Tag Archives: recipe

Lemonsweet

“Arianne drew the child away. ‘You must be hungry. We have dates and cheese and olives, and lemonsweet to drink. You ought not eat or drink too much, though…” -A Feast for Crows

17th C. and Modern Lemonsweet

Thoughts:

These recipes produce two very different lemonades. The older recipe results in an intense, kick in the face sort of lemonade, with all the vibrancy of fresh lemons, and a sweet tang that goes on and on.

The modern recipe, ironically, makes a lemonade that tastes very old worldy. Using honey instead of sugar reduces the immediate sweetness prevalent in many modern lemonades, while the unexpected taste of the vanilla will make you stop and work the flavors over again in your mouth.

Both are excellent and refreshing on hot summer days. In the future, we might try infusing the modern version with just a sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary, while the older recipe could do with a bit of (non-traditional) carbonation.

Recipes available in the Cookbook.

Buns with raisins, dried apple, and pine nuts


Elizabethan buns

“‘Eat,’ Jon told him.  ‘There’s no knowing when you’ll have another chance.’  He took two buns himself.  The nuts were pine nuts, and besides the raisins there were bits of dried apple.” -A Storm of Swords

Modern Buns

Our Thoughts:

The Elizabethan buns look cute, if a little strange, but they taste very good.  The sherry gives them an innate sweetness that is only increased if you have a bite with a raisin in it.  I was fairly unimpressed when I first tried them, but found that the more I ate, the fonder I became of these little buns.  And if you imagine yourself to be on the Wall, facing down dangerous threats and overwhelming odds, they’re even better.

Check out this entry in The Cookbook for another historical recipe, as well as a delicious modern version!

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Peaches in Honey

“When a serving girl brought her supper, she almost kissed her.  There was hot bread and fresh-churned butter, a thick beef soup, capon and carrots, and peaches in honey.  ‘Even the food tastes sweeter,’ she thought.” -A Clash of Kings

Modern Peaches in Honey

Thoughts:

The Roman recipe is very curious. The tastes are both familiar and strange, as we aren’t used to cumin being used in desserts.  The pepper lingers on the back of your palate, lengthening the slightly spicy sensation started by the cumin. We used a sweet wine, but the slight tartness of a vinegar would be lovely with the other flavor elements. The syrup is very sweet, such that a small portion goes a long way. In the end, we decided the flavor would work beautifully as a chutney, or a side dish to a meaty main course, rather than a dessert.

The modern recipe is pure decadence.  Grilling the peaches brings them to their absolute sweetness, and they half cook, making them reminiscent of peach pie filling. The thyme infused honey takes the sweetness and complexity to the next level. You will want to savor every single bite, and including a dollop of creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream will only add to the dish.

So? The Roman recipe is what your favorite meat dishes didn’t know they were missing, while the modern version is a brilliant dessert. Both recipes are available in the Cookbook.

Salt Beef

“The rain might have stopped, but the compound was still a morass of shallow lakes and slippery mud. Black brothers were folding their tents, feeding their horses, and chewing on strips of salt beef.”

Salt Beef

Our Thoughts:

We won’t lie. We bought a ten pound piece of meat to cure without even thinking of the blog. We’re that culinary crazy. When one of us realized that we were pretty much making salt beef, we were a) relieved that this meaty goodness could be shared with the world, and b) absolved of the crime of cooking food outside of the blog. We did, however, look like a house of psychopaths for three weeks while the muslin-wrapped bundles hung in our pantry. Which has a window, of course.

But once we unwrapped and sliced into the wondrous meat, the weeks of apparent insanity were completely worth it. The meat is, obviously, very salty, but when paired with a sharp cheese and a good loaf of bread, it is the perfect trail food. We brought a chunk of our salt beef when we went camping, and it became part of breakfast, lunch and dinner!

A long wait for the finished product, but well worth the wait!

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Medieval Fruit Tarts- blueberry, strawberry, apricot, cherry

“A man was pushing a load of tarts by on a two-wheeled cart; the smells sang of blueberries and lemons and apricots. Her stomach made a hollow rumbly noise. ‘Could I have one?’ she heard herself say.” -A Game of Thrones

Medieval Fruit Tarts

Thoughts:

These are a wonderful treat that really showcase the fresh fruits of summer. We went all out and made all the varieties mentioned in the books: blueberry, strawberry, ambiguous berry, and apricot. We also added a cherry version because we found a tasty recipe for it, and cherry pie is a Father’s Day favorite.

