Lady Maragret's Medieval Recipes
Beef Pottage
Ingredients
- 1kg beef
- 3 large onions
- 2 leeks
- 1 large turnip or small swede
- 500g mushrooms
- 1 pint vegetable stock
- 1/2 pint beef stock
- 2 tablespoons chopped sage
- 1 tablespoon chopped coriander
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 ground cloves
- Proudre et douce
- 4-5 slices stale bread grated into breadcrumbs
Method
- Chop all vegetables, place in large pan with beef.
- Add beef stock and enough vegetable stock to cover.
- Add spices and herbs.
- Bring to boil and simmer for ~3.5 hours, adding more stock as necessary.
- Add grated breadcrumbs to thicken, simmer for another 10 minutes and serve.
Venison Pottage
Ingredients
- 1kg diced venison
- Red wine
- 1 large onion
- 1 leek
- Handful of currants or raisins
- 5-6 tablespoons Honey
- 2-3 tablespoons Red wine vinegar
- Long Pepper
- Mace
- Dried ground galangal
- Juniper berries
- Salt
Method
- Put venison in bowl.
- Grind spices together, add salt and seasoning to venison.
- Thinly slice onion and leek, add with currants to meat.
- Pour over enough red wine to cover, add honey and vinegar.
- Ideally marinate overnight.
- Transfer to fire proof pot and cook over moderate fire for about 2 hours.
Grape stuffed Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 medium chicken
- 200g white/green grapes
- 2 tablespoons rough chopped sage
- 2 tablespoons rough chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 pints vegetable stock
- Poudre et douce
Method
- Chop grapes in half, add herbs and oil and mix.
- Stuff chicken, tie legs.
- Place in pan, cover with vegetable stock and bring to boil.
- Simmer for just under an hour.
- Drain stock, sprinkle with Poudre et Douce and serve.
Sweet and Sour Fish
Ingredients
- 1kg fish fillets
- 5 tablespoons flour
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 175ml white wine
- 150ml cider vinegar
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- Pinch of mace
- Teaspoon of cubebs (ground)
- Salt
- Handful of each currants and raisins
Method
- Cut fish into chunks and coat in flour.
- Fry onion and fish.
- Mix remaining ingredients and pour over fish.
- Remove from heat and marinate.
- Return to heat and simmer ~5 minutes.
Pease Pottage
Ingredients
- 750g green peas
- 2 large onions
- 2 leeks
- 1 pint vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped coriander
- 1 teaspoon mace
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 4-5 slices stale bread grated into breadcrumbs
Method
- Chop onions and leeks finely, place in pan with herbs, spices and stock.
- Bring to boil, cover, simmer 2.5 hours.
- Add oil, grated breadcrumbs, stir.
- Simmer 10 minutes and serve.
Beans and bacon
Ingredients
- 750g broad beans
- 1 leek
- 5 rashers unsmoked bacon
- 1 pint vegetable stock
- Poudre et douce
Method
- Chop leek, slice bacon, place in pan with beans.
- Add stock.
- Bring to boil and simmer ~1.5 hours.
- Add Poudre et douce and serve.
Edible Medieval Pastry
Ingredients
- 500g Strong white flour
- 250g Butter
- Hot water
Method
- Rub butter into flour.
- Add hot water and mix to form dough.
- If too sticky add more flour.
- Use as required.
- Cook at 160°C Fan. 180°C electric Gas Mark 4.
Lamb Pie Filling
Ingredients
- 500g minced lamb
- Finely chopped onion
- Salt
- Pepper
- Coriander
Method
- Mix ingredients together and fill pastry case.
- Add pastry top.
- Brush with beaten egg and bake.
Sage sauce for Pork
Ingredients
- Fresh sage and parsley
- Pinch of salt
- Cooked egg yolk
- White wine vinegar
Method
- Grind equal quantities of sage and parsley with salt.
- Add cooked egg yolk and continue grinding.
- Gradually add wine vinegar until required consistency.
Salad
Ingredients
- Selection of green herbs (parsley, sage, mint, borage, watercress, rosemary, purslane, fennel)
- Also leek, onion, garlic
- Olive oil
- Wine vinegar
- Salt
Method
- Wash herbs and discard damaged ones.
- Finely chop leek, onion, garlic.
- Mix oil and vinegar 3:1, add salt.
- Mix all together and serve.
Raspberry Cream
Ingredients
- 1.5 pints double cream
- 3 egg whites
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons ground mace
- 300g raspberries
- 250g brown sugar
Method
- Whisk egg whites with a little cream.
- Heat rest of cream to boil, take off heat.
- Add lemon juice, mace and egg mixture. Stir.
- Put back on heat, simmer until thickens. Cool.
- Place raspberries and sugar in pan, heat gently until melted together. Cool.
- After an hour, place cream custard in bowl, spread evenly.
- Spoon raspberry mixture on top and serve.
Gingerbread
Ingredients
- 1 jar honey
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of saffron (optional)
- About 500g white bread crumbs
- Gold leaf (optional)
Method
- Heat honey to just boiling.
- Add spices and stir.
- Remove from heat and stir in breadcrumbs until absorbed.
- Turn out onto greaseproof paper, roll flat ~5mm thick.
- Cut into shapes.
- Alternatively, line 18cm cake tin, press in mixture, turn out and decorate with gold leaf.
- Makes quite a lot, keeps a long time and can be frozen.
Pears in syrup
Ingredients
- 1kg pears peeled, cored and quartered
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 8 tablespoons red wine
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon mace
- 2 ground cloves
- 3 tablespoons currants
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 50g chopped dates
Method
- Dissolve cinnamon in red wine.
- Put in pan, add sugar, mace and cloves.
- Bring to boil.
- Add currants, dates and pears, poach until soft.
- Add ginger, then more cinnamon or sugar to taste.
- Serve.
Hippocras
Ingredients
- 1 bottle red wine
- 100g sugar
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- Long peppers
- Mace
- Dried ginger root
Method
- Take a cup of wine, add sugar and heat gently to dissolve.
- Grind spices, add to hot wine.
- Heat gently for about an hour.
- Strain to remove spices.
- Add rest of bottle and heat gently.
- Serve.
- Can be made with grape juice (reduce sugar).
Claret
Ingredients
- 2l White wine
- 175g Brown Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon each of Cinnamon, Ginger, Grains of Paradise, Long Pepper, Galangal
Method
- Take 1/4l wine, put in saucepan with sugar.
- Heat gently to dissolve.
- Grind spices.
- Add to warmed wine and leave to infuse.
- Strain through cloth, add to rest of wine.
- Original has iris root which can induce labour, so omitted.
- Grape juice can substitute for wine.
Poudre et Douce
Ingredients
- Ginger
- Cinnamon
- Black pepper
- Sugar
Method