Food Glorious Food

[Penny-Whistle]

'tis the season and all that.

This weekend I tried making a Hobbit Seed Cake based on an old Victorian recipe.
It was fun thinking that Mr. Tolkien himself may have nibbled on something similar whilst
sipping a cuppa.
Details here: http://kitchenoverlord.com/2013/12/01/h ... seed-cake/

One year we made a Medieval-style stew prior to a game. Not so easy to do since the recipes back then
tended to be for very large groups. Luckily, spices are more affordable these days
and the meat arguably fresher.

Anyone have any great recipes to share?

[Treebore]

Nothing thats unique, or close to it. Aside from being damn good because my wife or I cook it, so its cooked specifically to our tastes. Like our barbecues, sauces, dips etc... all have pretty much the standard spices, etc... to them, just we change them up to give them more of the flavors we like. When we cook meats, we like them extremely tender, to where you can scoop up the meat with a spoon, literally, so we tend to cook low heat over night, marinade them first etc... at least when we take the time to plan it out. As for breads, same thing, we take standard recipes and change them up a little to add flavors we like. Plus we don't use a bread maker, and we knead our dough with our stand mixer.

[Treebore]

Is Cheesy Potato and broccoli soup a common recipe? Thats what I am eating right now.

[Penny-Whistle]

Is Cheesy Potato and broccoli soup a common recipe? Thats what I am eating right now.

heh. Forgive me if I say, "What's taters, precious?" knowing full well the answer.

That sounds yummy. I was looking more for medieval recipes or items reminiscent of fantasy settings.

[Treebore]

Is Cheesy Potato and broccoli soup a common recipe? Thats what I am eating right now.

heh. Forgive me if I say, "What's taters, precious?" knowing full well the answer.

That sounds yummy. I was looking more for medieval recipes or items reminiscent of fantasy settings.

My wife has such a cook book, something like "Good House wife" is in the titles, from the 1780's. Pretty eye opening in all the suggestions they give for preserving food for long term storage, etc... Aside form that, they are basically the same as today, just they use spices that are no longer in such great use today, etc... and we now have spices they didn't have access to.

[Treebore]

Add fresh baked bread to my menu... dripping hot with butter...

[Jyrdan Fairblade]

That seed cake looks good. Victorian recipes are neat, though I often find myself having to reduce the amount of sugar, because they all had a crazy sweet tooth.

I'm a big fan of armored turnips (though I have to use fake cheese, alas):

http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/turnips.html

For those looking for good medieval recipes, I heartily recommend “Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks.”

[Penny-Whistle]

Add fresh baked bread to my menu... dripping hot with butter...

Mmm. Fresh bread without preservatives is something special. I love the way the aroma fills the whole house. Bread bowls would work.

[Penny-Whistle]

That seed cake looks good. Victorian recipes are neat, though I often find myself having to reduce the amount of sugar, because they all had a crazy sweet tooth.

I'm a big fan of armored turnips (though I have to use fake cheese, alas):

http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/turnips.html

For those looking for good medieval recipes, I heartily recommend “Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks.”

The amount of sugar was frightening. And the butter. Yipes. Not a low calorie item at all. That is a very cool recipe for turnips and thanks a million for the site link. I am not certain but I -think- we got our Medieval stew recipe from the book you suggested. It was delicious and very different from modern stews.

[Penny-Whistle]

Is Cheesy Potato and broccoli soup a common recipe? Thats what I am eating right now.

heh. Forgive me if I say, "What's taters, precious?" knowing full well the answer.

That sounds yummy. I was looking more for medieval recipes or items reminiscent of fantasy settings.

My wife has such a cook book, something like "Good House wife" is in the titles, from the 1780's. Pretty eye opening in all the suggestions they give for preserving food for long term storage, etc... Aside form that, they are basically the same as today, just they use spices that are no longer in such great use today, etc... and we now have spices they didn't have access to.

I have done my share of preserving food. Jams, pickles, salsa etc. It is a lot of fun especially when using fresh food I've grown myself. Really satisfying. I'm sure you all do quite a bit over there.

[Tadhg]

The seed cake looks tasty. Interesting comment though about caraways seeds tasting like a mild version of anise. I use them in my Irish soda bread and other recipes and I never got that flavor. I just chewed some to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I see that wiki describes them as fruits rather than seeds and they mention the anise flavor. Hmm.

