travel-foods-msg - 8/19/12

Period travel foods. Foods mentioned to take along on a journey.

NOTE: See also the files: p-tourism-art, travel-msg, pilgrimages-msg, med-ships-art, ships-msg, Lrds-Salt-Exp-art, drying-foods-msg, campfood-msg, Balled-Mustrd-art.

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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: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 20:54:35 -0800
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: SC: travellers food was... Re: SC - Stuff inside bread (was: Bread
Soup Bowls)

we are asked about items as travellers food (ie the medieval equivalent of
gyros, tortilla wraps, sandwiches, etc).

According to Alexander Neckam, a wandering clerk of the 12th century, He
would buy his food in the town he was bedding down in. The inn would cook
it (a chicken, some bread, etc). He would have some for dinner and the next
day would set off down the road again, the leftovers in his pocket or
wallet. (check out _Daily Living in the 12th Century_ by Urban Tigner
Holmes, Jr.). Lunch was taken by the side of the road.

we also have pictures of peasants taking simple meals in the fields, a bowl
of something (soup? beer?), bread, cheese.

The SCA custom of filling breadbowls with chili, forcemeat, brie and
mushrooms, etc and calling them rastons appears to have nothing to do with
medieval European cuisine (alas!). Its interesting that there's a middle
eastern version, though, and apparently a very late Spanish one. Hmmm!

- --AM


Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 22:02:27 -0500
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: SC - Convenience foods

It's interesting to note that medieval folks had their own convenience 
foods.  There's a recipe in Granado for "hordiate" (barley gruel, often 
served to invalids) that one can take on the road.  You start out by 
making the basic gruel -- boiling barley in water until it begins to 
dissolve, then straining out the solids.  The portable version is made by 
putting a thin layer of hordiate in a pan, baking it until dry, and grinding 
the dehydrated gruel into a powder which can be carried in boxes or 
leather pouches.  On the road, one then reconstitutes the hordiate by 
soaking the powder in some lean chicken broth and adds sugar (sugar 
is a health food, you know).

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)


Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 19:22:12 -0500
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: [Sca-cooks]travelling foods

I purchased a copy from Devra (Poison Pen)
of Tender Meat under the Saddle, which talks
about what the conquerng Hungarians and
Nomadic Peoples ate. I haven't had time to read
it yet, what with the holidays and working on my
presentation for Colorado, plus doing some research
for a couple of upcoming feasts. Oxford did "Food
on the Move" in 1996 which has all sorts of articles
in it on travel and food. What did you have in mind?

Johnnae llyn Lewis  Johnna Holloway
(actually the more interesting food question might
be what do Society folk eat while on the road?)

"Laura C. Minnick" wrote:
> Sooo... for our Obligatory Food Content, what do we know about
> travelling foods in period? They didn't nosh while doing 65+ on the
> interstate, but what might one eat while on the road to Canterbury,
> perhaps? Inbetween inns?> 'Lainie


Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 08:08:46 -0800
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] travel foods

Hais is described (in al-Baghdadi) as "excellent for travellers."
Barmakiya is described (in Manuscrito Anonimo) as "very good for
journeying."
--
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/


Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 00:23:52 -0400
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: Patrick Levesque <pleves1 at po-box.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Field Rations

>>>>>
I have a question . . . What can we document as being actual field rations in period? Dried meats, sausages, hard cheeses, parched grains, journey cakes / breads of various types would have been carried along, supplemented with whatever they could obtain by foraging. I realize that Kings & Nobles had a higher living standard in the field than the average levy, but when things got tough, they didn't eat all that much better, I suspect.

  I'm thinking of doing a field ration package for Pennsic that would be as
documentable as possible while still being palatable. Input?

  Sieggy
<<<<<

I never thought much about the question, but Henry Marks in 'Byzantine
Cuisine' mentions the Krivani ("domed metal or pottery top [...] cooks
bread faster and more evenly).

Voukellon is a thin, double baked bread used by the armies of Byzantium;
the bread is soaked in liquid prior to consumption to soften it (and
probably to add some flavor, depending on the liquid used).

Unleavened bread in both cases.

Organized armies did travel with large groups of camp-followers; presumably
they would have included butchers/bakers and people to cook for a bunch of
hungry soldiers, but I have not researched this.

Petru


Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2003 23:34:32 -0700
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Field Rations

>>>>>
I have a question . . . What can we document as being actual field rations in period? Dried meats, sausages, hard cheeses, parched grains, journey cakes / breads of various types would have been carried along, supplemented with whatever they could obtain by foraging. I realize that Kings & Nobles had a higher living standard in the field than the average levy, but when things got tough, they didn't eat all that much better, I suspect.

