Ground Almond soup, could this have been a medieval favourite?

Following my post yesterday on Spanish hams and their Medieval ancestry I have discovered something even more exciting in terms of its Medieval food heritage. And all whilst enjoying my holiday here in Gibraltar. Staring at me from a chilled foods counter in the "Eroski" supermarket was ground almond soup! Intended, like its cousin vegetable gazpacho soup, to be eaten cold this thick pureed concoction is made with very few, but all natural ingredients. 

The ingredients of "El gazpacho de almendras ajoblanco" , an obviously still popular dish from rustic Andalusia, are (and I am testing my abilities to read Spanish here): water, almonds, lemon juice, virgin olive oil, ground bread, vinegar wine, salt, and garlic. And all are staples from Medieval days too...cooks then  were fond of ground breadcrumbs as a thickening agent. 

I am a little surprised the soup has only 7% almonds - now I am a little less excited since I thought it was almost purely an almond milk concoction! Certainly in Medieval times water would not have been added to the mix unless the whole batch was to be boiled.

Here is my discovery, in a Tetrapak of course. Its not a dish I shall be replicating for the Medieval or Tudor dollshouse though. I think it lacks a little presence!

Almonds were a very versatile cooking ingredients whose flavours was much appreciated by the medieval palate. They were put to many uses in both sweet and savoury dishes, certainly they were very important in Medieval cookery. Almond milk was used in the range of “white food” or blancmange dishes incorporating shredded white meat or fish. Used with eggs or butter and various flavourings it made sauces that counteracted the excessive saltiness or smokiness of preserved meat or fish. Fried whole almonds were popular as a garnish for many dishes.

Cultivation of almonds, which are related to apricots and cherries, goes back into pre-history. The food historian Alan Davidson notes that today the almond is actually the most important commercially produced nut. It was introduced to Europe from Asia, via Spain, by the Phoenicians in the 8th century. Well, here in Gibraltar at the southern tip of Europe, and surrounded on three sides by Spain, those trading Phonecians did came calling and they settled awhile leaving archaeological evidence, including fine glassware for which they were reknowned 

"El gazpacho de almendras ajoblanco" is starting to make historic and geographic sense now. My excitement levels are rising once more. And I have not even tried the chilled soup yet, maybe tomorrow for lunch...

Cured hams - an Iberican speciality

Whether you are a vegetarian or not, whilst in a bar or market cafe in Southern Spain you can’t help but notice the legs of ham hanging above you. Well I can’t anyway, with my  eager “modern medieval food” eyes wide open. Some hams, I notice, have white trotters and some, producing the superior quality “pata negra”, have black trotters - or at least black toes.

And then there are stacks of hams in the supermarkets all year round. In years gone by you might only have seen them in the supermarkets in the run up to Christmas, but why not celebrate any special occasion with “jamon serrano”?

Curing a hog’s leg with salt goes back to time immemorial. Cato the elder wrote over 2000 years ago in  “De agri cultura”  “On farming” as follows: “Spread salt in bottom of (my edit: very large!) jar, lay a ham cover with salt, lay another meat not touching, cover with salt. After five days, remove and reverse order hams are placed in. 12 days later remove hams, brush off salt, hang in a draught for 2 days. On the 3rd day clean with sponge and rub with oil (my edit: olive oil of course). Hang in smoke for 2 days. On the 3rd day take them down, rub in a mixture of oil and vinegar, hang in the meat house. No moths or worms will touch them.”

This method of curing the larger cuts of meat from swine (hogs, pigs) changed very little in 2000 years in today’s artisanal ham making - except the time allowed for curing is much longer - up to two years for a jamon serrano and up to 4 years for a jamon iberico. The curing process alters the flavour and the natural enzymes have longer to break down the tissues and make the ham mouth wateringly tender. Patience is rewarded!

