Saturday before last was a lovely foody day - Sam and Fred of Becks and Posh were passing through London and stopped off for a drink with us London Food Bloggers (at various times: myself, Andrew of Spittoon, Celia of English Patis, Jeanne of Cook sister!, Jenny of Baking for Britain, Johanna of The Passionate Cook, Keiko of Nordjus and MonkeyGland of Jamfaced).
We descended into the cellars of the oldest wine bar in London - Gordon's Wine Bar, which was established in 1890, and crammed onto a couple of tables. The cellars are wonderfully atmospheric - constructed of dimly lit, smoke-stained brick, arched like Roman aquaducts. However they aren't for the claustrophic - or the tall! The wine was good, the food strictly average (I was prewarned and bought sushi from the Wasabi shop across the road, which I proceeded to surreptitiously eat from under the table) and the staff as surly and disinterested as I remember from my previous visit. Fortunately the company more than made up for their lack of charm with their own, and a good time was had by all. Sam very kindly brought us all a little gift from the San Francisco chocolatier, Michael Recchiuti, a box containing a couple of chocolates including his signature 'burnt caramel' chocolate. I haven't tried mine yet but shall report back when I do (although Jenny has already commented).
Afterwards Jeanne and Andrew and I went up to have a quick look at the Food Lovers' Fair being held at Covent Garden. The market was small but of a very high standard, being run by Henrietta Green, one of the driving forces behind the promotion of independant producers in England. We nibbled our way through dozens of samples and I left with 12 miniature fruit liquers (including such exciting choices as quince, greengage, and herb), a bottle of elderberry wine (my favorite fruit wine), a fist-large bulb of smoked garlic, another just as big of Wight garlic, and some lovely fresh little bobbles of black pudding.
Sadly I forgot to take my camera, but you can always check out Andrew's post and Sam's post of the get-together.
Sam made me realise I've been remarkably remiss in pimping promoting medieval cuisine recently, so I thought I might write a little about various books which are available.
My first recommendation is my top favorite 'Introduction to Medieval Cuisine 101' book: "The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy" by Odile Redon et al.
Originally written in French, this isn't a cookbook for culinary beginners - you need to have a reasonable grasp of cooking before you can get any real use out of the recipes. However it also stands on its own as a very thorough historical introduction to medieval cuisine - the methods, ingredients, environment and theory. It dispels some of those exceedingly stupid medieval food myths propogated by the Victorians (i.e. they used lots of spices, ate rotten meat, never ate vegetables, never cooked with salt, etc) and overall the writing is well-thought out, witty and fascinating stuff, with detailed referencing - a bonus for those of us who like bibliographies.
I've found the book's redactions (recipe recreations) to be well reasoned on the whole (disregarding minor quibbles) and if, like me, you prefer to do your own redactions, each recipe is given in the original language and a translation. The recipes also have an interesting and often amusing section about each one, as well as explanations of why the authors used certain items, forming a continuous tutorial on medieval food throughout the book.
Here's an example of the snippet paired with the redaction for "Orange Omelette for Harlots and Ruffians", which is found in the cookbook of Johannes Bockenheim, cook to Pope Martin V [1368 - 1431]:
"...We cannot see why this omelette, which contains no meat and no seasoning other than sugar, should be particularly well suited to debauchees. Surely, it is flesh (further fired by spices) that enflames the flesh. This omelette can be safely tasted without running the risk of moral turpitude.
Since medieval oranges were bitter, we suggest a blend of oranges and lemons. The sugar and the acidity of the juice prevents the eggs from completely setting, so this is more of a custardy cream that makes an unusual and very pleasant dessert."
Having teased you with that snippet, here are the original text, the translation, the book's redaction and my own version:
Recipe #122: Orange Omelette for Harlots and Ruffians
from "Le 'Registre de Cuisine' de Jean de Bockenheim", originally published in "Le Moyen Age à table" by Bruno Laurioux, Paris, Adam Biro, 1989.
Sic fac fritatem de pomeranciis
Recipe ova percussa, cum pomeranciis ad libitum tuum, et extrahe inde sucum, et mitte ad illa ova cum zucaro; post recipe oleum olive, bel segimine, et faac califieri in patella, et mitte illa ova intus. Et erit pro ruffianis et leccatricibus.
Translation: How to make an orange omelette. Take eggs and break them, with oranges, as many as you like; squeeze their juice and add to it the eggs with sugar; then take olive oil or fat, and heat it in the pan and add the eggs. This was for ruffians and brazen harlots.
Redaction:
6 eggs
2 oranges
1 lemon
2 Tb sugar
2 Tb olive oil
salt
Juice the oranges and the lemon. Beat the eggs, add the juice, the sugar, and salt to taste , and cook the omelett in olive oil. Serve warm.
My redaction:
4 eggs
1 Seville orange
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1 Tb butter
salt
This should be made the same way as above, however it's for two people rather than four.
My version varies for a couple of reasons. Whilst this can be made into a very sweet dish with the use of sweet oranges and lots of sugar, even bearing in mind the sourness of medieval oranges, the recipe doesn't specify it as a dessert. I've made it both ways, and whilst the dessert version is very yummy, I prefer to make it as a savoury custard - revelling in the intensity of the orange taste, which is conveyed beautifully by the eggs.
Seville oranges are probably the closest to medieval oranges in terms of sourness and so are the best choice if you can find them. Aside from its effect of retarding the setting of the egg in this recipe, sugar was used during this time period as a flavor enhancer - in much the same way as MSG is nowadays - more often than as a sweetener. It was expensive, so would not have been readily available in the large amounts employed during the Renaissance and later. Lastly, I prefer omelettes fried in fat (butter) to olive oil, but of course everyone's tastes vary. Either way, it's a quick, easy and tasty dish.
Bibliography:
REDON, Odile; SABBAN, Françoise; SERVENTI, Silvano and English translation by SCHNEIDER, Edward. The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy
June 1998, University of Chicago Press, ISBN: 0226706842 Hardback
April 2000, University of Chicago Press, ISBN: 0226706850 Paperback
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several seasonal wagashi.
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As another first, I was also introduced to Soju, Korean rice wine. This came in a 330ml bottle, and with an alcohol content of 19% I was glad to share. The taste, I thought, was rather like a cross between sake and vodka, was very refreshing and had a definite weight and slight oiliness to it. It was very enjoyable.
