Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Tharda with Chard (Medieval Beef Stew)

Recipe Source: Anonymous.  An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook, 13th Century.  Charles Perry, trans.  Find the original recipe here.

Stew isn't pretty.  I'm pretty sure it isn't supposed to be.  It is supposed to be comforting, nourishing, filling, but not really pretty.  Stews are common throughout the medieval period throughout the world, and there's a good reason for that.  Stews make great use of meats that are kind of tough, not really "prime" cuts.  They also enable the cook to "stretch" a little meat a long way, which is important when meat is scarce or expensive or both.  I've seen some pretty fancy stews, and do you know what?  They don't look any different from not-fancy stews.  They look like stew.

Tharid is a dish supposedly invented by a grandfather of a Very Important Person in Islamic history.  At it's heart it is somewhere between a soup and a stew.  I've seen descriptions of tharid that boggle the mind, filled with all sorts of exotic meats and garnished with sausages, and I was frankly very intimidated by the very idea of cooking such a dish.  Then I did a little more research and I realized that what the Caliph in Baghdad ate in 961 AD probably bore about as much resemblance to the favorite dish of the Prophet as Emperor Constantine's dinner did to Christ's daily fare.  I've made tharid that was so simple it had only eight ingredients, and it was so delicious I crave it to this day.  It was a popular style of dish all over the Islamic world with good reason.

This one comes to us from Andalusia.  It's easy to forget that Andalusia, part of Spain (and therefore Western Europe) for centuries now, was for many centuries an important center of Islamic art, culture and learning.  The anonymous Andalusian cookbook we know today comes to us from the thirteenth century AD and it's kind of fun to compare and contrast recipes from the same period in Baghdad.  Sometimes the recipes are very similar.  Sometimes they're wildly different but have the same name.  At any rate, this one was fun and easy to make.  Adding the eggs probably seems a little odd to you.  It seemed odd to me too.  I don't think that this dish would have been nearly as tasty without them, though, so don't leave them out if no one is allergic.

Tharda with Chard (serves 8; approx. $2.01/serving)

5 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds stew beef, cut into large chunks

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 red onion, diced

1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped

2 bunches chard, chopped (include the stalks)

5 garlic cloves, chopped

3 eggs

1/4 cup dried rosemary

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Water

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the meat.  Brown the meat on all sides.
3. Add the cilantro, onion, cumin, coriander, ginger, first tablespoon of pepper and the salt.
4. When the onions are softened add water to almost cover.  Bring to a boil.
5. Add the chard.  Reduce heat to a simmer.
6. Add the eggs to the mixture along with the rosemary and garlic.
7. Stir well and simmer until the meat is very tender.
8. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs, remaining pepper and cinnamon.

Recipe: Game Hens in an Onion Sauce

Recipe Source: Anonymous.  The Book of Sent Sovi.  Joan Santanach, ed.  Robin Vogelzang, trans.  Barcino - Tamesis, Barcelona, 2008 p. 155

This is another recipe from the week of all medieval recipes.  This recipe dates to the early 1300s and comes to us from Catalonia.  It isn't an easy book to read or follow and it sometimes calls for things that seem very strange - I sometimes wonder if the author was a cook or was copying down something he didn't really understand.  There are quite a few good, useable recipes in this book though, and they help to dispel the notion that humankind only evolved taste buds after the Age of Enlightenment.

What it is, though, is another simple recipe that can be made from things you probably have on hand already.  The original did strongly suggest that partridges be used.  For whatever reason I read that as "game hens" when I was making up my grocery list, which are at any rate easier to find than partridges in most modern American grocery stores.  You could get away with chicken here, or even turkey breast if you're not concerned with historical accuracy.  (In fact, turkey would be really, really good.)  I did use olive oil in place of pork fat to accommodate my own food allergy, but I don't think that's too much of a stretch.  Stuff happens.  Your supply of pork fat could have gone bad, or the dog could have eaten it, or you could have used it all up.

This dish was very well received, which was kind of gratifying.  It did make a lot of sauce.  It's entirely possible that I made more sauce than strictly required, but I'm comfortable with my interpretation.  The fowl seems to be almost secondary to this dish; indeed, the name of the dish is "onion sauce."  ("Porriol" in medieval Catalan, in case you were curious, which of course you were.)  You can certainly use a starch - rice or bread or what have you - to soak up the remaining sauce if you wish.  What is important is that the vinegar and pepper shouldn't be too strong.  That's specifically stated in the original.

