fd-Ireland-msg – 1/20/08
Food of medieval Ireland. References. Recipes.
NOTE: See also the files: fd-Scotland-msg, Ireland-msg, haggis-msg, fd-Iceland-msg, fd-Wales-msg, cl-Ireland-msg.
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Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 10:30:40 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Irish period recipes??
Maddie Teller-Kook wrote:
> Unfortunately there are no 'period' irish recipes. These were never
> written down. Event though there is documented evidence of food
> remenants found at archeological sites, this just isn't the same. But,
> to be honest, I know when doing an Irish event, the food cooked ends up
> being more 'ethnic' than 'period'. If only the monks had taken care to
> write down recipes instead of the book of kells..........(big grin)...
>
> meadhbh
Of course, if the Book of Kells had been a cookbook, we probably would
never have found it, since some Viking might have taken it home to his
wife, instead of merely hacking off the silver binding decorations and
throwing the rest into the bog.
As a matter of fact, I understand there is an account or fairly detailed
description of St. Colmkille's (a.k.a. Columba's) favorite food,
Brotchan Foltchep or Brotchan Roy, in the saint's autobiography, dated
597 C.E. The dish still exists today, and based on the description,
appears not to have changed significantly since that time, except for
the possible addition of meat stock to the milk that forms the main
ingredient of the soup's liquid portion.
As for other Irish foods of reasonably safe period accuracy, for all
that some speculation is involved, you might consider boiled bacon with
kale or cabbage, which is what was eaten in Ireland before Americans
imported a variant on the New England Boiled Dinner (corned beef and
cabbage, with separately boiled potatoes, but sans the traditional
beets) to Ireland, sometime in the late-nineteenth / early-twentieth
century. Kale or cabbage boiled with salt pork, ham, or bacon is a
pretty standard porrey or joutes dish, found in period sources from both
France and England, and probably Germany as well. Le Menagier gives
several such recipes, while Taillevent doesn't bother, since, he says,
every houswife already knows how to make them. It was quite probably
eaten in Ireland in pre-history.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 21:38:10 +0000
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Irish period recipes??
And it came to pass on 5 Nov 97, that Tyrca at aol.com wrote:
> I would really love to know as well. I want to know what they ate
> before corned beef and potatoes. I want to feed it to my family, if
> possible.
AFAIK, there are no period Irish cookbooks. It is possible to learn
something of what the early Irish ate. Historical accounts, such as
lives of various saints, mention various foods. Saint Brigit was a
dairymaid, for example, and miraculously produced endless quantities
of butter on at least one occasion. I believe that Gerald of Wales'
_History and Topography of Ireland_ discusses food a bit, but I can't
find my copy.
Looking through _The Illustrated Archaeology of Ireland_, I find the
following foods mentioned:
Mesolithic: Irish hare, wild pig, thrush, pigeon, eel, salmon, trout,
hazelnuts
Neolithic: cattle, sheep/goats, pigs, wheat, barley, fish, deer,
wildfowl, nuts, berries, crab-apples
Bronxe Age: flax (oil)
Iron Age: Oats, rye
Unfortunately, the book has almost nothing to say about food in the
periods that are of greater interest to us. I would assume that the
Vikings and later, the Normans, introduced some of their foodstuffs
to Ireland.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain of Tethba
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
mka Robin Carroll-Mann *** harper at idt.net
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 16:10:03 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: SC - Reposting Brotchan Foltchep Recipe...
Mark Harris wrote:
> For us uneducated masses, what is Brotchan Foltchep? I think you've
> mentioned it before. A stew? Soup? Recipe please.
Here it is...I think we've seen this one before. Loosely adapted from
Malachai McCormick's "Irish Country Cooking" (the best Irish cookbook
I've seen), but apparently of much greater antiquity, having been
mentioned and described in the writings of St. Colmcille, c. 597 C.E.
There's no telling how the original differs from this, though. I am
assuming that Colmcille's dish was a bit more austere.
