Medieval Europe Cooks?

Early Medieval Europe

• What kind of food did people eat, during the Early Medieval Europe era?

• Answer:

  Thanks for asking! The Medieval Kitchen ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "In simpler homes where there were no chimneys, the medieval kitchen consisted of a stone hearth in the center of the room. This was not only where the cooking took place, but also the source of central heating. In peasant families, the wife did the cooking and baking. The peasant diet consisted of breads, vegetables from their own gardens, dairy products from their own sheep, goats, and cows, and pork from their own livestock. Often the true taste of their meat, salted and used throughout the year, was masked by the addition of herbs, leftover breads, and vegetables. Some vegetables, such as cabbages, leeks, and onions became known as "pot-herbs." This pottage was a staple of the peasant diet. The kitchens of manor houses and castles had big fireplaces where meat, even large oxen, could be roasted on spits. These kitchens were usually in separate buildings, to minimize the threat of fire. Pantries were hung with birds and beasts, including swans, blackbirds, ducks, pigeons, rabbits, mutton, venison, and wild boar. Many of these animals were caught on hunts. " The Middle Ages http://www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages/morehome.html Medieval Paris ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In medieval Paris the main food item traded in the marketplaces was bread. Meat was available. Herds (beef, hogs, sheep) were walked from Maine and Perche, and even from as far as Limousin and Marche. What Type of Food the Parisians Ate http://www.philippe-auguste.com/uk/quotidien/approvisionnement.html How to Cook Medieval ---------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Cook Medieval describes the foods and cooking methods used during the Middle Ages. I have excerpted several passages below, but copyright law does not allow copying entire articles or pages. You may click the links below the excerpts to read the entire articles. "In the Middle Ages, animal milk was, of course, not refrigerated, and fresh milk did not stay fresh for long. Most cooks simply did not use much milk as the short shelf-life of the product made it a difficult ingredient to depend upon. Many recipe collections of the time advise that cooks should only rely on milk that comes directly from a cow, something not possible at all times, and purchasing milk was a dubious practice, for streetsellers of milk often sold wares that were either spoiled or diluted with water. Milk's use had to be immediate, in cooking or by turning into cheese & butter. It was these difficulties that forced Medieval cooks to look upon milk with great reluctance, and so having milk in the kitchen was usually unheard of. " http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec31.htm Rather than animal milk, Medieval cooks turned to something they could depend upon, and that was the milky liquid produced by grinding almonds or walnuts. 1 cup ground almonds 2 cups boiling water Trenchers http://www.godecookery.com/how2cook/howto07.htm Foods Unknown in the Middle Ages Allspice, artichokes, bananas, broccoli, chili peppers, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, cranberries, green beans, green peppers, iceberg lettuce, large cobs of corn (brown, red, blue, white, yellow, etc.), kiwi, peanuts, pineapple, potatoes, red peppers, rhubarb, tea, turkey, tomatoes, vanilla bean, yams, yellow peppers. Water "Water - used in cooking, but only when its purity was ensured. As a drink by itself or during eating, it was not as popular as it is today; other drinks were more readily available & desired. When water was consumed, it needed to be springwater, and from a spring that met specific regulations: the water must have a good flow & come directly from the ground or a rock, must be cold, must be free of pollution, etc. Bartholomew the Englishman in the 1200's ranked springwater from a northward flowing spring as being the best water to drink; in decreasing order came river water, lake water, & pond or swamp water. With these came the warning that water not from a spring was often poisonous and should always be boiled. " How to Cook Medieval - Beverages http://www.godecookery.com/how2cook/howto09.html Index of Foods and Cooking Procedures http://www.godecookery.com/how2cook/how2cook.htm Cheese ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "During the Middle Ages, monks became innovators and developers and it is to them we owe many of the classic varieties of cheese marketed today." Cheese has been known for over 4000 years. Romans were ardent cheesemakers, and carried the food and the craft throughout early Europe via its army legions. Cheeses eaten in the early Middle Ages included: Gorgonzola (879 CE), Cottage, Emmenthal, Farmers, Ruayn (autumn cheese), Recocta, Romano, and Roquefort. CheeseNet - History of Cheese http://www.cheesenet.info/cheesenet/library.asp?action=read&ID=2 Culinary History - Food and Systems of the Early Middle Ages ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For a very detailed description of food and the cultural systems that determined who ate what during the Early Middle Ages, I recommend reading Chapters 14 and 15 of Food, A Culinary History, by Jean-Louis Flandrin. You may "Search Inside the Book" at Amazon. The pertinent material begins on page 162. Search for "early middle ages". Uses the < and > at the side of each page to navigate most easily. Amazon.com - Food http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0231111541/ Medieval Food ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "In the Middle Ages in Europe, what people ate depended a lot on how rich they were. Poor people (which was almost everybody) ate mainly barley. Sometimes they made their barley into bread, and sometimes into pancakes or pizza, and sometimes into barley porridge (like oatmeal) and sometimes into barley soup. But every day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, most of every meal was barley. It must have been very boring! As much as they could, the poor people found other things to eat with their barley to make it less boring. They grew carrots and onions and cabbage and garlic to put in their soup, and they made cheese to eat with their bread and melt on their pizza, and they gathered apples and pears and mushrooms as well, so they could make apple pies or baked apples. And they tried to get honey to sweeten their treats. They grew herbs like basil and rosemary to flavor their food. Mostly poor people drank ale (kind of like beer) or beer in England and Germany, wine in France and Italy and Spain." History for Kids - Medieval Food http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/medieval/food/ The Peasant in the Middle Ages ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "The basic diet of the peasant consisted of carbohydrates in the form of grain, mostly barley and oats, which were baked or bewed into bread and ale. Protein, in the form of meat and eggs, was in shorter supply, particularly in the earlier part of this period, the thirteenth century. Some fruit and vegetables (such as beans and onions) would have been included in the diet. Not all of the food of the country dweller was grown; some was bought, in most cases in the ubiquitous fairs and markets which were frequently held in towns... There are several descriptions in contemporary poems of food eaten by peasants. There is a list of the food eaten by the shepherds in the Shepherds play in the Chester Myster Cycle. This consisted of bread, bacon, onions, garlic, leeks, butter and green (fresh) cheese. To this was added ale, hot meat (apparently supplied as part of their wages), a pudding (type unspecified), a jonnock' (an oat cake), a sheep's head soused in ale and sour milk (that is curds). Another of the shepherds added to this fairly large amount of food a pig's food (apparently originally part of a sausage mixture) and a third added smoked ham, other meat and another pudding." The Forme of Cury (pp. 26-28) http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/foodfaq3.html#richandpoor Food in Norman Britain ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Normans were ancient Scandinavian peoples. They began invading England (from the North) in the 9th century. In 1066 they conquered England, installing William, Duke of Normandy, to the throne. What kind of food did the Normans eat? Most likely an ecclectic mix of ancient Scandinavian recipes and local fare. Major culinary influences of this era were the Romans and the Celts. "The Normans were acquisitve, greedy and ambitious; they absorbed the culture of others, whether it was France, Sicily, England or North Africa...It was clear then that if these peoples liked a new food, flavourings or ingredient, they would take it over and make it their own...The earliest extant recipes were written down sometime before 1280, and are likely to have been court favorites passed down from master cook to apprentices over decades, if not for almost 200 years, from the time of the Conqueror...These early recipes show a high degree of gastronomic sophistication...Of course, these dishes were made for the nobility so this is food for only two per cent of the population. Animal protein comprised a third to a half fo their consumption, for everyone in a magnate household would have had about a pound of meat of fish per day. The fact that these recipes were written down at all shows that they were used for special celebrations. Here is a description of a selection of them: noodles, ravioli, oranges, white pancakes, jelly (made from animals, not fruit), sage sauce, nag's tail, white elder (chicken chunks cooked in soup stock), veal stews, poached chicken, chicken, mawmenny (minced chicken and pork poached with wine flavoured with spices including cloves and fried almonds), nut tarts (small pastries with almond milk custard), rose pottage (almond milk flavoured with ground rose petals sprinkled with sugar), and food of Cyprus (almond milk flavoured with ground ginger and pistachio nuts, thickened with rice flour)." British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History, Colin Spencer [Columbia University Press:New York] 2002 (p. 36-41) http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/foodfaq3.html Food and Daily Life in the Viking Era ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Make Your Own Porridge: "The basic recipe is, per person one cup of kernels and two cups of liquid (water and/or milk). One must count on having to add more liquid because of evaporation when the porridge cooks over an open fire without a cover. Any pressed and crushed kernels can be used, the most coarse should soak overnight otherwise they will have to be cooked too long. Recipe - The Viking Family's Porridge (4-6 Servings) Measurements are given in cups. One cup=1 ½ dl or about 90 g flour. 10-15 cups of water Two cups of chopped wheat kernels. Let them soak over night so they won't be so hard to chew. Two cups pearl barley A handful whole grain wheat flour A handful crushed kernels of nuts 3-4 tablespoons of honey A healthy portion of apple bits, hippells, pears or.... Put the chopped wheat kernels, wheat flour, pearl barley and crushed nuts in the kettle. Pour 10 cups of water in the kettle and place on the fire. Stir the porridge evenly and turn the kettle to spread the heat. If the porridge starts to get too thick, pour more water in it. After about ½ hour add the honey, nuts and fruit. The porridge should now cook until the fruit is wet and the porridge has the desired consistency. It should take 15-30 minutes. It should be served warm, possibly with some cold cream. Daily Life In the Viking Era http://viking.no/e/life/food/index.htm Food in the Viking Era - Background Information "We don't know exactly which meals were prepared during the Viking era; but we know a lot about the raw material they used and what type of utensils were used during the preparation of the food. Many utensils; pots, knives and the like have been preserved from that time; and on closer analysis of clay pots, shards of pottery, ashes from hearths and layers of earth in the houses it is possible to find the remains of the food and supplies they had. In addition some of the finds of human remains in bogs have been so well preserved that their stomachs and intestines could be examined and in this way determine what their last meal consisted of. We also know, to a degree, what plants and wild animals there were in Denmark during the Viking era, and we can figure that most of these were a part of the diet, as long as one could get hold of it." Food in the Viking Era http://viking.no/e/life/food/e-bakgru.htm Additional Resources ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Food Timeline http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/food.html The Forme of Cury: A Roll Of Ancient English Cookery, http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/ Gastronomie Medievale, (in French), Good illustrations Biblioteque Nationale de France http://expositions.bnf.fr/gastro/index.htm Search Strategy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "early middle ages" ~food OR food "low middle ages" ~food medieval europe food OR foods medieval cookery OR cooking medieval recipes viking food I enjoyed searching out this information. I hope you find it useful. Best regards, ---larre-ga