Game Hens in an Onion Sauce (serves 12; approx. $1.19/serving)

4 onions, finely minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt to taste

2 tablespoons black pepper

1 cup red wine vinegar

2 cups water

4 game hens, quartered

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the onion with a pinch of kosher salt.  Saute until the onion is translucent and starting to brown.
3. Add the game hens.  Brown the meat on at least two sides, taking care to not let the onions burn.  (Why yes, this does require close attention.)
4. Add the remaining ingredients, with more salt if necessary.  Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer until the game hens are cooked through.
6. Transfer to a serving vessel and serve.

Recipe: Chickpeas Sent Sovi

Recipe Source: Anonymous. The Book of Sent SovÍ. Joan Santanach, ed. Robin Vogelzang, trans. Barcino- Tamesis, Barcelona, 2008 pp. 146 – 7

I love Maine. I'm privileged to go up there once per year at least, for a large historical re-enactment gathering. This year my husband and I drove up separately, and I will freely admit to having been in a foul mood when I set out. It was the kind of mood that legends are made of, but once I crossed the border my mood improved. It's like the very air up there puts a smile on my face. Anyway, I usually cook a big dinner for the Saturday night meal at this gathering. I try to make most of the recipes actually medieval. This year I was less successful in that aspect than in other years, but I did manage to get a few new period recipes onto the table, and this was one of them.

I was trying for a good, substantial vegetarian entrée here, and I think I got it. The combination of almond milk and chickpeas should be very filling, and the herbs make it pleasantly aromatic. As is usually the case with my attempts at medieval re-creation recipes I haven't made a lot of changes from the original. In fact I'd say that the only change I made was to omit the marjoram, because I'd unexpectedly run out. I think that the original was intended for use with very fresh chickpeas, but since those are very difficult to come by I felt that using canned chickpeas was perfectly acceptable. They'd have used dried chickpeas if need be on a fasting day. I used my usual combination of lime juice and white grape juice for the unavailable verjuice. It travels well, providing that you have some means of reheating it, and despite being a vegan dish should appeal to a good variety of people. Vegetarian food, after all, shouldn't be a penance. I'd say it was a pretty successful dish, because I've been asked for the recipe. Without further ado, here it is.

Chickpeas Sent Sovi (serves about 20 as a side dish; approx. $0.30/serving)

3 15-oz cans chickpeas, drained and very thoroughly rinsed

3 cups almond milk

2 onions, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

Water

¾ cup white grape juice

¼ cup lime juice

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

¼ bunch chopped fresh parsley

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Medium saucepan
• Colander

1. Combine the white grape juice and the lime juice. Set aside. If you have verjuice, feel free to use 1 cup of verjuice instead of the juice mixture.
2. Bring a medium saucepan full of salted water to a boil.
3. Add the onions and cook for no more than three minutes – preferably more like two.
4. Drain the onions thoroughly.
5. Combine the chickpeas, almond milk, olive oil and onions in the large saucepan. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat and simmer until the chickpeas are tender but not falling apart.
7. Remove from heat. Add the juice mixture, basil and parsley.
8. Serve.

Recipe: Lentils with Cucumbers

Recipe Source: Anonymous. "A Muzawwara Beneficial for Tertian Fevers and Acute Fevers." An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook. 13^th Century AD. Charles Perry, trans. Find the original online at www.medievalcookery.com.

I'm a little weird. I'm generally a very spontaneous person – I'll take random wrong turns just to see what's off the next exit. I try new restaurants without days and days of research beforehand. I buy new produce items just to see what they taste like. When I'm doing a big event, though, I like to plan. I like to plan far in advance, and when I'm cooking for a large crowd I prefer to serve only foods that I've made before. In this particular case I was thwarted. I did in fact plan my menu well in advance, but at the last minute I found I wasn't able to get the vegetables I needed at a reasonable price. I had to re-vamp my whole menu. For those of you who were there and wondered why everything contained legumes, well, that's why. I was looking for a last minute dish to replace one of the vegetable dishes and I found this one. It was kind of a beautiful thing. This was intended to be served cold, as most of my menu needed to be. It was vegetarian, in keeping with site concerns. It used lentils, which I had in abundance and had little use for. (Every time my husband finds out we're having lentils for dinner he calls for a pizza. No joke.)

I learned a very important lesson that day. I learned that lentils are best cooked in small batches, not in giant vats. The lentils in the giant vats burned. They burned badly. I am still trying to clean those pots, and I've badly wrenched my back trying to clean one of those pots. I was able to salvage a small amount of muzawwara, however, and when I did I thought I had another disaster on my hands. It was emphatically not a pretty dish. My notes for the servers, in re-filling the dish, were: "Put lentils on plate. Scatter cucumbers on top. Try to convince guests that it is not cat food." However, it was one of the most popular dishes there, and people really seemed disappointed when we ran out.