I like to bake easy tea breads like zucchini, banana nut and apricot. Great breakfast and snack treats.

My next bread baking session will be to make knockebrod, a Swedish crispbread ~ as I finally acquired barley malt syrup.

The bread uses graham, rye, spelt and whole wheat flours AND fennel seeds (now they have the serious licorice flavor that I love).

[Penny-Whistle]

The seed cake looks tasty. Interesting comment though about caraways seeds tasting like a mild version of anise. I use them in my Irish soda bread and other recipes and I never got that flavor. I just chewed some to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I see that wiki describes them as fruits rather than seeds and they mention the anise flavor. Hmm.

I like to bake easy tea breads like zucchini, banana nut and apricot. Great breakfast and snack treats.

My next bread baking session will be to make knockebrod, a Swedish crispbread ~ as I finally acquired barley malt syrup.

The bread uses graham, rye, spelt and whole wheat flours AND fennel seeds (now they have the serious licorice flavor that I love).

I am SO glad you said that. I was surprised to read the anise reference too so I did the same thing (decided to actually pay attention to see if I was just misremembering.) And nope. Not finding anise there. They do taste an awful lot like CARAWAY though. haha. Mind you, the seeds I use are dry. Maybe fresh makes a difference. shrug.

knockebrod! Oh, that sounds awesome. Like ... lembas maybe. I love having a slice of quick bread for breakfast. I never met one I didn't like but this year I am all about the apple breads. =) Especially tart crab apples.

[Treebore]

The smell of baking bread is always mouth watering, then when you slather it while still hot with butter, just thinking about it is mouth watering!

One thing I learned while doing my micro farm about "old style" cooking, is that there really isn't anything that compares to "fresh", whether its freshly picked off the vine, stalk, etc... or a freshly laid egg, or a freshly slaughtered Chicken, goat, goose, duck, etc... or Milk fresh from the udder, such foods simply taste better than anything you can buy at a store or road side stand, etc... unless they are the ones where you go and pick it yourself, like we had available when we lived in Charleston, SC. We also had fresh caught seafood there. Not sure why, I have my guesses, but thats been our experience, and the one HUGE advantage the old cooks had over todays cooks.

[serleran]

I believe last year, for Yule, we had a Blotkake. Tasty.

[Lurker]

Add fresh baked bread to my menu... dripping hot with butter...

My friend, you miss the mark ... fresh sourdough bread (with a starter I got from Italy that is over 100 years old) and real extra virgin olive oil -the real good unfiltered stuff.

Heck EVOO and any fresh baked bread sour dough or not ....

As you can guess, I'm not a huge fan of butter, never have been . But then being stationed in Italy, I fell in love with good bread and EVOO - well that along with good ham pickles cheese and vino ...


I've never tried my hand at medieval food, but I do have some ancient Rome recipe books. It is funny, one key ingredient is a staple of Asian food. Fish sauce ...

Hmmmm, I'm getting hungry now, I think I have some of the crisp sourdough bread sticks my younger daughter made & I'm sure we have cheese some where....

[Tadhg]

I believe last year, for Yule, we had a Blotkake. Tasty.

Yep . . w/ coffee. Or if you have coffee, serve up the blotkake!

Hmm, I'm doing a Swedish/Norwegian Christmas celebration this year, so I think I'll check out some recipes!

[Fizz]

I like making Blood Pie from the Star Trek cookbook. This is the dessert version, made with cranberries, cheeries and different types of juice. It's deep red, and best served hot and runny. It's quite tart. One of my favorite desserts, actually.

Usually i make it for Halloween, and the name works well. But "blood" may not fit the current season, so feel free to tweak the name if you don't want to freak out your guests / family. Heh.


-Fizz

[Treebore]

Today we are doing a dish I would guess goes all the way back to whenever mankind started cooking their food in pots. Beef Stew. Of course I bet they didn't have the range of ingredients we put into ours. Plus fresh biscuits.

[Penny-Whistle]

I like making Blood Pie from the Star Trek cookbook. This is the dessert version, made with cranberries, cheeries and different types of juice. It's deep red, and best served hot and runny. It's quite tart. One of my favorite desserts, actually.