  I'm thinking of doing a field ration package for Pennsic that would be as
documentable as possible while still being palatable. Input?

  Sieggy
<<<<<

The one thing that occurs to me is Froissart's mention of Scottish
troops carrying a bag of oat meal and using it to make oat cakes. My
conjectural reconstruction is in the Miscellany.
--
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/


Date: Fri,  9 Apr 2004 11:20:19 -0400
From: "Jeff Gedney" <gedney1 at iconn.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Requirements for a Laurel
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

I created a recipe for "ships biscuit" reconstructed from
numerous sources, including the analysis of existing biscuit
survivals from the Mary Rose wreck.

In Elizabethan England, the Wheat flour was very often extended
with cheaper barley and rye flours and bean and pea meal, as the
purer flours were saved for the nobility. There are a number of
complaints in the Admiralty records about the substandard flour
used in biscuit supplied to the ships in the Armada blockade,
as well as during the 1540's campaigns in which the Mary Rose
sunk. Sometimes Rice or barley hulls were tossed in to extend
it further (you can get rice hulls from some Brewer supply
stores) Spent malt after brewing the brewing process is a good
additive, and sweetens the flavor a little, but while period
was not often used in ship's biscuit, it was more valuable to
save for livestock feed than to waste on common sailors!

So to make a period sort of biscuit (there are no existing
recipes), that would have been eaten on, say the Golden Hind:

3 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dark Rye flour
4 teaspoons salt
2-2 1/4 cups water

Optional:
replace one cup flour with
3/4 cup dried peas, and
1/4 cup Dried Fava beans, hulled, crushed, and processed as
fine as possible in a blender
(and add a pinch more salt as the starches in the beans will
offset the salt a little).

Preheat oven to 400-450 degrees. (if you have a Pizza stone, or
quarry tiles for baking use them,. you'll get a more "period" effect.
Mix dry ingredients, and then gradually knead in enough water to
make a dough. It should not stick to hands and rolling pins.
Roll to 1/4 to 3/8 inches thick ( no more than twice the thickness
of a pie crust), and, using an empty coffee can, cut out dough into rounds.
Using the end of a wooden spoon, press six or seven holes all
the way through the dough, one in the center, and the rest
evenly in a circle around that (half way from the center to the
edges). place directly on the hot oven stone, or on an
ungreased cookie sheets, into hot oven. And bake 20 - thirty minutes.
They should not burn on the bottom.
Take them out and let them cool a little on a rack or on towels,
while the rest of the batch bakes.
Put racks back in oven, and set the temperature down to 250-255
Cook a one to two hours or until the biscuit is evenly light brown
all the way through.
It should not be crumbly, but dry as the captain's humor, and hard
as a bosun's fist.

Place twenty or so to a burlap sack, and tie shut, and stuff as
many sacks as you can into clean drycasks, and seal.

According to the results of some experiments done with this
recipe, the result is best described as "wheat jerky", and even
after soaking the texture is pretty close to wet leather.

yum

Capt Elias Gedney


Date: Sat, 03 Jun 2006 11:19:40 -0700
From: Maggie MacDonald <maggie5 at cox.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic on a shoestring
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

The Finnish travel bread, kalakukko, is reputed to last for two weeks.
Here's a recipe.  When I've served this at feasts, people have been known
to argue that there was no fish in it at all.
here's a recipe for it:

Finnish Fish in Bread
                                    (Kalakukko)

           The literal translation of Kalakukko is fish-cock. It is a
         speciality of the provinces of Karelia and Savo, in the eastern
         part of Finland. It was traditionally baked in hot ashes or on
         grids above a hearth fire. This recipe is corrected for oven
         use. The finished pastry is hard on the outside, like the
         American beaten biscuit, tender within.

         Dough:

         2 cup sifted all-purpose flour   1/2 cup water
         2 cup sifted rye flour           1/2 cup milk
         1 tsp. salt                      4 Tbsps. cold butter
         1 tsp. sugar                     flour to roll out dough

         Filling:

         1 3/4 to 2 lbs fresh or frozen   1/2 lb. fresh ground pork
           fish fillet (pref. salmon)     1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
         1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic          1/4 tsp. ground allspice
         1/4 tsp. chopped chives

           Sift the dry ingredients together twice. Stir the mixed milk
         and water in and beat in the butter. Beat thoroughly. Then
         knead the dough till it is tough and elastic. Roll it out to
         1/2-inch thickness and oval in shpe. On half of it sprinkle a
         very little flour.