Brotchan Foltchep, a.k.a. Brotchan Roy
Serves 6
3 or 4 medium-size leeks, about 1 1/2 pounds
1/4 to 1/2 stick butter (1 - 2 ounces)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup raw, steel-cut porridge oats, like McAnns
Parsley (flat Italian, chopped) for garnishing
salt and white pepper to taste
Wash the leeks well. They are usually muddy and sandy. Remove any
visible dirt or grit. Trim off the root ends and discard. Starting at
the white, root ends, slice the leeks thinly. Place in a deep bowl of
cold water, and rub the leeks between your hands, gently, to separate
the rings and encourage the last of the grit to sink to the bottom. Lift
the leek slices off the surface till the bowl has nothing left in it but
water and mud. Drain the leeks in a strainer and set aside.
In a large, deep saucepan, bring the stock and milk to a simmer. Stir in
the oats, bring almost to a boil, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until
the oats are done.
While the oats are simmering, melt the butter in a deep saute pan, over
low heat. Sweat the leeks for five or ten minutes, until they begin to
soften. When the oats are about half done, add the leeks and their
butter to the pan of soup. The leeks and the oatmeal should be done at
the same time.
Take the pot off the heat, stir in the cream, and season with salt and
white pepper to taste. Garnish with the parsley.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 19:14:46 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Reposting Brotchan Foltchep Recipe...
James and/or Nancy Gilly wrote:
> >Brotchan Foltchep, a.k.a. Brotchan Roy
> >
> >Serves 6
<blah blah blah>
> So at what point do you add the whiskey? Along with the cream? Directly
> into the serving dish? At the table?
Just a few minutes before serving. You want it to have a fresh flavor,
but don't want enormous clouds of volatile alcohol fumes. At least, I
don't think you do... .
Last year, I served haggis at an event, and came out of the kitchen, and
spoke to the folks in the hall, describing how the haggis is now
traditionally escorted into the dining hall by pipers (a kazoo band),
flaming (a couple of lit sparklers inserted at strategic points) with a
fine malt whisky (Laphroaig, this time, of which I poured myself a
single shot, raised my glass in salute to the crowd, and went back into
the kitchen, clutching the bottle).
Adamantius
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 23:00:27 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - "Paul's Epistle to the East Irish."
> do we have any sources for period cookery in Ireland?)
> Alasdair mac Iain
AFAIK, I am aware of several literary references to what foods were
eaten, a 6th-century C.E. description of a typical daily pottage eaten
by St. Colmcille, and a 16th-century poem about the sustaining virtue of
the herring. That's all I know about. No recipes per se, although the
pottage description is reasonably detailed enough to work with, I'd say.
And no help from other Goidelic Celtic cultures: I don't think there are
any period recipes from them either. One interesting little snippet I
read recently is that the folk of the Isle of Man are major exporters,
and also consumers, of octopus. I've heard the Irish will occasionally
throw a squid or two into the fish fry, but never anything like this.
It's tempting to assume some of the better-known Irish and Scots
traditional foods are variations on period ancestors, but there's little
or no real evidence of this, except perhaps in the case of haggis.
Adamantius, who has a theory about colcannon...
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 00:06:52 +1100 (EST)
From: Charles McCathieNevile <charlesn at sunrise.srl.rmit.edu.au>
Subject: Re: SC - Irish cuisine (fwd)
This is what I got from a friend who does Irish Viking stuff in the
950-1200 period (mostly)
Charles ragnar
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 23:14:21 +1100
From: Andrea Willett <willetta at mail.austasia.net>
To: Charles McCathie - Neville <charlesn at sunrise.srl.rmit.edu.au>
Subject: Re: SC - Irish cuisine (fwd)
Hello Charles!
> These folk would really appreciate a reply - I thought i recalled you
> providing a couple of pointers on living-history. (If there aren't any,
> sorry to waste the time)
>
(snip)
>
> Subject: SC - Irish cuisine
>
(snip)
>
> No, unfortunatley there does not seem to be any existing manuscripts.
> perhaps one will show up. There is some anecdotal evidence, however. If
> anyone has newer information, please, please share it.
(snip)
To the best of my knowledge this is correct. The post I made in response to
John Brattan's query about Viking recipes on Living History Net was based
on plant and animal remains from the digs in Dublin and from what I know of
Viking cooking utensils. You can post it to SCA cooks in my name if you
think they will find it useful. For what it's worth here it is.
Subject: Recipes from Viking-Age Ireland?
