Some Recentish Embroidery

Cotehardie detail work

Norse Woman's Coat detail

Trim, beaded and embroidered for the Midlands Largess Project, round 1

Wow...More Scrolls

Okay so for some reason I thought I had posted these as well. Turns out I did not. Enjoy.

Purple Fret for THL Bojei Temur

Purple Fret

Award of Arms

Treaty between the Canton of Foxvale and the Barony of Carraig Ban

Dragon's Barb for Aengus O'Nolan

Where did the time go?

I'll tell you where...No where. It just went. New post from a new home with a new life. Same Viking Cupcake. So, instead of boring the four of you with the epic saga of where I've been all these many moons, I'll show some of what I've done in the next few posts.

I'll start with some award scrolls.

 

 

 

 

 Court Barony for His Excellency Anton du Marais 

 

 

 

 

 

Dragon's Heart

Dragon's Treasure for twin brother and sister

 So, I've been a little busy with scribal. I've been working on my figure drawing and shading work. I've also been practicing my insular majascule when appropriate. 

More time needed

Okay. So I WAS going to enter Regionals this year. I could. I would not be happy with my entries. See here are the issues. In the Almond skyr recipe, I can use wine or vinegar. Originally I was thinking of using wine but I would not be able to approximate wine from that time period with a satisfactory level of confidence. So, decided on vinegar, specifically malt. So I then started researching vinegars. Supposedly period vinegars were weaker than modern day. Yet I've found no actual evidence starting this. I have found tons of evidence for modern vinegar brewing that says each batch is a living thing and you won't know the acidity levels until it's done. That tells me it was the same then as it is now. I'm sure they used the same process of introducing a 'mother vinegar' to feed off the ale and make the resulting vinegar. So, I'm going to get some low hops, malt ale from one of the local brewers and then make my own using a commercially available unpasteurized vinegar as a mother.  This will result in a milder tasting vinegar according to various home brew websites, and I believe a less pungent "cheese." This sounds more acceptable to me.

So, Curds of almond milk - Make Malt Vinegar, Make Almond Milk

That brings us to the Kaliis, essentially milk, bread, and eggs.
Baking the Bread:

I could use commercial yeast or a sourdough starter, except all of my research indicates that didn't happen until much later. That most yeast for bread baking was acquired from the local brewers, from the barm of the ale. This was mixed with flour and water and used as leavening. So, when I acquire the ale for the vinegar, I will also be acquiring some barm. This will of course need to be experimented. I am experienced with sourdough starters and commercial yeast, but barms are way out of my comfort zone. I'll be using a bread recipe of a mix of wheat and barley flours. This would have been acceptable according to the region and still technically wheat bread without the addition of rye flour. I anticipate several tests will be needed.

Then the Sauce for Lords.

Need malt vinegar and bread crumbs. See above. The spices would be acquired from a trader. I will use Spicewells.

I could just use store bought and commercially available products. Not going to. The Almond curds will still be cooked over coals as will the kaliis. I'm thinking of doing this at Foxhunt 8, when I'll be cooking some of the dishes over fire pits and wood fires. Before that though I will make it at least once on a commercial range. 

Midlands Regional Preparation

13th Century Cooking Pot

Bean Pot














So, I'm entering my first A&S Competition. Three entries into Division 5, Single Dish.

Kaliis
Sour Curds of Almond Milk
Sauce for Lords

All of the entries are recipes from northern European manuscripts from the 13th century. My main source book is Libellus De Arte Coquinaria


Kaliis is basically wheat bread crusts, cooked with milk and thickened with egg. I will make it as is. But then I will also make it with the addition of cinnamon and possibly other spices, also thinking about butter. There is no mention of any fruit in the cookbook. Honey is only used in sauces. Sugar is only mentioned once in a dish for the sick. I would speculate that the dish was eaten with bits of meat, probably as a breakfast dish. Definitely not safe for Lenten times. I haven't decided how I will cook this yet. It's possible I will use a clay pot or I may actually use a more shallow pan since it instructs to simmer it. I imagine it to be very similar to 'white mush' with the consistency of a gruel or cream of wheat. The recipe before it for white mush recommends flavoring it with butter and cinnamon and saffron. I'll try it both ways. I'm wondering if it will be possible to have it for sampling at the competition. I could always have it in a crockpot and then put it into the serving dish when it was time. But have in the documentation actual photos of me doing it over a flame in an earthenware vessel. That reminds me, that I should ask if I can have power.

