Proposed menu for Alabama 2011 (1st Draft)
Any changes will be forthcoming

All recipes are from The Book of Bent Sovi; Medieval recipes from Catalonia by Robin Vogelzang

1st Course

Brou de Galines / Chicken Broth
Chicken broth with  minced chicken, ginger, spices, slivered almonds, & parsley.

Lletugat / Lettuce Puree
Lettuce mix with onion & cheese, tossed with vinegar & oil.

Bread/butter

2nd Course

A Farcir Capons / To Stuff Capons
1/2 game hen stuffed w/ ground pork, beaten eggs, spices, & white grape juice. Garnished with a sweet lemon sauce.

Espinacs / Spinach
Chopped spinach cooked in olive oil.

Alidem ab Ous /  Parsley sauce with eggs
A salad of chopped hard boiled eggs, onions, parsley, oil, vinegar, & spices.

Presentation of Thier Royal Majesties’  Wafer

3rd Course

Salsa A Tota Carn / Sauce for any kind of meat
Roast Beef in a sauce of broth, fried parsley & onions.

Cirons Tendres / Tender Chickpeas
Chick peas in almond milk, with onions, basil, marjoram,herbs, ginger,& grape juice.

Porrada / Leek Puree
Chopped leeks fried in oil.

4th Course

Nous Confites / Candied Walnuts
Walnuts candied in honey.

Ordiat / Barley Cream
Barley pudding of milk & sugar.

© 2011 Gode Cookery

© 2010 Gode Cookery

Ein deutsches Renaissance-Fest

Recipes inspired by
Daz buoch von guoter spise

The original manuscript is in the university library of Munich and is dated as between 1345 and 1354. It contains 101 recipes & was originally part of a household manual for the Archbishop of Würzburg.

Zuerst (First)

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Drittens (Third)

Diz heizzet ris von kriechen – wild rice. Wild rice prepared in broth.

Hüenre von kriechen – glazed game hen. Game hen glazed with a fruit & sugar sauce.

Ein gute fülle – apple pudding. Apples roasted with honey & spices.

© 2009 Gode Cookery

Gode Cookery in Alabama, 2008:
James Matterer & Darell McCormick
Assisted by John Iaria & Chris Solis

This special menu of New World & nautical foods was based on research by Troy Lamey:
Raiders, Invaders, and Privateers

A FEAST FOR THE PIRATE KING

First Mate’s Choice

Hard Tack
(Bread & Butter)

Bacalao
(Cod in tomato chutney)

Dried Fruit & Cabbage Salad

Lemon Grog

From the Galley

Turkey with Avocado Dressing

Beans & Yellow Rice

Roasted Yams & Bananas

King’s Wafer: A Mermaid

New World Fare

Roast Pork cooked as Wild Boar

Pumpkins & Potatoes

Maize Cakes with Peanuts

Captain’s Delight

Fruit in Syrup

© 2008 Gode Cookery

Gode Cookery in Alabama, 2007:
James Matterer, Darell McCormick, Glenda Cockrum

1st Course

Pane e Burro / Bread & Butter

Brodo de Ciceri / Chick-Pea Broth
A soup of chick peas, herbs, & spices

Insalata / Salad
An organic Spring mix tossed w/ vin & oil

2nd Course

Sfarsimento a Capone / Stuffing for a Capon
Cornish game hen stuffed with chicken breast, ham, & herbs

Zuche / Squash
Squash cooked in broth thickened w/ egg yolks & cheese

Macharoni Ciciliani / Sicilian Macaroni
Macaroni garnished with cheese, butter, & spices

Piselli cum Carne Salada / Peas with Salt Pork
Peas fried with bacon, lemon juice, sugar, & cinnamon

Presentation of the Royal Wafer

3rd Course

Carne dentro Salsa Sarazinesca / Meat in Saracen Sauce
Beef in a sauce of wine & herbs, served kebab-style

Riso alla Italiana / Rice in the Italian Style
Rice cooked in meat broth with pepper & cheese

Fava In Padella / Broad Beans in a Pan
Broad beans fried with apples & figs

4th Course

Zabaglone / Zabaglione
Sweet thickened cream & ginger wafers

Potage

Alabama Ale / Sweet tea
Renn Wine / Lemonade

© 2007 Gode Cookery

Gode Cookery in Alabama, 2006:
James Matterer & Lisa Holcomb-Blair

This year’s very special menu is based upon research of Frisian food & culture by Jenn Strobel, found at:
http://www.medievalcooking.org/

A FEAST for the VIKING QUEEN

1st Course

Bread & Butter
Salsæ goth wæghfarænd mæn (Sauce for Wayfaring Men)
Brassicas (Cabbage)

2nd Course

Fava Beans & Garlic
Fresh Berries
Honir nidrvegheth (Chickens Hunter Style)
Hwitmoos (White Mush)

Entremet

Presentation of the Queen’s Wafer

3rd Course

Dilled Carrots
Braden in heren salsin (Roasts in a Sauce for Lords)
Baked Apples & Pears

4th Course

Quomode conficiuntur amigdala in pastello (How Almonds are used in a Pie)

The Bean King Ceremony

Beverages

Alabama Ale
Ren Wine

1st Course

Bread & Butter – fresh white bread served with real butter.

Salsæ goth wæghfarænd mæn (Sauce for Wayfaring Men) – a soup of red onions & fresh parlsey made with seasoned pork broth & wine.

Brassicas (Cabbage) – a marinated cabbage salad, made of finely chopped cabbage & green onion tops, in a dressing of herbs, flavored vinegar & oil.

Fava Beans & Garlic – roasted fava beans & whole garlic cloves, seasoned lightly with oil & pepper.

Fresh Berries – a variety of berries tossed with lemon & sugar.

Honir nidrvegheth (Chickens Hunter Style) – roast chicken served in a seasoned wine broth.

Hwitmoos (White Mush) – a bread pudding made with milk, eggs, & cinnamon.

Dilled Carrots – carrots are lightly tossed with real butter & minced fresh dill.

Braden in heren salsin (Roasts in a Sauce for Lords) – roast beef, sliced and served in a light sauce of cinnamon & other spices.

Baked Apples & Pears – sliced apples & pears are baked with honey, ginger, & other spices.

Quomode conficiuntur amigdala in pastello (How Almonds are used in a Pie) – almond pudding baked in small, individual tarts.

Alabama Ale – Sweet Tea
Ren Wine – Lemon Water

© 2006 Gode Cookery

Gode Cookery in Alabama, 2005:
James Matterer, Lisa Holcomb-Blair, & Darell McCormick
Assisted by Lin Wilson & John Iaria

This year’s very special menu has been composed by Lisa Holcomb-Blair & is an Italian Renaissance Feast in honor of the four seasons. The main primary sources for the menu are:

De honeste voluptate by Bartolomeo Sacchi, called Platina, late 15th c., Italian
Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti, a medieval health manual, 14th. c., Italian

Festività Delle Quattro Stagioni

In Italy, the Renaissance was the period of rebirth, sparking the revival of classical arts and societal customs. Along with the renewed aesthetic focus came the innate interest in science and medicine. With this, the rebirth of the classical kitchen was in full swing. Now it was the cook’s job not just to prepare food for sustenance and pleasure, but for its health generating properties as well. The long forgotten tomes of Galen and Hippocrates were once again consulted, and their theories prescribed for health and vitality in daily life.  This ancient system, known as the humoral theory, assigned common elements, such as earth, air, fire, and water, and qualities like dry, moist, hot, and cold, to all living things. In short, the humoral qualities of foods were once again brought to the foreground and consumed for optimal health and balance within the seasonal cycle.

With the newfound focus on health, many noble families consulted artists and doctors alike to produce manuscripts of instruction on optimal health.  One of the most beautiful and thorough of these text is the Tacuinum Sanitatis in Medicina, The Four Seasons In the House of Cerruti. This 14th century Northern Italian manuscript contains extensive information and detailed illuminations illustrating the gathering and preparation of foodstuffs and medicinal herbs and preparations according to seasonal availability. The original copy now resides Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna. Along with the recipes of Platina’s Dehoneste Voluptate, Gode Cookery is honored to present the Festività Delle Quattro Stagioni… The Feast of the Four Seasons.

AUTUMNO

Autumn, from the Tacuinum of Vienna

We will begin our journey into the culinary history of the House of Cerruti with Autumn. When the sun enters Libra, thus begins Autumn and the grape harvest. Fruits and nuts have also reached their peak at this time. Stores and preserves were prepared for the winter and feast tables were elegantly dressed in seasonal finery and baked goods reflecting this time of abundance.

