Missed the banquet? Missing the tempting odour of soused herring and stewed turnip from Chirk's kitchen? You too can recreate the nutritious fayre of C17th England in your own home...
Boiled Mutton and Lemons - Serve 16
6lb boneless lamb, cubed
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup oil
1 quart stock
4 lemons, peeled and sliced
4tsp sugar
2tsp salt
handful currants or sultanas
1/2tsp coarse pepper or peppercorns
4tbs cider vinegar (or verjuice if you have it)
bread slices
Dredge lamb in flour and brown in oil in large (4 gallon) iron pot.
Add stock, sliced lemons, sugar, salt and pepper.
Simmer until tender 1-2 for hours. Stir in currants or sultanas and cider vinegar 10-15 munute before serving.
Slice the bread and place in bowls, ladeling the stew on top. Fancy cooks may make sippets by grilling or toasting the bread before serving with stew.
Recipe for fruit Tansy - Serves 4.
Fruit tansy was a popular harvest dish that originated in the C14th. Initially it was made with eggs and herbs flavoured with tansy juice, but by the C17th had developed into a sweet pudding and the bitter tansy was omitted.
1 lb cooking apples or gooseberries
4 oz butter
2 fl oz water
4 oz granulated sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 dessertspoon orange juice
4 ox white breadcrumbs
Top & tail the gooseberries or peel, core and slice the apples. Melt the butter in a pan with the water and add the fruit and sugar. Simmer until soft and leave to cool. Gradually beat in the eggs, followed by the orange juice. Please the pan over a low heat and add the breadcrumbs, a few at a time, stirring constantly, until the misture thickens like custard. Serve at once with fresh cream.
Campaign Flatbread - Makes 8 flatbreads to cook on a griddle.
2 cups dark rye flour
1 cup legume flour (peas beans etc)
1 teaspoon of salt
half cup vinegar
2 tablspoon honey
1 cup cold water
Throughout European history from the Roman citizens who were entitled to free bread and the empire which had to expand to feed them, to the Corn Law riots on the 1840ís against the English landowners who refused to allow the import of cheaper wheat from abroad, bread has had an important place in keeping the people fed and happy and countries politically stable.
Heavy penalties were imposed, during mediaeval times on bakers who tried to sell underweight loaves , hence the bakers dozen of 13 to avoid any risk of this happening.
The wealthy people ate manchet bread, made from flour sieved through a boulting cloth, this would have been the white bread of the day but not as white as today as modern flours are bleached to make them look whiter. The less wealthy ate the ordinary ëcheat breadí which was either wholemeal or a mixture of wholemeal and rye or barley.
Stuart Peacheyís ëThe Book of Breadsí contains lots of details as well as recipes and states that servants bread was made from 8 parts barley, 2 parts pea, 1 part wheat or rye, 1 part malt ground together by the miller and sieved.
The armies of the Civil War presumably would commandeer the use of a baker and ovens to provide bread for the men in any village or town where they were billeted. But if far from a baker they would have to make some form of unleavened flat bread.
Henry Vís men ate flatbread on their march through France. one modern variation is:
Yeast for normal (oven baked) bread was usually in the from of ale-barm, the same yeast for bread making as for beer and kept alive in between in ale. Alternatively some dough would be kept from one batch of bread and used as a starter for the next. English wheat is much softer than modern bread flours with a lower amount of gluten and so the finished bread would be much less risen and so denser than now.
3 or 4 day old bread was cut into thick slices to make the trenchers that the food was served onto (instead of plates) for the lower class people in the large houses.
Maybe the Earl of Sandwichís idea while gambling wasnít so original after all.
Banbury cakes
1 lb prepared puff pastry
4 oz raisins
2 oz melted butter
4 oz currants
2 oz mixed peel
4 oz demerara sugar
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
egg white and caster sugar for topping.
Pre-heat oven to 425f / gas mark 7.
This recipes dates back from Tudor times, although the final result bears a striking resemblance to an Eccles cake.. Tried and tested in huge batches.
Mix melted butter, fruit, peel, sugar and spice (and all things nice) together. Roll our pastry on floured surface (very thin). Cut out circles with a saucer (makes 8-10). Divide mixture between the circles. Dampen edges, and seal well. Turn over the ‘pockets’ and carefully shape into ovals, flattening gently with a rolling pin. Make 3 diagonal cuts across the top of each cake, brush with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Cook on greased baking sheet for 15-20 mins and serve warm with cream.
© Copyright 1998-2007 Sir John Owens Regiment of Foote.
