Brown Oatbread

“Maester Luwin sent Poxy Tym down to the kitchens, and they dined in the solar on cheese, capons, and brown oatbread. While tearing apart a bird with fat fingers, Lord Wyman made polite inquiry after Lady Hornwood, who was a cousin of his.” -A Game of Thrones

Brown Oatbread

Thoughts:

I tried several recipes before lighting upon this one in an old family cookbook, on a snippet of browned newspaper clipping. As is so often the case in my kitchen, the old recipe took the day. This is such an amazingly light, fluffy, soft bread, and almost impossibly easy. It requires no kneading, and is quick to rise, and fills the whole house with a rich, buttery aroma while it bakes. I can just imagine loaves of this bread luring the Stark children to the kitchens of Winterfell. Homey enough to be a comfort food, but delicious enough to serve to guests, it could well be a staple of Northern cuisine.

Because the bread is so soft, it has to be cut into fairly thick slices- what a shame! Light toasting makes for a sturdier slice that is ideal with jam, honey, or other spreads. And, as in the quote, it is excellent with some cheese and chicken.

Recipe for Brown Oatbread

Ingredients:

2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup molasses
2 Tbs. butter
1 cup rolled oats (not the instant variety)
1 Tbs. yeast
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
~2 cups flour (you may need more or less depending on how much liquid your oats soaked up)
1 Tbs. melted butter

Combine the boiling water with the molasses and butter, stirring to combine. Pour this over the rolled oats, and let sit for 30 minutes. When the mixture is warm to the touch, but not hot, stir in the yeast, and let sit for another 15 minutes. It should be very light and bubbly at this point. Add the salt, followed gradually by the flour, until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.

Transfer the dough to a clean, greased bowl, and brush the top with melted butter to keep from drying out. After the dough has doubled in bulk, transfer it to a bread pan, brush the top with butter, and let it rise again until doubled.

Bake at 350 for ~40 minutes, when the bread should be a nice golden brown. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before taking it out of the pan and slicing. Enjoy!

Gingerbread Castle-palooza!

I had this thunderbolt of an idea a few weeks ago.

I am going to make a gingerbread version of Castle Black for our holiday party on the 15th.

The online response to the idea was great, and one reader on FB suggested holding a Westerosi Gingerbread contest. I loved the idea, so I’m extending in invitation to all of you wonderfully creative fans to come up with your own Westerosi cookie castle, and share photos online.

In my opinion, the most well known castles stack up thusly:

Simpler

The Twins
Sept at Quiet Isle

Moderate Difficulty

Riverrun
Pyke
Dragonstone
Castle Black

You’re Nuts

King’s Landing
Winterfell
The Eyrie

And if you’re not up for making a castle by yourself, why not make it a party game? Have all your guests bring an assortment of towers, walls, etc, then glue them together with icing. Bam! You’ve just made Harrenhal!

Be sure to send us the photos of your finished castles!

Westerosi Thanksgiving

Out of all the holidays in the year, I think Thanksgiving might be the best suited to a Westerosi interpretation. As I started building this list, more and more dishes sprang to mind. Thanksgiving, in many families, is characterized by cold weather, a groaning table laden with an absurd amount of food, and inter-family drama. Sound at all familiar?

The list below includes dishes from the blog and cookbook. Personally, I’d eat the heck out of this meal, but how about you? Are you going to smuggle a couple of dishes into your mainstream family’s spread, or are you taking over the holiday completely with Westerosi fare?

Let me know if there’s a Westerosi dish you think I should include in this list, or other Thanksgiving-friendly fictional dishes and let’s get to scheming!

Game Foods

Stuffed Peppers – Hummus & Pita

Stuffed Grapeleaves* – Finger Fish* – Spicy Wings

To Start

Bread & Salt – Leek Soup – Pemmican

The Spread

White Beans & Bacon* – Cod Cakes

Buttered Beets* – Spiced Squash – Skillet Cranberries

Black Beer Bread – Oatbread – Wheat Sheaf Breadsticks

Honeyed Chicken/Turkey, for a large crowd or Quails drowned in Butter*, for a smaller gathering

Oat Stuffing (forthcoming) – Carrot Lime Relish

Desserts

17th C. Pumpkin Pie – Fig Tarts – Brandy-Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Quince – Cider Cake

Honeyfingers* – Baked Apples*

Drinks

Mulled Wine – Wassail – Wildling Cider

NB: The * indicates recipes that are in the cookbook. I’ve included them on the list so those of you with the book can consider making those dishes, too! The dishes in italics are forthcoming.