           For the filling, cut the fillets in small pieces.  Then lay a
         layer of fish on one half of the dough, season with half the
         garlic and chives, lay the ground pork out atop this, season
         with the pepper and allspice, cover with the rest of the fish
         and season that with remaining garlic and chives.  Fold the
         other half of the pastry over the filling, brush the edges of
         pastry with water and press firmly together.

           Bake is a low oven (250 F.) 3 hrs. Brush the top with a little
         butter or fat occasionally. When done, remove from the oven,
         wrap the hot roll in a clean cloth to soften the crust. To
         serve, cut in slices as you would a loaf of bread.  Butter each
         well. Serve warm.

         4 to 6 servings

Maggie


Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 13:26:58 -0500
From: Sharon Palmer <ranvaig at columbus.rr.com>
To: "Cat ." <tgrcat2001 at yahoo.com>,	Cooks within the SCA
	<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] travelers fare

<<< I am looking for travelers fare.  Food that could be carried and 
eaten on pilgrimages or other trips.
Sources or recipes would be appreciated. >>>

Rumpolt has several sausage recipes that might be appropriate, but 
this one mentions traveling.

Hirsch 25.  To make Italian Zurwanada (Italian sausage) from the 
deer.  Take the wide meat from the hind quarter/ cut it small with a 
knife/ take pork from the hindleg/ that is fatty/ chop with the 
venison/ and take the largest and strongest/ wash it out clean/ and 
before you reverse it/ then pick the fat completely away from the 
deer/ leave not even a poppy seed large on it/ because otherwise it 
quickly becomes rancid/  Then turn it inside out/ and clean the slime 
out/ and dry it out well with a cloth/ that no drop of water comes in 
there/ neither outside nor inside/ Then take salt/ put it in a pan/ 
make it dry and warm/ put it in a mortar/ and pound it well small/ 
then take it out/ take whole pepper/ put it in a mortar/ beat it a 
just a little/ that the kernels drop apart/ take the pepper/ and mix 
it with the salt/ rub the meat/ that you have chopped small/ with it/ 
that it becomes well salted and spiced. Anyway see/ that you do not 
put completely to much salt in there/ that it is not over salted. 
The Italians take everything according to the weight/ but it shows 
itself quickly/ if there is too much or too little/ one has too much 
to do/ that one should always carry weights and balance with him. 
Take the meat/ and stuff it in the intestines/ and press it firmly/ 
and when you see that the intestine develops bubbles/ and the meat 
does not come over each other/ then tamp the intestine with a needle 
point or a bodkin/ then it goes even sooner over each other/ and 
becomes firm/ Tie the sausage closed/ and hang the sausage in smoke/ 
yet not in a chimney/ that no heat comes to it/ that it only becomes 
dry/ the longer you let it hang in there/ the better and redder it 
becomes/ and it keeps a year and a day. However if you are in a crew 
(or army)/ then spread it with olive oil/ and enclose in barrels/ 
then they keep a year or three.  Such sausages are also good to make 
with beef and pork/ that no fat says on the intestines/ then it does 
not become rancid/ And such sausages you can well make from clean 
pork or beef/ with bacon that is not salted/ and the meat/ that 
belongs in such intestines/ you must not lay it in water/ but rather 
as it was gutted/ because it is spoiled from the water/ and becomes 
stinking.  If you do not have any intestines/ then take the bladder/ 
then the sausages become that much thicker and larger/ and when you 
cook them/ and they are small/ then you should let them simmer an 
hour or two.  When they are thick and large/ then you must let them 
simmer an hour four or five/ however that you do not over cook them/ 
let them become cool/ then you can eat them/ and you can also keep 
them a week six or seven/ especially in winter/ when you travel over 
the land/ you can cut a piece from it and eat it anytime/ then you 
taste it after a good drink.  And such sausages one must make in 
winter/ the colder it is/ the better it is.  Is also good for a poor 
soldier/ that must be in the field a year and a day/ because the 
pepper and salt conserve it/ becomes good and well tasting.  They can 
also be given for a salad/ and when you carve them/ then pull the 
skin off/ then you will see the pepper corns between the red meat/ 
makes one pleased to eat.

Ranvaig

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	travel-foods-msg	Page 7 of 7