COMIDA DE ENCARGA WITH CHICKEN KEBAB RECIPE

Yemen - Fresh Sesame Pastries at...
Photo from: LittleMissSunny

ready-made food. As seen in Knights, ready-made food is as old as the souks. Harisa could be bought in medieval Andalusian souks. Inspectors made their rounds testing the brews and checking the weights on scales to prevent vendors from cheating clients. At the same time, in England, pork pies, wafers and scones were peddled on the streets especially around Westminster and Pettycoat Lane. [Bolens. 1990:59; and Wilson. 1973:253]

Chicken Kebabs were and still are sold as ready made food in Souks. No recorded recipes  seem to be available but this is one of many that could be authentic. The Spanish Medieval Chef, at least, has wonderful memories in Fez, Morocco munching a chicken kebab such as this: 

Ingredients 

A Chicken Kebab to Melt in Your Mouth
Photo by: Lord-Williams1 ½ tbsp olive oil

1 ½ tbsp olive oil

juice from one lemon

2 pressed garlic cloves

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp white pepper

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp chopped oregano

2 tbsp chopped parsley

¼ tso salt

1 ginger scraping

1 lb chicken breast cubed

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients except the chicken. Add chicken and coat well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to eat, put meat on skewers. Grill over charcoal if available or broil in oven. Turn skewers every 4-5 minutes until done.

Heat left over marinade to serve as sauce.

Serve immediately.

COMIDA, VIANDA WITH 15TH CENTURY HALF COOKED APPLE RECIPE

Food in Kind Given in Payment to the Lord
Photo by: Lord-Williams

meal, food item. In the Middle Ages, vassals were the chief suppliers of food items for the lords’ meals as they paid their tithes in kind.

HALF COOKED APPLES IN ALMOND MILK ADAPTED FROM VILLENA’S MIRRAUSTE DE MANZANAS, VILLENA/CALERO. 2002, p. 110

Ingredients

4 apples[1]

juice from 1 lemon

½ c toasted almonds

1 slice of bread

½  tsp ground cinnamon

¼ c  sugar

Garnish:

1 tsp sugar

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation

A perfect dish for Apple Lovers
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Choose sweet apples. Peel them and cut them in fourths. Remove the cores and seeds. Boil water, add lemon juice and when boiling add the apples. When almost soft, strain the apples, saving the broth. When the apples are cool cut into chunks.

Take toasted almonds and mash them in a mortar. Add 2 c broth from the apples. Add a slice of bread soaked in 1/3-1/2 c broth from the apples. Mash this in a mortar and then strain it through a woolen cloth. Season the liquid with cinnamon and sugar. Place this in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  When boiling, remove it from the heat. Add the apples. After coating them with the sauce, place the mixture in bowls and garnish with sugar and cinnamon.

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[1] This and the other ingredients for this dish, except cinnamon which was imported, are examples of foods paid in kind by vassals to the lord.

COMIDA, LA - WITH A 13TH CENTURY RECIPE FOR BREAD

Dough Being Left to Rise
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Cat. menjar, the meal. It was served at 12 p.m in medieval Spain. The meal was synonymous with abundance in the Middle Ages. This could be a banquet in castles and palaces consisting of poultry, boar, trout, and wine. A good host was one who offered enough food to satisfy a lion. 

A meal consisting of small quantities was synonymous with poverty, a despicable position in a class-orientated society. Consumption in convents varied. The nuns of the Berciano (León) ate botillo del Bierzo (“half a boot,” tripe filled with minced pork) while the monks of Sahagún were as opulent as the nuns of San Pedro de las Dueñas (Burgos) who ate bread as well as hearty dishes and drank wine, matured in kegs covered with mold and spider’s webs. 

Pilgrims and peasants nibbled on bread, a little salt pork and sipped wine. Bread is synonymous with “meal”. Even in the 20^th C, a foreign bride in Spain, who forgot the bread, was asked by her Spanish father-in-law ‘where was the meal?’ She could not understand until her husband explained that the bread was missing. The noun comida and verb comer actually are derived from verb comedir, meaning to think, premeditate, to take measures for something or to be moderate and to contain oneself. [Alonso Luengo. 1994:39; Gázquez. Cocina. 2002:entire; and Lladonosa. 1976:158]

ADiffrent Shape of Dough Ready for the Oven
Photo by: Lord-Williams

BAKED BREAD ADAPTED FROM FADALAT [1] PAN COCIDO EN EL HORNO[1]

So Yummy!
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Ingredients

200 g hot water

400 g bread flour

1 tsp salt
1 pk  dry yeast

50 g animal fat[2] or oil

Preparation

Lightly oil bread pans.

Heat the water. Pour it into a bowl. Originally, the recipe calls for soaking the flour. There is no need for that today. Add the rest of the ingredients except the fat or oil. Rub this on hands and knead. Add more water, a tablespoon at a time if necessary and continue kneading for 10 minutes until soft and elastic.