Edited to add: Have researched milk and bread. Have decided to bake a bread of wheat flour, using a starter developed with fermented dough, as the recipe specifically mentions wheat bread. I have decided it is to keep the cook from using the more common rye bread. For the milk, I will use oberwise brand whole milk as technically the cream content is the same as raw milk and it's not legal to purchase raw milk where I reside. Eggs I will use large size vegetarian fed chicken eggs, unless research indicates otherwise. The flour I will use Bob's Red Mill Brand as a personal preference of their level of quality.

Sour Curds of Almond Milk is a Lenten version of Skyr. A spoon-curd cheese that has been eaten since the Viking Age at least and still to this day in Iceland and Scandinavia. This was not a common food as it requires wine and almonds. The recipe says wine or vinegar. I am choosing to use wine. I've narrowed it down to a Chenin Blanc. Since during this time period France and Spain were the leading exporters of wine to the Northern lands and Britain. Also Denmark had a tight trade relationship with England since they were England's gateway to the Baltic trade routes. England was favoring French wines because of the marriage of Henry and Elinore (sp?) Check later. I chose white to keep the curd white as I speculate that the Lenten substitute would want to seem as close to the actual product as possible. The food of the time also seemed to favor white foods. Plus, honestly the idea of pink-ish fruity curd cheese sounds revolting to me. I will serve it with bread. Possibly honey as a drizzle as Skyr has been known to be enjoyed with honey since the Viking Age. For this recipe, I will also be making my own almond milk, cooking over an open flame, in a clay cooking pot very similar to the 13th century cooking pots shown in the Museum of London collection shown above. The 13th century pot in actually approximately 10 inches in height and 12 inches in circumference. The modern lead-free clay bean pot in approximately 8 inches in height and 10 inches in circumference. This will be kept cool until serving. Since it would be most likely made for Lent that is a cool season and it wouldn't have been a problem.

Edited to add: Still going with a wine, as almonds indicate a recipe for a wealthy house. While researching vinegars for the Sauce for Lords, I decided that the most logical choice of vinegar would be malt, as it comes from malted barley, brewed into an ale and soured. In Denmark, at the time, ale was the most common drink and barley the most cultivated crop, specifically to make ale. So while I could use malt vinegar for this recipe I am still choosing to use wine, to keep with the theme of affluence my recipe choices indicate.

A Sauce for Lords is an interesting spiced vinegar sauce, thickened with bread crumbs. Luckily I will have bread from the Kaliis recipe and will use the same kind for both. A wholewheat bread made from a sour starter. I haven't decided or researched enough to decide whether to use a red or white vinegar...though a malt vinegar may be acceptable too. One solution could be to try it three times with all three as they all may have been used. The other creative license I was considering was the addition of raisins to balance the sour, as suggested in the notes of the book, on that particular recipe. If I did it would be in addition to making the sauce as stated, without. Since it mirrors a very popular sauce of the time period that in other sources adds various dried fruits, I feel comfortable that it's within the scope of the project.  This will be room temperature and I need to find a cask for it. I'm also going to roast some duck, cover it in sauce and salt it, for tasting, as the recipe directly after suggests for its purpose.

Edited to add: Going to use malt vinegar. Wine would have been imported and possibly too expensive to allow to sour or too scarce to allow souring. Malt vinegar would have been more readily available more cost effective for preservation.

More to come....

