Estonia-msg

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Estonia-msg - 10/19/13

Medieval Estonia. Medieval sites, food.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous

Stefan at florilegium.org

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Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 08:02:15 -0500

From: Stephanie Ross <the.red.ross at gmail.com>

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Estonian food

I had the great fortune to have visited the country of Estonia twice since

2008. I have been to Tallinn, the capitol, which is right on the coast of

the Gulf of Finland, twice, and took a bus ride to look at the folk

costumes and viking stuff at the Estonian National Museum in

Tartu (research for my Russian persona, doncha know). However, I quickly

found out that the Estonians hate the Russians that were brought in during

communist times. And I mean HATE. It was difficult for me as an American

(and a Rusophile) to see the blatant racism. Although I do understand it as

about 25% of the population of Estonia are transplanted/second generation

immigrants from Russia. Estonia stopped publishing its laws in Russian in

2009 and also shut down the Russian newspapers. One is only an Estonian

citizen if one can prove paternal heritage in the country before WWII.

Being born there does not make one a citizen, so the Russians are SOL.

Tallinn is the only intact medieval city left in Europe because Hitler

wanted to live there after the war, so he never bombed Estonia. It is quite

the tourist city with visitors from all over the world. There is a medieval

restaurant there called Olde Hansa, after the Hanseatic League that ruled

Estonia and the Nordic countries during the late middle ages (

www.oldehansa.ee). The restaurant also has a bakery that serves meat pies

for take away - the carrot and parsnip one was divine and unusual. I loved

walking down the cobblestone street eating a hot meatpie fresh from the

oven. The only thing that would have made it better was if I had been in

garb, although the street vendors that serve spiced nuts were in 14 cent.

medieval clothing, and Olde Hansa had a medieval store where I could have

bought clothes, shoes and ceramics. I did buy a Bartman mug for my former

lord. I saw the original from an archeology dig in a museum in Riga, Latvia

on my second trip. The best part about Estonia is that everyone under 35

is fluent in English because of the Internat/Skype.

Of course I bought a cookbook on my first visit. The cookbook had the most

beautiful tablet-woven belt pictures on the front cover. Estonia is the

only country in the world (that I know of) where they still make

tablet-woven belts for their national costumes. I bought a half-dozen (all

they had) 3" square wooden weaving tablets at the museum in Tartu - wish I

could have found more! Here is a wonderful Estonian food blog

www.nami-nami.blogspot.com. I met the author Pille on my first visit to

Tallinn for dinner, when she took me to Olde Hansa. Food in Estonia is very

German - boiled potatoes, cream sauces, the best sauerkraut that I have

ever eaten, boiled meat, sausages and cabbage.

I plan to post a recipe for an Estonian type of potato salad called risolje

when I get to work. As I was flipping through the pages trying to find it,

two things jumped out at me regarding recent discussions on this list. The

first was regarding groats, which refers to crushed barley in northern

Estonia. The groats were cooked in water in a 10 to one ratio of water to

groats, then milk was added at the end of the cooking time. "Groat broth

was eaten with bread (OMG, the black and wheat bread there was to die for)

and baltic herring". This book also mentiones birch sap that was made into

a fermented drink in eastern Estonia.

At Tallinn Technical University, where I stayed with my travel companions

in the dormatories, the cafeteria served a meat-filled bread ball that was

fantastic and for which I cannot find a recipe anywhere. Is there anything

like it in period? It wasn't a dumpling like pelmeni; it was literally a

white bread ball baked with ground meat in the middle. I would buy three at

breakfast and put them in my pockets to eat later. I think they would make

a great portable breakfast for SCA if only I could find a recipe or more

info about them. OK, off to work, will post the recipe later.

AEschwynne

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:18:02 -0200

From: Ana Vald?s <agora158 at gmail.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Estonian food

We had something very similar to what you described in Swedish food (Sweden

ruled Estonia and Latvia and Lituany under many years), it's called

"kroppkakor". It's made with potatos, as a kind of big Italian gnocchi or

dumpling. It's filled with ground meat and it taste wonderful.

http://www.food.com/recipe/swedish-kroppkakor-61420

http://kokblog.johannak.com/58/

Ana

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:20:08 -0500

From: Stephanie Ross <the.red.ross at gmail.com>

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Estonian food-rosolje

*Rosolje (Salad)*

All the ingredients in this salad are completely typical of Estonian

cuisine. The dressing is cream-based, rather than the typical mayonnaise

dressing more common in Western Europe.