Of all these tarts, our favorite was probably the apricot one. It had the most complex assortment of flavors, followed by the cherry tart. What all of these tart recipes have going for them, though, is that after eating several slices of each, you won’t feel bogged down by sugar, because there isn’t all that much in any of the recipes. The real focus of each tart is the fruit, and the flavors of the berries in particular comes across beautifully. In short, these are the perfectest herald of summer.

Basic Medieval Pastry Dough Recipe

Take fine floure and a curtesy of faire water and a disshe of swete butter and a litle saffron and the yolkes of two egges and make it thin and tender as ye maie. –A Propre new booke of Cokery, 1545

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Flour
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • 1-2 sticks Butter (we used one, could do with more!)
  • pinch of saffron
  • 1 Egg yolk, slightly beaten
Dissolve the saffron in your 1/2 cup water. While that is going, rub in the butter to the flour, then add the egg yolk and saffroned water. Stir until entirely incorporated, adding more water very gradually until everything just sticks together.
To pre-bake a shell, line a pan with dough, rolled very thin. Using a fork, poke holes all over the bottom of the pan, or use a pie weight. Bake for around 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Don’t let it start to brown! Remove from oven and fill as per the recipe.

Makes enough for 8-4 inch tart pans and one 9 inch pan.

Medieval Cherry Tart Recipe

To make a close Tarte of Cherries. Take out the stones and laye them as whole as you can in a Charger and put in synamon and ginger to them and laye them in a tart whole and close them and let them stand three quarters of an hour in the oven, then take a sirrope of Muscadine and damaske water and sugar and serve it. –Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswifes Jewell, 1596

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lb. whole cherries
  • dash of rose water (optional)
  • 1/4 cup sweet red wine
  • 1/4 cup honey or sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. ginger
  • dash of red wine vinegar (to taste)
  • pastry dough for 1-9 inch pan, or 8-4 inch tart pans

Combine cherries, wine, and vinegar in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for around 1/2 hour, or until the pits can be easily removed by squishing the cherries through a colander. Put cherry puree in a bowl and add the sugar and spices. Allow to cool. Line your tart pan with pastry dough (recipe above), and trim the edges. If you like, you can make decorative shapes with the dough remainders to place on top of your filled tarts.

Add rosewater and port to cherries. Add enough sugar to sweeten, but not make it cloy, plus the ginger. Add a little vinegar or lemon juice to sharpen. Cook for 45 minutes or until flavors are mingled. If needed, you may thicken with bread crumbs. Let cool. Fill shells, close, bake at 375º F for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serves 4-6

Apricot Tart Recipe

Leche frys in lentoun. Drawe a thik almaunde mylke wiþ water. Take dates and pyke hem clene with apples and peeres, & mynce hem with prunes damysyns; take out þe stones out of þe prunes, & kerue the prunes a two. Do þerto raisouns, coraunce, sugur, flour of canel, hoole macys and clowes, gode powdours & salt; colour hem vp with saundres. Meng þise with oile. Make a coffyn as þou didest bifore & do þis fars þerin, & bake it wel, and serue it forth. -Forme of Cury, 14th Century

Our Changes: The original recipe for this is sort of a hodgepodge of fruit. We took out the apples, pears, and dates, replacing them with fresh apricots and dried ones. The yellow-orange of the apricots is beautiful against the red of the almond milk filling.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups extra thick Almond Milk
  • 1/2 cup dried apricots, sliced lengthwise
  • 3-5 fresh apricots, diced
  • 1/2 cup pitted prunes, sliced lengthwise
  • 1/2 cup currants
  • 2 Tbs sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. each cinnamon, mace & cloves
  • 1/4 tsp. each ginger, nutmeg, white pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • few drops red food coloring (in substitute of sandalwood)
  • 2 Tbs. olive oil
  • one 9-inch pre-baked pie shell, or 8-4 inch pre-baked tart shells

Mix together well the almond milk, sugar, spices, oil, and food coloring. The color should be a brilliant red; the mixture should be thick but runny. In a separate bowl, mix together the fruits. Add the almond milk mixture and thoroughly blend. Place this filling in the pie shell. You may find that you have to put the fruit in the shell first, then spoon the almond milk over that. Bake at 375° F for 45 minutes, or until the filling is set and the top has slightly browned. Remove from oven; allow to completely cool before serving. Serves 4-6.

