2001_A&Cwedding

Wedding Menu of

Cerridwen and Alessandro
May 26, 2001

Bread with Honey Butter and Garlic Paste

Shortbread Strawberries and Grapes with Mascarpone

An assortment of Olives

Candied Orange and Lemon Peels

Mead Locally Vinted Grape Juice and White Wine

Beef Stew

A Salad of Greens Herbs and Fruit

Layered Pasta with Pesto

Duck with Ginger Wine Sauce

Garden Peas in Broth

Turnips Gratinee

Balsamic Marinated Mushrooms

Food prepared for this meal by

Chris Adler (The Honorable Lady Katja Davidova Orlova Khazarina)

Pam Anderson (Lady Katrina of York)

Phil Anderson (Lord Ulric)

Eric France (Lord Eric Grenier deLabarre, known as Grendel)

Recipes based on the following period resources

Apicius, De re coquinaria (The Roman Cookery Book), 6^th Century Roman

Curye on Inglysch (including Forme of Cury), 14^th Century English

Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswifes Jewell, 1587, English

Harleian Manuscript, 15^th Century English

Le Menagier de Paris, 14^th Century French

Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, 1615, English

Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook, 1660, English

Cristiforo di Messisburg, Banquets, Composition of Meals, & General Equipment, 1549, Italian

John Partridge, The Widowes Treasure, l585, English

Hugh Plat, Delightes for Ladies, 1609, English

Platina, De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine (On Right Pleasure & Good Health), 15^th C. Italian

Cook’s note:

In keeping with the dining wishes of the bride and groom, this menu has been drawn primarily from English sources of the 14^th through 16^th Centuries, but also contains some of their favorite dishes from other places and times in the Middle Ages. Many of the dishes served today are not accurate redactions of the original recipes – although I prepare accurate period dishes for SCA feasts in an effort to educate my diners about Medieval and Renaissance food, this is a wedding meal for dear friends… and so I have focused on preparing the dishes according to their tastes rather than historical authenticity. Thus, this is not a truly accurate representation of a Medieval meal. However, it does demonstrate the flavors and style of cuisine of the Middle Ages, and I hope you enjoy your meal.

Secondly, I wish to express my gratitude to my dear friends and longtime cooking crew, Ulric and Katrina, for their bewilderingly continual determination to sacrifice sleep, sanity, and meals to help me feed other people. Folks, my mother has an excuse for being this wonderfully devoted to my chosen hobby and slaving in my kitchens, but you two help me every time I prepare a feast for no logical reason other than you enjoy cooking with me. The food is on the tables due to you, and I can never, ever thank both of you enough. Last, but not least, my everlasting thanks and love to my lord, Eric, for once again spending hour after hour helping me make yet another feast a (hopeful!) success.

– Chris/Katja

To Make Manchet

Gervase Markham, The English Huswife

Your best and principal bread is Manchet, which you shall bake in this manner: First your meal being ground upon the black stones, if be possible, which makes the whitest flower, and boulted through the finest boulting cloth, you shall put it into a clean Kimnel, and opening the flower hollow in the midst, put into it of the best ale-barm, the quantity of three pints to a bushell of meale and some salt to season it with; then put in your liquor reasonable warme, and kneade it very well together, with both your hands, and through the brake, or for want thereof, fould it in a cloth, and with your feete treade it a good space together, then letting it lie an houre or thereabouts to swel, take it foorth and mould it into Manchets, round, and flat, scorcht them about the wast to give it leave to rise, and prick it with your knife in the top, and so put into the oven, and bake with gentle heat.
Challah Bread

1 C warm water’	8 C water
2 T. yeast	½ C yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten	8 eggs
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten	16 eggs
¼ C butter	1 lb butter
¼ C honey	2 C honey
4 C bread flour	-10 lbs flour
1 C non-fat dry milk	8 C nfd milk
2 tsp. salt	5 T salt
1 egg for egg wash	8 eggs

Proof yeast in water with honey. Add flours, milk, honey, salt, and butter. Knead until elastic. Let rise for an hour. Shape into a large braid, and let rise at room temp for 1 hour until doubled. Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with seeds. Bake at 375 for 35-40 mins. Makes 2 3-lb. loaves.

...Most Dainte Butter

Hugh Plat, Delites for Ladies

This is done by mixing a few dropps of the extracted oyle of sage, cinamon, nutmegs, mace, etc. in the making vp of your butter: for oyle and butter will incorporate and agree verie kindely and naturally together.
Honey Butters

1 stick butter, softened	8 lbs butter
1 T Vietnamese cinnamon and 2 T honey, warmed	-½ C cinnamon, -1 C honey

Cream butter with honey and cinnamon for honey butter.

