“Fat Tuesday” has passed, and we are in the forty days of Lenten fast. Our medieval ancestors in all Catholic countries dug out all possible recipes for fish, when meat was forbidden. We will go again to Germany, for a glimpse of how they “fasted.”...
This month’s column takes us a bit farther afield, with a recipe from Germany. The recipe is for a starch side-dish, since I have been concentrating on rather meaty main dishes for some months....
This month’s column begins our exploration of recipes from areas we don’t usually visit in our culinary quest. I will also take a look at some of the origins and possible sources of inspiration among cooks, and willingness to adapt techniques when religion and other...
What joy the diligent farmer has now that all his work is done for the time being, there is plenty in the barns and household, and good neighbors to celebrate it with. Thomas Tusser describes “Christmas Husbandlie Fare” in his “Five Hundred Points of Good...
November draws swiftly on. Frost is here and the grass is no longer plentiful for the cattle. The thrifty farmer must now make the hard choice of which stock to nurture through the lean winter. Thomas Tusser advises the farmer, in his “Five Hundred Points...
October’s chill is in the air, and the fleeting year draws quickly to a close. This month the farmer begins to think of the health of both himself and his stock, to get them through the long winter ahead. Therefore, this month we will look...
Hot August has blasted the springtime color, but the Autumn chores beckon apace. Thomas Tusser advises in his “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry” that the farmer or housewife should “Pare Saffron between the two S. Maries daies, or set or go shift it, that...
September begins the farmer’s year. The harvests are largely in, and the bills paid, so the provident farmer can look to the future of his farm. Thomas Tusser, with an eye to good eating as well as good tillage, in his “Five Hundred Points of...
July is the busy month that looks to the harvest about to roll in. Thomas Tusser recommends in his “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry” that the farmer should “Get grist to the mill, to have plenty in store, lest miller lacke water, as many...
By June most of the crops are in, and time comes for repairing and building around the farmstead. Thomas Tusser recommends in his “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry” that the farmer build sheds and other less permanent structures. “So likewise a hovell will serve...