There is hardly any (practically none) WRITTEN evidence for Viking food
that I know
of. The oldest cookbook that I have seen is "An early 13th century
northern-European cookbook" by Rudolph Grewe in Proceedings - Current
Research in Culinary History: Sources, Topics and Methods, 1985. A lot of
the recipes in this book rely on almond milk however and this is most
likely to have come into common usage in northern kitchens from the
middle-east during or after the Crusades.
Analysis of soil samples from Viking/Norman Dublin (which is my main
geographical area of interest) indicate that of the meat that was eaten 90%
was from mature cattle (beef not veal), 7% from young pigs and the
remaining 3% from sheep or goats. Horse was also occasionally eaten as were
dogs, cats, deer, seals and whales. They have identified the remains of
crushed hens eggs so they must have had chooks. Of the fish bones they have
identified cod and ling. "In the general urban debris shells of cockle and
mussel were common, with oyster and scallop more scarcely represented.
Limpet and periwinkle were very rare, but this perhaps reflects the fact
that there was no rocky coast nearby."
Grains and pulses identified include oats, barley, rye, wheat and peas.
Fruits and nuts: hazelnuts, hawthorn, fig, strawberry, walnut, apple, sour
cherry, plum, sloe, rosehip, blackberry, raspberry, elder, rowan,
frochan/bilberry and grape. Other edible plants include wild celery,
Brassica sp. (turnip, cabbage, etc.), rape (now renamed canola for
political correctness), black mustard, wild carrot, fennel, radish and
nettle.
To the poultry and game one could reasonably add rabbit, hare, turtle,
goose, duck (wild if possible), partridge and quail. Grouse would be lovely
but it doesn't exist in Australia, I tried to locate some for the Scottish
lunch at the Conference. Avoid pheasant (It originated in Asia and I don't
know how early it came west), turkey (American) and Guinea fowl (African).
Fish and shellfish I don't know well enough to advise about additions to
the original list with the possible exceptions of trout (preferably brown
trout), salmon and herring.
Regarding grains and pulses: Do not use white bread or flour for your
meals. Sifting the flour would have been too much effort for anyone but the
household of a king or major chiefton. You can come up with quite tasty
wholemeal pastry recipes if you try. I came up with a very yummy recipe for
"Haw Tarts" which used a thin pastry of wholemeal flour with the addition
of ground and chopped hazelnuts to hold a thick strained syrup of hawthorn
berries and honey. The name got a good laugh too. Pity hawthorn berries
aren't commercially available, I'd like to use it at the Conference. Keep a
look out in peoples paddocks for some of the rare fruits and greens like
haws, elderberries, rosehips (from wild not garden roses) and stinging
nettle tops as they make interesting additions to meals and help distance
you from "B-B-Q chook and roast lamb syndrome". The fig and grape mentioned
above are imports and were found in a 13th century layer so they are
probably not suitable for your group. "Conspiuous absentees" from among the
Dublin finds were said to be coriander, and hops. Oh, and only use dried
peas never fresh.
The above list is not exhaustive for Dublin or any other Viking site. Soil
samples actually tested were only a very small proportion of what was
excavated and what was available in the area where your club is set could
be very different from what I can prove for mine. Are you in the
Scandinavian homelands? Have you emigrated west? East? Are you raiding
along the Italian coast looking to sack Rome? Local ingredients available
would be different in each case and certain non-local foods may have been
available in much more limited quantities as imports. As a general rule of
thumb, the bulkier an import and/or the farther it has to travel the rarer
and more expensive it would have been and therefore the more frugal you
should be in its use.
On cooking methods what can one say? Roast meat on a spit or bake it in an
oven? I don't know if that was quite as common a cooking method as people
seem to think except among the upper classes. Meat in a stew can be made to
stretch a lot farther that roast. What social class do you portray? Bread
might have been baked on a bakestone beside the fire or in a dedicated
baker's oven, I don't know. Boiled meat we can prove. There was mention of
oxen being boiled in one of the sagas and boiled pickled pork or silverside
is VERY yummy. Stews would certainly be very common. Roll the meat in flour
and brown it and the vegetables in a frypan before you stew them. I don't
know if this is period (there is not enough evidence to tell one way or the
other) but it will improve the flavor of your stew immeasurably, so will
leaving the bones in (in a muslin bag if you wish to remove them at the
last minute). If you wish to thicken it use bread or egg. Pies? I don't
know. A self-supporting pie along the lines of a Melton Mowbray pork pie is
feasible but there is no evidence of anything resembling a pie dish. There
have been several of those "frying-pan" things found so obviously they
fried things. Whether they were used for meat, omelets or griddle cakes I
don't know. Pickled, dried and salted meats and fish would also have been
common, don't miss out on the ham and soused fish.