Source: Platina
The onion is also cooked under ashes and coals until the rawness is steamed out of it; when it has cooled it is chopped finely and put in a dish with salt and oil and defrutum, or rolled in must. There are those who also sprinkle the onion with pepper or cinnamon.

RISUM IN QuO IVS IVRE (Rice in the juice you please)
Rice baked in an almond broth.

Ingredients: Rice, chicken stock, almond milk, salt, saffron, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon.

Source: Platina
Enough has been said about simple things; but cooks now call me to preparations once again. Spelt meal is cleaned and rinsed, cooked in juice of chicken for a long time; when it has cooked transfer part of it into a deep dish. To this, when it has cooled a little, add the yolks of three eggs with some saffron and return it to the pot and sprinkle with spices.

Prepare rice in the same manner as the meal. Some leave out the eggs. It is done according to your choice.

PVLEVS IN ACRESTA (Chicken in verjuice)
Chicken stewed in verjuice, herbs, & spices.

Ingredients: Chicken, verjuice, parsley mint, saffron, salt, pepper.

Source: Platina
Cook down a chicken with some salt flesh; when it is half-cooked, put into your pot grapes with the seeds removed. Add parsley and finely chopped mint, pepper and saffron powdered together. Put all these into a kettle. When the chicken is cooked, fill the plates.

PATINA DE COTONIA (Quince and Walnut Pastries)
Quinces are combined with apples and pears, stewed with walnuts, and baked in a delicate pastry.

Ingredients: Quince, apples, pears, walnuts, raisins, sugar, flour, lard, water, salt.

Source: Cerruti
Since they first graced the opulent tables of the Roman Empire, quinces have been a mainstay on the European table. The best quinces are large and full. They cheer the heart and stimulate the appetite. They often cause colic, but this is easily remedied by preparing them with honey.

INVERNO

Winter, from the Tacuinum of Vienna 

In winter, if the air is too cold, one avoids the wind, especially the north wind. Regarding food, the concept of de mensa sume quantumvis tempore brume, eat as much as you want in the wintertime, holds true. It is suggested that due to the cold moist nature of the season, that food be increased and fluid consumption decreased, lest it be a hearty and robust wine. Therefore winter ushers in a shift in culinary preference toward hearty foods that are warming in nature.

IN CANABIM (Cabbage a la Romane)
A dish of cabbage cooked in seasoned broth.

Ingredients: Cabbage, pork fat, strong broth, pepper, saffron.

Source: Platina
With your hands tear up cabbage and toss it into boiling water. When it is half done, throw away the juice and transfer the cabbage into another pot and blend in finely chopped lard. Besides this, add as much rich juice as you need. Let it boil a little bit, for it does not need much cooking.

La Presentazione della Cialda Reale
The Presentation of the Royal Wafer

This year’s feast wafer is in honor of Her Royal Majesty Salana, and shows a profile of Her Majesty bordered by the name SALANA and the date MMV. This original design and hand carved mold are by Darell McCormick. 

Ingredients: eggs, sugar, bakers ammonia, flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, & butter flavor.

Spring commences with the vernal equinox when the sun enters the sign of Aries and ends when the sun has passed through Aries and the adjacent signs of Taurus and Gemini and reaches the solstice. This is the time, as we know, when the days are longer, the weather is changeable, and vegetation and inclinations begin to bloom. In a culinary sense, we see a shift toward lighter dishes and fresh sprouting greens and floral preparations as the days lengthen and warm.

CONDITVM PADODOPUM (A salad of several greens)
A lettuce & spinach salad.

Ingredients: Romaine, mixed greens, baby spinach, herbs, oil and vinegar.

Source: Platina
You season raw lettuce this way if it does not need washing, for that is more healthful that what has been washed in water; put it in a dish, sprinkle with ground salt, pour in a little oil and more vinegar and eat at once. Some add a little mint and parsley to it for seasoning so that it does not seem entirely bland and the excessive chill of the lettuce does not harm the stomach.

FABA IN FRIXORIO (Broad beans in the frying pan)
Small fried cakes of fava beans & onions, seasoned with sage & sweetened with dates.

Ingredients: Fava beans, onions, dates, sage

Source: Platina
Put broad beans that have been cooked and softened into a frying pan with soft fat, onions figs, sage and several pot-herbs, or else fry them well rubbed with oil and, on a wooden tablet or a flat surface spread this into the form of a cake and sprinkle spices over it.

For this recipe, we are substituting dates for figs.

HERBACEVM MAIALE (Torta of herbs in the month of May)
An egg & herb pie.

Ingredients: Eggs, milk, butter, parsley, marjoram, sugar, ginger, rosewater in pastry.

Source: Platina
A food, which we commonly call a torta, has taken its name from the herbs, which are twisted and cut up, from which almost all of these are made, I should think. This is what our very prosperous age has done, and therefore, whether these be Pythagorean or French, henceforth we shall call them torta.

PLACENTIS IN IVS ROSATUM (Cakes in Rose Petal sauce)
Fine cakes in a sauce of rose petal jam and cream.

Ingredients: eggs, sugar, bakers ammonia, honey, flour, rose petal jam, cream.

For the cakes, we are using this recipe:

A Ffare Bozolati da Monege (Little Cakes of Monaco)

Source: Libro di cucina / libro per cuoco, Anonimo Veneziano, 14th/15th c.
Take eggs that have been beaten well with a little salt, take as many eggs as you want with the wheat flour that want to make the said items. Paste the flour together with the beaten eggs without water. If you want honey, for each 10 eggs you want a good spoon of honey, if you want them with sugar instead for each 10 eggs you will want an ounce of sugar. The dough should be worked very well, and made immediately and have in mind that they should be cooked immediately so that they don’t catch either wind or sun because immediately they will spoil. They should be cooked in a tart pan that doesn’t heat the little cakes too much, and thus you cook them one at a time, making sure the terra-cotta pot isn’t greasy, make sure it has been
well cleaned if it was greased.

L’ESTATE

Summer, from the Tacuinum of Vienna

We end our feast with summer’s bounty of fresh fruits and crisp vegetables. In the summer it is beneficial to stay occasionally in a country house. The countryside provides food for the city and similarly, human life is prolonged by frequenting the countryside. Early summer is the most beneficial time for the body when the sun is in Cancer. It dissolves the excesses from the food we eat and abates the cold illness. Excessive exercise should be avoided during this time and the learned Galen suggests that pure spring water be consumed and cold beverages avoided.

CIBRIVM Ex PISO (Pottage from peas)
A dish of peas.

Ingredients: Green peas, salt pork, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon.

Source: Platina
Let peas boil in the pod one time. Having taken them out of the water, fry morsels of salt flesh, which are neither too lean nor too fat, but be sure that the morsels have been fried a little beforehand. Then add a little verjuice, a little must or some sugar and cinnamon.

CVCVRBITA IN RAFANI (Cucumbers and gourds with seasoned radishes)
Cucumber and gourd salad dressed with seasoned radishes, Platina’s advice for the end of a meal.

Ingredients: Cucumbers, zucchini, parsley, and radishes in salt, pepper, vinegar, oil

Source: Platina
It will be told briefly what should be consumed as a third course, in conclusion, to seal the stomach. If it happens that you have eaten meat, roasted or boiled, according to the time of the year, eat either apples or pears, especially the sour ones, because they drive from the head the vapors of the food taken earlier. The radish root is also considered wonderfully good because, taken after food, it helps the digestion by penetrating to the depths of the stomach.

TORTA ALBA (White cheese tarts with plums)
A plum cheesecake, to end the feast.

Ingredients: Ricotta and cream cheese, eggs, butter, milk, sugar, nutmeg, ginger, purple plums in pastry.

Source: Platina
Pound in a mortar pitted sour cherries which can be called merendae. When they are pounded, mix into them well cut-up red roses, a little fresh cheese, and ground aged cheese, a bit of pepper, a little ginger, a little more sugar, and four beaten eggs. When they are mixed, cook in a well-greased pan with a lower crust on a slow fire. When they are taken off the fire, pour sugar and rosewater over them. This does not differ much from the above in force and pleasantness.

Our recipe is a variation of this original from Platina, leaving out the cut-up red roses and the rosewater, substituting plums for cherries, and making a few minor additions to the ingredients.

