Gettin' medieval on noms.
A.K.A. Medieval Food Porn.
I went to visit my Dad last weekend, and discovered that he really does pay attention to the things I say I like. I've put several Medieval cookery books on my Amazon wish list, mostly to hold on to the names until I can borrow them from a library or friends or just outright buy them. I arrived mid-morning on Saturday, and my Dad had his two medieval cookbooks in my hands within half an hour.
I think I should back up a little here. Say, about 27 years or so. One of my earliest memories is of a medieval feast my Dad hosted when I was a bitty girl. I think I was about six or seven? My Dad was a European History major in college and has always had a love for all things Not Modern. His enthusiasm has always been infectious, whether it was about archaeology, history, music, reading, learning, art, or whatever had his mind engaged at the time. The enthusiasm for the middle ages has stuck, though I've never been too far below the surface of medieval studies. I mean, I've always loved music from that time period* and been fascinated with Tudor England (though, really, who isn't?), but lately I've been entertaining the idea of becoming involved in SCA, and this presented interesting questions: What do I want to do? How do I want to be involved?
Those who know me know that the obvious path would be music. In all honesty, I doubt I will be able to stay away from music, but, the memory of the feast, the food, the games my Dad lovingly researched and taught the Attendant Children (myself included) to play, the trenchers, the stew, the cups they drank their ale from (I think my Dad went out and got both ale and mead), the roasting pit, the straw on the carport floor, the whisper thin hangings my mother tacked up in the same carport... All of those images and scents and tastes stay with me in vibrant color and detail, and I find myself with an irresistible urge to really discover food from that time.
I am fascinated with the intricacies of endoring (my new favorite word), which is the art of making roasted foods seem golden. I am fascinated with making food a celebration of all of the senses. I am enthralled at how a few sentences in Middle English translate into a very detailed recipe of proportions in a way that people from my generation and younger have never experienced: you simply must learn, you must know how much ginger or sandalwood or saffron will make it taste the way it should. No teaspoons or tablespoons back then. It seems Kitchen folk had a deep, intuitive knowledge of proportion. I am keen to see if I can develop that same intuitive knowledge. I think I can, because I seem to have the beginnings of that knowledge. Either that, or I am extremely lucky when it comes to experimenting with stuff in the kitchen.
I found myself fairly ill last Thursday, and decided I'd rather be miserable on my couch than miserable at work. I have buried my nose in my father's cookbooks. I started with To the King's Taste and Fabulous Feasts mostly because they were readily available, but also because they seem to be fairly authoritative (I believe both reference the Forme of Cury, which is the text on cooking from that time). To the King's Taste has been easy to read and digest, and I have already picked out a recipe for cabbage soup that, while simple, sounds enchanting. I'm also eager to try some Cratones, or chicken fritters. My method will be to start with things lower on the cost scale and move my way up as I become familiar. That way, if I completely destroy some of my first recipes, they will be root vegetables and not whole fowl or costly cuts of meat. In all, I am very excited to destroy some vegetables and learn the customs of Cury.
Those of you who live nearby will be stuck taste-testing creations. Garb not required.
*An interesting side note: my Christmas soundtrack has never been the typical Sleigh Bells Ring stuff, it's always, always been "The Greatest Dance Hits of the 1500s and 1600s."
I went to visit my Dad last weekend, and discovered that he really does pay attention to the things I say I like. I've put several Medieval cookery books on my Amazon wish list, mostly to hold on to the names until I can borrow them from a library or friends or just outright buy them. I arrived mid-morning on Saturday, and my Dad had his two medieval cookbooks in my hands within half an hour.
I think I should back up a little here. Say, about 27 years or so. One of my earliest memories is of a medieval feast my Dad hosted when I was a bitty girl. I think I was about six or seven? My Dad was a European History major in college and has always had a love for all things Not Modern. His enthusiasm has always been infectious, whether it was about archaeology, history, music, reading, learning, art, or whatever had his mind engaged at the time. The enthusiasm for the middle ages has stuck, though I've never been too far below the surface of medieval studies. I mean, I've always loved music from that time period* and been fascinated with Tudor England (though, really, who isn't?), but lately I've been entertaining the idea of becoming involved in SCA, and this presented interesting questions: What do I want to do? How do I want to be involved?
Those who know me know that the obvious path would be music. In all honesty, I doubt I will be able to stay away from music, but, the memory of the feast, the food, the games my Dad lovingly researched and taught the Attendant Children (myself included) to play, the trenchers, the stew, the cups they drank their ale from (I think my Dad went out and got both ale and mead), the roasting pit, the straw on the carport floor, the whisper thin hangings my mother tacked up in the same carport... All of those images and scents and tastes stay with me in vibrant color and detail, and I find myself with an irresistible urge to really discover food from that time.
I am fascinated with the intricacies of endoring (my new favorite word), which is the art of making roasted foods seem golden. I am fascinated with making food a celebration of all of the senses. I am enthralled at how a few sentences in Middle English translate into a very detailed recipe of proportions in a way that people from my generation and younger have never experienced: you simply must learn, you must know how much ginger or sandalwood or saffron will make it taste the way it should. No teaspoons or tablespoons back then. It seems Kitchen folk had a deep, intuitive knowledge of proportion. I am keen to see if I can develop that same intuitive knowledge. I think I can, because I seem to have the beginnings of that knowledge. Either that, or I am extremely lucky when it comes to experimenting with stuff in the kitchen.
I found myself fairly ill last Thursday, and decided I'd rather be miserable on my couch than miserable at work. I have buried my nose in my father's cookbooks. I started with To the King's Taste and Fabulous Feasts mostly because they were readily available, but also because they seem to be fairly authoritative (I believe both reference the Forme of Cury, which is the text on cooking from that time). To the King's Taste has been easy to read and digest, and I have already picked out a recipe for cabbage soup that, while simple, sounds enchanting. I'm also eager to try some Cratones, or chicken fritters. My method will be to start with things lower on the cost scale and move my way up as I become familiar. That way, if I completely destroy some of my first recipes, they will be root vegetables and not whole fowl or costly cuts of meat. In all, I am very excited to destroy some vegetables and learn the customs of Cury.
Those of you who live nearby will be stuck taste-testing creations. Garb not required.
*An interesting side note: my Christmas soundtrack has never been the typical Sleigh Bells Ring stuff, it's always, always been "The Greatest Dance Hits of the 1500s and 1600s."