Divide the dough shape it into loaves as desired. Sprinkle with flour. Brush the loaves with olive oil. Cover with a towel and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 40 minutes. When it has risen sufficiently, it will emit a noise when struck.

PREHEAT OVEN 450ºF/220ºC.

Immediately, bake 20-30 minutes until golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.  Clean the loaves and put them in a breadbasket for consumption.

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[1] See blog titled aludir published September 15, 2011 for a different version of this recipe.

[2] As this is a Hispano-Arabic recipe, lard should not be used due to the prohibition of pork in the Muslim religion.

COMEDOR WITH HAKE OR DRIED FISH RECIPE

Dining Room
Photo from: CoasterMadMatt

dining hall 30 paces long and 10 wide in castles and palaces. These were multi-purpose rooms. After meals, the tables were removed for dancing and other activities.  Convents and monasteries had refectories, permanent dining rooms, which the Archpriest of Hita calls handsome with tables set with tablecloths. Peasants normally did not have a dining room but ate in the kitchen. Noble children ate in the nursery. From the 15^th C on, small dinners could be served in other rooms of the castle or palace including a bedroom of the lords for privacy and comfort. [Ruíz/Brey. 1965:1248c:195]

HAKE OR DRIED FISH ADAPTED FROM VILLENA’S MERLUZA O PESCADO SECO. VILLENA/CALERO. 2002, p 109

Ingredients

1 lb hake or dry fish such as cod

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 tsp tarragon

¼ c olive oil for frying

½ c almonds

Frying Fish in Oil
Photo by: Lord-Williams

1 slice of day old bread

¼-1/3 c vinegar

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cumin

¼ tsp pepper

¼ sp tarragon

 1 tbsp sugar or honey

Garnish

lemon wedges

parsley

Preparation

Select a dry hard white fish. Wash off salt and remove scales, If salted rinse three or four times and soak overnight.

Boil 3 cups water with 1 tsp vinegar and tarragon. Add the fish and simmer 8 minutes. Do not let the water boil or the meat will fall apart.

A Perfect Fish Day Dish
Photo by. Lord-Williams

Heat a frying pan. Add olive oil. When very hot add the fish.  Fry it only a little because the cod fish and hake becomes hard with frying.

Toast almonds and grind them in a mortar with a slice of bread soaked in vinegar, to make the sauce sweet and sour. After straining this through a woolen cloth, season with spices. Do not use saffron. The cinnamon should dominate. Add sugar or honey. Heat the sauce. Put the fish on a platter and drizzle a little oil used for frying the fish over it. Then pour the sauce over the fish and serve. 

COMBINAN WITH 15TH C RECIPE FOR MARZIPAN

Marzipan Paste, a combination of chicken, almonds and sugar
Photo by: Lord-Williams

OCast conbrian, they combine. [Gázquez. Cocina. 2002:194]

MARZIPANS FOR THE SICK 

WHO HAVE LOST THEIR

APPETITE, OF STIMULAT-ING SUBSTANCE ADAPTED FROM NOLA’S xxxxiiii-3 MAZAPANES PARA DOLIENTES QUE PIERDAN EL COMER, MUY BUENOS Y DE GRAN SUSTANCIA[1]

For one 8" wafer

Ready made Wafer 8" diameter
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Ingredients

½ chicken breast

almonds

white sugar

orange blossom water

1 round wafer 8" in diameter[2]

Preparation

Place the chicken breast in a pan of water. Add salt to taste and bring to a boil. Lower 

heat and gently boil until cooked, about 20 minutes. When done reserve the broth.

Remove the meat from the bones and skin and weigh it. Add the same amount of peeled almonds. Grind the almonds and then combine the almonds with the meat. Then grind again combining this with the same amount of powdered sugar.

Marzipan Fresh from the Oven With Broth Drink for the Ailing Photo by: Lord-Williams  PREHEAT OVEN TO 350ºF/175ºC Knead the mixture like dough. Roll the it out into a circle or whatever shape the wafer is and place it on a wafer to make marzipan. Make the edges of the paste a little higher than the middle. Moisten the marzipan with orange blossom water. Sprinkle ground, sifted powdered sugar over them. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet and put the marzipan on this and bake 10-12 minutes until edges are slightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool. Remove the marzipan from the parchment paper taking care that it does not break. Give this to the sick as this is a very singular dish and of great help for the sick who have lost their appetite because a little of this has more sustenance than any other food item; particularly if the broth is drunk the benefits are invaluable.

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[1] See blog titled alticas published September 13, 2011 for a different interpretation of this recipe.

[2]As making these is an art for which the Medieval Spanish Chef does not have the proper machinery, it was bought ready made at the local supermarket where 2 doz are sold for less than two Euros.