*Recipe Serving:* Serves 4

*Ingredients*

*Salad

*2 cups (450 ml) cold meat (Parisa, Fritz, roast or ham), cubed

3 fillets salted herring, soaked overnight, rinsed, and chopped

4 hard boiled eggs, chopped

6 potatoes, boiled, peeled, and cubed

4 dill pickles, chopped

2 onions, minced

2 apples, chopped

3 beets, boiled, peeled, and cubed

*Dressing

*1 cup (225 ml) sour cream

1 tsp (5 ml) mustard

1/2 tsp (2.5 g) sugar

2 tbsp (30 ml) vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

*Instructions*

1. Combine all the salad ingredients.

2. Separately, whisk together dressing ingredients.

3. Mix dressing well with salad ingredients and serve.

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:41:48 -0500

From: Stephanie Ross <the.red.ross at gmail.com>

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Estonian food

Ana wrote:

<<< We had something very similar to what you described in Swedish food (Sweden

ruled Estonia and Latvia and Lituany under many years), it's called

"kroppkakor". It's made with potatos, as a kind of big Italian gnocchi or

dumpling. It's filled with ground meat and it taste wonderful. >>>

These kroppkakor are very similar to the potato balls that the Hispanics

(Cubans and Mexicans) make where I live in Florida. Not quite the same as

the meat-filled bread balls I had in Estonia, however; the bread was

distinctly NOT potato-based. I thought they might be Scandinavian because

Estonians today consider themselves Scandinavian and not Slavic, besides

the fact that Sweden ruled Estonia twice before and after the Hanseatic

league. I am dying to get my hands on the book "The Estonians Vikings" to

compare and contrast what we know about the Danish and Scandinavian

Vikings, and how they headed into Russia from Estonia.

A unique schmear that Estonians make for their bread is "egg butter", which

is butter mixed with chopped hard-boiled eggs, salt, chives, parsley and

dill (Estonians love dill, and boiled potatoes are always seasoned with it)

and sometimes sour cream is added too to make it lighter in texture.

There is a section in my book about how food was eaten/prepared "in times

past". Modern cookstoves did not come into being until 1860 - before that

they cooked in pots hung over the fire. Bread was baked once a week

(although there is no description of the ovens, sadly, except that

kohlrabi, turnips and later potatoes were cooked in the hot coals) and

Wednesday and Saturday were fasting, meatless days each week when the

family ate from the pot of porridge. (Always makes me think of the nursery

rhyme "pease porridge hot"). Vegetables, milk and water were added as

necessary to make the consistancy better when reheating it. Meat went from

being roasted in the oven before 1860 to being boiled on the stovetop or

fried in the pan. Pancakes became a staple after this time; before they

baked buns and bread but pancakes were easier to cook on the stovetop. Fish

started being fried at this time too, whereas before it was either baked or

boiled. Rye bread, barley porridge, roasted pork, sauerkraut and cabbage,

pickles, salted herring and fresh fish were the main staples of the diet

for nobles and farmers alike.

Here is a recipe for a lemon drink that is certainly "period-oid" made with

honey, lemon and yeast, a type of small mead it would seem. They also

describe how beer was made for the home if anyone is interested in that

information. There is also a recipe for a type of "kvas", a Russian

bread-based fermented drink that the Estonians call "Leivakali" which I can

also share if anyone is interested. My eating habits have changed since I

visted there. I now drink keefir at home. I used to buy a small glass every

morning at breakfast in Estonia, and I was thrilled to find it recently in

my local grocery stores. Keefir is definitely a staple drink in Estonia, as

well I'm sure in the Scandinavian countries.

Honey-Lemon Drink

700 g honey

5 liters water

25 g yeast

1-3 lemons

Bring the water to a boil. Add the lemon slices and cool to 40 degrees C.

Mix in the honey and let it cool completely. Finally add the yeast and let

it brew until froth forms. Pour into jars and secure tightly with lids.

Store in a cool place.

AEschwynne

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:15:26 +0100

From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Estonian food

I visited Olde Hansa a few years ago. The decor is lovely but, at least

then, the food wasn't consistently period. Not only did they serve

coffee, the recipes, so far as I could tell, were invented by the

proprietor on the basis of his guesses, not actually taken from period

cookbooks. I don't know if that situation has changed since.

On 1/28/13 2:02 PM, Stephanie Ross wrote:

<<<

...