This dish belongs to a class of dishes known as muzawwara. Muzawwara were vegetarian dishes (I think it literally translates as "fake") served to invalids. Some of the original sources suggest that they could be fed to Christians during times when meat was forbidden as well. Vegetarianism in the medieval Islamic world was not highly regarded. While I strongly suspect that many common people ate a mostly vegetarian diet, as commoners elsewhere did, it wasn't exactly a choice and when meat was available they would have eaten it. However, those who preserved recipes for us were certainly well aware that there were health benefits to avoiding meat on occasion. Now, if I'm suffering from a tertian fever, please give me quinine and lots of it. But just to be on the safe side, I'll take some of this dish too. It certainly tastes better.

A note about measurements: I'm pulling the redaction from memory, and reducing the amount cooked from "Feed 350" to "Feed 8." I apologize in advance if the measurements seem a little strange. I only made one significant change to the original, and that's in garnishing with raw cucumber. That isn't called for in the original, but I really felt that I needed to make the dish look less like cat food.

Lentils with Cucumbers (serves 8-ish; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 cups red lentils, rinsed

Water to cover

¼ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

Pinch kosher salt

1 large seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Combine all ingredients up to the kosher salt in the saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Add half of the cucumber – maybe a little more, maybe a little less.
3. Cook, uncovered, until the lentils are tender. Red lentils cook up much faster than other kinds and kind of fall apart on cooking, so be aware.
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
5. Serve only when cold.

Recipe: Pomegranate Khabis

Recipe Source: Anonymous. An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13^th Century. Charles Perry, trans. This version of the translation is available online here.

I recently attended a gathering of medieval history enthusiasts up in New Hampshire. There was a party at this event for those with an interest in the history of the medieval Islamic world and I provided some of the sweets. (I also taught a class on the subject earlier in the day, where one of the recipes has already been posted (here, if you're curious.  I thought I'd posted the other but that was not the case - sad, as I didn't take any pictures!) I really screwed up the making of this dish the first time I made it so this one didn't make it into the class, but I really wanted to serve it. I mean, come on, it's pomegranate! The problem centered around one measurement for which I was not able to find a translation. I had to guess. The first time I guessed wrong, very wrong. The second time I wound up making a slurry of semolina and pomegranate juice and this worked much better. The sweets were very well received, folks had a good time at the party and all was right with the world.

I usually try not to make too many changes to re-creation recipes, but in this case I hadn't much choice. In addition to the change above (which meant adding an additional 2 cups of pomegranate juice to the dish), I omitted the saffron. This was completely necessary. I was forced by impending inclement weather (the story of my life these days) to go to a grocery store that is less well-stocked than I would prefer and they hadn't any saffron. If I were not doing this as an attempt to re-create the recipe I would probably choose to add some ground pistachios.

Pomegranate Khabis (serves about 30 as part of a buffet; approx. $0.48/serving)

64 ounces pomegranate juice – pure pomegranate juice please! – divided

8 ounces sugar, plus extra (see below)

½ ounce rosewater

2 cups semolina flour

3 ounces ground almonds

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Roasting pan (optional but cleaner)
• Bowl
• Melon baller

1. Combine the 8 ounces sugar and 6 cups pomegranate juice in the saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Bring to a boil again.
3. Meanwhile, combine the semolina flour and the remaining pomegranate juice in the bowl and whisk to form a slurry. When the second boiling occurs, mix the slurry into the pomegranate juice and cook until it thickens significantly. This will take time and patience. You're trying for a consistency that will allow the goo to be shaped into little balls (like in the picture.) When the desired consistency is reached, remove from heat and let cool until you can tolerate touching it.
4. Pour some sugar into the roasting pan.
5. Use the melon baller to scoop a piece of the pomegranate mixture and drop it into the sugar. Roll it around, then pick it up and transfer to a serving plate. Repeat until you've gone through the entire batch.
6. Serve. You may find chilling helpful in getting the balls to retain their shape.

Recipe: Potatoes in a Green Sauce

Recipe Source: Barrenechea, Teresa. The Basque Table. Harvard Common Press, Boston, 1998 p. 53

I love potatoes. I've loved them as long as I can remember. This is a trait that I share with my mother. I needed a starchy dish that I could serve at a Sunday dinner, and I decided that potatoes were the way to go. It was described in the original as being in a sauce. This is not how it turned out. It turned out to be potatoes in a rather soggy lot of peas and parsley, but do you know what? It was still decent. I even used less water than, according to the recipe, I should have used!

