(I’m putting these two classes under ‘Herbalism’ because for me, herbalism is Garden Stuff.  And as I grow my garden in order to eat out of it, Cookery and Redacting belongs here.)

CULINARY USES OF HERBS –  Taught by Lady Aliessa Wallace, under a sunshade that I’m going to copy this week – check back for a ‘Types of Tents’ post.

Basic tenents:
First we learned that to the medieval cook, "herbs" are anything green and growing.  "Vegetables" wasn’t a separate category.  So when they say to throw in unnamed herbs, they mean whatever edible green you’ve got ready to eat in the garden that you like.  "Spices" = "traveled wares", or originally, saffron, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Hmm, sounds like Lebkuchen.  (I got to taste some historically redacted* lebkuchen at the end of the A&S competition – they were interesting.  More on that later.)

I liked this, and asked if anybody was doing work to locate which veg was local to what places in what times.  Didn’t get a definitive answer, from Lady Aliessa, but will search on my own.  Stay tuned.

Secondly, we learned that the cook was the Health Officer of the household.  Recipes were developed to balance humours, and foods combined according to their humorous properties to sustain health.  Examples: Beans/lentils (bilious) + Coriander (drying); Peacock (sanguine) + Cumin (drying).

Thirdly, when reading that a recipe is "in the German style", we were admonished to remember that the writer didn’t really know how the Germans were cooking, really, this was his opinion of what Germans might like.

Fourthly, we learned that to assume that simply because veg isn’t listed in descriptions doesn’t mean it wasn’t there – in fact it was so common and inexpensive, that it was overlooked.  Medieval scrambled eggs are made to a loose custardy consistency, with lots of greens like parsley and basil cooked in.  Sounds wonderful to me!

Lady Aliessa is also a fan of Alton Brown for understanding food chemistry – apparently he has books out?

Finally, we got a great list of books to start with.
Apicus – Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome – a slave publishes his notes, to gain renown.
Il Piacere della Tavola: A Cookery Calendar
The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Thomas Dawson, via Maggie Black – English Tudor, ate lots of flowers (chives, rosepetals, garlic, lavender), vinagrettes described.
The Medieval Cookbook, Maggie Black – Good advanced beginner cookbook, with citations
Shakespeare’s Kitchen, Francine Segan – Really beginner, adjusted for modern palates with pretty pictures.

INTRODUCTION TO REDACTING – taught by Eithne Ruad (pronounced Annya Rude)

*Redacting is the process of converting a period cooking text to an actual recipe that a modern cook could use.  This includes interpreting the Middle English vocabulary, imagining each cooking process from the original and describing it in standard terms now recognizable.  It requires a good knowledge of English vocabulary and experience with archaic words, to guess at the nonstandard spellings; experience with cooking processes in general; and a library of medieval and renaissance terms and phrases.  And experimentation.

Each cook may devise a different recipe from the same period recipe, as they are that difficult to interpret.

This class was great, because Eithne brought a stack of books and reference material to use, and comented upon each.  We redacted the following recipe – I’m going to substitute p for the funny p that is an actual extra letter in Middle English.

Chykens in Cawdel.
Take Chikens and boile hem in gode broth and ramme hem up.  penne take zolk of ayren a pe broth and alye it togedre.  do pto powdo of gyng and fug ynowh fafron and falt. and fet it oue the fire withoute boyllyng.  and sue the Chykens hole op ybroke and lay pfowe onoward.

Which, after the class, becomes this.  I haven’t got amounts worked out yet, as I haven’t tried to make this, but I would like to try.

Chickens in Spiced Custard Sauce
Boil whole cornish hens or chicken pieces to make broth, remove meat, strain, and set meat aside, keep warm.  Temper egg yolks into broth; spice with ginger, sugar, saffron and salt to taste.  Thicken over medium heat – do not allow to boil.  Ladle custard sauce over whole birds or chicken pieces to serve.

You can see how amounts need to be worked out, and I expect you to know that if you dump cold egg yolks into just boiled broth, you will get a curdled mess.  So you need to know what tempering is. (Take a ladle of hot broth out and whisk with yolks to raise their temperature.  Do this several times, then add the whole thing back.)

Books recommended:
Curye on Inglysch: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury), Constance B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler
The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban, Silvano Serventi.
Pleyn Delite: Medival Cookery for Modern Cooks, Constance B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler – This one particularly recommended for beginners, as it includes the original text and her modern redaction.
Take a Thousand Eggs or More, Cindy Renfrow – Recommended particularly for phrase glossaries – I’ve ordered this one.

Other useful sites from the class:
Gode Cookery Glossary of Medieval Cooking Terms

A Book of Cookrye

Geographic Spice Index

Foods of the Middle Ages

Medieval Cookbooks – An Annotated Bibliography

Cariadoc’s Miscellany