Usually i make it for Halloween, and the name works well. But "blood" may not fit the current season, so feel free to tweak the name if you don't want to freak out your guests / family. Heh.


-Fizz

A million thank yous for this. My family would have no problem with something like this any time of year. hahahaha (Found a link too. Thank you internets http://www.geocities.ws/ktesh_kag/desserts2.htm)

[Penny-Whistle]

Today we are doing a dish I would guess goes all the way back to whenever mankind started cooking their food in pots. Beef Stew. Of course I bet they didn't have the range of ingredients we put into ours. Plus fresh biscuits.

Classic.

I think the idea of beef stew has really changed over time. Besides using red wine and beef, older versions of beef stew bore little resemblance to Julia's Beef Bourguignon. Original versions were far more spicy. Spice was not just a status symbol but also practical: it covered up any scent of decay. The recipe from the site Jyrdan Fairblade recommended includes not only the standard onion, parsley and salt but also hyssop, cinnamon, cloves, mace and red sandalwood. More like something from the Middle East than the Shire. Besides tomatoes and potatoes came from the New World and wouldn't have even been available for use.

[Treebore]

Yeah, plus I imagine they didn't call it Beef Stew either, probably Meat Stew, and the meat was whatever they were able to bring in that day. You also bring up an interesting question, just how much did the cooking in the Old World and the New World differ?

[serleran]

Will be preparing a pork loin with a dry rub this weekend for the feasting. I use roasted cumin, different types of pepper (black and white, mostly), Mexican oregano, seasoned salt and some other stuff (like my cheddar bacon salt) in the rub. My wife says I am king of seasoning, so she must at least like it. Maybe I will wrap it in some mango pineapple bacon.

[Treebore]

Maybe I will wrap it in some mango pineapple bacon.

You may have left California, but it obviously did not leave you...

[Fizz]

A million thank yous for this. My family would have no problem with something like this any time of year. hahahaha (Found a link too. Thank you internets http://www.geocities.ws/ktesh_kag/desserts2.htm)

Wow, never seen those versions before. I may have to try in the near future.

The Star Trek cook book is the only one i've tried. It has two versions, one savory and the other sweet. I've only made the sweet one, but i like it a lot. It even won a halloween baking competition a few years back, i'm proud to say. Qapla'!


-Fizz

[serleran]

Maybe I will wrap it in some mango pineapple bacon.

You may have left California, but it obviously did not leave you...

Only the better parts remain.

[Tadhg]

Hmm, beef stew reminds me of my C&C adventurers food thread. I was going to post about gulyas (where I use beef stew meat cubed) and forgot. So, let me find it.

I'm also thinking that I need to pull out my Mongolian Fire Pot!

Incidentally, I stopped buying shrimp from Thailand and India due to the overcrowding of the farms and all the stuff that's poured into them to keep bacteria and other diseases away.

And then, the other day I read about tail-off, peeled and de-veined shrimp that are processed by human slaves in Thailand!

[Lurker]

...

I'm also thinking that I need to pull out my Mongolian Fire Pot!

Incidentally, I stopped buying shrimp from Thailand and India due to the overcrowding of the farms and all the stuff that's poured into them to keep bacteria and other diseases away.

And then, the other day I read about tail-off, peeled and de-veined shrimp that are processed by human slaves in Thailand!

Mongolian ..... Mmmmmmmmm I'd be hungry if I wasn't stuffed from lunch with my job's Christmas party - smoked brisket, potatoes roasted in bacon drippings, and other good okie food.

Rgr on Thailand

I'm all about capitalism, but it has to have a heart and soul to it to be proper capitalism. It always amazes me how we throw a fit about some minor injustice, but then turn a blind eye to horrendous injustices just to get cheep shrimp, shoes etc etc etc ... I'd better step away from the ole soap box ...

Back to food

I love jerky (deer or beef) but it surprised me to find out that smoking it was a lucky happenstance. It turns out that during the ice age that the air around where the mammoths and other large gam was, was dry enough the meat would dehydrate without fire/smoke. However, smoke kept bugs etc away and then as a by product added flavor to the meat. (According to a food anthropologist's thesis any way, can't remember who it was or where I heard it. Knowing me it was probably 'good eats' or something like it)

Ok, I lied, I'm getting hungry ...