Wildling Cider

“Before Mance, Varamyr Sixskins had been a lord of sorts. He lived alone in a hall of moss and mud and hewn logs that had once been Haggon’s, attended by his beasts. A dozen villages did him homage in bread and salt and cider, offering him fruit from their orchards and vegetables from their gardens.” -A Dance with Dragons

Thoughts:

This is an awesome, no hassle cider. Because it naturally ferments, there’s no need to judge what yeast to use, or watch for blow-offs. There is no lingering yeast taste at the outset, which means it’s great to drink immediately after it’s done fermenting, or at any point during the fermenting process if you’d prefer a lower % alcohol with greater fizz. In fact, many of you have probably enjoyed cider that has gone slightly hard: the giveaway is the puffed up plastic jug, and the pfffft! of air when you take off the cap.

The fully fermented cider, when first tried, is dry, but with a nice round feel to it. The apple flavor is there, but not the sweetness. Instead, it has a sour apple element that I found quite pleasant, if a tad rough.

Although the wildlings would probably drink their cider as soon as it was alcoholic, I set a couple bottles aside to see how the flavors changed over time; It’s also a colonial American method of making cider, and I’m curious to see how it ages!

Get the recipe and updates on the brew blog, Game of Brews!

Apricot Wine

“Before you came Meereen was dying. Our rulers … sat atop their pyramids sipping apricot wine and talking of the glories of the Old Empire whilst the centuries slipped by and the very bricks of the city crumbled all around them. Custom and caution had an iron grip upon us till you awakened us with fire and blood. A new time has come, and new things are possible.” -A Dance with Dragons

Thoughts:

It’s good!

For this recipe, I started with the oldest and simplest recipe I could find, from the 1690 Lucayos Cookbook. This recipe seems to rely on natural fermentation, so I was inclined to try it, and if it didn’t start on its own, to pitch yeast. I prepped the fruit, added everything else, and put it all in the primary fermenter. And then unexpectedly had to leave for the weekend.

When I got back a few days later, it was happily bubbling away, nature having run its course. I decided to let it go, and see what happened. When it was done working, I bottled it and let mine sit for two months. , and tried it at the end of that period. The wine is light and distinctly apricot flavored, with a bit of tartness provided by the lemongrass.

Keep in mind that natural fermentation can go all sorts of ways, since there’s no way to predict what sort of yeast you’ll get. The ABV is somewhere just under 3%, so it’s probably best kept for a few months, as the original recipe states. I’ve got a couple of smaller bottles, which I’ll periodically test out and report back on. I plan to make another batch, perhaps using dried apricots to increase the time of year in which it can be made.

The wine is best served chilled, and although it’s not especially dry, you may wish to add a bit of honey to sweeten it up.

Get this recipe, and the future version, on the brew blog, Game of Brews.

Mutton Chops sauced with Honey and Cloves

“Such food Bran had never seen; course after course after course, so much that he could not manage more than a bite or two of each dish. There were great joints of aurochs roasted with leeks, venison pies chunky with carrots, bacon, and mushrooms, mutton chops sauced in honey and cloves…” -A Clash of Kings

Lamb Chops sauced with Honey and Cloves

Thoughts:

I sort of winged this particular dish. Having such great results with the mead marinade that I used for the Robert Baratheon meal, I decided to try a similar approach with this dish.

Sometimes a dish doesn’t quite live up to my expectations.

The results, while tasty, were not as mind-boggling as the former instance. The sauce was nice, but lacked a really strong honey-clove flavor. A variation on this sauce, perhaps with some butter and white wine instead of the mead, could be lovely, and is something I’ll probably try: I hate being defeated by a meal.

Honestly, I think that literally pouring some good honey and ground cloves over a nice cut of lamb will give you as rewarding a dish as any more complicated version. Keep the pinch of cinnamon, though: it helps bring out the bite of the clove.

Any suggestions?

Continue reading →

Roast Swans

No, sadly, we did not get to cook a whole roast swan, although if we had, it might look something like this:

It’s not for want of trying. The truth is that we’re not somewhere we could hunt our own, and they’re just too blasted expensive to order. We’ve searched online and found two options:

Order swan for $900. (Small print: it comes live, still flapping, and very, very annoyed.)
Order frozen, dressed swan for $1500. Yowch.

Clearly, neither of these was a route we could take. Yes, we could substitute goose. But until a benevolent Scrooge delivers one to our door, it’s going to have to wait. Instead, I’ve opted to do a more scholarly post on the roasting and eating of swans from the Middle Ages.