Medieval Berry Tart Recipe

Daryoles. Take wine & Fresh broth, Cloves, Maces & Marrow, & poweder of Ginger & Saffron & let all boil together & put thereto cream (& if it is clotted, draw it through a strainer) & yolks of Eggs, & mix them together, & pour the liquor that the Marrows was seethed in thereto; then make fair coffins of fair paste, & put the Marrow therein, & mince dates & strawberries in time of year, & put the coffins in the oven, & let them harden a little; then take them out & put the liquor thereto, & let them bake, & serve forth. -Two Fifteenth Century Cookbooks

Our Changes: We took out the marrow. Yeah. Not needed here. We also used this recipe for the blueberry and ambiguous berry tarts.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 c. cream
  • 1/4 c. wine (we used a sweet red, like that for the cherry tarts)
  • 1/4 c. milk
  • 5 egg yolks + 1 egg
  • 1 pint strawberries, or other berries of your choice, or a mix
  • 1/2 c. chopped dates
  • 1/2 c. honey
  • 1/4 tsp each saffron & ginger
  • 1/8 tsp each mace & ground cloves
  • 2 pre-baked pie shells, or 8-4 inch pre-baked tart shells

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, wine, saffron and other spices, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. In a separate container, beat egg yolks and honey together. While beating, add a bit of the hot milk mixture. Pour this back into the pot with the hot liquid while whisking furiously. Place the cut strawberries and dates in baked pie shells and spoon the cream mixture over fruit and into the shells. Bake at 375° F for 45 minutes, or until the filling has set. Serves 4-6.

Blackberry Preserves

“There was much more than she’d asked for: hot bread, butter and honey and blackberry preserves, a rasher of bacon and a soft-boiled egg, a wedge of cheese, a pot of mint tea.  And with it came Maester Luwin.”  (I: 113)

Blackberry Preserves

Our Thoughts:

These preserves are bursting with the intensity and vibrancy of spring! Slathered over a buttered scone, the tanginess of the blackberries is balanced wonderfully by the relatively meager sugar content (as compared to commercial jams). A perfect destination for berries that are either fresh off the plant, or at the end of their life, this recipe can be followed using other berries as well, or even mixing berries. If pectin is added and proper canning technique used, these preserves could be saved to brighten up a dreary winter morning.

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Shrimp-and-Persimmon Soup

“She was breaking her fast on a bowl of cold shrimp-and-persimmon soup when Irri brought her a Qartheen gown, an airy confection of ivory samite patterned with seed pearls.” (II:637)

Shrimp and Persimmon Soup

Our Thoughts:

This cold soup was a surprising mixture of flavors. An interesting choice for a breakfast, but once you think about it, a rather healthy one: fruit and protein. The combination of the persimmon and shrimp made us feel like we were dining in a Mediterranean seaport. Lime juice adds a lovely freshness to the soup, while the shallots create a decidedly savory flavor.

Although different from our normal fare, this soup is going in the personal cookbook. Also, the persimmon soup, sans shrimp, would be a wonderful base for a variety of other soups and stews, whether served hot or cold.

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Thick Stew of Mussels, Crabs, and 3 kinds of Fish

“The food was plain, but very good; there were loaves of crusty bread still warm from the ovens, crocks of fresh-churned butter, honey from the septry’s hives, and a thick stew of crabs, mussels, and at least three different kinds of fish.  Septon Meribald and Ser Hyle drank the mead the brothers made, and pronounced it excellent, whilst she and Podrick contented themselves with more sweet cider.” -A Feast for Crows


Modern Fish Chowder

Thoughts

For this dish I opted for a hearty New England style fish chowder.  I threw together a couple of different recipes, tweaked them to suit, and this is the incredibly tasty result!