Aquapatys

Forme of Cury

Pill garlec and cast it in a pot with water and oile and seeth it. Do thereto safron, salt, and powdor-fort and dress it forth hool.
Boiled Garlic

`1 C water`	`8 C water`
`1 head garlic, peeled`	`8 heads garlic`
`½ C olive oil`	`4 C olive oil`
`1 pinch saffron threads`	`saffron`
`½ tsp sea salt`	`1.5 T salt`
`½ tsp poudre forte`	`1.5 T poudre forte`

Bring water and oil to a boil in a small saucepan. Add garlic and seasonings. Let simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes until the cloves are softened.
Strawberye

Harleian Manuscript, from Take A Thousand Eggs or More

Take Strawberys, & waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne…

(This was generally served with almond milk, but I have chosen to serve both fruits washed simply in water and served with Italian triple-crème cream cheese. – Chris)

How to keep grapes fresh

Apicius, The Roman Cookery Book

Take undamaged grapes from the vine, and reduce rain-water to one-third and put it in a receptacle in which you also put the grapes. Treat the receptacle with pitch and seal with gypsum, and store it in a cool place where the sun does not enter, and you will find fresh grapes when required. The water can be given to the sick as honey-water. You will also keep grapes undamaged if you store them in barley.
Strawberries & Grapes with Sweetened Mascarpone

Fresh strawberries
Fresh grapes
½ lb. mascarpone	3 lbs. mascarpone
½ tsp. vanilla extract	3 tsp vanilla extract
½ C confectionery sugar	3 C confectionery sugar
1 T cream	- ½ pint cream

To Make Fine Cakes

John Patridge, The Widowes Treasure

Take a quantity of fine wheate Flower, and put it in an earthen pot. Stop it close and set it in an Oven, and bake it as long as you would a Pasty of Venison, and when it is baked it will be full of clods. Then searce your flower through a fine sercer. Then take clouted Creame of sweet butter, but Creame is best: then take sugar, clove, Mace, saffron and yolks of eggs, so much as wil seeme to season to season your flower. Then put these things into the Creame, temper all together. Then put thereto your flower. So make your cakes. The paste will be very short: therefore make them very little. Lay paper under them.
Shortbread

½ lb. sweet (unsalted) butter, softened	3 lb butter
¾ C very finely granulated sugar	4.5 C sugar
2 large egg yolks	12 egg yolks
2 C or more flour	12 C flour
pinch cloves	cloves
pinch mace	mace
pinch saffron	saffron
1 tsp. vanilla extract	2 T vanilla

Cream the butter, until very fluffy, then slowly add sugar. Next add the egg and vanilla beat thoroughly. Add dry ingredients and mix until completely blended. Press evenly into a 9" pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 325 degrees. Remove to cooling rack and cut into pieces while still hot.

To preserve green olives so as to make oil at any time you wish

Apicius, The Roman Cookery Book

Put the olives gathered from the tree in oil, and they will remain for any length of time as if just gathered from the tree. From these you can make fine-quality oil if you wish.
Assorted Fresh Black and Green Olives

To Preserve Orenges

Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswifes Jewell

You must cut your Orenges in halfe and pare them a little round about, and let them lye in water foure or five dayes, and you must chaunge the water once or twice a day, and when you preserve them, you must have a quarte of faire water to put in your Sugar, and a little Rosewater, and set it on the fire, and scum it verye clene, and put in a little Sinamon, and put in your Orenges, and let them boyle a little while, and then take them out againe, and doe so five or sixe times, and when they be enough, put in your Orenges, and let your Sirrop stande till it bee colde, and then put your Sirrop into your Orenges.
Candied Orange & Lemon Peel

3 lemons and oranges	10 lbs oranges and 5 lbs lemons
2 C sugar	12 C sugar
½ tsp. rosewater	3 tsp rosewater

Rinse and peel the fruit. Bring the peels to a boil in a saucepan with 1 pint of cold water. Boil for 10 minutes, drain off the water, add a pint of fresh water. Repeat this process twice. Drain, add another quart of water, cook until easily pierced. Drain all but 2 cups of water, and add the sugar and rosewater. Cook down to a syrup, then lower the heat and cook until the peel is translucent. When cool, roll in sugar.

To Make a Sallat of All Kinds of Hearbes

Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswifes Jewell

Take your hearbes and picke them very fine into faire water and pick your flowers by themselves and washe them all cleane and swing them in a strainer and when you put them in a dish, mingle them with cowcumbers or lemons, payred and sliced, and scrape sugar, and put in vinegar and oyle, and throw the flowers on the toppe of the sallat, and of every parte of the aforesaide things and garnish the dish about with the foresaide things and harde eggs boyled and laide about the dish and upon the sallat.
A Salad of Greens and Fruit

Bibb, Romaine lettuces	1 head each Bibb, Romaine
spinach, red cabbage	2 bags spinach, 1 head red cabbage
cucumbers	2-3 cucumbers
leeks, chives	1 leek, 1 bunch chives
1/2 C extra virgin olive oil	3 C olive oil
1/4 C good balsamic vinegar	½ C vinegar
salt & pepper	salt & pepper
fresh herbs as available	thyme, rosemary, mint, sage, etc.
sliced orange and lemon rounds	1 lbs each orange and lemons
edible flowers	2-3 boxes edible flowers

Wash the greens thoroughly and shake clean. Toss with seasonings.

