Medieval and Anglo Saxon Recipes
Contents
A Jellie of Fyshe
Crustade of Chicken and Pigeon
`Fenkel in Soppes' or Braised Fennel with Ginger
Lozenges or Curd Cheese Pastries
Griddled Trout with Herbs
Hare, Robbit, Veal, or Chicken Stew with Herbs & Barley
Small Bird & Bacon Stew with Walnuts or Hazelnuts
Summer Fruit, Honey & Hazelnut Crumble
All from _The British Museum Cookbook_ by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson, 1987, British Museum Publications.
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A Jellie of Fyshe
Serves 6
Ms. Berriedale-Johnson explains that elaborate and highly decorative jellies were "the delight of the artistic medieval cook, often enhanced with edible gold and silver."
225 g (8 oz) hake, cod, haddock, or other well-flavored white fish
3 scallops
75 g (3 oz) prawns (shrimp)
2 onions, roughly sliced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
25g (1 oz) ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
1/3 teaspoon sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
450mL (15 fl oz, 2 cups) each white wine and water
20g (3/4 oz) gelatine
Put the white fish in a pan with the onions, vinegar, ginger root, spices, wine and water. Bring it gently to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the scallops and prawns and cook for a further 3 minutes. Remove the fish; bone and skin the white fish and set it all aside. Strain the cooking juices and set aside to cool for several hours by which time a lot of the sediment will have settled in the bottom of the bowl. Carefully pour off the juices, leaving the sediment, and then strain several times through a clean teacloth. You should have appoximately 750mL (25 fl oz, 3 cups) of liquid left. Melt 20g (3/4 oz) of gelatine in a little of the liquid, cool it to room temperature, then mix it into the rest of the juices.
Pour a thin layer 1 cm (1/2 inch) of the juice into the bottom of a 1.2 liter (2 pint, 5 cup) souffle dish or fish mold and put it in the fridge to set. Flake the white fish into smallish flakes; remove the coral from the scallops and cut the white flesh into three of four pices. Once the jelly is firm, arrange the most decorative of the fish in the bottom of the dish-- some scallop coral in the middle, prawns around the outsides, flakes of white fish in between or however you feel inspired. Spoon a little more of the juice and return it to the fridge to set. Continue to layer the fish in the mould, setting each layer with a covering of juice until you have used up all the fish and juices. Leave the jelly to set for at least 4 hours in a fridge. Unmold and decorate with fresh herbs; serve as a starter.
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Crustade of Chicken and Pigeon
Serves 6
225-350g (8-12oz) wholemeal or wholewheat pastry (depending on whether you want a lid on your crustade)
1 pigeon
2 chicken joints (2 breasts or 2 whole legs)
150mL (f fl oz, 2/3 cup) dry white wine
several grinds of black pepper
4 cloves
15 g (1/2 oz) butter
50g (2oz) mushrooms, roughly chopped
25g (1oz) raisins
3 large eggs
salt, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Roll out 225g (8 oz) of the pastry and line a 20cm (8 inch) flan dish; back the crust blind.
Put the pigeon in a pot with the stock, wine, pepper and cloves and cook very slowly for an hour. Add the chicken and continue to cook for a further 45 minutes or till the meat of both birds is really tender. Meanwhile cook the mushrooms lightly in the butter. Remove the birds from the stock and bone them. Cut the flesh into quite small pieces, mix it with the mushrooms and the raisins and spread them over the base of the flan case. Beat the eggs with a fork and season with the salt, pepper, and ginger. Add 240mL (8floz, 1 cup) of the cooking juices and pour over the meat in the flan case. If you want to have a lid, roll out the rest of the pastry and cover the flan. Bake it in moderate oven (180C, 350F, Gas Mark4) for 25 minutes if uncovered, 35 minutes if covered. Serve warm with a good green salad.
For a more 20th century flavor-- double the chicken, leave out the pigeon, and substitute 25g (1 oz) chopped fried bacon for the raisins.
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'Fenkel in Soppes' or Braised Fennel with Ginger
Serves 6
The original version of this recipe comes from the "Forme of Cury," a collection of 196 "receipts" copied by Richard II's scribes at his cooks' directions.
750g (1 1/2 lb) trimmed, fresh fennel root; cleaned and cut in matchsticks
225g (8 oz) onions, thickly sliced
1 heaped teaspoon of ground ginger
1 level teapsoon of powdered saffron
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoon olive oil
150mL (5 fl oz, 2/3 cup) each dry white wine and water
6 thick slices of coarse wholewheat or wholemeal bread (optional)
Put the fennel in a wide, lidded pan with the onions. Sprinkle over the spices and salt, then the oil and finally pour over the liquids. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or till the fennel is cooked without being mushy. Stir once or twice during the cooking to make sure the spices get well distributed. Serve it alone with a roast meat or griddled fish or place one slice of bread on each warmed plate, cover it with the fennel and pour over the juices.
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Lozenges or Curd Cheese Pastries
Serves 6
225g (8oz) wholemeal or wholewheat shortcrust pastry
225g (8 oz) curd cheese
25g (1oz) very finely chopped stem or crystallized ginger or plump raisins
15g (1/2 oz) toasted and chopped pine nuts
sugar to taste
lemon juice to taste
Roll the pastry out very thin and cut it into small rectangles-- approximately 15x8 cm (6x3 inches). You should have at least 24. Bake them in a moderately hot oven (190C, 375F, Gas Mark 5) for ten minutes or till they are crisp and brown. Remove them and cool on a rack.
Meanwhile mix the curd cheese with the ginger or raisins, the pine nutes and the sugar and lemon to taste. Set aside. When you are ready to serve, sandwich together two pieces of pastry with the cheese mixture. They can be used as a dessert or as a snack.
