Below you will find my notes and explanations on why certain choices regarding procedures and ingredients have been made. The goal is to acknowledge both the breadth and limitations of our current understanding, as well as where I have chosen to depart intentionally from historical guidance for reasons of safety, convenience, or inclusion. This section covers broad choices affecting the entire project, and additional information specific to each dish can be found with its redaction. The notes below are divided into Techniques, General Ingredients Choices, and Specific Ingredients Notes, and indexed for convenience.
General Ingredients
Specific Ingredients
Almond Milk
Amydon
Cinnamon
Dyestuffs & Colorants
Saffron
Verjus
Wine
Techniques
Modern Food Safety
In all cases, with the exception of the Compote, modern food safety principles have been observed including use of modern sanitation methods, temperature control, and separation to prevent cross-contamination. Where any direction indicates food be handled in what we would consider today an unsafe way, that direction has been summarily ignored.
Grinding Spices
It was usual for spices to be ground by hand in a mortar. We can closely replicate this by using a modern burr grinder ourselves, or buying spices already ground in a roller or hammer mill, all of which rely on the same physical forces to yield essentially identical results. It is important to note that using a modern blade grinder would not yield identical results as it uses different physical forces and results in a great deal more heat and oxidation of the spices. The use of a modern burr grinder creates the opportunity for better accessibility as well as convenience in a kitchen where four or five people prepare in one or tow days a meal that historically would have recruited hundreds of laborers and taken most of the week before to prepare. For the purposes of this feast, all redactions assume ground spices, and they have been purchased pre-ground where possible, or ground with a burr grinder.
Meat, Fish, and Lent
In early 15th Century France, foodways were mandated by Catholic belief and tradition. As such, certain days were designated for meat consumption, and certain other days the consumption of meat was forbidden but consumption of fish was allowed. This is all very clearly indicated throughout our main sources. Because of this, it would be unlikely to find both meat, fish, and what we would now call “vegan” dishes served in equal measure on the same day. However, in order to satisfy modern preferences, provide a wider variety of options for diners with restrictions, and to showcase a broader range of the period’s food, I chose to present a mix of both “meat day” and “fish day” recipes at our event.
Cooking Methods
Consideration has been given to the impact of particular cooking methods on the final outcome of the dish, both in terms of flavor and presentation. In any case where food is meant to be prepared in a vessel over a fire, we have done so using a modern range. For roasts and other recipes indicated to be cooked directly on the fire, we have been forced by the limitations of the facility and the season to resort to using ovens. Where sensible, such as things slow roasted, a smoker has been used in whole or part to prepare the dish.
General Ingredients Choices
Broth
While ahistorical, we may have chosen to make non-meat dishes using mushroom or vegetable broth where beef or mutton broth is indicated. Mushrooms were known to be edible and are described in our sources (and in fact present on our menu,) and making this change minimally affects the flavor while giving greater access to our menu for those with dietary restrictions. Where other meats are present in a dish, we use meat-based broth as indicated.
Herbs
The year-round availability of herbs seems to be assumed in our sources, but they are all certainly not in season at all times throughout Europe. Our selected moment in time is prior to the “little ice age” so in France, and particularly Southern France, many herbs may have been available fresh throughout the year. Since we do have access to herbs year-round, and generally fresh herbs are vastly superior in taste, and it’s not unlikely the most wealthy banquets could afford them on-demand, we will use fresh herbs wherever possible. My redactions assume the use of fresh herbs, which are measured by weight. The typical 2×5″ clamshell container at the grocery store is labeled with the weight, and is usually around 1oz. These measurements do not need to be exact, so a home could could read “1 oz.” as “1 small package.” Parsley is an exception, weighing about 2 oz. per bunch – I recommend flat leaf for flavor. If only dried herbs are available, one may find a chart like this one helpful. For our event, we will use a mixture of store-bought herbs and herbs I grew in my garden, especially for things no longer in our typical foodways such as Rue, Coq, and Hyssop.
Seasonality
Another significant feature of modern foodways compared to historical is our relatively unhindered access to ingredients regardless of seasonality. Modern transportation, refrigeration and preservation give us the luxury of fresh foods year-round. This event takes place in mid-January, and to observe seasonality would mean presenting our guests with a menu made almost entirely of salted meats and fish. While a necessity in the past, very few modern guests would be happy with a menu like this. I have observed LM’s direction that sauces in Winter should be stronger than in Summer, because I also agree, but otherwise the goal has been to present a menu that is delicious and interesting with ingredients available to us today that is suitable to our modern Winter tastes.