Swans have a long and quirky history in the UK. Back to at least the 12th century, the majority of mute swans on the River Thames have been the property of the crown. The Vintners’ and Dyers’ Livery Companies were also granted ownership of some of the mute swans in the 15th century.

The “Act of Swans”, passed in 1482, formalized the crown’s ownership and the method of marking the swans. The marking is known as the “Swan Upping”, and happens every year. Presumably this began as a way for the royal Swan Master (yes, that’s an official position) to pick out likely cygnets for the royal table, and to divvy out ownership of the year’s new swans. Today, it’s an opportunity to do a headcount of the swans, weigh them, and check their health.

The ownership of the swans used to be denoted by marks on their bills; unmarked swans belonged to the crown. All other swans were catalogued in one of several books of swan marks. The Vintners’ swans had nicks on both sides of the beak, while the Dyers’ had a nick on just one side:

As someone who loves old and absurd traditions, attending this one’s a must for me someday.

Despite the ban on killing and eating royal swans in London, there are a number of historical recipes pertaining to the birds. I’ve included a couple of them for curiosity’s sake.

Be warned: these give a full account of what we ought to do with that live swan once it arrives in the mail, and it’s not altogether pretty! Although from a later period, the account from colonial America is staggering in it’s scope. How many relatives could they have fed at such a groaning table?

GRRM doesn’t seem quite so mad in his descriptions of feasts, now, does he?

Recipes and accounts in Historical Cookbooks:

France, ca. 1380 – from Le Viandier de Taillevent

Subtlety of a swan reclothed in its skin including its plumage. Take the swan, inflate it between the shoulders, slit it along the belly, and remove the skin (including the neck cut close to the shoulders). Leave the feet attached to the body. Put it on the spit, bard it, and glaze it. When it is cooked, reclothe it in its skin, with the neck very upright on the plate. Eat it with Yellow Pepper [Sauce].

England, 1430 – from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books

Swan rosted. Kutte a Swan in the rove of the mouthe toward the brayne enlonge, and lete him blede, and kepe the blode for chawdewyn; or elles knytte a knot on his nek, And so late his nekke breke; then skald him. Drawe him and rost him even as thou doest goce in all poyntes, and serue him forth with chawd-wyne.

America, 1653 – from The Accomplisht Cook

“A Bill of Fare for Christmas Day, and how to set the Meat in Order.: Oysters. 1. A collar of brawn. 2. Stewed Broth of Mutton marrow bones. 3. A grand Sallet. 4. A pottage of caponets. 5. A breast of veal in stoffado. 6. A boil’d partridge. 7. A chine of beef, or surloin roast. 8. Minced pies. 9. A Jegote of mutton with anchove sauce. 10. A made dish of sweet-bread. 11. A swan roast. 12. A pasty of venison. 13. A kid with a pudding in his belly. 14. A steak pie. 15. A hanch of venison roasted. 16. A turkey roast and stuck with cloves. 17. A made dish of chickens in puff paste. 18. Two bran geese roasted, one larded. 19. Two large capons, one larded. 20. A Custard.

“The second course for the same Mess. Oranges and Lemons. 1. A Young lamb or kid. 2. Two couple of rabbits, two larded. 3. A pig souc’t with tongues. 4. Three ducks, one larded. 5. Three pheasants, 1 larded. 6. A Swan Pye. 7. Three brace of partridge, three larded. 8. Made dish in puff paste. 9. Bolonia sausages, and anChoves, mushrooms, and Cavieate, and pickled oysters in a dish. 10. Six teels, three larded. 11. A Gammon of Westphalia Bacon. 12. Ten plovers, five larded. 13. A quince Pye, or warden pye. 14. Six woodcocks, 3 larded. 15. A standing Tart in puff-paste, preserved fruits, Pippins &c. 16. A dish of Larks. 17. Six dried neats tongues. 18. Sturgeon. 19. Powdered Geese. Jellies.”

So there you have it. Hopefully some day, either with goose or proper swan, I can make up a bird stuffed with mushrooms and oysters, or, my personal favorite, slivers of swan poached in a sauce of saffron and peaches. NOM!

Hot Pie's Cherry Crumble

Never, in all my excitement over HBO’s version of Game of Thrones, did I imagine that I would get enough detail from the show from which to make food. However, nestled in among all the intrigue, in episode 2.8, Hot Pie mutters enough details to construct one amazing cherry crumble.

