Irish-Vik-fst-art - 6/26/01
The feast for an SCA event centering on the Norse Viking attacks on the British Isles, particularly Ireland.
NOTE: See also the files: Ireland-msg, Norse-msg, fd-Ireland-msg, fd-Norse-msg, fd-Scotland-msg, Scotland-msg, Wales-msg, fd-Wales-msg.
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NOTICE -
This article was submitted to me by the author for inclusion in this set
of files, called Stefan's Florilegium.
These files are available on the Internet at:
Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author.
While the author will likely give permission for this work to be
reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first
or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris
AKA: Stefan li Rous
stefan at florilegium.org
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Boat Wars, April, AS35
by Lady Bonne de Traquair
Buckston-on-Eno, Windmasters' Hill, Atlantia
Karen Lyons-McGann April 2000 Durham, NC
Boat Wars is an annual event based on the theme of the Vikings attacking the
Isles. The Isles are accepted to be the various small islands decorating
the British, Scottish and Welsh coastlines, or Ireland itself. There is a
growing body of knowledge about foods available due to the Viking era Dublin
archeological digs, and information on the stomach contents of 'bog men' and
from burial sites all over the British Isles is also available. But,
there's no recipe information better than references in tales, making strict
accuracy impossible. The lines below identified as 'Source' do not
indicate anything about the recipes, which are a collection of traditional
and modern Irish/Scottish recipes, with a sprinkling of later medieval
recipes documentable to other lands. And one Roman recipe. It refers only
to the documentation of the main ingredients in the source 'Land of Milk and
Honey: The Story of Traditional Irish Food and Drink', Brid Mahon, Poolbeg
Press, Dublin, 1991. Ms. Mahon is a folklorist, she has used tales, songs,
letters and diaries as well as the archeological research about to create a
history of what the Irish ate, and how that diet changed with various
invasions and occupations, from the Vikings, to the Normans, to the British.
Below are my research notes, including notations about further research I
would have liked to have done. Soon after the event I began arranging to
move across the country, so following up in those books first requires
locating them in California, or getting them through Inter Library Loan and
I haven't put out the effort yet! I also needed some information from my
deputy cook that I have not yet received. I'll update this file when I can.
COURSE 1 (Other than the Mushrooms, which are simple, and Parsnip Cakes,
which are troublesome, this course is all prepared in advance.)
1. Pickled Quail Eggs
2. Baked Mushrooms
3. Samit Cheese (Fresh Cheese w/herbs)
4. Buttermilk Oaten Bread
5. Boiled Ham
6. Cisti Meacan Ban (Parsnip Cakes)
COURSE 2 (Except for the bread these were all made on site.)
7. Brotchan Rua (Leek and Oat soup)
8. Wheaten Bread
9. Marog Mheacan Dearg (Carrot Pudding)
10. Kailkenney (Kale and Barley)
11. Fried Beans from The Forme of Curye
12. Roast Rib of Beef w/ Pepper Sauce
COURSE 3 (Made on site)
13. Honey Custard
14. Berries
COURSE 1
1. Pickled Quail Eggs
Ingredients: Quail Eggs (canned in water), vinegar, peppercorns, cloves,
ginger, salt, sugar
Method: Rinse eggs and pack into sterile containers. Boil vinegar and
spices, pour over eggs, seal.
Recipe Source: Traditional, multiple recipes found, with varying spices. I
chose to use this combination because it sounded good to me.
Historical Notes:
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 118-121 (all sorts of eggs mentioned,
including the eggs of many wildfowl, though not quail specifically)
Follow up source: The Banquet of Dun na nGedh, John O'Donovan (trans), Irish
Archaeological Society, Dublin, 1842, 1-22 (story over a war supposedly
fought over a basket of goose eggs)
2. Baked Mushrooms
Ingredients: 12 Mushrooms, 2 oz butter, salt, pepper
Method: Serves 4
Choose large, flat mushrooms. Wipe them with a clean cloth, peel them, and
cut off the stalks close to the crowns. Do not wash them unless absolutely
necessary. Butter a fireproof dish and lay the mushrooms edge to edge,
dark side up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put a small piece of butter
on each one. Cook in oven for 20 minutes (350 F), (Gas mark 4) Pile on a
hot dish and pour on the gravy which has run from them.
Recipe Source: Recipes from the Orkney Islands, Edited by Eileen Wolfe,
Gordon Wright Publishing, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1978 pp. 60, by T. Gorn,
Kirkwall
Historical Notes: remark on pickled mushrooms, from the 16th C. followed by
discussion of use by 'ordinary country housewife' stewed in milk, with a
good dab of butter and salt and pepper. or, when fully opened and just brown
underneath, cooked on a gridiron, or fried with bacon.