Foxhunt VII - Nanban Invasion

Feast Menu

Sake Sashimi - Salmon sashimi
Bluefin Tuna Giri
YakiGyoza – Pork pan dumplings
Kitsune Udon – “Fox Noodles” Noodles with deep-fried tofu and Kombu Dashi
Nabeyaki Udon – Noodles with egg, fishcake, chicken, mushrooms and Bonito-Dashi
Umeboshi glazed Beef Dango - meatballs in a pickled plum and miso sauce

Kyuri to Wakame no Sunomono – Cucumber and Seaweed salad
Asazuke Hakusai – Quick Pickled Veggies with wasabi
Kome - Rice

Sweets:
Ichigo Daifuku( Strawberry and Anko Mochi),
Yokan (Anko)
Tofudango (skewered Sweet Soy sauce dumplings)
Fresh Fruit - Melons, Asian Pears, Lychees, Oranges

Drinks:
Hot Green Tea
Ume Syrup Drink (Cold)

Lunch:
Ginger Scallion Chicken Onigiri
Sweet Bean Paste Buns

 Or

Portuguese  Feijoada (Meat and Bean Soup)
Rice and Sauteed Kale
Pasteis de Nata – Custard puff pastry pies

For this feast I was completely out of my knowledge comfort zone. I knew vague ideas of modern Japanese food from Culinary school. I've also had experience making sushi in restaurants so that made it a little easier.

My main source for this feast was The Oxford Companion to Food, wikipedia, food-timeline, and a youtube channel called "Cooking with Dog." Hilarious. Check it out. That nice little Japanese woman taught me how to fold gyoza and make udon noodles. All the sweets too. If you can call them that. They were not delicious. We did them accurately. People who enjoy mocchi treats did enjoy them. I did not. Everything else was very well received.
We rented large noodle bowls, tea pots, and smaller bowls to use as Japanese style teacups. We hot bottomless hot green tea. There were paper banners with calligraphy hanging from the rafters and tall orchids and bamboo on the tables.

In doing my research, I learned to focus on clean fresh flavors, seasonality, and presentation. The Japanese in period did not have an abundance of different foods. They subsisted on what was available, but they prepared it perfectly and made sure it was pleasing to the eye as well as the mouth. I was hesitant to agree to preparing this feast. In the end I'm glad I went through with it. It was a valuable learning experience and gave me a great new perspective.

Ayreton Carnivale

Carnivale Feast Menu

Smoked Brisket
His Excellency, Serjeant Henry of Exeter

Roast Pork with Fig Sauce
Mistress Gianetta Andreini da Vicenza

Vegetable Barley Soup
Dame Jocelyn of Lutterworth

Chicken Bitka with horseradish cream
Recipe Courtesy of Lady Bojei Timur

Pickled Cucumber and Eggs
Baroness Sarafina Sinclair

Spanish Salad
The Honorable Lady Elaine Ladd

Saffron Ryse with raisins of corrance
Dame Nicholaa Halden

Seasonal Fruit Pies
Mistress Margherita Alessia

Apple Pies
Lady Ann of Walton Woods

Beer Bread
Lady Marissa de Courette

Chicken Bitka
Rose Cream Pudding
Foxvale’s infamous Carrot Fritters
Syrup of Basil
Syrup of Sour Grapes
Lady Kara Atladottir

This feast was a fun feast. When I started to plan it, I really wanted to encourage Baronial participation. So I suggested it be a "Taste" of Ayreton. I chose types of dishes, proteins, vegetables, starches, sweets, and then thought long and hard about who of the talented cooks of our area I'd like to reach out to and what I'd like them to make. Once I had the major dishes out of the way, I allowed any other volunteers to offer up their specialty. It was served buffet style, with the meat being carved, mostly because of the space constraints of the site. Once the dishes were assigned and budget numbers alloted, all I did was sit back and wait until the day of to prepare my dishes and receive the already prepared and assigned menu items.

Very well received.