and the pastry is worked just until it barely holds together. The goal is to break up the butter as little as possible in order to help the crust stay flakey. Refrigerate the crust for at least 1/2 hour before rolling it out. To assemble, mix up the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and butter, then roll out 2/3 of the pastry for the bottom crust. put a layer of sweet potatoes, dust with some of the sugar and spice mix, then put a layer of apples, dust that layer, then repeat until you run out of filling, topping it with the last of the sugar mixture. roll out the top crust, crimp the edges, and cut vent holes in the top of the pie. Bake at 425F for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350F and bake for an additional 25 minutes.
For an even flakier crust, increase the amount of butter to 1 cup, with 1/2 cup blended in completely, followed by 1/2 cup of diced butter instead of 1/4 cup.
The same crust recipe was also used for the pasties, with the water replaced with beef broth for the meat pasties, and with vegetable broth for the veggie pasties. Madge Lorwin also uses the same crust recipe with beer instead of water on some dishes.
Bread Pudding
The bread pudding is a modern recipe found in The New Best Recipe published by America's Test Kitchen (the Cook's Illustrated people). (Copyright 2004, ISBN 0-936184-74-4). It can be found on page 970, under the title Rich Bread Pudding with Crisp Cinnamon-Sugar Topping.
Cinnamon-Sugar Topping
2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Bread Pudding
4 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
(we used 5 cups of half-and-half instead of the milk and cream)
3 tbsp bourbon
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
8 cups sliced white bread cut into cubes (We used Challah left over from 11th night)
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan.
Mix the cinnamon and sugar together for the topping. Butter a 9x13 pan. Whisk eggs, yolk and sugar together, whisk in the half-and-half spices, and burbon. Stir in 6 cups of the bread cubes and let stand 20 minutes. Pour into the pan, topping with remaining bread cubes, pushed down to partially submerge them. Brush the top with butter, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, and bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Remove and let cool at least 45 minutes.
In order to use the mold forms, we brushed the inside of the mold heavily with butter and dusted the mold liberally with the cinnamon sugar, then baked the bread puddings. Once finished we inverted them, removed the forms, and dusted the top with powdered sugar before serving.
And now for the moment that everyone has been waiting for: Recipes!
The bulk of the feast came out of the book "Dining With William Shakespeare" by Madge Lorwin (copyright 1976, ISBN 0-689-10731-5) This unfortunately exceedingly difficult-to-find book is wonderful and grab a copy if you see one for a reasonable price.
Potato Pie
The Potato Pie can be found on page 40, originating in Joseph Cooper's The Art of Cookery Refin'd and Augmented printed in 1654. The original text reads:
Boyle your potatoes tender and blanch them; slice them but not very thin, and mix them with some apple pared and sliced: season them with cynamon, Ginger, Sugar, and Salt. Your pie being made, put in these meats with a good store of marrow on hte top, bing cut into lumps as big as a walnut: Por a little verjuyce on the pye and close it; bing baked put to it verjuyce, sugar, butter, cynamon, and ginger, beat up thick together, cut up the lid, and fill it with leare [this sauce], reaising it up with the knife to let in the liquor. You must put in Butter when you close up the pie to bake it, otherwise it will burn in the oven, they being of very dry substance. Less than two houres will bake it. Scrape sugar on it, and serve it up hot.
The redaction that Madge Lorwin came up with is: (for one pie)
Filling
1 pound sweet potatoes
1 pound tart cooking apples
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
4 tbsp butter, diced
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 ounce beef marrow (omitted in my version for vegetarian friendliness)
The Pastry
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup cold butter
1 egg yolk and enough cold water to make 1/2 cup liquid
The sweet potatoes are baked at 400F for 40 minutes, then peeled and sliced 1/2" thick. The apples are peeled, cored and sliced to 1/4" thick (I put the slices directly in the vinegar to keep them from turning brown). I used a Cuisinart with a plastic dough blade for assembling the pie crusts, which speeds up the process a lot. The pastry is made by mixing the salt and flour, then working 1/2 cup of the butter into the flour until it's mostly incorporated (20 seconds of continuous operation of the cuisinart), then th remaining 1/4 cup of butter is diced up and added and folded in (3 1-second pulses of the cuisinart). Finally the egg yolk and water are added and the pastry is worked just until it barely holds together. The goal is to break up the butter as little as possible in order to help the crust stay flakey. Refrigerate the crust for at least 1/2 hour before rolling it out. To assemble, mix up the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and butter, then roll out 2/3 of the pastry for the bottom crust. put a layer of sweet potatoes, dust with some of the sugar and spice mix, then put a layer of apples, dust that layer, then repeat until you run out of filling, topping it with the last of the sugar mixture. roll out the top crust, crimp the edges, and cut vent holes in the top of the pie. Bake at 425F for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350F and bake for an additional 25 minutes.
For an even flakier crust, increase the amount of butter to 1 cup, with 1/2 cup blended in completely, followed by 1/2 cup of diced butter instead of 1/4 cup.
The same crust recipe was also used for the pasties, with the water replaced with beef broth for the meat pasties, and with vegetable broth for the veggie pasties. Madge Lorwin also uses the same crust recipe with beer instead of water on some dishes.
Bread Pudding
The bread pudding is a modern recipe found in The New Best Recipe published by America's Test Kitchen (the Cook's Illustrated people). (Copyright 2004, ISBN 0-936184-74-4). It can be found on page 970, under the title Rich Bread Pudding with Crisp Cinnamon-Sugar Topping.
Cinnamon-Sugar Topping
2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Bread Pudding
4 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
(we used 5 cups of half-and-half instead of the milk and cream)
3 tbsp bourbon
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
8 cups sliced white bread cut into cubes (We used Challah left over from 11th night)
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan.
Mix the cinnamon and sugar together for the topping. Butter a 9x13 pan. Whisk eggs, yolk and sugar together, whisk in the half-and-half spices, and burbon. Stir in 6 cups of the bread cubes and let stand 20 minutes. Pour into the pan, topping with remaining bread cubes, pushed down to partially submerge them. Brush the top with butter, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, and bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Remove and let cool at least 45 minutes.
In order to use the mold forms, we brushed the inside of the mold heavily with butter and dusted the mold liberally with the cinnamon sugar, then baked the bread puddings. Once finished we inverted them, removed the forms, and dusted the top with powdered sugar before serving.