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 108
3. Samit Cheese (Fresh Cheese w/herbs)
Ingredients: Milk, Rennet, Fresh Herbs
Method: (Get from Bryn)(Soft Fresh cheese made in advance of feast.) chop
herbs and mix into the cheese. Serve with bread.
Recipe Source: (Get from Bryn)
Historical Notes: Dairy Products a large part of the early Irish diet
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 4 (archeological evidence) 55(goat
cheese), 91-2 (list of cheese types and names, 109
follow up on Aisling Meic Con Glinne--The Vision of Mac Conglinne, Kuno
Meyer (trans) London, 1892, 5-113 Curds?
***the list of herbs has gone missing and shall have to be re-researched.
sigh.****
4. Buttermilk Oaten Bread
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups flour, 2 1/3 cups rolled oats (ground), 1 1/4 cup
buttermilk, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt
Method: soak the ground oats in the buttermilk several hours or overnight.
Mix the dry ingredients, add the buttermilk and oats and mix. If necessary,
add a little more buttermilk to make the mixture into a soft dough. Knead
the dough until it is smooth, about 10 minutes. Roll into a round about 2
inches thick, and lay it on a well-buttered baking sheet. With a sharp
knife, cut into quarters. Bake in a pre-heated 375 F oven for about 25
minutes or until golden.
Recipe Source: The Good Cook: Techniques and Recipes Breads, Time-Life
Books, 1981 (follow up on their source ''Irish Recipes Traditional and
Modern'')
Historical Notes: With baking soda, this recipe is NOT period. All my
oatcake experiments met with very little enthusiasm from experienced oatcake
eaters, my husband and our friend. My husband is British with a Scottish
mother, and didn't approve of any I made. Our friend is American but lived
several years as a child in Wales, he was polite, but obviously not happy
with them. I didn't like them either. I wanted an oaten bread of some
sort, and so used a modern recipe rather than waste food and effort on
something even the two most likely to appreciate rejected.
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 3 grown 500 BC, 5, 62 (oatmeal 62, 65.
Oatmeal breads 5, 68, 72, 73) also cakes, jelly, porridge, sowans
Buttermilk, pp. 5, 85 (in addition to cows and goats, also deer, and sheep)
Follow up Source: Coir Anman Irische Texte, III, Stokes and Windisch (eds),
1897, 285-440, legend of Nia Segamain Tripartite Life of St. Patrick,
Whitley Stokes, (ed and trans) from the Book of Lismore, Oxford, 1980
****In the end, logistics prevented even serving this modern oaten bread.
The wheaten bread was moved up to this course, to go with the cheese and the
soup had to go without bread.****
5. Boiled Ham
Ingredients: (Used Smithfield Brand Country Ham, saved label to copy, now it
is gone)
Method: Soak overnight, boil, cool, strip off rind and fat. Slice and
serve cold at site.
Recipe Source: Traditional. (Serving cold ham dicatated by site
limitations)
Historical Notes: smoked ham might be more correct than a salt cure ham.
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 4, 58, 61, 118, curing 58, 69
Follow up Sources: Department of Irish Folklore MS 1071, 137; 433, 127;
1862, 113, 142; 444, 92
The Aran Islands, JM Synge, 1907, 528
****mustards were on my original menu plan, and then completely forgotten
until the feast was going out to the tables!****
6. Cisti Meacan Ban (Parsnip Cakes)
Ingredients: 1 lb parsnips, 1 Tbs. flour, salt, pepper, mace, 1 Tbs. butter,
1 beaten egg, 8 Tbs. bread crumbs, oil for frying
Method: Serves 4 (more if cakes are smaller)
Cook and mash the parsnips, combine with the flour, seasoning and butter in
a large bowl and blend well. Mold into flat round cakes about 2.5 inches
in diameter and .5-.75 inches thick. Dip into the beaten egg, toss in
bread crumbs and fry in a frying pan until golden brown on both sides.
Drain well before serving.
Recipe Source: In an Irish Country Kitchen, Clare Connery, George
Weidenfeld & Nicholson Ltd., London, 1992, pg. 83
Historical Notes:
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 107 'Some varieties of parsnips and
carrots were known in early Ireland. In Lives (see below) we read how St.
Ciaran of Saigher used parsnips as a relish, while Mac Conglinne in his
12th C Vision gives a marvelous description of '...a forest of tall leeks,
of onions and carrots stood behind the house.'
