“und versaltz
nicht” *
A
Feast with a German flavor by Signora Giovanna Theresa Battista di Firenze and
Lady Margaret Fitzwilliam of Kent.
Schutzenfests
were German Archery festivals held in the spring and hosted by various
towns. Nordskogen’s Schutzenfest is a
German-themed archery event held every other May. The menu for the feast was made up of dishes selected for their
German flavor rather than absolute authenticity, so this is not a highly
researched meal.
This
is a feast of 4 removes, intended to serve approximately 150 people. Initial financial outlay was approximately
$850.
The Menu
On the tables/ First remove:
Rye and wheat breads
Pickled vegetables
Butter
Liptauer (herbed cheese spread)
Salt
Pickled herring
Hard boiled eggs
Second remove:
Sauerbraten
Barley
Red cabbage with apples
Third remove:
Savory cheese blintzes
Fruit dumplings
Cucumber salad
Dessert:
Bread and butter pudding
Krumkake
Lunch
Bratwurst
We
used the real thing for the casings, prepared pigs intestines that were dried
and packaged in salt. If you want to
hear a funny story about Giovanna’s reaction to this product just ask her
Laurel, Mistress Aramanthra the Viscious, she would love to share!
Recipe
makes: 30-35 sausages
8
lbs. pork (pork butt or any relatively lean cut)
1-2
lbs. pork fat (depends on the fat content of the pork)
4 T
salt (add half at first and taste)
4 t
sage
4 ½
t pepper
4 t
garlic
½ t
nutmeg
½ t
allspice
Pork
casings
Grind
the pork and pork fat with a course blade through a meat grinder. Mix with the seasonings and fry up a small
portion to see if you have the taste to your liking. Grind the whole thing again with the fine blade. Stuff into casings and boil. We used a Kitchen Aid grinder and stuffer,
which worked great!
Ginger Biscuits
The
cookie, in its broadest sense, is a modern invention. This recipe is from a modern cookbook and we used items such as
baking soda and corn syrup in its production.
The closest approximate to a cookie that existed in period were thin
biscuits. They were sometimes sweet, but mostly bland and similar in texture to
crackers. This recipe is the closest
that I have found to period and I find it’s fairly agreeable to modern palates.
- Giovanna
2 T
golden syrup (we substituted light corn syrup for $$ consideration)
1 T
black molasses
3/8
c sugar
1 T
water
½ t
galingale
½ t
nutmeg
1 t
cinnamon
1 ½
t ginger
Grated
orange rind
3
oz butter
½ t
baking soda (you can omit this, but the biscuits get pretty hard)
2 t
orange juice
2 c
flour
Whole
cloves (for decoration)
Gently
heat syrups, sugar, water and spices in a large pan. Add the grated rind.
Bring to boil, stirring well.
Remove from heat, add butter, soda and orange juice. Add enough sifted flour to produce a stiff
dough. Let cool. Roll out to about 1/8 inch think and cut
into shapes. Decorate with whole
cloves. Bake on greased sheets at 350°
F for 12 minutes. Cool briefly on pans
and remove to wire racks.
Feast
Liptauer Cheese
8
oz cream cheese
1
stick (8T) softened butter
1/4
t salt
2 t
caraway seeds
1 t
dry mustard
1 t
chopped capers
1 T
finely chopped onions
½
cup sour cream
3 T
fresh minced chives (1 T dried)
Blend
all ingredients together and chill covered.
Serves 8.
Refrigerator Pickle Pot
Pickling
was a common way to preserve meats, fruits and vegetables for winter
storage. The sweet and sour flavors of
vinegar and sugar were popular in the Middle Ages and remain so today.
1
lb. cucumbers
1
lb. carrots
1
large cauliflower head
1
lb. small white onions, peeled
2
cloves garlic
2 T
dill
1
qt cider or white vinegar
4 c
sugar
1/2
c pickling salt
Chop
vegetables, separate cauliflower into florets.
Blanch cauliflower, carrots and onions in boiling water for 2
minutes. Layer all vegetables in a
1-gallon container, placing garlic cloves in the center. Dissolve sugar and salt in vinegar and pour
over vegetables. Refrigerate 1 week.
Sauerbraten (soured beef)
Marinating
meat in vinegar and spices is a common treatment in German medieval
cuisine. There are MANY recipes for
this dish, but this is one of our favorites.
4
lbs. lean beef (a tough cut works
well with this dish, since you need something that will stand up to a long
marinade and cooking time)
Marinade:
2
onions, quartered
½
lemon, sliced
1 ½
c red wine or cider vinegar
12
whole cloves
6
bay leaves
1 T
sugar
1 T
salt
¼ t
ground ginger
Mix
marinade ingredients together and pour over meat in a large bowl. Cover and marinate for 4-5 days, turning
meat twice a day. If your marinade is
completely covering the meat you can let it stay out on your counter during the
marinade. If you want to play it safe,
keep it in the refrigerator. Drain and
reserve half of the marinade and discard the onions, lemon and spices.
2 T
shortening
1/3
c broken ginger snaps
1 T
cornstarch (or flour)
¼ c
water
Beef
broth
Melt
shortening in an oven-safe pan. Add the
meat and the reserved marinade. Cook at
400° F for one hour. Turn meat, trying
to keep as much of it covered by the marinade as possible. Turn the oven down to 350° F and continue
cooking, turning occasionally, for 1 ½ - 2 hours more, or until meat is tender
and falls apart. Remove meat to a
platter. Strain the cooking liquid and
add enough beef broth to make four cups.
Place liquids into a saucepan and add the gingersnaps and cornstarch
that had been dissolved in water. Bring
to a boil and simmer 5 minutes, or until thickened. Pour over meat and serve with noodles, barley or spatzle.