La Cerimonia del Re del Fagiolo
The Ceremony of the Bean King

Bevande (Beverages)

Tè Dolce (Sweet Tea)

Acqua Del Limone (Lemon Water)

© 2005 Gode Cookery

Gode Cookery in Alabama, 2004:
James Matterer, Lisa Holcomb-Blair, & Darell McCormick

Assisted by Marleyna Smith & John Iaria

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Le .j. cours

Payndemayne – white bread.

Buttir – butter.

Sallet – salad of various lettuces, herbs, & fruits. From Curye on Inglish and Sallets, Humbles, & Shrewsbery Cakes.

We are serving a combined variation of two period receipts: Salat, from Curye on Inglish; and To Compound an excellent Sallet, from Sallets, Humbles, & Shrewsbery Cakes. Our recipe is found HERE.

Ingredients: lettuce, spinach, fresh herbs, onion, scallion, red cabbage, cucumber, raisins, walnuts, oranges, lemons, red wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar.

Broet d’Alamaniz – “German broth.” A chicken & pork soup, made with almond milk & spices. From Du fait de cuisine.

German broths were one of the most common dishes in late-medieval French & English cookery, according to Terence Scully. The flavor of the broth was a well-known combination of onions, pork fat, almonds, & spices. Read Scully’s translation of the period recipe HERE.

Ingredients: chicken meat, pork, onions, bacon fat, almonds, beef bouillon, white wine, sour grape juice, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, mace, saffron, sugar, salt.

Le .ij. cours

Garroites – carrots cooked in honey. From Le Menagier de Paris.

 

We are preparing carrots according to the instructions from Le Menagier de Paris, which has them boiled until tender, then cooked in honey. Read Janet Hinson’s translation of the original recipe HERE.

Ingredients: carrots, honey.

Benes yfryed – Fava beans, onions, & garlic browned in olive oil & spices. From Forme of Cury.
This is a simple dish of fried beans, onions, & garlic. Read our recipe HERE.

Ingredients: fava beans, onions, garlic, olive oil, cinnamon, sugar, cloves, nutmeg, white pepper, salt.

Chike endored – roast chicken in a golden egg glaze. From Harleian MS 4016.

 

Roast chicken is endored – that is, covered in gold – with a glaze that imitates the gold-leaf so often found on medieval food. The 15th c. recipe is read HERE.Ingredients: chicken (roasted with olive oil, salt, & pepper), egg yolks, flour, ginger, white pepper, saffron.

Entremet – A Musical Interlude

Minnesanger wafer- Springerle wafer.

Springerle is a type of molded cake or wafer which originated in Northern Europe around the year 1000 A.D. The Minnesanger design used here, featuring two musicians at a fountain, is dated to approx. 1540 and is from Nuremberg, Germany.

Ingredients: eggs, flour, sugar, baker’s ammonia, spices.

The Minnesanger wafer

Le .iij. cours

Champignons- mushrooms & cheese. From Le Menagier de Paris.

Le Menagier de Paris, a wealthy man of 14th c. France, recommnded this mushroom dish to his new bride. His recipe may be found HERE.Ingredients: mushrooms, olive oil, grated romano & parmesan cheese, salt, pepper.

Beuf Comme Venoison d’Ours – “Beef to taste like bear.” Roast beef accompanied with a black pepper sauce. From Le Menagier de Paris.
This is roast beef, served with a black pepper sauce designed to make the final product taste like wild bear. From Le Menagier de Paris, the original recipe with translation may be read HERE.

Ingredients: beef, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, red wine vinegar, beef bouillon, ginger, cloves, cardamom.

Amplummus – fried apples in cream, eggs, cinnamon, & sugar. From Un Vivendier.The name amplummus is probably German and is a combination of the words for “apple” and “mush;” the recipe possibly originated as a dish for the ill. The original recipe is HERE.

Ingredients: apples, butter, cream, egg yolks, saffron, salt, cinnamon, sugar.

 

Le .iiij. cours

Gauffres – cakes and wafers; the presentation of the Bean Cake.

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Broet d’Alamaniz

Next, a German Broth: to instruct the person who is to make it, depending on the quantity he is to make of it let him take his capons, prepare them cleanly and cut them into quarters; then according to the quantity of that pottage he has been charged to make, he should take the meat in an amount proportionate to the poultry, just as in the other pottage, either pork, lamb, kid, or veal, and this meat should be cut up to the size of the quartered poultry. And for this take a quantity of onions according to the amount of meat you will be making, and cut them up very small; and take the fat of bacon and melt it fully, and put the amount of meat you have in either good, clean cauldrons or boilers, and then put your onions and the fat around your meat and fry all of it together. Depending on the amount of your meat, get a quantity of almonds, and clean them so that there are no bits of shell left, and wash them in good water; then have them ground without peeling the skin off them, and moisten them with beef bouillon; then take a good two-handled pot and with beef bouillon, strain the amount that you want to make of it; and check that it is not too salty. Then take good white wine and verjuice in an amount suitable for the quantity of the broth and add them together with white ginger, grains of paradise, pepper – and not too much of it , with nutmegs, and all the lesser spices like cloves and mace, and some saffron to give it color; and use all these spices judiciously. Once they have been ground, put them into your broth, and pour this broth over your fried meat, together with a large amount of sugar appropriate for the quantity of the broth. When everything is together, taste it to see whether there is too much or too little of anything so that you can correct this, and taste it too for saltiness. And be careful about the meat that it does not cook too much, because kid and veal are more tender than poultry. When your meat is cooked just right and it is time to serve it up, put it to one side and set it out in dishes, and then pour the broth over top of it.

Scully, Terence. Chiquart’s “On Cookery.” A Fifteenth-century Savoyard Culinary Treatise. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1986.

Garroites

Item, on All Saints, take carrots as many as you wish, and when they are well cleaned and chopped in pieces, cook them like the turnips. (Carrots are red roots which are sold at the Halles in baskets, and each basket costs one blanc.)

 

Hinson, Janet, trans. Le Menagier de Paris <http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier_Contents.html> (May 4, 2004)

Champignons

Champignons d’une nuit sont les meilleurs, et sont petits et vermeils dedans, clos dessus: et les convient peler, puis laver en eaue chaude et pourboulir; qui en veult mettre en pasté, si y mette de l’uille, du frommage et de la pouldre.Item, mettez-les entre deux plats sur charbons, et mettez un petit de sel, du frommage et de la pouldre. L’en les treuve en la fin de May et en Juin.Mushrooms of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed above: and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if you wish to put them in pastry, add oil, cheese and powdered spices.

Item, put them between two dishes over the coals, and add a little salt, cheese and powdered spices. You can find them at the end of May and in June.

Hinson, Janet, trans. Le Menagier de Paris <http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier_Contents.html> (May 4, 2004)

Beuf Comme Venoison d’Ours

Beuf Comme Venoison d’Ours. Du giste de boeuf. Fait-l’en sausse noire de gingembre, clo de giroffle, poivre long, graine, etc. Et met-l’en en chascune escuelle, deux escuelles, et le mengue-l’en à saveur d’ours.

Beef like Bear Venison. A leg of beef. Do it in a black sauce of ginger, clove, long and grain pepper, etc. And put in each bowl, two pieces, and it will taste like bear.

Hinson, Janet, trans. Le Menagier de Paris
<http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier_Contents.html> (May 4, 2004)

Amplummus

Pour faire un amplummus: prenez pommes pelleez et copez morceauix, puis mis boullir en belle esve fresce; et quant il sont bien cuis, purez l’esve hors nettement, puis les suffrisiez en beau bure fres; ayez cresme douce et moyeuix d’oels bien batus, saffren et sel egalment; et au dreschier canelle et chucquere largement pardessus.

To make an Apple Sauce. Get peeled apples, cut into pieces, then set to boil in pure fresh water. When they are thoroughly cooked, drain off all of the water and sauté them in good fresh butter; get fresh cream and well beaten egg yolks and saffron, and salt judiciously. On dishing it up, cinnamon and sugar generously over the top.

Scully, Terence. The Vivendier. Devon: Prospect Books, 1997.

 

© 2004 Gode Cookery

Gode Cookery: James Matterer, Glenda Cockrum, Tammy Crawford, Lisa Holcomb-Blair, & Darell McCormick
With special thanks to Theresa Kanka

A Feast of Illusions for the Wizard King

Recipes & Ingredients

The Furst Course

Knots– bread & butter.Snails– beef stew.Frogs – mock frog legs, made of chicken wings cut to resemble frog legs.