Follow up Sources: Lives of the Saints, Whitley Stokes, (ed and trans) from
the Book of Lismore, Oxford, 1980; Irish Life in the Seventeenth Century,
Edward MacLysaght, Dublin and Cork, 1939
COURSE 2
7. Brotchan Rua (Leek and Oat soup)
Ingredients: 1/2 lb leeks, white and green parts, 4 Tbs. butter, 2/3 cup
steel cut oats or oat groats, 3 3/4 cups water or vegetable stock, 1 3/4
cups milk, salt, pepper, mace, 2 Tbs. parsley, finely chopped
Method: Serves 6
Trim and wash the leeks well. Chop finely across their length. Melt the
butter in a large saucepan and add the oats. Fry gently until well
toasted, then stir in the stock and milk. Bring to a boil and add the
leeks and seasoning. Simmer for 30-45 minutes until the leeks are tender
and the oats cooked. Adjust the seasoning and serve sprinkled with the
finely chopped parsley.
Recipe Source: In an Irish Country Kitchen, Clare Connery, George Weidenfeld
& Nicholson Ltd., London, 1992, pg. 53
Historical Notes: supposedly a soup enjoyed by St. Columba, see Florilegium
for remarks by others on cooks list
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, leeks, pp. 106; milk, 4,5,6, 40, 56, 84-97;
oats see above; St. Colm Cille (Columba) 44, 47, 48, 106, 120
Follow up Source: Whitley Stokes mentioned above
8. Wheaten Bread
Method: (Get from Bryn)
Ingredients: (Get from Bryn)
Method:(Get from Bryn)
Recipe Source:(Get from Bryn)
Historical Notes: Early law bairgin banfuine - woman's cake = two fists
wide, one fist thick, bairgin ferfuine--mans cake = twice that, bairgin
indriub was kept for guests before whom a cut loaf should never be placed.
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 69
Follow Up Source: Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish. I, II, III,
Eugene O'Curry, Dublin and New York, 1873
9. Marog Mheacan Dearg (Carrot Pudding)
Ingredients: 3/4 lb of carrots, 6 eggs yolks, 1/2 cup butter, 2 Tbs. heavy
cream, 1/2 cup ground almonds
Method: Serves 4-6
Wash and peel the carrots, leave whole and cook in boiling water until just
tender. This will take about 8 minutes. Drain the carrots and dry off any
excess moisture. Grate on a course grater. Beat together the egg yolks
and sugar until rich and thick in texture and pale cream in color. Beat in
the cream. Soften the butter until the consistency of thick cream, but not
melted. Beat into the egg and sugar mixture along with the carrots. Stir
in the ground almonds. A few drops of orange-flower water can also be
added. Pile into the pie dish, bake at 400 F for 20 minutes, then reduce
to 350 F for a further 35 minutes.
Recipe Source: In an Irish Country Kitchen, Clare Connery, George
Weidenfeld & Nicholson Ltd., London, 1992, pg. 153
Historical Notes: (reference by C. Connery in book above) 'Take three large
carrots give them a good warming in boiling water then take them out and
grate them take the yolk of twelve eggs very well beat half a pound of
sugar half a pound of butter melted three of four spoonfuls of sweet cream
and beat all the ingredients together you must put puff dough round your
dish you may improve it by putting in a quarter of a pound of blanched
almonds pounded let the sugar be the last thing going in.' 1709 receipt
book of Charles Echlin from County Down
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 5, 107
follow up Mac Con Glinne reference
***grating the half cooked carrots gives an entirely different, and better,
texture than grating and then cooking the carrots.***
10. Kailkenney (Kale and Barley)
Ingredients: 1/2 cup rolled oats (1 cup barley)*, 1 lb. kale, 1/2 cup
chopped green onions w/ tops, 4 Tbs. butter, 1/2 cup meat broth or water,
salt & pepper to taste, 1/4 cup light cream, 1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
Method: Serves 4
Toast oats in a small dry skillet over medium heat until lightly browned,
about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside. Wash kale, strip kale
leaves from their stems; cut into fine slivers. SautÈ green onions in 2
Tbs. melted butter in a large saucepan until tender. Add kale and broth or
water. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat, covered,
about 12 minutes, until just tender. Add cream, nutmeg, 2 tablespoons
butter and toasted oats, mix well. Cook 1 or 2 minutes.
Recipe Source: 'A Bonnie Scottish Cookbook', Kay Shaw Nelson, EPM
Publications, Inc., McLean, VA, 1989, p 71. *('Recipes from the Orkney
Islands' has a similar recipe using barley. I have substituted barley for
variety as oats appear so often in this menu and barley is also appropriate
to early Ireland/Scotland )
Historical Notes:
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp. 5, 107, 'Charlock or praiseach bhui, an
edible weed that when boiled resembled leafy brown kale was used from the
12th C and possibly much earlier. '
follow-up sources: Mac Con Glinne
11. Fried Beans
Ingredients: 1 lb of split fava beans (2 1/3 cups) 8 cups water, 1/4 cup
oil, 3 lg cloves of garlic chopped fine, 2 medium onions parboiled and
minced. 1 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. ground cubebs, 1/2 tsp. ground cumin.