I made a couple of changes to the original. I increased the garlic, added some cumin with the salt, doubled the recipe but did not double the liquid, and added some tarragon to the recipe.

Potatoes in a Green Sauce (serves 8; approx. $0.90/serving)

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, minced

7 garlic cloves, crushed

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

8 potatoes, unpeeled and sliced

8 cups water

Kosher salt to taste

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 pound frozen green peas

½ bunch chopped fresh parsley

1 bunch chopped fresh tarragon

Equipment:

• Very large sauté pan

1. Heat the oil in the sauté pan
2. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno.
3. Sauté until softened. Add the salt and cumin.
4. Add the potatoes. Stir to coat with the oil and sauté another 5 – 6 minutes.
5. Add the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover the pan. Simmer about 20 minutes.
6. Add the peas and herbs. Simmer another 5 minutes.
7. Serve.

Recipe: Chicken with Fresh Fig Sauce

Recipe Source: Von Bremzen, Anya. The New Spanish Table. Workman Publishing, New York, 2005 p. 288

I had planned to serve this just for me and my husband on a Friday night. However, we found ourselves with an unexpected windfall. A friend's brother had ordered too many racks of ribs at a family gathering down on the Cape. Our friends brought back the leftovers but were required to turn around and drive to another week-long family gathering (other side of the family.) They would be unable to use the ribs, and since the gathering was Rosh Hashanah showing up with a bunch of pork ribs would have been in poor taste. We were therefore the beneficiaries of the ribs, but there was a catch: they had to be used in a two-day window before they went bad.

Fortunately for us, there were plenty of people available to help us with this little problem.

I already had the chicken and I didn't want to freeze it. Besides, I have developed an allergy to pork and was unable to partake of the rib bonanza. The chicken, though, I could eat. I decided to serve this as an appetizer or side dish and it worked quite well. I did make a few changes. I increased the number of figs, used Marsala instead of sherry (it's what I had), increased the garlic and omitted the mint. I used sage instead, which certainly didn't hurt anything. I made a few procedural changes as well. The biggest of those procedural changes was the use of the grill. I did not have an available grill to use, and the Spouse heartily disapproves of grill pans on the stove. I decided to slice the chicken very thin instead and sauté it. The result was frankly delicious. I highly recommend serving this at your next dinner party while figs are in season.

Chicken with a Fresh Fig Sauce (serves 9; approx. $1.45/serving)

1 pint figs, sliced into thin wedges

½ red onion, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons Marsala

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced very thin

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 bunch fresh sage, chopped

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Large sauté pan

1. Combine the figs, onion, Marsala, vinegar and half the olive oil in the bowl. Let stand at least 30 minutes.
2. Sprinkle the chicken breast slices with the garlic powder, salt and pepper.
3. Heat the remaining olive oil in the sauté pan. Cook the chicken breast pieces very quickly. Do not overcook – the chicken will be dry and inedible.
4. Arrange the chicken pieces on the serving plate.
5. Pour the fig mixture over the chicken and top with the sage.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Lentils with Vinegar and Herbs

Recipe Source: Anonymous. The Book of Sent SovÍ. Joan Santanach, ed. Robin Vogelzang, trans. Barcino-Tamesis, Barcelona, 2008 p. 195.

A lot of people have this odd impression that medieval food consists entirely of meat. This is erroneous. A lot of the recipes that we have do involve meat, but that's because the food consumed by the vast majority of peasants didn't get written down. Furthermore, in Christian areas there were days and even weeks at a time when the consumption of meat was strictly prohibited. Even the wealthy were expected to go vegetarian (or vegan, depending on your time and place) at certain times of the year. For that reason, we do have vegetarian and vegan options that can be documented to the medieval era. And very often these recipes are not for vegetarian items that are pretending to be meat (I'm looking at you, seitans and TVP). When I eat vegetarian food I want it to be food that was intended to be meatless, not a meat substitute, and it looks like even our medieval ancestors at least sometimes felt the same way.

I made this dish, which comes to us from medieval Catalonia, for a dinner party at a medieval re-creation event up in Maine this past July. I only made one change, and that was to omit the mint. My husband is allergic to mint so it's been banned from the house. To be quite honest I don't miss it here. I'm not sure what type of lentils they would have been likely to use in medieval Catalonia. (I should know this, all things considered, but I don't.) I used the very quick-cooking red lentils because I have a lot of them on hand and would like to have less of them on hand, and because they're quick-cooking. The result was a dish that was surprisingly tasty – even the carnivores liked it.