COLOR WITH A PURELY WHITE MANGE RECIPE

Saffron Added to Make A Golden Dish
Photo by: Lord-Williams

color. From Roman times through the medieval period colored foods were a delight at the dinner table. White was the most valued color. Blancmange (manjar blanco) was the classic of medieval times. Apicius colors dishes white with white sauce (salsa blanca). The Forme of Cury uses amylum. White vinegar or old verjuice also could be used for this purpose. The Anon Al-Andalus recommends tafaya, a pottage, whitened with almond milk. In England, a white porray or leek pottage was a popular Lentan dish thickened with almond milk. White honey, egg whites, milk, cheese, wine, white flour (sifted several times with no bleach), white bread and white sugar were used as well.

Chopped Parsley with Water makes a Dish Green
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Anón Al-Andalus is filled with recipes calling for saffron and/or egg yolks to color food yellow or gold, the noblest color, such as the banquet Dishes of Mukhallal, Sweetened Mukhallal and Bilâja. Madder could be used instead of saffron to color Zulabiyya. To color the same dish dark red, brazilwood or gum lac is suggested. The Forme of Cury uses sandalwood, Mawmenee red, crushed red roses and red wine for Saracen Sauce and other dishes. Anón Al-Andalus gives a recipe for sandalwood syrup, a sandalwood electuary and a pomegranate syrup for red dishes. Jews boiled eggs in water with onion skins, the red root of alkanet, borage, or crushed red roses to color the shells red. Galingal, and currants were used also to color food red.

Green fennel juice or fox grape juice was recommended during this period to color food green. Spinach, mallows, sorrel, and cilantro too were used for this purpose. Forme of Cury and Nola use parsley while Sent Soví produces a green sauce with mint. The English green porray consists of vegetables, parsley and other herbs.

Shredding Chicken Breast in Rosewater
Photo by: Lord-Williams

To color food blue, mulberry extract is recommended. Turnsole also produces blue. Ginger was used to make food light brown while cinnamon and cumin colored it dark brown. Blood was used boiled and fried to turn food brown or black. In short medieval foods were a rainbow of colors. Today, this is synonymous with nutrition unless M/M’s are poured on a plate. [Anón/Grewe. 1982:CLXVI:179-180; Anón/Huici.1966:14:21-22:16:23:68:49-50 etc; Apicius/Flower. 1958:I:3(a):123:VI:4-5:163-164:VI:9:165; Black. Food. 1985:13; Curye. 1985: 16:86:22:102:68: 113 etc; Gitlitz. 1999:149-150:197; and Nola. 1989:xiii-3:xiiii-2:liiii-1 etc]

HOW TO MAKE SHREDDED BANCMANGE ADAPTED FROM SENT SOVÍ  #L,
 QUI PARLA CON SA DEU FFER MAYAR BLANCH DEFFILAT[1], pp 94-95 

For 6 persons

Ingredients

1 chicken breast

1 onion

1 c rosewater

1 l almond milk

200 gr rice flour

25 gr sugar

Blancmanage with Rosewater
Photo by: Lord-Williams

Preparation

Scorch and clean the chicken breast well. Boil it in 3 l water with the onion. When cooked, take the breast out of the broth and let it cool. Remove skin and bones. Shred the meat and put it in a deep bowl with the rosewater.

Boil the broth until reduced to approximately 1 l (if there is a lot of grease, skim some off), add almond milk and gently boil it. Stir it with a wooden spoon while adding the flour; keep stiring while it thickens. Add the chicken with the rosewater and sugar and let it cook 8-10 minutes more, stirring constntly. If a more liquid consistency is desired, add more broth. Serve in soup bowls. If more sweetness is desired aprinkle sugar on top. If more aroma is desired add more rosewater.

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[1] Calero, an editor of Villena’s Arte Cisoria, maintains that it originated in Provence.

The name is adapted into English and Spanish from French meaning "white

eating." Hiatt believes the recipes in Form of Curye are similar to

Apicius’ recipe "Cibarium/Album", an almond based sweet sauce. Although

the basic ingredients, almond milk, rice and sugar, came to Europe

through the Arabs, Perry suspects that only the name, "Harisa de Arroz"

(Rice Harisa) can be attributed to the Arabs. Hispano-Arab recipes show

no record of blancmange. The first is in the Catalan text Sent Soví from

the 14^th Century. For other blancmange recipes published by the Medieval Spanish Chef see blogs titled: Chaucer for the English version published December 17, 2012; cetería, for another Sent Soví version published November 26, 2012; cangrejo del rio with Sent Sovís shellfish version publised 19 July 2012;  beca for Nola’s 15th Century Caltalan fish version. It is a sure winner on dinner tables. This version is unique for the rosewater, which makes it exquisite.

COLODRA

Wooden Bucket? Maybe..... IMG_2439
Photo from: ForestPath

1. a wooden tub used between the 13^th-15^th C for milking goats, sheep and cows. 2. A wooden receptacle in which wine is measured. 3. a wooden vessel with a handle for drinking. 4. horn with a cork covering the bottom used as a tumbler. [Gázquez. Cocina. 2002:34:ftn 73:42]