A Basket of Flowers – a decorative salad served from flower baskets.

Entremet. A Living Chess Game

Chess Pieces – chocolate chess pieces, to coincide with the living chess game.

Little Leaves– fried spinach, chard, & onions.Small Worms That Are Found In Cheese– Vermicelli pasta with cheese.Dragon – fried or roasted chicken breasts in a red cinnamon sauce.

Shells – cakes shaped like seashells.

Pig’s Brains– a large faux boar’s head, filled with stewed fruits. (Served only to the Wizard King.)

The Thrid Course

Our knot-shaped bread is inspired by the recipe To make Jambles from Sallets, Humbles, & Shrewsbery Cakes, where small cakes are shaped “into Letters or Knots of what fashion you please.”

Ingredients: white bread, olive oil, butter.

Source: Beebe, Ruth Anne. Sallets, Humbles, & Shrewsbery Cakes. A Collection of Elizabethan Recipes Adapted for the Modern Kitchen. Boston: David R. Godine, 1976.

Original recipe from Un Vivendier: Snails, on any good meat, piglet or other. The meat is cut up into chunks and cooked in good bouillon, then set to dry on a clean cloth. Get white bread crumbs tempered in verjuice, and egg yolks, everything strained, saffron, ginger, cloves, grains of paradise and long pepper, distempered with wine and vinegar. Boil everything together. Set out your meat in platters, pour the sauce on top.

Our version: small chunks of beef are simmered in bouillon & spices.

Our version of this recipe is prepared & served as a stew.

Ingredients:beef, beef bouillon, unseasoned white bread crumbs, egg yolks, ginger, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, salt, & red wine vinegar.

Source: Scully, Terence. The Vivendier. Devon: Prospect Books, 1997.

Original recipe from Le Menangier de Paris: Frogs. To catch them have a line and a hook with a bait of meat or a red rag, and having caught the frogs, cut them across the body near the thighs, and take out the foulness from the hindparts, and take the two thighs, cut off the feet, and skin the thighs all raw, then take cold water, and wash them; if the thighs remain for a night in cold water, they be so much the better and tenderer. And when they be thus steeped, let them be washed in warm water, then put to a towel and dried; the aforesaid thighs, thus washed and dried, must be rolled in flour and then fried in oil, fat or some other liquid, and let them be served in a bowl with spice powder thereon.

Our version: chicken wings, cut to resemble frog legs, are floured, sautéed in olive oil, and seasoned with salt & pepper.

Our version of this recipe uses chicken wings as mock frog legs.

Ingredients: chicken wings, flour, olive oil, salt, & black pepper.

Source: Power, Eileen. The Goodman of Paris (Le Ménagier de Paris). A Treatise on Moral and Domestic Economy by A Citizen of Paris (c. 1395). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1928.

For our salad of “flowers,” we are inspired by Country Contentments, in Two Books, 1615, by Gervase Markham, which describes the preparation of salads to resemble baskets of flowers.

A decorative salad containing various lettuces with salad greens & vegetables is served from large flower baskets. The salad is dressed with red wine vinegar, oil, and a little sugar.

Ingredients: various lettuces & salad greens, cucumbers, carrots, red wine vinegar, sugar, & olive oil.

Source: Country Contentments, in Two Books, 1615, by Gervase Markham.

Chess Pieces

Inspired by our Living Chess Game, the chocolate chess pieces are handmade by Tammy Crawford.

Ingredients: milk chocolate.

Return to Menu

Original recipe from Libro della cucina del secolo XIV: Of little leaves. Take spinach and chard; pick them over well and boil them. Then remove them and chop them very well with a knife; then take parsley, fennel, anise[?] onions, chop them and mash them with a knife, and fry them well in oil; take other “little herbs” and fry them all together, and add a little water and bring to the boil; add pepper and spices and serve.

Our version: spinach & chard are boiled until done, then chopped into small pieces. They are then sautéed in olive oil along with chopped onions & fresh parsley.

Our version of this recipe omits the anise, as it is used elsewhere in the feast; we have also left out the fennel.

Ingredients: spinach, chard, parsley, onions, olive oil, salt, & black pepper.

Source: Redon, Odile and Françoise Sabban, Silvano Serventi. Edward Schneider, trans. The Medieval Kitchen. Recipes from France and Italy. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Original recipe from Un Vivendier: Sicilian Vermicelli are made of dough as fine as small worms that are found in cheese. Young country girls make them in summertime for the whole year, drying them in the sun to make them last longer. They should be well culled and washed, then set to dry as was said for the Rice, and cooked in good fat bouillon with a good lot of saffron; when dishing up, fine grated cheese sprinkled on top.

Our version: vermicelli pasta is cooked in a vegetable broth until al denté; grated cheese is sprinkled on top just before serving.

Our version of this recipe keeps the dish vegetarian-friendly by boiling the noodles in vegetable based bouillon and not one of “good fat.”

Ingredients: vermicelli pasta, vegetable bouillon, grated parmesan & romano cheese,  salt.

Source: Scully, Terence. The Vivendier. Devon: Prospect Books, 1997.

Original recipe from Diuersa Cibaria: Dragone. Milk of almonds, flour of rice, brawn of capon, sugar & cinnamon; the color red of sanc dragoun.

Our version: an almond Bechamel sauce is made from milk and a roux; it is flavored with cinnamon & sugar and is colored red. Chicken breasts are served in this sauce.

Our version of this recipe uses whole milk flavored with almond instead of almond milk, and roux as a thickener instead of rice flour. Sanc dragoun was a herb used to dye foods red; we are using red food coloring instead.

Ingredients: chicken breasts, almond Bechamel sauce (whole milk, almond extract, a roux of butter & flour), sugar, cinnamon, salt, & red food coloring.

Source: Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Our inspiration for Shells comes from To make Shelbread, from A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewoman, 1617, where seashells are used as the molds for small cakes. Our shell cookies are flavored with lemon & rosewater as are the cakes in the original receipt.

Ingredients: eggs, sugar, baker’s ammonia, lemon flavoring, rosewater, & flour.

Source: A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewoman, 1617.

Original recipe from Utilis Coquinario: To make a fawn. Take the leaves & blossoms of beans & pound them in a mortar & temper them up with the broth of fresh beef or of capons. And do there-to minced white bread that it be thick, & salt it; & do there-to sugar & saffron, & dress it in dishes & set there-on blossoms of beans & serve it forth.

Our version: fava beans are cooked in a vegetable broth, and seasoned with saffron & sugar.

Our version of this recipe uses beans instead of just the leaves & blossoms; the beans are left whole and not mashed. In addition, the dish is kept vegetarian-friendly by eliminating the beef or chicken bouillon and cooking in a vegetable based broth instead. The thickening agent, the bread crumbs, is not necessary when using unmashed beans and has been left out.

Ingredients: fava beans, vegetable bouillon, saffron, sugar, & salt.

Source: Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Original recipe from MS Harley 5401: To make Char de Crabb. Recipe crabapples & boil them in water till they be soft, & take honey & strain the crabs there-with through a cloth. put to a 3rd part of clarified honey & a quantity of sandalwood, & color it with saffron; then put there-to a quantity of powder of pepper & 2d worth of the flour of anise & a quantity of powder of licorice. Then take grated bread & mold it up there-with, & put it in pie shells & serve it forth.

Our version: sliced apples are cooked until soft with honey & anise.

Our version of this recipe is simply apples cooked in honey  & flavored with anise, and is not the apple pie of the original receipt. The bread crumbs, needed to thicken a pie filling, have been left out.

Ingredients: apples, honey, saffron, white pepper, & anise flavoring.

Original recipe from MS Beinecke 163: Hats. Make a pastry dough of prepared flour, kneaded with yolks of eggs; & make a stuffing of veal & pork, boiled & ground, with yolks of eggs; marrow diced, & dates minced; currants; sugar, saffron & salt & spices; & mix all together. And make your pastry on round foils of the breadth of a saucer, as thin as may be drawn. Turn it double, that the edges may come to the middle of the foil; then turn it together that the edges on the bigger side meet all about, & the smaller side turn upward without in the manner of a hat. And close well the edges that they hold well. Fill there-on your stuffing. Have a batter of yolks of eggs & wheat flour in the open side that is toward. Look there-in the stuffing be closed, & set it in hot grease upright. When the batter is fried, you may lay it down & fry it all over.