Method: 16 servings
Soak the beans overnight and cook them until tender. heat the oil and
brown the onion and garlic. Add beans and brown approx. 20 minutes,
stirring often. Season with salt and spices and serve. This recipe works
well for large quantities by baking in an open roaster in the oven on
375-400 F, turning occasionally.
Recipe Source: 'A feast at Carrick Fergus' by Lady Hauviette March, AS 35
Historical Notes: The Forme of Curye, A Roll of Ancient English Cookery,
1390 'Benes y fryed Take benes and feep he almoft til pey berften, taken
and wryng out wat clene. do to Oynons yfode and ymynced and farlec pw. frye
hem i oile. o i grece. do to powdo douce. sue it forth.'
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, pp 4, 'from Norman times, peas and
beans...:, 6 'The Norman Invasion of the 12th C brought with it a new
pattern of eating with a dependence on cereals, beans, peas and bread.',
107 'While there is evidence that the Vikings of Dublin used some species
of coarse black beans, peas and beans were not generally known or used in
pre-Norman times.
follow up source: the web site with Dublin archeological information
***I discovered only recently that the fava beens should have been skinned.
Oh how troublesome, but the skin is tough and somewhat bitter. Should I
prepare it again, I'll buy pre-skinned fava beens.***
12. Roast Rib of Beef w/ Pepper Sauce
Ingredients: 1 rib roast of beef, 2 1/2 to 3 lbs; 2 Tbs. black peppercorns,
10 Tbs. water, salt
Method: Roast the meat on a rotisserie, or under the broiler but not too
close to the heat, to an internal temperature of 120 degrees F/48 degrees C,
turning from time to time. This will take about 20 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, crush the peppercorns in a mortar or grind them coarsely in a
spice grinder. Add them to the water, bring to a boil, and simmer for
several minutes. Add salt to taste. When the beef is done, let it rest for
at least 5 minutes in a warm place so that the juices will be more evenly
distributed. Carve into even slices, sprinkle with salt and serve with the
boiled pepper.
Recipe Source: The Medieval Kitchen, Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban & Silvano
Serventi, Translated by Edward Schneider, The University of Chicago Press,
1998, p110
Historical Notes: From above: #54, 'Assatura bouina, cum costis iuxta
dorsum acceptum, simpliciter in ueru assatur et cum bullito pipere
administratur' 'Roast of beef, taken from the ribs near the spine, is
simply spit-roasted and served with boiled pepper.' according to Redon et
al the author also writes 'In general, all the meats that should be boiled
in water are the flesh of pork, beef and mutton.' as beef was 'cold' and
'dry'. But perhaps the boiled pepper is intended as a corrective element so
that the meat may be digested.' Tractatus de modo preparandi et condiendi
omnio cibaria, #388
Source: Land of Milk and Honey: The Story of Traditional Irish Food and
Drink, Brid Mahon, Poolbeg Press, Dublin, 1991, beef pp 5, 6, 52, 55
'tributes paid in kine', 56, 57, 61, 62
cattle pp. 3, 52, 55, 62
Cattle Raid of Cooley, 3, 55, 91
follow up source: The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, The Four Masters,
John O'Donovan (ed), Dublin, 1845-51
St. Ciaran and 'the book of the Dun Cow'
COURSE 3
13. Honey Custard
Ingredients: 2 cup milk 1/4 cup honey 3 egg yolks, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg or
cinnamon
Method: combine the milk, honey and eggs, pour into individual molds or
serving dish, bake uncovered at 325 F for 1 hour or until set.
Recipe Source: The Roman Cookery of Apicius, John Edwards, Hartley & Marks,
Washington DC, 1984, pp. 175
Historical Notes: below
Source: Land of Milk and Honey, p 5 moat of custard in Mac Con Glinne, 71
The Norman lords brought '...baked custards in pastry with dried fruits'
14. Berries
Ingredients: 1 lb mixed berries, frozen, 1 Tbs. sugar, 1 tsp. ground ginger,
Method: serves 8
Thaw berries, mix w/ sugar and ginger.
Recipe Source: speculative, from below
Historical Notes: Source: Land of Milk and Honey, bilberries (rel.
blueberries) 4 'The markets of medieval Dublin offered. . .', 105, 133, 134
blackberries 4, 23, 104, 139
gooseberries not indexed
raspberries 4
strawberries 4, 105
***The berries were intended as a seperate dish, but it was quickly discoved
that they were excellent as a sauce for the custard. Equally delicious as
breakfast the next morning. ***
------
Copyright 2000 by Karen Lyons-McGann, Irvine, CA. (Gyldenholt, Caid). <oftraquair at hotmail.com>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited and receives a copy.
If this article is reprinted in a publication, I would appreciate a notice in
the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also
appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being
reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.
<the end>