Medieval Food Cooking Recipes

There are some of the favorite recipes from the period now making their rounds on the tables of the crème de la crème. An interesting fact is that in Medieval cooking there are few if any measurements of ingredients at all. This gives the modern home or commercial chef to play with the quantities according to each family's or individual's specific taste.

The amounts of the ingredients can be adjusted to suit a particular taste. Either ways, what needs to be celebrated is the fact that what's in the pot belongs to the Middle Ages anyway! This is a great way to get the whole family involved in the preparation and indulge themselves.

Ingredients

• 1 cup, herbs (butter lettuce, watercress, mint, and tarragon)
• 1 cup, flower petals (roses, primroses, chive blossoms, nasturtiums, and violets)
• 1 cucumber (sliced)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs (sliced)
• 4 tablespoons, olive oil
• 3 tablespoons, white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon, salt
• 1/8 teaspoon, pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon, brown sugar

Method
Wash and dry the herbs. Set them aside. Then, take a bowl and put in the petals of roses, primroses, chive blossoms, nasturtiums, and violets. However, you need to be sure that they haven't been sprayed with insecticides. Then, cut the herbs. Toss them in a salad bowl with the cucumber.

Add in the oil, vinegar, sugar, and salt, and toss the salad well. Layer the entire salad with sliced hard-boiled eggs and serve.

Ingredients

• 2½ lb chicken or capon (cut into pieces)
• 1 tablespoon, olive oil
• 1 tablespoon, butter
• 1½ cup, chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon, rosewater
• 1 cup, white wine
• 2 oranges (peeled and cut into eighths)
• 2 lemons (peeled and cut into eighths)
• 4 prunes (coarsely chopped)
• 4 dates (coarsely chopped)

• ½ cup, currants
• salt, to taste
• ½ teaspoon, whole peppercorns
• ½ teaspoon, whole cloves
• ½ teaspoon, mace

Method
Heat the oil and butter together in a Dutch oven. Season the chicken or capon pieces with salt and pepper. Place them in a frying pan and brown the pieces well on all sides. Once done, add chicken stock, rosewater and wine to it. Let it simmer for 20 mins. Then, add the oranges, lemons, prunes, dates, currants, salt and mace and place the peppercorns.

The peppercorns need to be first placed in a cheesecloth pouch and then added to the stock if you want to avoid unnecessary biting into it during the meal. Continue to simmer the mixture for another 15 mins, till the chicken is tender. This dish can be served with strips of fried bread.