Our version: a meat pie filling is made from beef, eggs, dried fruits, & spices. The filling is stuffed into small rounds of pastry shaped to resemble hats, then baked. They are garnished with a small feather.

Our version of this recipe uses beef instead of the veal & pork mixture. The marrow has been left out, and the pies are baked and not fried.

Ingredients: pie pastry, beef, egg yolks, dates, currants, sugar, salt, black pepper, ginger, & olive oil.

Source: Hieatt, Constance B. An Ordinance of Pottage. An Edition of the Fifteenth Century Culinary Recipes in Yale University’s MS Beinecke 163. London: Prospect Books Ltd, 1988.

Peacock Eyes are a traditional European cookie, made of layered cookies with a red filling; the filling shows through three decorative holes, resembling the markings of a peacock.

Ingredients: sugar cookies & strawberry jam.

Gode Cookery: James Matterer, Glenda Cockrum, Ray Walker, & Darell McCormick

The Furst Course

Manchet – white bread. 1 medium-sized loaf, done with the traditional medieval cross, for each diner.

Botere – butter.

Sallet – salad of various lettuces & herbs, raisins, oranges, lemons, cucumbers, & nuts, dressed with red wine vinegar, oil, and a little sugar, from  Forme of Cury and Sallets, Humbles, & Shrewsbery Cakes.

Apple Muse – a thick & creamy apple soup, from Harleian MS. 279.

Carrots – a simple dish of carrots preserved lightly in honey, from Le Menagier de Paris.

Makerouns- a dish of home-made noodles layered with cheese & spices (medieval “macaroni-n-cheese”), from Forme of Cury.

Poulés Rostis – roast hen served with 3 different dipping sauces: Cold Sage Sauce (savory), Cameline Sauce (hot & spicy mustard), & Verjuice (sweet & sour cherry sauce). From Le Viandier de Taillevent.

Une tour. A Tower. If you wish to make a tower covered with cloth painted as if it were masonry, it should have four windows at the four corners of the tower, and there should be in them the likeness of Saracens and Moors shooting at the wild man who is trying to attack them. To make the wild man you need a tall, erect, handsome man dressed in a linen robe with leggings and shoes of matching material; and the robe should be covered completely with painted hemp. In the tower you need the representation of a young lad who is disguised as the wild boy, and he should have leather balls, stuffed with flocks of wool or yarn, painted to look like stones, to throw at the wild man. – from Le Viandier de Taillevent.

Our version of this spectacle featured a tower defended by three wild men (also called woodwoses). Within the tower was the King’s chest, stolen by the woodwoses. On command of the King, three guards attacked the tower, and the woodwoses retaliated by throwing the mock stones described above. After defeating the wild men, the guards returned the chest to the King, who ordered its contents distributed to all those present in the hall. The feast servers then emerged and give to each diner one large, molded wafer, in the design seen HERE, and the spectacle ended.

See Woodwoses HERE.

Perys en Composte – pears cooked in faux white wine date sauce, from Harleian MS 279.

Our modern recipe is an adaptation of the following two period receipts:

(1). Salat. Take persel, sawge, grene garlec, chibolles, letys, leek, spinoches, borage, myntes, prymos, violettes, porrettes, fenel, and toun cressis, rew, rosemarye, purslarye; laue and waishe hem clene. Pike hem. Pluk hem small wiþ þyn honde, and myng hem wel with rawe oile; lay on vyneger and salt, and serue it forth.

- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Gode Cookery translation:

Salad. Take parsley, sage, green garlic, scallions, lettuce, leek, spinach, borage, mints, primroses, violets, “porrettes” (green onions, scallions, & young leeks), fennel, and garden cress, rue, rosemary, purslane; rinse and wash them clean. Peel them. (Remove stems, etc.) Tear them into small pieces with your hands, and mix them well with raw oil; lay on vinegar and salt, and serve.

(2). To Compound an excellent Sallet, and which indeede is usuall at great Feasts, and upon Princes Tables. Take a good quantity of blaunch’t Almonds, and with your Shredding knife cut them grosly; then take as manie Raisyns of the sunne cleane washt, and the stones pick’t out, as many Figges shred like the Almonds, and as many Capers, twise so many Olives, and as many Currants as of all the rest cleane washt: a good handfull of the small tender leaves of Red Sage and Spinage; mixe all these well together with a good store of Sugar and lay them in the bottome of a great dish, then put unto them Vinegar and Oyle, and scrape more Sugar over all; then take Orenges and Lemmons, and paring away the outward pills, cut them into thinne slices, then with those slices cover the sallet all over; which done, take the thin leafe of the red Coleflowre, and with them cover the Orenges and Lemmons all over, then over those red leaves lay another course of old Olives, and the slices of wel pickld Coucumbers, together with the very inward hart of your Cabbage lettice cut into slices, then adorne the sides of the dish and the top of the Sallet with more slices of Lemons and Orenges and so serve it up.

- Beebe, Ruth Anne. Sallets, Humbles, & Shrewsbery Cakes. A Collection of Elizabethan Recipes Adapted for the Modern Kitchen. Boston: David R. Godine, 1976.

What we did: a salad of various lettuces & herbs, raisins, oranges, lemons, cucumbers, & nuts, dressed with red wine vinegar, oil, and a little sugar. This is the same salad which was served at the 2001 feast.

Apple Muse – Apple Soup

- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.

Gode Cookery translation:

Take apples an boil them, and pass it through a strainer into a pot; than take almond milk & honey, and add, and grated bread, saffron, sandalwood, & a little salt, & put all in a pot & let it boil; & see that you stir it well, & serve it forth.

What we did: a very thick apple soup made with milk and honey, served hot.

Funges – Mushrooms

- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

What we did: mushrooms & onions cooked  in a vegetarian, kosher, beef-flavored broth with white pepper, black pepper, & cloves.

Carrots

The Menagier’s instructions for turnips has them boiled until tender, then cooked in honey.

- Power, Eileen. The Goodman of Paris (Le Ménagier de Paris). A Treatise on Moral and Domestic Economy by A Citizen of Paris (c. 1395). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1928

What we did: carrots cooked al dente, then preserved in a light honey sauce.

Makerouns – Macaroni and Cheese

- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Gode Cookery translation:

Macaroni. Take and make a thin foil of dough, and carve it in pieces, and cast them in boiling water and seethe it well. Take cheese and grate it, and butter melted, cast beneath and above as for lasagna, and serve forth.

What we did: home-made noodles cooked until tender, then tossed with butter, a blend of grated parmesan & romano cheeses, and sweet savory herbs (basil & thyme).

NOTE: we’re instructed to make this dish like losyns, or lasagna, & a recipe for losyns exists elsewhere in Forme of Cury; it is essentially our modern lasagna, without the red sauce but with sheets of noodles layered with grated cheese and powdour (spices). Following this example, we added ground herbs, sweet basil & thyme, to our recipe.

Poulés rostis – Roasted Chicken with Three Sauces

- Scully, Terence. Le Viandier de Taillevent. An Edition of all Extant Manuscripts. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988.

What we did: game hens roasted with a little olive oil, spices, & herbs, served with the three different dipping sauces: a savory made with sage, a hot & spicy made with mustard & cinnamon, & a sweet & sour made with cherries.

The Sauces: (1) Cold Sage. (2) Cameline. (3) Verjuice.

(1). Froide sauge. Cook your poultry in water, then set it to cool; grind ginger, cassia buds, grains of Paradise and cloves, and do not strain them; then grind bread, parsley and sage, with, if you wish, a little saffron in this greenery to make it a bright green, and sieve this; and some people add strained, hard-cooked egg yolks steeped in vinegar; do not boil.

- Scully, Terence. Le Viandier de Taillevent. An Edition of all Extant Manuscripts. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988.

What we did: a dipping sauce made from chicken broth, parlsey, & sage, thickened with bread.

(2). Cameline Mustard sauce. Take mustard, red wine, cinnamon powder and enough sugar, and let everything steep together. It should be thick like cinnamon. It is good for any roast.

- Scully, Terence. Le Viandier de Taillevent. An Edition of all Extant Manuscripts. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988.

What we did: Dijon mustard blended with red grape juice, cinnamon, & honey.

(3). Sauce of Sour Cherries or of Ordinary Cherries. Follow the directions for the Black Grape Sauce but, since the sour cherries are tart, add in all the sugar and cinnamon your master may wish.