Spices
Many entire projects could be devoted entirely to sourcing and replicating, as precisely as possible, the specific species, quality, and condition of spices as they arrived in Europe in the 15th Century. As that is not the aim of this project, I have sourced the best quality spices which meet the needs of the flavors being presented, in my professional opinion. The majority of spices needed can be acquired at Penzey’s Spices, my spicer of choice.
Vegetables, Meat & Dairy
We must acknowledge that meats commonly sold in our time vary significantly from historical meats from the same source. Our chickens are much larger, and present much more white meat. Our pigs are much leaner. We raise large amounts of cattle specifically for beef consumption. Our milk is homogenized and pasteurized. Likewise, vegetable varieties have grown and evolved over the centuries, in particular since the advent of factory farming. Unless specifically indicated, I have chosen to use the commonly available modern form of any given ingredient. Sourcing highly specific meats and produce for an event this size would have been very difficult, and would have resulted in an enormous, I think, waste of budget.
Specific Ingredients Notes
Almond Milk
Almond milk was extremely common in Medieval Europe, much moreso than now even with its modern popularity. Hoping to save myself labor and cost, I started this project by comparing home-made almond milk with a variety of recommended store-bought choices. The comparison was, unfortunately, not even remotely close. Home-made almond milk is richer, more flavorful, and a completely different color and texture from the modern commercial product. All of the almond milk used in these recipes is made from scratch, as-needed.
Amydon
Amydon is wheat starch extracted by soaking wheat berries in water for many days then pounding them fine. This process takes no special skill or procedure, and produces no particularly unique results by comparison to extracted starch. While the technology for extracting starch directly from flour by kneading underwater was known to Arab cultures, including neighboring Andalusia, I admit there is no specific evidence of its use in France at this time. However, the goal of Amydon being a thickener without flavor, I chose to substitute the modern Cornstarch which is readily available and tolerated well by most people. It has roughly the same properties as wheat starch in the final accounting in terms of gel strength and texture. Therefore, I chose to use the ingredient which makes the meal accessible to more guests by eliminating the unnecessary presence of allergens.
Cinnamon
Selecting Cinnamon presents a conundrum in historical recreation. The words for this spice are non specific indications of species, but are used interchangeably for a variety of plants we still call Cinnamon today. While Ceylon Cinnamon (c. verum) is what I prefer, and certainly made it to Europe along with all of its cousins, we can also be absolutely certain that Cassia (c. cassia) did as well. Without evidence of a specific species being used – which I find curious since types of ginger and coriander are enumerated and specified – I chose to use the familiar, readily available, and much more budget-friendly Cassia.
Dyestuffs & Colorants
In the case where historical dyestuffs are called for which are no longer part of modern foodways (azure, alkanet, etc.,) I have chosen to instead use modern azo dyes. Whereas the specified medieval dyestuffs may be completely unsafe to eat, or merely uncommon in the modern diet, Azo food colorants are FDA approved and GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) in the USA and authorized for use by the European Commission. I see no value in the risk of consuming those historical coloring agents, but as much as possible, I have aimed to recreate the appropriate hue and saturation that the indicated dyestuff would have produced.
Saffron
By this point, Saffron is relegated primarily to a colorant rather than a spice used for flavor. Because of this, in recipes where the tremendous expense of Saffron would go unnoticed by the typical diner, we have also substituted an azo dye (see above.) If Saffron is called to be sprinkled on top of the dish, or contributes considerable flavor to the dish, we have used genuine Saffron.
Verjus
Verjus is available from commercial sources, but very expensive. We were fortunate to discover that Black Ankle Vineyards, located within our very own Barony in Mt. Airy, MD produces Verjus and sells it by the case at a greatly reduced cost compared to purchasing individual bottles delivered from California. While this is not a local ingredient in the historical sense, we are nevertheless pleased to be using a local ingredient in the modern sense.
Wine
Wine is used extensively throughout cuisine in our sources, and is used in volume for our feast. Since SCA funds cannot be used to purchase alcohol, and I am an experienced brewer, I made the wine myself. Wine during this time was typically very young, six months or less in storage, so I did not concern myself with aging or vintage. The wine was made using Zinfandel grape concentrate, spring water, and Lalvin EC-1118 yeast.
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