Medieval Fodder
Posted
Wed, 07/23/03
My in-box contained an interesting e-mail today that I had to share:
My husband and I own a BBQ restaurant in Panama City Beach, Florida. We were contacted yesterday regarding us catering for a wedding in November with a Medieval Theme. This is a first for me; I really want the job with them knowing I can do it in a manner that will really be exciting for them. They want a whole smoked pig, chicken quarters, bread bowl, mixed vegetable, salad, tarts, wine, and a keg of hard cider. The meats are no problem, but I'm not sure about the other items or what I should wear to serve. This is a sit down dinner, not a buffet. Could you possibly give me some advice?
When I wrote Medieval Cuisine, I had the luxury of using Food & Feast in Tudor England as an excellent reference point. The Tudor age was on the end-cusp of medieval times, and many of the traditions, foods and clothing were somewhat similar. I found some vegetable specific information in the book, quoted as follows (and condensed):
Vegetables were certainly eaten by the wealthy, in the form of "sallats." These were not quite like modern salads, as they contained cooked and preserved items as well as fresh ones. They also included a variety of herbs and flowers such as violets and cowslips. Other ingredients might include: chibols (a type of mild onion) peeled, washed clean and half the green tops cut away; chives, scallions, radish roots, boiled carrots, skirrets (a type of water parsnip), turnips, young lettuce, cabbage lettuce; served simply or with a little vinegar, sallat oil and sugar. Onions boiled, and stripped from their rind and served up with vinegar, oil and pepper is a good simple sallat; so is samphire, bean cods (bean pods), asparagus and cucumbers, served likewise with oil, vinegar and pepper.
Other sallats could be very grand, intended to be served at great feasts and at princes tables. This sallat contains almonds, raisins, capers, olives, currants, red sage and spinach all mixed together with a good store of sugar. This is put into a dish with vinegar and oil, and yet more sugar. Thin slices of oranges and lemons are then laid over this, so as to cover it, followed by a layer of red cauliflower leaves, a layer of olives, a layer of well-pickled cucumber, then a layer of the shredded heart of a cabbage lettuce. The sallat is topped with another layer of orange and lemon slices.
Salads were often highly decorative, with the vegetables carved into a variety of elaborate shapes. Example: carrot roots of various colors carved into many shapes and proportions, as some into knots, some like birds, and some like wild beasts, according to the art and cunning of the workmen.
Also considered a salad was a mix of cooked vegetables: spinach boiled, then put into a pot with butter and boiled again. Currants are added and as much vinegar as will make it reasonable tart, and then seasoned with sugar according to the taste of the master of the house. It is then served upon snippets (toasted of fried slices of bread).
I also did a bit of browsing for some of the specific medieval topics the reader was looking for and came up with several, although I'll only list a few here: A Boke of Gode Cookery, Recipe Source (medieval recipes), Medieval Muses (salad recipes), Medieval Eating Utensils, To Make A Simple Cider (recipe for hard cider) and Medieval Clothing Pages.
Such a lengthy blog entry, and my letter back to the reader was even longer. All food-related, of course.
Tags: Culinary Collection;
Medieval;
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