Black Grape Sauce. Get good black grapes, crush them carefully into a vessel with a crustless loaf of bread, and add in a little verjuice so the grapes will not be so sweet; boil this, but first strain it; when you have boiled it, add cinnamon, ginger and other sorts of spices. Note that this strained sauce should boil half an hour so that it is somewhat thick.

- Scully, Terence. Cuoco Napoletano. The Neapolitan Recipe Collection (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS Buhler, 19): A Critical Edition and English Translation. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.

What we did: a sweet and sour sauce made from cherries, fruit juice, unseasoned white bread crumbs, sugar, & spices.

Seed Cake

What we did: round, home-made white cakes baked with a variety of period seeds & spices.

Gode Cookery: James Matterer, Glenda Cockrum, & Darell McCormick

The Furst Course

Pandemayne – whole loaves of white bread

Boter – whipped butter

Spermsye – ricotta cheese blended with a touch of honey into a spread for bread

Sallet – salad of various lettuces & herbs, raisins, oranges, lemons, cucumbers, nuts, red wine vinegar & oil

Bruet Sarcenes – a thick cream soup of beef, onions, & almond milk

French Iowtes – peas porridge with onions & herbs

Saracen Brodo – roasted game hens in a fruit sauce

Tartus of fflesh – a pie of beef, fruits, & nuts, topped with roasted chicken

Cockentrice

Sallet

A salad of various lettuces & herbs, raisins, oranges, lemons, cucumbers, & walnuts, dressed with red wine vinegar, walnut oil, & sugar

Our modern recipe is an adaptation of the following two period receipts:

From Forme of Cury:

Salat. Take persel, sawge, grene garlec, chibolles, letys, leek, spinoches, borage, myntes, prymos, violettes, porrettes, fenel, and toun cressis, rew, rosemarye, purslarye; laue and waishe hem clene. Pike hem. Pluk hem small wiþ þyn honde, and myng hem wel with rawe oile; lay on vyneger and salt, and serue it forth.

Gode Cookery translation:

Salad. Take parsley, sage, green garlic, scallions, lettuce, leek, spinach, borage, mints, primroses, violets, “porrettes” (green onions, scallions, & young leeks), fennel, and garden cress, rue, rosemary, purslane; rinse and wash them clean. Peel them. (Remove stems, etc.) Tear them into small pieces with your hands, and mix them well with raw oil; lay on vinegar and salt, and serve.

From Sallets, Humbles, and Shrewsbery Cakes:

To Compound an excellent Sallet, and which indeede is usuall at great Feasts, and upon Princes Tables. Take a good quantity of blaunch’t Almonds, and with your Shredding knife cut them grosly; then take as manie Raisyns of the sunne cleane washt, and the stones pick’t out, as many Figges shred like the Almonds, and as many Capers, twise so many Olives, and as many Currants as of all the rest cleane washt: a good handfull of the small tender leaves of Red Sage and Spinage; mixe all these well together with a good store of Sugar and lay them in the bottome of a great dish, then put unto them Vinegar and Oyle, and scrape more Sugar over all; then take Orenges and Lemmons, and paring away the outward pills, cut them into thinne slices, then with those slices cover the sallet all over; which done, take the thin leafe of the red Coleflowre, and with them cover the Orenges and Lemmons all over, then over those red leaves lay another course of old Olives, and the slices of wel pickld Coucumbers, together with the very inward hart of your Cabbage lettice cut into slices, then adorne the sides of the dish and the top of the Sallet with more slices of Lemons and Orenges and so serve it up.

Modern recipe:

• Various fresh lettuces, such as Romaine, Red Leaf, etc., but not “head” or “iceberg” lettuce, washed and torn by hand into bite-sized pieces
• Fresh spinach leaves, cleaned and torn by hand into bite-sized pieces
• Various fresh herbs, such as parsley, sage, rosemary, mint leaves (not peppermint), etc., torn by hand or chopped into small pieces
• Green onions & scallions, chopped
• 1 small red cabbage, thinly shredded
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• Small quantity of raisins
• Small quantity of chopped walnuts
• 1 or 2 oranges and lemons
• Red wine vinegar
• Walnut oil
• Sugar

A thick cream soup of beef, onions, & almond milk

Original receipt from Yale University’s MS Beinecke 163:

Take venyson: boyle hit, trye hit, do hit yn a pott. Take almond mylke drawyn up with the same brothe; cast theryn onyons, & aley hit up with floure of rys, & caste yn clovys. Aftyr the boylyng, take hit doun; sesyn hit up with poudyr, wyn, & sygure, & coloure hit with alekenet.

Gode Cookery translation:

Saracen Brewet. Take venison: boil it, drain it, and place in a pot. Take almond milk made from the broth; add onions, & thicken it with rice flour, and add cloves. Bring to a boil then remove from heat; season with powder, wine, & sugar, & color it red.

Modern recipe:

• 2-3 lb. stewing beef, chopped into very small pieces
• 4 cups beef broth
• 4 cups almond milk (see recipe at end)
• 1 medium onion, chopped small or half-minced
• ¾ cup flour
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• Black pepper (to taste)
• 3 Tbs. red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbs. sugar (or to taste)
• Few drops red food coloring

Small delicate cakes flavored with rosewater and nutmeg

Original receipt from Sallets, Humbles, and Shrewsbery Cakes:

To make Shrewsbery Cakes. Take a quart of very fine flower, eight ounces of fine sugar beaten and cersed, twelve ounces of sweete butter, a Nutmegge grated, two or three spoonefuls of damaske rosewater, worke all these together with your hands as hard as you can for the space of halfe an houre, then roule it in little round Cakes, about the thicknesse of three shillings one upon another, then take a silver Cup or a glasse some foure or three inches over, and cut the cakes in them, then strow some flower upon white papers & lay them upon them, and bake them in an Oven as hotte as for Manchet, set up your lid till you may tell a hundredth, then you shall see the white, if any of them rise up clap them downe with some cleane thing, and if your Oven be not too hot set up your lid againe, and in a quarter of an houre they will be baked enough, but in any case take heede your Oven be not too hot, for they must not looke browne but white, and so draw them foorth & lay them one upon another till they bee could, and you may keep them halfe a yeare the new baked are best.

Modern recipe:

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 Tbs. rosewater
• 2 cups + ½ cup flour
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• ½ tsp. salt

Roasted chickpeas & garlic cooked in olive oil, cloves, & pepper

Original receipt from Forme of Cury:

Chyches. Take chiches and wrye hem in askes al nyght oþer al a day, oþer lay hem in hoot aymers. At morowe waische hem in clene water, and do hem ouere the fire with clene water. Seeþ hem vp and do þerto oyle, garlek hole, safroun, powdour fort and salt; seeþ it and messe it forth.

Gode Cookery translation:

Take chickpeas and cover them in ashes all night or all day, or lay them in hot embers. At morrow wash them in clean water, and do them over the fire with clean water. Boil them up and add oil, whole garlic, saffron, powder fort and salt; boil it and serve it forth.

Modern recipe:

• 4 cups chickpeas 
• The cloves of 1-2 whole garlic bulbs, peeled but left whole 
• Olive oil 
• ½ tsp. each pepper & cloves (or season to taste) 
• Pinch saffron 
• Dash salt 

Peas porridge with onions & herbs

Original receipt from Forme of Cury:

French iowtes. Take and seeþ white pesoun and take oute þe perry; & perboile erbis & hewe hem grete, & cast hem in a pot with the perry. Pulle oynouns & seeþ hem hole wel in water, & do hem to þe perry with oile & salt; colour it with safroun & messe it, and cast þeron powdour douce.

Gode Cookery translation:

French pot-herbs. Take and boil white peas and take out the purée; & parboil herbs & hew them great, & cast them in a pot with the purée. Pluck onions & boil them whole well in water, & do them to the purée with oil & salt; color it with saffron & serve it, and cast there-on powder douce.

Modern recipe:

• 2 lb. peas, shelled and fresh or fresh frozen
• Fresh herbs: parsley, thyme, mint, sage, basil, etc. – any fresh, period herbs
• 1 cup onions – these need to be very small, and peeled but left whole. Pearl onions or green onions with the long green shafts cut off work nicely.
• 2-3 Tbs. olive oil 
• Salt (to taste)
• Pinch saffron or a few drops yellow food coloring
• Powder Douce – this was a medieval blend of sweet spices, almost always containing sugar & cinnamon and never pepper, and with such other spices as nutmeg, clove, cardamom, etc. Essentially, what you need to do here is make a slightly sweet-tasting blend of sugar & cinnamon, with whatever other appropriate spices you’d like to include (but no pepper), to be sprinkled on the Iowtes just before serving.