“You need sour cherries to make it right. The secret is you dry the stones and break ’em with a mallet; that’s where the real flavor is. Then you crush ’em up real fine, and when you’re finished, sprinkle ’em over the pie crust… Sour cherries is all crushed up and ready. Probably in the pie crust by now. In the oven, the nice, warm oven…” -Hot Pie

Thoughts:

The flavor is rich, while not overly sweet. Slightly spiced, flavorful, and authentically old world feeling, this crumble is ideal for a simple summer dessert, or a more luxurious breakfast. I made it without any sugar added to the filling, which really allows the cherry to shine underneath that layer of delicate crunchy crumble. There is enough sugar on top of the cherry, and in the crust, to satisfy a sweet tooth , balanced, before sugar became popular, true cherry flavor.

The mahleb, crucial ingredient, has tones of vanilla, anise, green tea, and something between cinnamon and nutmeg, all of which gives the crumble a nice subtle depth.

Nicely done, Hot Pie! Continue reading →

Westerosi Icon: Day 2

A glimpse into one of my current side projects: a Westerosi Icon of Baelor the Blessed!

Honeycakes

Elizabethan Honeycakes

“She still remembered the innkeep, a fat woman named Masha Heddle who chewed sourleaf night and day and seemed to have an endless supply of smiles and sweet cakes for the children. The sweet cakes had been soaked with honey, rich and heavy on the tongue…” -A Game of Thrones

Modern Honey-ginger cakes

Our Thoughts:

We had initially intended to make two versions of this dessert, but after some trouble tracking down a suitable old one, and after tasting the modern version, we couldn’t wait to share.

While the Elizabethan version is very light, fluffy, and ohsotasty, it is more of a bun than a cake. As such, it didn’t respond well to my initial attempts to soak it in honey. It would accept a honey glaze once it had cooled down, but still lacked that really over the top sweet honey kick. So I went a step further, and filled them with honey. YES.

The modern cakes are also wonderful. They make these dense, doughy little cakes bursting with honey flavor and the subtlest of spices. We finished ours with lavender icing, and can’t imagine a better pairing. We thought they couldn’t get any better until we tried soaking a few in about 1/4″ of honey overnight. Result? Sheer decadence. The honey hits the tongue, the lavender hits the palate, and the whole thing is amazing. Our batch lasted about 5 whole minutes…

If anyone has a solid recipe for an older honeycake, we’d love to see it. In the meantime, we’ll be in the kitchen, eating these cakes until we run out, or can’t fit through the door.

Elizabethan Honeycake Recipe

Elizabethan Almond Cakes- Take one peck of flower, one pound of sugar, one pound of almons, beaten & strained with as much ale as will stiffen your paste, put theirto three spoonfulls of barme, & a few annisseds, then woork it well together, then make it in little cakes, prick them thick for rising & bake them. Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book, 1604

Makes about 12 buns

Prep: 10 minutes Rising: 1.5 hour, minimum Baking: 15 minutes

Our changes: No aniseseeds, don’t like ’em. You are more than welcome to include them if you do, however. We basically used the original recipe, but added honey to the batter, as well as soaking the cakes in honey for a while.

Ingredients:

up to 3 1/2 cups flour
3 Tbs. honey
2 tsp. sugar
3 Tbs. ground almonds
1 packet yeast, or 2 1/4 tsp.
1/2 pint ale (1 bottle)
pinch of salt
honey for soaking, probably around 1/2 cup at least

Dissolve the yeast in the warmed ale, and leave to froth up. Grind the almonds and sugar in a food processor, then combine with the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a small well in the mixture, and pour in the yeasty ale. Adding the flour a bit at a time, work everything all together until it is a nice smooth, pliable consistency leave in a warm place until it has doubled in size. After it has risen, knock it down and knead it for a few minutes before shaping it into around 10 small buns.

Allow the buns to rise again for at least 15 minutes, then bake in a preheated oven for 10-20 minutes at 375 degrees F. The buns should be just slightly golden.

Using a small paring knife, cut a small hole (about 1/2″) in the tops of the buns, poking well down into the cake, but taking care to not poke all the way through. Take a small spoon and carefully fill each hole with honey. You may need to do this several times as the honey soaks into the cake. Put in at least 1 Tbs. honey per cake.

Modern Honeycake Recipe

Makes: never enough

Prep: 15 minutes Bake: ~30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 cup honey
1 cup buttermilk

Sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add egg and beat thoroughly, followed by the honey. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in alternating turns, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour into paper lined cupcake tins, or a greased muffin pan, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until the cakes are a golden brown.

Martha Stewart’s lavender icing recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/340910/lavender-icing