Past Recipes

[King Henry V]

Here a a few recipes taken from various ages, in case anyone wants to try the cooking of yesteryear. Most of the Mediaeval recipes come from Medieval History magazine, God rest its soul .

Byzantine Cooking:
Ostreidomuditza
A dish of oysters and mussels with lentils. This is reputed to be one of the most popular dishes in the Constantinopolitan repetoire, and it is easy to see why. Quite apart from the cheapness of the ingredients in those days, quite small changes can make quite spectacular differences in how the dishes turn out, yet it is always delicious. So one cook it very often without getting bored. This often makes it a very ad hoc recipe for which quantities are hard to specify.

The basic ingredients:
Oysters and mussels as you please;
Lentils;
Garlic;
Olive Oil.

Optional ingredients:
Bacon;

Fish sauce (could be available at an asiatic store);
Equal quantities of cumin, ground and dried coriander
Mustard (groung);
Pepper.

Parboil the lentils. Chop or crush the garlic to taste into the oil in a pot or frying pan. If using bacon, chop and brown with the garlic, Add the well drained lentils and fry for a while, making sure it is well mixed. If using the various spices they should be included with the lentils. Add the shelfish and cook only long enough for them tho take on the cooked colour. If using the fish sauce it should be added ar this point. Longer cooker will tend to toughen them.

Sardines
Ingredients :
2-4 sardines per person. The sardines used were about 15cm/6 inches long;
Cumin and coriander as in the previous recipe and some plain flour;
A clove of garlic per fish;
Olive oil as needed.

Scale and gut the sardines. Mix the dry ingredients fully. Crush the garlic into this mixture and then mix in such a quantity of oil as needed to make a slightly runny paste. Coat the sardines. It is enough for the flavour to simply coat the outside of the fish , but if you like more flavour and have more mixture you can also put it inside. Cook for no more than 10 minutes. This can be done in the oven (gas 6), in a frying pan on a low heat; or on a griddle over charcoal. The latter two methods will require turning them half way through of course. One author of the twelfth century writing under the pseudonym “Poor Prodomos”, complains of the torment caused to his empty stomach by the smell of his neighbour grilling fish on a brazier!

Stragalia

One basic pulse dish with an exotic flavour is to take chickpeas, boil them until soft and dry off, then braise them in extra virgin oil mixed cumin and coriander (see previous recipes).

Sweet and sour pork and beans
A simple combination if condiments which did not need to come from far afield was oxymelitos or “sharp-sweet”, made with vinegar and honey. This was applied to a variety of pulses and meats. Here pork and beans, believed at the time to particularly nourishing, are combined, but each can be cooked separately this way to excellent effect.
Ingredients
For one big eater alone or two people when accompanied by another vegetable.
25ogm of cubed pork
100gm of dry beans or 1 x 400 gm tin of cooked beans drained
1 medium onion
3 large cloves of garlic
80ml wine vinegar
40ml red wine
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons of fish sauce

If using dry beans, parboil them in lightly salted water and drain. Chop the onion finely and soften olive oil over a low heat. When clear add the finely minced garlic. Next, raise the heat slightly, add the pork and brown all over. While the pork is frying, combine the wine, vinegar, honey and fish sauce, ensuring they are fully mixed. Once the pork has browned, add the mixture. Once it almost comes to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat. Simmer very gently until all the liquid has reduced to a thick syrup.
For a stronger flavour and thicker syrup, the quantities of mixture can be doubled and reduced for longer.
Even on the most affluent dinners, root vegetable – carrots, radishes and so on- and herbs were simply laid on the table fresh from the garden to be eaten raw. Such fresh flavours complement this dish well.