Culinary Group

Montengarde Culinary Night – Comfort Food

Last night’s culinary meeting had a theme of “comfort food” – it’s been an unusually cold autumn up here in Montengarde, so it seemed like the perfect month to enjoy some delicious (if not nutritious) historical dishes.

In attendance last night were Craig and Kathleen (our hosts,) James, Simone and myself. We all brought dishes on the theme and as usual ended up with a pretty diverse spread!

Lately I’ve been experimenting a little bit with dishes beyond our usual period cut-off of 1650. There are many sources a little outside of period which can tell us a lot about the techniques and preparation methods which were used in period. My interests in culinary history also extend beyond the SCA period, and since the Montengarde Culinary Group is pretty tolerant of my chronological non-conformance, I thought I would subject them to some experimentation!

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By Alice Percy, ago

Culinary History Potlucks

I went through more options than I should have for that title. We call these monthly potlucks the Montengarde Culinary Night, but I wanted something that would explain it a bit easier for people who are new.

The SCA, an international medieval recreation group, has a local branch here in Calgary called the Barony of Montengarde. 90% of people who read this blog probably know that already, but I put it there for the 10%.

The Montengarde Culinary Group is a great group here in Calgary where one Monday a month we gather together at someone’s house for a potluck and each bring a pre 17th century dish. We primarily meet at Craig and Kat’s house, known in the SCA as Caiaphas and Francis, but occasionally meet elsewhere. This group had been going for years before I moved here, and it was amazing to get to meet up with so many people who also love historical cookery. I’ve met some very good friends through the group. One of them is Allie, known in the SCA as Alice. She’s been the driving force behind the culinary nights and keeps it going.

The whole point of the potlucks is to try something new and learn a bit more about culinary history. Some people make recipes based on pre 17th century cookery books while others use recipes they find from culinary history books or websites, while still others just make something they like that isn’t pre 17th century. Every one and every skill level is welcome.

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By Tomas de Courcy, ago

Sponge Cake

If you’ve read about the history of Sponge Cake I’m sure you’ve heard the story that the first English Sponge Cake recipe shows up in Gervase Markham’s 1615 book The English Housewife. But of course none of the websites that mention it give you the recipe, and I’ve seen a number say that it was probably less airy, or that it was flat like a cookie. Which got me wondering, what exactly was the recipe? Well, it’s cake time. For this I’ll be using the 1986 edition, edited by Michael R. Best, of Gervase Markham’s The English Housewife : Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman. For reference our modern sponge cake is 1:1:1:1 flour, sugar, butter, eggs. Here’s Markham’s:
To make biscuit bread. To make biscuit bread, take a pound of fine flour, and a pound of sugar finely beaten and searced, and mix them together; then take eight eggs and put four yolks and beat them very well together; then strew in your flour and sugar as you are beating of it, by a little at once; it will take very near an hour’s beating: then take half an ounce of aniseeds, coriander seeds, and let them be dried and rubbed very clean, and put them in; then rub your biscuit pans with cold sweet butter as thin as you can, and so put it in and bake it in an oven: but if you would have thin cakes, then take fruit dishes and rub them in like sort with butter, and so bake your cakes on them, and when they are almost baked, turn them and thrust them down close with your hand. Some to this biscuit bread will add a little cream, and it is not amiss, but excellent good also. Markham 1986, p 112-113
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By Tomas de Courcy, ago

Ravioli

This month at Montengarde Cookery Group the theme is Eat Your Vegetables, so it’s time for some spinach ravioli.

I’ll let you in on a secret, although I love redacting recipes and cooking them my wife, HL Kayleigh de Leis, is the better cook, especially when it comes to pastas. So she’s the one making it this time.

This month’s is coming from Sabina Welserin’s 1553 German cookery book. Rabiolin zú machen or “to make ravioli”.

31 To make ravioli

Take spinach and blanch it as if you were making cooked spinach, and chop it small. Take approximately one handful, when it is chopped, cheese or meat from a chicken or capon that was boiled or roasted. Then take twice as much cheese as herb, or of chicken an equal amount, and beat two or three eggs into it and make a good dough, put salt and pepper into it and make a dough with good flour, as if you would make a tart, and when you have made little flat cakes of dough then put a small ball of filling on the edge of the flat cake and form it into a dumpling. And press it together well along the edges and place it in broth and let it cook about as long as for a soft-boiled egg. The meat should be finely chopped and the cheese finely grated.

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By Tomas de Courcy, ago

Proper Roasted Turkey

Many years ago my wife and I started making turkey for SCA events, starting when someone told us that turkey wasn’t period. So of course we couldn’t let that stand and did the research. Now of course we were normally doing this for large events or for things where oven space was at a premium, or time at a minimum, so we’ve never been able to do it properly in a coffin. So I was very glad that the vote on my poll was for turkey, because this time I get to make it in a coffin.

Culinary Night spread

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By Tomas de Courcy, ago

Stewed Camel

My wife, Her Ladyship Kayleigh de Leis, likes to suggest strange dishes for me to try making . At her recommendation we’re trying camel. Nope, that’s not a typo. Today’s recipe comes to us from Anissa’s Blog, and was originally translated by Charles Perry. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of A Baghdad Cookery Book (aka Kitāb Al-ṭabīkh by Al Baghdadi), from which this comes, so I don’t have a page number for you.

The dishes from Culinary Night, they’re a bit brown as everyone did a protein dish this time

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By Tomas de Courcy, ago

Medieval Candy

This was my first time doing a poll to determine what I was going to make for Culinary Night. Candy won out over Andalusian bread. I’m thinking I may continue to have polls to determine what I’m making.

First off, this one  isn’t my research or recipe, instead I’m basing it on the work of Jana of the Time Travel Kitchen. More specifically I’m taking this from the entry To make Penydes (I believe it’s pronounced pen-ids based on the Middle Eastern “panids” see here )

With that being said, this comes originally from Curye on Inglysch, specifically from Harley manuscript 2378. Here’s the original:

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By Tomas de Courcy, ago