Longer days draw on apace, and the agricultural year draws down to its close. After the grain harvest about the first two weeks of August, young geese were turned into the fields to eat up the grains that shattered out during the harvest. This custom...
A bounteous harvest is coming in and the season of feasting is upon us. Feasting means parties, and parties mean special foods and drinks, as much as the budget of the household would allow. A favorite postprandial tipple during most of the middle ages was a sweetened...
Well, back to business; preserves can no longer wait! I apologize for waiting so long on this recipe, since by the time this is printed we will have missed both the strawberries and cane-berry seasons. However, this recipe can be applied to almost any fruit, and plums,...
The inspiration for this column is a banquet encounter with His Lordship Jamal Damien Marcus of the Kingdom of Caid, a cook of vast and deserved renown. Preserves can wait until next month!...
“Sumer is icumen in”, and the thought of cooling salads will be on everyone’s mind. I offer a medieval salad for your enjoyment. It is, however, not what you think. There’s not a leaf of lettuce to be seen in it....
Now that the Lenten fast is behind us, let’s look at a more festal dish. I apologize to the vegetarians among my Readers, as this is a patently carnivorous recipe, even though it is fowl rather than red meat. It is also another example of there being nothing...
Today’s recipe is a lesson that not every recipe is in a cookbook because it tastes good. This will also get into aspects of medicine, culture and religion, as well as cooking. "Spring is sprung," and Lent is just around the corner. The housewife has...
With Twelfth Night past, Plough Monday signals the start of the working year. And nothing warms after a day of cold (and likely wet) farm work like a bowl of hot soup. Because our society looks at a great span of years, so should our...
Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & throw ther-on; take gratyd Brede, & make it so chargeaunt that it wol be y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, & straw ther-on y-now; then make yt square, lyke...
With courteous greetings to the good folk of the Barony of Terra Pomaria, I would fain begin a new Missive, on a subject near and dear to the heart (or stomach) of each of us – that is, our meals in the Society. To the...