I’d almost be remiss if I didn’t make one attempt at gingerbread.  I’ve heard for years that Medieval gingerbread is very different from the cake-like modern version.  So, a-googling I did go, and with a tip from the lovely Tamara, did find two versions of the same medieval recipe.

Pies, pies, pies!  This time I’m trying a savory pie.  Mushrooms and cheese are pretty ubiquitous and vegetarian friendly.

The previous recipe for pastry was used along with this strawberry pie.  Wild strawberries (Norwegian: markjordbær / Latin: fragaria vesca L.) have been found in the archaeobotanical record during the Hanseatic period and can be found across Norway.

I have never been one for making pastry, to the extent that I prefer my pumpkin pie baked in a 9x9” pan sans crust.  But this is a cooking challenge and considering the apparent prevalence of pies, it was time to make a new attempt at it.  This recipe is 16th c., rather late for my persona, but I need to start somewhere.

This recipe from Marx Rumpoldt’s cookbook of 1581 can also be found in Plain Fare: A Period Camp Cookbook by Volker Bach.
I am becoming more curious about which resources would have been available to me as a cook in Norway.  Here’s what I found after a quick check in a couple of resources…

Norway has a long tradition for travel in the great outdoors.  Hiking, camping, sailing…. a continuation of a lifestyle over a thousand years old… just ask us about traveling to Vinland or Miklagard.  We also have a saying “Uten mat og drikke, duger helten ikke” (without food and drink, the hero can’t perform).

I am excited about a new cooking resource I found on the Drachenwald A&S page.  This specific recipe comes from Frantz de Rontzier’s cookbook of 1598 by way of Plain Fare: A Period Camp Cookbook by Magister Giano Balestriere (Volker Bach).  Plain Fare is on the Drachenwald website under the link A Camp Cookery Book.  Many of the recipes look tasty, and all are both documentable and lend themselves to cooking over the fire. 

Opportunity knocked today and I decided to let it in.  A friend of mine has poultry, mostly hens, but also a couple of roosters.  One of them has been getting too aggressive and needed a final solution.  This has given me the chance  to practice hands-on a skill my persona would have used regularly on the farm.

Thank you Beatriz for starting me with comfort food!
I used this A Boke of Gode Cookery recipe as my 'jumping off point for this 14th c. English dish.