Roasted game hens in a fruit sauce

Original receipt from Libro della cucina del secola XIV:

Saracen brodo. Take roasted capons, and pound their livers, with spices and grilled bread, in a mortar; and moisten this in the mortar with good white wine and sour fruit juices. Then cut up those capons and boil them with those things in a pan; and add dates, Greek raisins, prunes, whole skinned almonds, and an adequate quantity of pork fat; and serve. You can use a similar method for sea fish. You can put apples and pears in these brodi.

Modern recipe:

• 2 roasted chickens or capons, in pieces
• 1 qt. red grape juice
• 1 qt. orange juice
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup combination chopped dates & prunes
• ¼ cup slivered almonds
• Optional: ½ apple & ½ pear, peeled, cored, & chopped

A cinnamon & honey confection

Original receipt from Harleian MS. 279. Leche Vyaundez:

.iiij. Gyngerbrede. Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & þrow ther-on; take gratyd Brede, & make it so chargeaunt þat it wol be y-leched; þen take pouder Canelle, & straw þer-on y-now; þen make yt square, lyke as þou wolt leche it; take when þou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leaves a-bouyn, y-stkyd þer-on, on clowys. And if þou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now.

Gode Cookery translation:

Gingerbread. Take a quart of honey, & boil it, & skim it clean; take saffron, pepper, & throw on; take grated bread, and make it so thick that it can be sliced; then take cinnamon, & strew on; then make it square, like you would have it sliced; and when you slice it, stick in cloves. And if you’d like it red, color it with sandalwood.

Modern recipe:

• 4 cups honey 
• 1 lb. unseasoned bread crumbs 
• 1 Tbs. each ginger & cinnamon 
• 1 tsp. ground white pepper 
• Pinch saffron 
• Whole cloves 

Sweet and sour carrots & pears

Our modern recipe is an adaptation of this original receipt from Forme of Cury:

Compost. Take rote of persel, of pasternak, of rafens, scrape hem and waische hem clene. Take rapes & caboches, ypared and icorue. Take an erthen panne with clene water & set it on the fire; cast alle þise þerinne. Whan þey buth boiled cast þerto peeres, & parboile hem wel. Take alle þise thynges vp & lat it kele on a faire cloth. Do þerto salt; whan it is colde, do hit in a vessel; take vyneger & powdour & safroun & do þerto, & lat alle þise thynges lye þerin al nyyt, oþer al day. Take wyne greke & hony, clarified togider; take lumbarde mustard & raisons coraunce, al hoole, & grynde powdour of canel, powdour douce & aneys hole, & fenell seed. Take alle þise thynges & cast togyder in a pot of erthe, & take þerof whan þou wilt & serue forth.

Gode Cookery translation:

Pickled Salad. Take parsley, carrots, radishes; scrape and clean them. Take white radishes & cabbages, pared and cored. Take an earthen pan with clean water & set it on the fire; and put all these in. When they’ve boiled, add pears and parboil well. Take all these things out and let cool on a clean cloth. Add salt. When cooled, place in a container; add vinegar, powder, and saffron, and let sit overnight. Take Greek wine & honey, clarified together; take “lumbarde” mustard and whole currants, and cinnamon, “powdour douce” & whole anise seed, & fennel seed. Take all these things and place together in an earthen pot, and take from it when you need to, and serve.

Modern recipe:

• 2 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped into medium sized pieces 
• 3-4 pears, peeled, cored and chopped into medium sized pieces
• 1 tsp. salt 
• 1 cup white wine vinegar 
• 1 Tbs. ground ginger 
• few threads saffron
• ½ Tbs. each anise seed & fennel seed
• 1 ½ quart white grape juice
• ½ cup honey 
• ½ Tbs. mustard seed 
• 3 cinnamon sticks

A pie of beef, fruits, & nuts, topped with roasted chicken

Original receipt from Harleian MS 4016. A Boke of Kokery:

Take fressh porke, hew it small, grynde it in a morter, and take it vppe into a faire vessell; And take yolkes and white of egges, streyn hem þorgh a streynour, and temper þe porke there-with; then take pynys, reysons of coraunce, and fry hem in fressh grece, and cast thereto pouder of peper, Gingere, Canell, Sugur, Safferon and salt, and do hit in a coffyn, and plante the coffyn above with prunes, and kutte dates, and grete reysynges, and smale birdes, and or elles hard Yolkes of egges; and if þou take birdes, fry hem a litull in fresh grece, or thou putte hem into þe Coffyn; then endore hit with yolkes of egges and with saffron, and lete bake hit til hit be ynogh, and so serue hit forth.

Gode Cookery translation:

Take fresh pork, hew it small, grind it in a mortar, and take it up into a fair vessel. And take yolks and whites of eggs, strain them through a strainer, and mix the pork there-with; then take pine nuts, currants, and fry them in fresh grease, and add there-to powder of pepper, ginger, cinnamon, sugar, saffron and salt, and do it in a pie shell, and plant the pie shell on top with prunes, and cut dates, and great raisins, and small birds, and or else hard yolks of eggs; and if you take birds, fry them a little in fresh grease,  before you put them into the pie; then gild it with yolks of eggs and with saffron, and let bake until it be done, and so serve it forth.

Modern recipe:

• 1 ½ lb. stewing beef
• 6-8 eggs, beaten
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• ¼ cup currants
• 1 Tbs. butter or oil
• 1 tsp. each salt and pepper (or to taste)
• 1 Tbs. powdered ginger
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• Pinch saffron
• One slightly pre-baked 9-inch pie shell
• 6-8 small cooked chicken thighs or wing “drumettes,” roasted or fried
• 2 egg yolks, beaten

An almond & rice pudding

Our modern recipe is an adaptation of this original receipt from Utilis Coquinario:

Blawmanger. Tak þe two del of rys, þe thridde pert of almoundes; wash clene þe rys in leuk water & turne & seth hem til þay breke & lat it kele, & tak þe melk & do it to þe rys & boyle hem togedere. & do þerto whit gres & braun of hennes grounde smale, & stere it wel, & salte it & dresch it in disches. & frye almaundes in fresch gres til þey be browne, & set hem in þe dissches, & strawe þeron sugre & serue it forth.

Gode Cookery translation:

Blancmange. Take two parts of rice, the third part of almonds; wash the rice clean in lukewarm water & turn & boil them till they break and let cool, & take the milk and do to the rice and boil together. And do there-to white grease & ground dark chicken meat, & stir well, & salt it and place it in dishes. Fry almonds in fresh grease until brown, & set them in the dishes, and strew on sugar & serve it.

Modern recipe:

• 2 cups cooked rice 
• 4-6 cups almond milk (see recipe at end)
• Dash salt 
• ¼ cup fried slivered almonds 
• Sugar to taste 

Parsnips & apples skewered and batter-fried, then dressed with honey

Our modern recipe is an adaptation based on three medieval recipes, from Harleian MS 4016 and Forme of Cury.

From Harleian MS 4016. A Boke of Kokery:

Trayne roste. Take Dates and figges, and kutte hem in a peny brede; And þen take grete reysons and blanched almondes, and prik hem thorgh with a nedel into a threde of a mannys length, and one of one frute and a-noþer of a-noþer frute; and þen bynde the threde with the frute A-bought a rownde spete, endelonge þe spete, in maner of an hasselet; And then take a quarte of wyne or Ale, and fyne floure, And make batur thereof, and cast thereto pouder ginger, sugur, & saffron, pouder of Clowes, salt; And make þe batur not fully rennyng, and noþer stonding, but in þe mene, that hit may cleue, and than rost the treyne abought the fire in þe spete; And þen cast the batur on the treyne as he turneth abought the fire, so longe til þe frute be hidde in the batur; as þou castest þe batur there-on, hold a vessell vndere-nethe, for spilling of þe batur. And whan hit is y-rosted well, hit wol seme a hasselet; And then take hit vppe fro þe spit al hole, And kut hit in faire peces of a Span length, And serue of hit a pece or two in a dissh al hote.

