I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have eaten at a banquest in medieval times.I realize that we enjoy a tremendous variety of fresh foods today that were simply not available in medieval times…such things as tomatoes, potatoes, oranges, chili peppers were unknown to medieval chefs.
Anyway, suppose we were dining at the table of some 14th-century italian nobleman…like Lorenzo DeMedici. What would dinner consist of? Would most people of today LIKE the medievaldishes? I’ve heard that the cooks of the period went heavy on the spices…andused an inordinate amount of salt.
Are there any restaurants (in NYC) where you can eat medieval style food?
(Don’t mention that “Medieval Manor”-dinner show places…they are horrible!)
Not sure about NYC, but there’s a band of re-enactment enthusaists near Carnation WA that put on such a feast a few times a year in a fairly authentic looking hall. Here’s their menu for the one coming up in May:
Cours i
TRENCHER BREAD (to eat & to eat upon)
ENGLISH CHEESES (Cotswold & Sage Derby)
A FRITOR of ERBES
A GRETE HERB & FLOWER SALAT
A TART IN YMBRE DAY (onion & current pie)
ROSTE LAMB IN FRESEYES (strawberry sauce)
APULMOS (apple-almond sauce)
MAY WINE - MUSTE (spiced juice)
Cours ii
PEASCODDES (sautéed snowpeas)
CHECONES IN CRITONE (almond & pine nut sauce)
QUALYS ROSTYD with SWETE MUSTARD
JACK-O-THE-GREEN CAKES
FRESH FRUIT OF THE SEASON
PYMENTE (herb-honey wine) - MUSTE
I don’t bother with this because it sounds terrible - oh sure, I’ve got medieval armor (cool), and books about the period (cool), but when comes to eating I’d much rather have the benefit of the last few centuries.
Hard to beat beer-battered fish or a good cut of steak! :smack:
A feast prepared by aristocracy would certainly have been palattable to a modern person. Here is an example of a 14th century feast:
http://www.kateryndedevelyn.org/french1.htm
Among some of the goodies:Stuffed Mutton shoulder, vegeteble soups, sweet tarts, venison and chicken in various different sauces and jelly.
You’d also expect to see flower salads and dishes featuring pork and venison such as goose, duck, etc.
I’m hungry now!
And if someone can point us to a medieval restaurant in NYC, I’m hopin on the next path train!
First Course:
Cold Delicacies from the Sideboard.
Pieces of marzipan and marzipan balls
Neopolitan spice cakes
Malaga wine and Pisan buscuits
Fresh grapes
Proscuitto cooked in wine, served with capers and grape pulp
Salted pork tongues cooked in wine, sliced
Spit-roasted songbirds, cold, with their tongues sliced over them
Sweet mustard
Second Course:
Hot Foods from the Kitchen, Roasts.
Fried veal sweatbreads and liver
Spit-roasted skylarks with lemon sauce
Spit-roasted quails with sliced eggplant
Stuffed spit-roasted pigeons with capers sprinkled over them
Spit-roasted rabbits, with sauve and crushed pine nuts
Partridges larded and spit-roasted, served with lemon
Heavily seasoned poultry with lemon slices
Slices of veal, spit roasted, with sauce made from the juices
Leg of goat, spit-roasted with a sauce made from the juices
Soup of almond paste, with the flesh of three pigeons to each serving
Third Course:
Hot Foods from the Kitchen, Boiled Meats and Stews.
Stuffed fat geese, boiled, Lombard style and covered with sliced almonds
Stuffed breast of veal, boiled and garnished with flowers
Very young calf, boiled and garnished with parsley
Almonds in garlic sauce
Turkish-style rice with milk, sprinkled with cinnamon
Stewed pigeons with mortadella sausage and whole onions
Cabbage soup with sausages
Poultry pie, two chickens to each pie
Fricasseed breast of goat dressed with fried onions
Pies filled with custard cream
Boiled calves feet with cheese and egg
Fourth Course:
Delicacies from the Side Board:
Bean tarts
Quince pastries
Pear tarts, the pears wrapped in marzipan
Parmesan cheese and Riviera cheese
Fresh almonds on vine leaves
Chestnuts roasted over the coals and served with salt and pepper
Milk curds
Ring-shaped cakes
Wafers made from ground corn
Voila, your meal Sire
Now, having thought about the food that is served…you can imagine that you can get a fabulous meal anywhere without eating pigeon. 