Apart from that all I can add is that you take ingredients and utensils you
know/think you know that they had and work forward. You take the recipes
and ingredients that are synonomous with their cuisine today and subtract
modern and late period ingredients and work backwards. Somewhere in the
middle you reach your own interpretation of what you think they might have
eaten. As I said earlier, there are no extant "Viking" recipies. As long as
you USE what information is available no-one really has any right to say
that your version is any more valid than theirs. We all do the best we can.
Just keep in mind that it is an interpretation based on what you know at
the time. If someone comes up with additional EVIDENCE be prepared to
change your mind. It's so very easy to get set in our ways once we've made
a decision on something.
Andrea Willett
willetta at mail.austasia.net
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 15:58:08 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Irish cuisine (fwd)
Charles ragnar forwarded a post from Andrea Willett on Irish/Viking food.
>... On cooking methods what can one say? Roast meat on a spit or bake it in
an
>oven? I don't know if that was quite as common a cooking method as people
>seem to think except among the upper classes. Meat in a stew can be made to
>stretch a lot farther that roast. What social class do you portray? Bread
>might have been baked on a bakestone beside the fire or in a dedicated
>baker's oven, I don't know. Boiled meat we can prove...
C. Anne Wilson (_Food and Drink in Britain_, 1974, ISBN-06-497747-I)
describes an experiment in potboiler/pit roasting cooking by archaeologists
at a site in Ireland; the site is well BC, but similar sites through the
British Isles "range in date from perhaps 2000 BC down to the Viking
period, and some Irish examples may be as late as the sixteenth century
AD." They found a trough sunk into a boggy part of the peat (so the water
wouldn't drain away) lined with timber and stones with an arc-shaped hearth
at each end, pot-boiler stones, and "a second pit, stone lined and thought
to have been employed as an oven". They used the hearths to heat stones,
used a dampened wooden shovel to dump them in the water, brought the water
to a boil, and simmered a 10-lb leg of mutton for 3 hours 40 minutes by
adding stones every few minutes. The oven they preheated with burning
brushwood, removed it, and "another ten-pound leg of mutton was placed
inside and surrounded by a rough dome of red-hot stones...the covering of
stones was changed seven times in the course of three hours and forty
minutes". They then ate the results: "excellently cooked and most tasty."
Wilson gives her source as M. J. O'Kelly, "Excavations and experiments in
early Irish cooking-places", J. R. Soc. Antiq. Ireland (1954), 84, pp.
105-55. Wilson's book is a wonderful source for this sort of stuff.
Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 10:22:21 -0400
From: "Gedney, Jeff" <Gedney.J at phd.com>
Subject: RE: SC - Mediveal Irish Cookbooks
> I have a friend who is cooking a late period Irish feast. I was wondering if
> there were any period irish cookbooks available.
>
> Illadore de Bedegraine
If it is white or disgusting, or from salt water the Irish eat it >:0
Sorry.
Ahem.
I am afraid that, as an Irish persona, I find that much Irish food I
have found are things like "Steamed Willicks (periwinkles - very big
snails) in Carrageen moss (a seaweed)", eel pies, Blood sausage, and as
many ways to serve small bony white fish as possible.
I strongly dislike seafood, as a general rule.
I have a nice Irish cookbook, based on recipes from late Victorian
Ireland, that has some nice cakes and breads, but I have yet to find any
period sources. (I guess I stopped looking after I found the disgusting
stuff)
Perhaps it is time for me to do a little more looking. If you find any
sources, send them to me, too. Please?
Brandu
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 23:10:33 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Are creations period?
Karen Evans wrote:
>
> I have studied the archeological reports of the remains of foodstuffs
> found in pre-Norman Ireland, but there is very little in the way of
> cookbooks from that period to tell me what I want to know. Are you
> implying that I change my persona to match the existent cook books?
>