One bite of this modern stew will make you forget the effort that went into creating it. This is the earthly realization of platonic fish chowder. We asked the guests at our dinner table to give their thoughts, but only received grunts of approval and moaned delight.  Imagine yourself eating this meal in a tranquil sept on an island, savoring the hearty broth in peace while chaos rages around you. Imagine that, because eating this stew can transport you out of your everyday life.  

Part of the challenge of food blogging is making the photos show just how delicious the dish is, and that’s often done with atmosphere. The building in the photo is a perfect stand-in for the Sept from the books. In reality, it’s a gutted and abandoned church near where my parents used to live, in West Boyleston, MA. I drove by the place once, and immediately knew I would have to use it for a photo. I must have been quite a sight as I made my way down the embankment, folding table, dishware, food, and camera all teetering precariously. But the photo made it all worth it, and I got a great picnic lunch, to boot! 

Modern Fish Stew Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz salt pork or thick cut bacon, diced
  • 1 lb potatoes (about 2 medium), chopped into 1/2″ cubes
  • 1 yellow onion, finely diced
  • 1.5 lb fish (we used salmon, haddock, and cod), about 2 fish or 4 fillets, cut into 1″ chunks
  • 2 c water
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 12 oz can evaporated milk
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • ~1/2-1 cup crab meat (imitation is fine, and cheaper!)
  • around a dozen mussels (ours were precooked)

Place 1/2 lb fish (about 1 fillet) in a pot with 2 c cold water. Bring to boil and boil 10 minutes.

While that is cooking, fry up the salt pork over medium heat. Once the bits are beginning to turn crispy and brown, add the diced potato. Cook 5 minutes over medium-high, stirring frequently. By now the fish broth should be done, so add it and the fish to the potato, then spread the remaining cubed fish atop this mess. Let this burble for about 10 minutes on medium-high.

At this point, if your pan won’t hold an additional 3 cups of liquid, transfer everything to a larger pot. Add heavy cream, evaporated milk, salt & pepper, crab meat, and whole mussels still in the shell. Bring to just under a boil, then reduce to medium-low, cover, and simmer about an hour.

To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with additional pepper. To really round out the meal, serve it with the other original components from the book: crusty fresh bread with butter and honey, mead, and cider. 

Trout Baked in Clay

“Then came trout fresh from the river, baked in clay; her prince helped her crack open the hard casing to expose the flaky white flesh within.” (I:251)

Trout Baked in Clay

Our Thoughts:

Creating these fish was tons of fun! True to our belief in the importance of utilizing local agricultural resources, we baked rainbow trout and brook trout that were caught locally by a friend. They were absolutely phenomenal.

The clay acts as kind of a dutch oven for the food, keeping the moisture inside the fish. When the first clay fish finally cracked, we were surprised and delighted to find the flesh perfectly cooked and flaking off the bones. It was creamy and tender, with a wonderful, clean taste.

Half of the fun in this recipe is molding the clay around the fish. We chose to make them look like actual fish (many thanks to  Aidan’s artistic “talent”), which would be an impressive addition to any dinner table. Cracking the clay fish open on the table certainly adds a level of drama to the meal.

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Tyroshi Honeyfingers

“…we seldom had enough coin to buy anything…well, except for a sausage now and again, or honeyfingers…do they have honeyfingers in the Seven Kingdoms, the kind they bake in Tyrosh?”

-A Game of Thrones

Our Thoughts

The Roman recipe is a curiosity. They fried to a crispily crunchy on the outside while still leaving a bit of chew on the inside.  The pieces were easy to cut into shapes, and could probably even be rolled into logs. The flavor is really all about the honey, but the pinch of pepper and cinnamon on top adds a slight level of complexity.

The Modern recipe knocked our socks off.  These fritters are like Winnie-the-Pooh-gasms.  Between the spiced sauce and the incredibly luscious texture, we ended up gobbling them and shamelessly licking our fingers.

The winner?  We had imagined Tyroshi Honeyfingers to be sort of a tasty sweet street food.  The Roman variety is fun because of its historical significance and ease of shaping, but wouldn’t be easy to make in a dusty alleyway.  The modern version is SO good and is made basically like carnival fried dough, so fits our loose criteria for a great honeyfinger.  Modern Wins!

Get the recipes in The Cookbook!