Beef y-Stewed

Harleian Manuscript, from Take A Thousand Eggs or More

Take faire beef of the ribs of the forequarters, and smite in fair pieces, and wash the beef into a fair pot; then take the water that the beef was sodden in, and strain it through a strainer and seethe the same water and beef in a pot, and let them boil together; then take canel, cloves, maces, grains of paradise, cubebs and onions y-minced, parsley and sage, and cast thereto, and let them boil together; and then take a loaf of bread, and stepe it with broth and vinegar, and then draw it through a strainer, and let it be still; and when it is near enough, cast the liquor thereto, but not too much, and then let boil once, and cast saffron thereto a quantity; then take salt and vinegar, and cast thereto, and look that it be poynant enough, and serve forth.

Beef Stew

5 lbs. beef	60 lbs beef shoulder
oil or butter	1 bottle virgin olive oil
¼ tsp. Chinese cinnamon bark	2 T or more cinnamon
1 blade whole mace	several blades mace
1 tsp. grains of paradise	2-3 T grains of paradise
1 tsp. cubebs	2-3 T cubebs
3 Vidalia or other sweet onion, chopped	10 lb Vidalia onions
½ C fresh minced parsley	2 bunches parsley
¼ C fresh minced sage	1 bunch sage
½ C fresh breadcrumbs	3 loaves of bread, crumbed
2-3 C homemade beef stock	1 qt beef stock
½-1 C verjuice	1 bottle verjuice
pinch saffron	saffron
½ tsp. sea salt	2 T salt

Brown the onions in a Dutch oven, then remove. Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces, and brown in oil or butter in the Dutch oven. Grind spices together, and add to the meat with the onions and fresh herbs. Sauté, then add the broth and verjuice and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add the breadcrumbs and salt to taste. Reduce the sauce, and serve.

New Peas

Le Ménagier de Paris

As to new peas, sometimes they be cooked with sewe of meat & brayed parsley to make a green pottage and that is for a meat day; and on a fish day, they be cooked in milk with ginger and saffron therein.
Garden Peas in Broth

1 lb. peas	18 lbs frozen peas
4 cups homemade chicken stock	2 qts chicken stock
parsley	1 bunch parsley
freshly grated gingerroot	2" gingerroot
sea salt and pepper	salt and pepper

Gently heat new peas in chicken stock for 10 minutes. Season with freshly minced parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Losyns

Curye on Inglysch

Losyns. Take good broth and do in an erthen pot. Take flour of payndemayn and make (th)erof a past with water, and make (th)erof thynne foyles as paper with a roller; drye it harde and see(th) it in broth. Take chese ruayn grated and laye it in disshes with powdour douce, and lay (th)eron loseyns isode as hoole as (th)ou myt, and above powdour and chese and so twyse or thryse & serue it forth.
White, Green, and Yellow Garlic Sauce

Messisburg, Banquets…

Take shelled walnuts and clean them, and white bread without crusts soaked in some good broth and garlic, as much as you’d like, and salt, and pound all these things together well. Then dilute with good meat or fish broth, depending upon your preference, and if you do not want garlic put in pepper and juniper...if you want it green, take parsley juice or chard juice and when the greens are well cooked and thick, put them through a sieve and dilute with broth, then mix into your sauce.
Layered Pasta with Pesto Sauce

3 eggs	2 dozen eggs
2 C flour	16 C flour
3 cloves garlic	1 head garlic
8 leaves fresh basil	1 bunch basil
4 T fresh parsley	1 bunch parsley
1 egg	8 eggs
15 oz. ricotta cheese	8 lbs ricotta
½ C Reggiano Parmigiano	4 C parmesan
sea salt and pepper to taste	salt & pepper
dash freshly grated nutmeg	nutmeg
butter for top of dish	½ lb butter
3 C fresh basil	2 bunches basil
3 cloves garlic	1 head garlic
¼ C pine nuts	2 C pinolas
4 T softened butter	½ lb. butter
¼ C virgin olive oil	2 C olive oil
½ C Reggiano Parmesan	4 C parmesan
sea salt and pepper	salt and pepper

Make pasta dough of eggs and flour, knead until elastic, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit. In food processor, chop together garlic and herbs, then add egg, then ricotta and parmesan. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll out sheets of pasta with pasta machine and let dry. Process basil with garlic and nuts, then slowly add butter and oil to make a paste. Add cheese, and season to taste. Spread a layer of pesto on bottom of a baking dish. Lay sheets on pasta on top, and spread the ricotta mixture on top of that. Sprinkle with a little nutmeg. Repeat until you reach the top of the pan, ending with pasta on top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes and serve with a little extra pesto on top.