Lentils with Vinegar and Herbs (serves 12; approx. $0.43/serving)

4 cups red lentils, rinsed

Water

¼ cup bread crumbs

¾ cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ bunch parsley

¾ bunch fresh sage

3 small onions, finely chopped

10 garlic cloves, crushed

1 pinch kosher salt

Equipment:

• Saucepan
• Colander
• Large sauté pan
• Small bowl

1. Combine the bread crumbs and vinegar in the small bowl. Set aside.
2. Put the lentils in a saucepan with water to cover generously. Bring to a boil.
3. Boil until the lentils are tender, skimming as needed. Drain and set aside.
4. Finely chop the herbs together. Set aside.
5. Heat the oil gently in the sauté pan – medium heat would be the most I'd use here.
6. Add the onions, garlic and salt. Lower the heat and cook gently until the onions are softened. This will vary depending on how small you've cut the onions, so it's in your own best interests to cut them nice and small.
7. Add the lentils and breadcrumb mixture.
8. Add the herbs. If additional water is needed, add it here.
9. Cook until the herbs are nice and fragrant, then remove from heat.
10. Serve.

Recipe: Horseradish Sauce

Recipe Source: de Nola, Ruperto.  Libro de Cozina.  1529 edition, translated by Vincent F. Cuenca.  Self-published by the translator in 2001, pp. 58-9

I promised you a while ago that I would post this recipe. It's from the same recipe as the sage sauce I posted a little while ago. Both recipes are recommended variations on a parsley sauce, and all three are vastly different sauces. The thing is, horseradish isn't something I really grew up with. It made an appearance once a year with the Easter ham and only the men in the family showed any interest in eating it. I don't remember it even being offered to us kids. This sauce, though, has got me craving horseradish in the worst way. And if you have friends who think that medieval food lacked heat, make them this sauce.

I made this in exactly the same way as I made the sage sauce, so I'm not going to re-post my thought processes behind the redaction. If you missed the previous post, please click the link above – I don't want to bore everyone by posting the exact same thing again. I'm serious, though. I thought the sage sauce would be my favorite of the two, and I loved it, but the horseradish sauce is really the way to go here!

Horseradish Sauce (makes about enough sauce for 15 servings; approx. $0.20/serving)

Approx. 1 ½ ounces grated fresh horseradish root

4 ounces fresh breadcrumbs

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

2 ounces honey

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Equipment:

• Small bowl
• Mini-prep food processor

1. Combine the breadcrumbs and the vinegar in the small bowl and let soak at least 10 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in the mini-prep and grind to a liquid consistency.
3. Serve with meat. I served this alongside beef, but if you like ham this would be a great accompaniment.

Recipe: Sage Sauce

Recipe Source: de Nola, Ruperto.  Libro de Cozina.  1529 edition, translated by Vincent F. Cuenca.  Self-published by the translator in 2001, pp. 58-9

My husband and I recently attended a gathering of medieval history enthusiasts. We go to this event every year. It is up in Maine and is a favorite summer tradition. It's one of very few dog-friendly events, so we bring the dog and everyone has a good time. We also cook a huge meal for this event, and all are usually welcome. We bring our Big Green Egg and my husband makes something nice and meaty. This year he made a huge amount of roasted beef and I served two sauces alongside, among other things. This was one of the sauces.

Both of the sauces we made were great – not at all heavy, very flavorful even in small quantities, and unusual enough that people were excited to try them. They were also both from the same source – the same recipe, really, just with one change. I'll post the second sauce at a later date because it was different enough to merit its own post. I interpreted "white vinegar" to mean "white wine vinegar" because regular distilled white vinegar – the kind you get in the giant industrial-sized tub – isn't very good. I omitted the part where you put two hot rocks into the mix as well – I wasn't entirely certain what the point of that was. I guess that it would cook the stuff just enough, but I thought it was just fine without cooking it.

Sage Sauce (makes enough sauce for about 15 servings; approx. $0.29/serving)

1 1/3 bunches fresh sage, minced

4 ounces fresh breadcrumbs

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

2 ounces honey

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Equipment:

• Small bowl
• Mini-prep food processor

1. Combine the breadcrumbs and the vinegar in the small bowl and let soak at least 10 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in the mini-prep and grind to a liquid consistency.
3. Serve with meat. I served this alongside beef, but this would work particularly well with poultry.