Gode Cookery translation:

Train roast. Take dates and figs, and cut them in a penny breadth; and then take great raisins and blanched almonds, and prick them through with a needle into a thread of a man’s length, and one of one fruit and another of another fruit; and then bind the thread with the fruit about a round spit, along the spit, in manner of a haslet. And then take a quart of wine or ale, and fine flour, and make batter there-of, and cast there-to powder ginger, sugar, & saffron, powder of cloves, salt; and make the batter not fully runny, and neither standing, but in the middle, that it may cleave, and then roast the train about the fire in the spit; and then cast the batter on the train as it turns about the fire, so long till the fruit be hidden in the batter; as you cast the batter there-on, hold a vessel underneath, for spilling of the batter. And when it is roasted well, it will seem a haslet; and then take it up from the spit all whole, and cut it in fair pieces of a span length, and serve of it a piece or two in a dish all hot.

From Forme of Cury:

Hasteletes of fruyt. Take fyges iquartered, raysouns hool, dates and almaundes hoole, and ryne hem on a spyt and roost hem; and endore hem as pomme dorryes, & serue hem forth.

Gode Cookery translation:

Haslet of fruit. Take figs quartered, raisins whole, dates and almonds whole, and run them on a spit and roast them, and gild them as pomme dorryes, & serve them forth.

From Forme of Cury:

Frytour of pasternakes, of skirwittes, & of apples. Take skyrwittes and pasternakes and apples, & perboile hem. Make a batour of flour and ayren; cast þerto ale & yest, safroun & salt. Wete hem in þe batour and frye hem in oile or in grece; do þerto almaund mylke, & serue it forth. 

Gode Cookery translation:

Fritter of carrots, of parsnips, & of apples. Take parsnips and carrots and apples, & parboil them. Make a batter of flour and eggs; cast there-to ale & yeast, saffron & salt. Wet them in the batter and fry them in oil or in grease; do there-to almond milk, & serve it forth.

Modern recipe:

• 2-3 apples, peeled, cored and cut into finger-sized pieces
• 1 parsnip, peeled and cut into finger-sized pieces
• 3 cups flour
• 4 eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup flat ale
• 1 tsp. yeast
• Pinch of saffron
• ½ tsp. salt
• Oil for deep-frying
• Honey
• Wooden skewers

Haslet was the intestines and organ meats of animals of the hunt, the “offal” that is rejected today. In the Middle Ages, however, this part of the animal was a sought-after trophy, and “haslet,” roasted on a spit, was brought into the feast hall with great ceremony and presented with honor. The first two period receipts present a mock haslet, composed of fruits roasted in such a way as to resemble the real thing. In the first receipt, the haslet is made of fruit strung together with needle and thread, such as popcorn or cranberries on a modern Christmas tree. These strings of fruit, each the length of a man’s height, are wrapped around a spit, and as they roast are basted in a wine batter. In the second receipt, fruit is placed on a spit and given a coating of batter of flour and egg yolks as they roast. The third receipt is a simple fritter recipe of apples, carrots, & parsnips. Our modern version, therefore, is an adaptation of all three of these fried fruit recipes.

Using the apples & parsnips of the third recipe, our haslet is placed on skewers, the spit used in the second recipe. Recipes 1 & 2 have the haslet coated in batter; recipe 3 deep fries the batter-coated fruit pieces. Our haslet is thus made by placing alternate pieces of apple and parsnip on a wooden skewer, dipping this in batter, then deep-frying in hot oil until brown. The end result looks very much indeed like roasted meat on a small spit, but with a decidedly different taste! Our final garnish is honey, an appropriate substitute for almond milk and the most popular medieval sweetener.

Spiced red grape juice

Original receipt from Forme of Cury:

Clarrey. Take kanel & galinga, greyns de paris, and a lytel peper, & make pouder, & temper hit wyt god wyte wyne & the þrid perte honey & ryne hit þorow a cloþ.

Gode Cookery translation:

Claret. Take cinnamon & galingale, grains of paradise, and a little pepper, & make powder, & mix it with good white wine & the third part honey & run it through a cloth. 

Modern recipe:

• 1 gallon red grape juice (substituting for red wine) 
• 1 cup honey 
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2-3 pieces galingale root (or substitute ginger root)
• 1 Tbs. cardamom pods
• 1 Tbs. black peppercorns
• Cheesecloth 

Spiced white grape juice

Original receipt from Goud Kokery:

Potus ypocras. Take a half lb. of canel tried; of gyngyuer tried, a half lb.; of greynes, iii unce; of longe peper, iii unce; of clowis, ii unce; of notemugges, ii unce & a half; of carewey, ii unce; of spikenard, a half unce; of galyngale, ii unce; of sugir, ii lb. Si deficiat sugir, take a potel of honey.

Gode Cookery translation:

Hipocras drink. Take a half lb. of cinnamon tested; of ginger tested, a half lb.; of grains, 3 ounces; of long pepper, 3 ounces; of cloves, 2 ounces; of nutmegs, 2 ounces & a half; of caraway, 2 ounces; of spikenard, a half ounce; of galingale, 2 ounces; of sugar, 2 lb. In deficit of sugar, take a pottel of honey.

Modern recipe:

• 1 gallon of white grape juice (substituting for white wine)
• ½ to 1 cup sugar or 1 cup honey
• 2-3 cinnamon sticks
• 2-3 small pieces of ginger root
• 1 Tbs. cardamom pods
• 1 Tbs. black peppercorns
• 1 Tbs. whole cloves
• 1 Tbs. caraway seed
• 2-3 small pieces of ginseng root (substituting for spikenard) 
• Cheesecloth 

IT’S TIME TO BEGIN THE PLANNING FOR THE 2013 ALABAMA RENAISSANCE FEAST AND FAIRE! OUR FIRST MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE THIS THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 12:00 NOON, AT RICHARDS EDUCATION CENTER, 541 RIVERVIEW DRIVE. WE’LL HAVE THE VERY BEST FEAST AND FAIRE EVER!

If you would like more information about the meeting or what the Alabama Renaissance Faire is, please follow this link www.alarenfaire.org or contact Billy Warren at bwarren@florencek12.org.

Last year marked the 26th Alabama Renaissance Faire, so, obviously we are on our way to 27.  What does that mean?  It means that in 3 years, we are going to reach 30.  Now some might call that “over the hill”, but, that is not going to hold true for the Faire itself.  In my opinion, that means we are only just now becoming a Very Well Established event.

So, how can we top last year?  And with this question I do not mean just the event itself.  I mean what can we do all year long to help promote the Faire as well as our communities.  Last year we participated at First Fridays in downtown Florence, spent a week with the Cub/Boy Scouts (of which they are still impressed with) and in holding true to our desire of educating people about the the time period associated with our Faire,  we also participated in Renaissance Days at local schools.  But, what else can we do????

To answer that question, we need to hear from everyone who is interested in participating and has participated with a Renaissance Faire.  To aid in that effort, we also have a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/alarenfaire.org), and we do have a mailing/emailing list through which we all stay in touch it is coordinated by Billy Warren (bwarren@florencek12.org).  So, put thy thinking caps upon thy heads and we shall see what comes forth from thy noggins!

 

Hello Billy,

 

I saw a group on the news this evening that I had not heard of before. They are the Tupelo High Madrigal Singers from Tupelo High School. Their outfits immediately caught my attention. I did a little searching online and found a couple of youTube videos of the group from years past. Apparently their Christmas Feast is coming up soon. I wondered if any of the roundtable might be interested in attending. I also thought, with their costumes, they might be a good choice to invite to perform at the Feast or Faire next year. Maybe even join in the Christmas parade….I have no idea if they would accept such an invitation but they sure have the look. See what you think.

 

They were on WTVA news this evening. I included the school’s contact information in case you wanted to try to get more information about the group or the upcoming Christmas Feast.

 

Thanks,

 

Judy Carpenter

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WueiUl0Tceo

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2CQ3g25U_o

 

 

 

Tupelo High School

Choral Music

• (662) 841-8977

 Cliff Gookin Blvd, Tupelo, MS 38801

 

IF YOU HAVE SENT MESSAGES TO OTHERS ABOUT THE JOUSTING, BE SURE TO FORWARD THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO THEM.

WE SINCERELY THANK TEENA TUCKER AND HER ASSISTANTS FOR PLANNING A FIRST-EVER JOUST. MAYBE NEXT YEAR…

THANKS,

Billy Warren

REMINDER!                                                                                         REMINDER!

THER RENAISSANCE FAIRE ROUNDTABLE WILL MEET THIS THURSDAY (OCTOBER 18), 12:00 NOON, AT RICHARDS EDUCATION CENTER.

SEE YOU THEN!

Billy Warren

THE FEAST IS SATURDAY! Help spread the word that a few tickets remain at Kennedy-Douglass Art Center.