I've been at two different schools this spring giving presentations about medieval food to local kids. The kids I've talked to find it a bit strange that children in medieval England were likely to drink ale at breakfast and that even in the wealthiest households there were not always enough cups and plates to go around and people shared them at table. They have shown much curiosity in whether some of their favorite foods also showed up on medieval tables, whether they were told correctly that wealthy feasters enjoyed such odd dishes as roast peacock dressed in its feathers and cockentrice, and whether the table knife I bring to medieval-style feasts (that piece of tableware was usually provided by the diners, not by their hosts) is a weapon. For the record, my table knife has only been used on food, the peacock and cockentrice stories are for real (I've seen the original recipes) and pizza and potatoes were unknown to the Europeans of the Middle Ages.
At the first school demo, I had the opportunity to bring a dish for the students to taste. They impressed me by being more adventurous eaters than I expected. A few even asked for second helpings, which I was happy to provide. I was telling my favorite friendly city bus driver about the school demo and he asked for the recipe, since he hasn't eaten any medieval food either. I hope he likes it as well as the schoolchildren.
This dish travels well if it is in a sturdy pie plate and it is tasty when cold or warm. Enjoy the mix of sweet and savory flavors, a typical medieval English combination.
Tart in Ember Day
A tart for religious holidays in medieval England when
eating meat was forbidden
Pie crust:
Measure all the ingredients by weight with a scale.
8 ounces all-purpose flour
4 ounces whole-wheat flour
8 ounces cold butter
4 ounces ice-cold water
1/8 ounce salt
Mix the flour and salt. Cut the butter into 1/8-inch cubes.
Rub into the flour until flour-butter pieces are the size of small peas. Mix in
the water and push mixture together with your hands to make a ball of dough in
your bowl. You may need to mix in a tablespoon or two more of the water to get
a dough to form. Divide your dough ball into two pieces, wrap and refrigerate
at least one hour before rolling out for your pie plate.
Tart filling:
4 Tbsp butter
pinch of saffron threads
Melt the butter, cool a little and stir in the saffron. Let
this mixture sit while you prepare the rest of the tart filling.
2 medium-sized onions
dash of salt
Boil a couple cups of water in a small pan with the salt.
Peel the onions, cut off ends and chop each onion finely. Parboil the onions
until tender, drain in a strainer with very small holes. Make the rest of the
filling while the onions are drip-drying:
1 ½ pounds cottage cheese
about 1 cup chopped parsley
½ cup zante currants or golden raisins
2 Tbsp sugar
10 eggs
1 tsp chopped fresh sage
½ tsp ginger powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 cloves, ground
½ tsp ground nutmeg
small pinch of ground mace
½ tsp salt
1 cup breadcrumbs made from fresh bread
Mash the cottage cheese in a large bowl until it is no
longer in lumpy curds but is smooth. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs.
Mix the eggs and all the rest of the filling ingredients in with the cottage
cheese, including the saffron butter and onions.
Roll out two rounds of pie dough and line two 9-inch pie
plates. Pour half the filling into each pie shell. Put the tarts side-by-side
on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit about 20 minutes, turn each
pie plate (move the outside edges to the center), and bake another 10 to 20
minutes or until center of each tart is just barely set.
Original recipe sources:
“Tart in Ymbre Day” in Ancient Cookery, a collection
of 14th Century English recipes edited by Samuel Pegge
original text: Take
and perboile oynouns presse out the water & hewe hem smale. Take brede &
bray it in a morter, and temper it up with Ayren. Do therto butter, safroun and
salt, & raisouns courauns, & a litel sugur with powdour douce, and bake
it in a trap, & serue it forth.
“Tart in ymbre day” in Forme of Cury, a 14th
Century English cookbook, edited by C. B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler in their
book Curye on Inglish
original text: Take
and perboile oynouns & erbis & presse out the water & hewe hem
smale. Take grene chese & bray it in a morter, & temper it up with
ayren. Do therto butter, safroun and salt, & raisouns corauns, & a
litel sugar with powdour douce, & bake it in a trap, & serue it forth.
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