Cucumber Salad
1 c
sour cream
2 T
lemon juice
2 t
sugar
1 t
salt
Ground
black pepper
Chopped
dill (fresh or dry)
3
cucumbers peeled and sliced
Mix
dairy and spices together and pour over cucumbers and sprinkle with dill. Chill and serve.
Fruit Dumplings [Ein Buch von gute Spise
#12 and 61] (For those of you who feel compelled to translate and redact, have
fun!)
12:
Ein gut fülle (A good filling)
Wiltu
machen ein spise, besnide biern schoen und spalt in viere und lege sie in einem
hafen und bedecke den hafen und beecleibe ez mit teyge daz der bradem iht uz
müge. Denne bestürtze den hafen mit
einer witen stürtzen und lege dar umme glüende koln und laz ez lang sam backen.
So nim denne die birn her uz und tu reines honiges dor zu. Also vil als der birn ist und siude ez mit
ein ander, daz ez dicke werde, und gibz hin.
Also mahtu auch von epfeln un von küten aber man sol pfeffers genau dar
zu tun.
This
is how you want to make a food. Trim fine pears and divide in four and lay them
in a pot and cover the pot and coat it with dough, so that the vapor can not
get out. Then cover the pot with a
broad cover and lay there about glowing coals and let it slowly bake. So take then the pears out (of the fire?)
and add clean honey therein, as much as the pear is, and boil it together so
that it becomes thick and give it out.
So you can make also from apples and from quinces but one should add
pepper enough thereto.
61:
Einen krapfen (A krapfen)
So
du wilteinen vasten krapfen machen von nüzzen mit ganzem kern und nim als vil
epfele dor under. und snide sie würfeleht als der kern ist und roest sie mit
ein wenig honiges und mengez mit würtzen und tu ez uf die bleter die do gemaht
sin zu krapfen und loz ez backen und versaltz nicht.
How
you want to make a fast day krapfen of nuts with whole kernels. And take as many apples thereunder and cut
them diced, as the kernel is, and roast them well with a little honey and mix
with spices and put it on the leaves, which you made to krapfen, and let it
bake and do not oversalt.
We
combined and modified the two recipes to get the peach dumplings. Since they didn’t feel it necessary to
record a pastry recipe in period we chose to use a modern recipe for apple
turnover dough. We selected peaches for
two reasons: they are considered more of a summer fruit, and since we were
using canned fruit, they hold up better than pears. We omitted the nuts for allergy reasons, not wanting to
inadvertently kill any of our guests, and selected spices according to those
that were commonly used in period in that region. To get the combinations right we experimented, a lot!
<yum>
Dough:
1¼
c flour
½ c
butter chilled
½ t
sugar
¼ t
salt
2-3
T ice water
Mix
dry ingredients and cut in butter. Add
water until a moist dough is formed. Do
not overwork. Chill.
Filling:
Canned
peach halves, cut in half (quarters). 16 oz
1 c
honey
½ t
pepper
1 t
galingale
2 t
cinnamon
Garnish:
4 t
cinnamon
4 t
ginger
Beaten
egg with cream
Drain
peaches and mix with honey and spices.
Roll out dough to ¼ inch and cut into rounds 6 inches in diameter (we
used the top of a #6 Rubbermaid container).
Brush the edges of the circle with the egg and place a peach quarter on
one half and fold over. Crimp edges and
brush tops with egg and sprinkle with the cinnamon and ginger mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 - 400° F.
This
is an example of using a primary source and justifying the changes made using
existing evidence to come up with a plausibly period product, with some
creative license, of course. Perfectly acceptable for a Single Dish entry in
any Arts & Sciences competition.
Bread and Butter Pudding
Similar
dishes utilizing bread, eggs, milk and dried fruits are common throughout most
of Europe during the Middle Ages.
2 c
milk
½ c
sugar
4-5
slices day old white bread
3
eggs
2
oz Sultanas (golden raisins) soaked in warm water with the zest of 1 lemon.
Butter
Slice
bread thinly, toast slightly and butter both sides while still hot. Line the bottom of a casserole dish. Drain the sultanas and spread them over the
bread. Beat the eggs well with sugar
and add milk. Pour over the bread and sultanas. Sprinkle top with cinnamon.
Bake
at 350° F until firm (35-40 minutes).
Suggested Reading
If
you are interested in period and period style cooking, there are a number of
available sources to help you get started.
Ein
Buch von guter Spise is a 14thcentury German cookery text, which is available online,
translation and some redaction’s by Alia Atlas.
http://www.cs.bu.edu/students/grads/akatlas/Buch/buch.html
The
Medieval and Renaissance Food Homepage -- links to medieval and Renaissance food sites on
the on the Internet:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html
Black,
Maggie. The Medieval Cookbook. Thames & Hudson, 1992. Original recipes and modern redaction’s.
Hieatt,
Constance and Sharon Butler. Pleyn Delit. University of Toronto Press,
Toronto, 1979. Redacted and original
recipes from a variety of period French and English sources. This has been reprinted in a revised
version.
Renfrow,
Cindy. Take a Thousand Eggs or More. Redacted 15th century recipes taken
from various manuscripts printed with the original text.
Sass,
Lorna J. To the Queen’s Taste, To the King’s Taste, Christmas Feasts from
History. Original recipes and modern redaction’s.
Scully,
Terence, et. al. Early French cookery: Original recipes and redaction’s,
a bit on the medieval philosophy of food and medicine.
Giovanna (Liz Pearson)
[email protected]
Margaret (Jennifer Getty) [email protected]
All
proceeds from the sale of this book go to help fund the Principality of
Northshield.
* “and do not
oversalt”, a common instruction we found at the end
of most of the recipes in Ein Buch von guter
Spise.
Schutzenfest
III, May 22, 1999 A.S. XXXIII