It's time to talk about cooking and eating in the Middle Ages!)
Did you know that the first cookbook that came down to us was written on the orders of Richard 2 in 1390?
Of course, the main food in the Middle Ages was bread. Quality depended on family income. White soft bread was made from wheat, which grew on well-plowed and fertilized soil.The most common type of bread, "marsh" ("maslin") was baked from a mixture of winter wheat and rye. Dark bread was baked only from rye flour. Bread from barley and oats was more common in the north of England, where the climate is colder and damp. Often, non-grain plants were added to the flour, especially in the years of crop failure. Beans, peas and even acorns became components of cheap varieties of bread.
White bread"Pandernain" or "paynemaine" - bread of better quality, baked from twice or thrice sifted flour."Wastel" - bread of high quality, from carefully sifted flour."Cocket" - was somewhat cheaper than the two previous varieties. Approximately from 1500, instead of a large loaf, small small hand-sized bread balls, called "matichets", were baked.Other types of bread
"Cheat bread" - bread from whole wheat, from which wheat was selected for coarse grinding."Tourte" (or "trete" / "treet") - also known as "black bread".Contained along with flour husk from grains and, probably, was used for trainers - "dishes" of bread (see below)."Maslin", "mesclin" or "miscellin" - the so-called bread from a mixture of wheat and rye.The "Horse bread" included peas, beans, as well as any grains that were available. They also cooked cheap breads "from every grain": bread from bran (which included, including wheat bran), and in the north and west of England - a variety of barley bread and oat cakes, which are still called "ancient" names : "Havereakes" or "clapbread". Representatives of wealthier estates used black bread (bread made from rye flour), mainly as plates (called trainers): large loaves of bread, usually baked four days ago, were cut into large slices, in the middle of the slice they made a small groove, which was then placed food. The dinner of a common man consisted of one or two such "dishes" - trainers; a nobleman was served a whole pile. After lunch, the trainers were collected in a basket and handed out to the poor. Common or toasted bread was used mainly as an ingredient for cooking other dishes. Bread crumbs were added to the sauce and into the custard for consistency. At that time, gingerbread was made from spiced bread crumbs mixed with honey. They decorated the carpet with the leaves of boxwood. Other types of pies and rolls, in fact, were different types of bread: slightly sweetened pastries with
the addition of spices.
Pasta
It
is assumed that this story was heard by a Venetian chef who began
tirelessly mixing water, flour, eggs, sunflower oil and salt, and did
this until he had achieved the best consistency of the noodle test. It is not known whether this is true or whether the noodles came to
Europe from the Arab countries thanks to the crusaders and merchants,
but the fact that European cuisine soon became unthinkable without it is
a fact. However,
in the XV century, there were still bans on cooking pasta, since in the
case of a particularly unsuccessful harvest, flour was necessary for
baking bread. But since the Renaissance, a triumphant procession of pasta through Europe was already impossible to stop.Porridge and thick soup.
Until the era of the Roman Empire, porridge was present in the diet of all walks of life, and only then it turned into food for the poor. However, they were very popular with her, she ate three or even four times a day, and in some houses they ate only one. This state of affairs persisted until the 18th century, when potatoes replaced potatoes.
It should be noted that the porridge of that time is significantly different from our current ideas about this product: the medieval porridge can not be called "mushy", in the sense that we now attach to this word, it was firm, solid enough that it could be cut. Another peculiarity of that porridge was that it was not essential what it consisted of.
In one Irish law of the 8th century, it is clearly stated which sections of the population, what porridge should be eaten: "For the lower class, it is sufficient to have oatmeal cooked in buttermilk and old butter to it, middle class members are supposed to eat porridge from pearl barley and fresh milk, and put fresh oil in it, and royal sour should be served sweetened with honey porridge of wheat flour and fresh milk. " Along with porridge from ancient times, mankind is known for "dinner from one dish" - thick soup, replacing the first and second. It is found in the kitchens of the most diverse cultures (Arabs and Chinese use a double bowler for cooking it - meat and various vegetables are cooked in the lower compartment, and rice "comes" on the rice rising from it) and just like porridge it was food for the poor until his preparations did not use expensive ingredients. A special love for this dish is a practical explanation: in the medieval kitchen (both in princely and peasant), food was cooked in a boiler suspended on rotating mechanisms over an open fire (later in a fireplace). And what could be simpler than throwing all the ingredients that you can get into such a cauldron and cook a rich broth from them. At the same time, the taste of soup is very easy to change, simply by changing the ingredients. Although archaeological finds show that much more often peasants ate pearl barley and vegetables, but they also used meat for food.
Meat, fat, oil
Having read books about the life of aristocrats, impressed by the colorful descriptions of the feasts, modern man firmly believed that the representatives of this estate were exclusively game-eaters. In fact, this dish was only 5% in their diet.
Pheasants, swans, wild ducks, deaf ears, deer ... It sounds magical. But in fact, the table was usually served chickens, geese, sheep and goats. A special place in the medieval cuisine was occupied by a roast. Arguing or reading about meat cooked on a spit or grate, we forget about the more than minor development of the dentistry at that time. But how can one chew hard meat with a toothless jaw? The savvy came to the rescue: the meat was kneaded in a mortar to a mushy state, thickened by the addition of eggs and flour, and the resulting mass was fried on a spit in the form of ox or sheep. Also sometimes came with fish, a feature of this variation of the dish was that the "kashka" was pushed into the skin, skilfully pulled from the fish, and then cooked or fried.
The corresponding state of dentistry also influenced the fact that vegetables were usually served in the form of puree (shredded vegetables mixed with flour and egg). The first person who started to serve vegetables to the table cut into pieces was the Martino meter. Strange now it seems to us that fried meat in the Middle Ages is often also cooked in broth, and the cooked chicken, having rolled in flour, was added to the soup. With such a double treatment, the meat lost not only its crispy crust, but also the taste. With regard to the fat content of food and ways to make it so, aristocrats used sunflower, and later butter, for this purpose, and the peasants were content with lard.
CanningDrying, smoking and pickling as methods of preserving products in the Middle Ages were already known.1. Dried fruits - pears, apples, cherries - and vegetables. Dried or dried in the stove, they persisted for a long time and were often used in cooking: especially they were liked to add to wine. Fruits were also used to make compote (fruit, ginger). However, the obtained liquid was not consumed immediately, but thickened and then cut: it turned out something like candy - pra-candy.2. Smoked meat, fish and sausages - this was due primarily to the seasonal slaughter of cattle, which took place in October-November, because, firstly, in early November it was necessary to pay a natural tax, and secondly, it allowed Do not spend in winter on animal feed.3. Sea fish, imported for consumption during fasting, were preferred to be salted. Salted also many varieties of vegetables, for example, beans and peas. As for cabbage, it was sour, that is put in a pickle.
I think that today there is enough information about food ...)
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