Ancient recipes

Raises hand!

1 Like

Real gaucho cuisine, with modern implements.

Whenever a recipe says a part of the process is to ‘set the steel eye bolt in concrete’ I get excited.

While I respect your opinion, let’s list the features.

  1. You get to build a shed.
  2. You get to light stuff on fire.
  3. You get fish, sausage, cheese, vegetables, and an awesome smelling set of overalls at the end.

I see no problems here.

Nickofferman.gif

1 Like

Hey, @Medievalist I found a more modern barley bread recipe while looking through my books. Again, it will be photos since it is three pages long.

Heh, she said Wensleydale. :smile:

Holy shit!!! The process I thought I had innovated was discovered in 1881!!!

He got the chemistry totes wrong, but the process right.

1 Like

These look amazing. I am a huge fan of crusty bread.

1 Like

It turns out I independently discovered a fermentation technique from the 19th century. It makes delightfully crusty bread.

Have you read ‘Food in England’ by Dorothy Hartley? It’s a fascinating history, with an endearing ‘dotty old posh lady’ writing style, but the amount of recipes where at some point it says ‘rub it with lard’ is unreal.

Ooh, no! I have been obsessing over Elizabeth David, but I think amazon needs more money.

It’s well worth it.

Nice ramekins, baby!


also:

 

#NERRRRRRRRRDS!

A gentleman always has the appropriate ramekins on hand, lest he offend his guests by his gauche and maladroit manner.

1 Like

And here’s where I LEFT the party!

1 Like

These are all amazing looking, but I most want the syllabub. It actually sounds really tasty. And I think with the use of KitchenAid whip tool instead of a bellows, might be able to bring into the modern times.

Also, the hedgehog loaf is tots adorb.

Okay, I found a couple of nice modern recipes here:

and here

and some old ones here:

1 Like

Yep, that’s the stuff.

You can also make miniature hedgehogs with meatballs. A few slivered nuts on the ‘back’ creates the illusion of spines.

1 Like

Another riff on an ancient recipe is Heston’s Trifle.

The trifle can be traced back to 1598.

I started to post a bunch of images of old pretzels, but halfway through I realized nearly all of them are on the Wikipedia page for “pretzel”.

My sources (by which I mean my books and some more or less inebriated historians of my acquaintance) say pretzels are of disputed origin, with Italy, Austria and Germany all claiming the honors, but all the stories start in a monastery somewhere. The modern shape is said to represent either praying hands and/or the trinity (the three voids) surrounding a cross. Personally I suspect it’s just a very convenient shape for baking, handling and eating, and the stories were back-revved to the shape. It would be a monkish thing to do.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-The_Fight_between_Carnival_and_Lent%28detail%29_-_WGA3375.jpg

PS: @ChickieD, I have eaten syllabub and it’s delicious, if you like that sort of thing, and I’ve had scotch eggs done up as hedgehogs with slivered almonds… they’re good but they fall apart worse than an extra-crispy taco!

2 Likes

You might like this blog, also. The English bits are iffy at times but the guy is really enthusiastic about Medieval cookery, posts some very interesting stuff.

1 Like