Gees with Sawse Madame

Forme of Cury

Take sawge, persel, ysope and saveray, quinces and peeres, garlek and grapes, and fylle the gees therwith; and sowe the hole that no grece come out, and roost hem wel, and kepe the grece that fallith therof. Take galyntyne and grece and do in a possynet. Whan the gees buth roasted ynowh, take hem of & smyte hem on pecys, and take that that is withinne and do it in a possynet and put therinne wyne, if it be to thyk; do therto powdour of galyngale, powdour douce, and salt and boyle the sawse, and dresse the gees in disshes & lay be sewe onoward.
Duck with Ginger-Wine Sauce

1 whole duck, rinsed and patted dry	20 ducks
1 tsp. minced fresh mint	1 bunch mint
1 tsp. minced fresh savory	1 bunch savory
3 cloves minced garlic	1 head garlic
½ C chopped grapes	1 bunch seedless grapes
½ pear, chopped	8 pears
¼" knob fresh ginger, grated	1 hand gingerroot
pinch Powder Douce	Poudre Douce
2 T sea salt	½ C+ salt
½ C white wine	1 bottle white wine

Mix mint and savory with salt and rub all over duck. Set on a rack over a roasting pan, making sure that air can circulate underneath. Set the duck in the refrigerator and let dry for 4 hours. Set another rack over a wok or roasting pan on the stove and fill with enough water up to 1" under the rack. When the water is boiling, set the duck back side up on the rack. Let steam for 50-60 minutes until the skin is taut and has started to pull away from the joints. Quarter ducks and grill until meat is done. To make sauce, sauté garlic in a pan with the grapes, pear, and ginger. Add the wine, salt, and powder douce, and simmer until thickened. Serve over slices of the duck.

Armored Turnips

Platina, On Honest Indulgence

Cut up turnips that have been either boiled or cooked under the ashes. Likewise do the same with rich cheese, not too ripe. These should be smaller morsels than the turnips, though. In a pan greased with butter or liquamen, make a layer of cheese first, then a layer of turnips, and so on, all the while pouring in spice and some butter, from time to time. This dish is quickly cooked and should be eaten quickly, too.

Turnips Gratinee

1 lb. turnips	8 lbs turnips
½ lb. cheddar cheese	4 lbs cheese
2 T butter	½ lb butter
½ tsp. long pepper, ground	long pepper
½ tsp. cubebs, ground	cubebs

Boil turnips about 30 minutes, peel and slice thinly, layer turnips and sliced cheese in 9"x5" baking pan, and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Funges

Forme of Cury

Take funges and pare hem clene, and dyce hem; take leke and shrede hym small, and do hym to seeþ in gode broth. Colour it with safroun, and do þerinne powdour fort.
Mushrooms

1/2 lb. whole mushrooms, cleaned	3 lbs mushrooms
1 small leek, finely chopped	3 leeks
¾ C good virgin olive oil	4.5 C olive oil
¼ C good apple cider vinegar	1.5 C cider vinegar
pinch saffron	saffron
pinch poudre forte	poudre forte
salt to taste	salt

Mix the oil and vinegar, and add the seasonings and leeks. Blanch the mushrooms, drain, and add immediately to the marinade. Let cool, refrigerate, and serve at room temperature.

Metheglin

Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook

Take all sorts of herbs that are good and wholesome, as balm, mint, rosemary, fennil, angelica, wilde time, hysop, burnet, agrimony, and such other field herbs, half a handful of each, boil and strain them and let the liquor stand till the next day, being settled take two gallons and a half of honey, let it boil an hour, and in the boiling scum it very clean, set it a cooling as you do beer, and when it is cold take very good barm and put it into the bottom of the tub, by a little and a little as to beer, keeping back the thick settling that lyeth in the bottom of the vessel that it is cooled in; when it is all put together cover it with a cloth and let it work very near three days, then when you mean to put it back up, skim off all the barm clean, and put it up into a vessel, but you must not stop the vessel very close in three or four days, but let it have some vent to work; when it is close stopped you must look often to it, and have a peg on the top to give it vent when you hear it make a noise as it will do, or else it will break the vessel. Sometimes make a bag and put in good store of slic't ginger, some cloves and cinamon boild or not.
Mead

To Make Ipocras

Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook

Take a gallon of wine, three ounces of cinamon, two ounces of slic't ginger, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, an ounce of mace, twenty corns of pepper, an ounce of nutmegs, three pound of sugar, and two quarts of cream.
White Wine

For recipes and more information on medieval cooking, feel free to contact me at katjaorlova@yahoo.com