History bears witness that the pig (hog or swine) produces the world's best tasting flesh, it is the only animal where a specific vocabulary has developed for its different meats - namely pork, ham and bacon. Pig meat of all three types was highly valued by all classes of Medieval society, and it was no exaggeration to say that every part of the animal was eaten. MedievalMorsels models ham legs and ham sides at 12th scale for your period or contemporary dollshouse, roombox or diorama. My online shop re-opens on 1 August after a short holiday break. take a look then!

The pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) is the oldest domesticated creature besides the dog. All pigs are descended from the wild boar (Sus scrofa). Bones from Turkey show human/pig association as early as 8000 BC, pre-dating man's cultivation of barley and wheat. This seems to disprove the commonly held theories first, that goats and sheep were the first domesticated animals and second, that man engaged in crop growing before animal husbandry. Pigs were, however, domesticated at different times around the world.

Wimbledon, Hampton Court, Henry VIII and strawberries - anyone for tennis?

Silver server of strawberries, fit for Tudor formal dining or served alongside a Real Tennis court!

Wimbledon fortnight is upon us and the world’s attention is centred on that court, the aptly named Centre Court. And yet Wimbledon’s illustrious All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, to give it its current full title, owes its existence to a much earlier adopter of the sport of tennis in England. That game changer was no less than the 6ft 4inches, athletic, young King Henry VIII.

So not a million miles away from SW1, in fact less than ten miles distant, it is another other tennis court that fascinates. Henry was an enthusiastic proponent of the game of “real tennis”, a worthwhile pursuit among the noble class that was designed to  “...chase idleness , virtue’s mortal enemy…”. After playing on the indoor court at Hampton Court Palace- for it was an indoor game - how would Henry have refreshed himself after vanquishing all the finest players in his noble entourage?

One inch dolls house fruit, handmade strawberries for Medieval, Tudor, Regency luxury dining

Why, with some strawberries of course! MedievalMorsels has modelled the very same and arranged the trophy fruit on an ornate plate resembling the Ladies allcomers challenge trophy. Strawberries were a tricky plant from which to grow fruits in any quantity or size. Probably Tudor strawberries were no bigger than today’s wild Alpine strawberries. But other delicious garden summer fruits would make a thirst quenching and natural sugar laden post-set snack. Henry would have uppermost on his mind the exotic varieties of cherries, peaches, plums and apricots - all carefully tended by his gardeners, grown from new varieties imported from the Low Countries (Belgium and Flanders) and Italy in particular. And MedievalMorsels takes pleasure in modelling these too.

Dollshouse miniature food, summer cherries at 1:12 scale from MedievalMorsels

Twelfth scale peaches for a period dolls house, miniature dollhouse fruit by MedievalMorsels

One inch scale dollhouse fruit, plums of all types for a Medieval, Tudor or modern rustic dining scene

It was Cardinal Wolsey who actually built Hampton Court Palace with its real tennis court. But he had not long been in possession of it than he was rapidly falling out of royal favour. He had still failed to secure a Papal anulment for Henry’s 26 year marriage to his brother’s widow, Katherine of Aragon. With no male heir Henry planned, of course, to marry Anne Boleyn. Wolsey made Henry a present of Hampton Court, which he had built between 1526 -1529.

Fast forward just a few years and it is said, on Hampton Court Palace’s website no less, that Henry’s second wife - Anne Boleyn - was gambling on a game of (real) tennis when she was arrested to be taken to the Tower of London. She even complained that she couldn’t collect her winnings! Whether we are really to believe this I cannot say...

Although it looks like a strange combination of tennis and squash, according to The Royal Tennis Club “the techniques, strategies and rules are more complex than for the modern derivatives”. Each ball contains a core wrapped around with some thirteen yards of webbing in half inch widths, and in fact many balls in use today started their life over a century ago but have been re-covered! The tennis racquets are usually made from hickory or ash with sheep gut still commonly used for the strings. The curious shape of the head of the racquet is designed to help the player to cut the ball by having a large area of strings across which a ball can sweep diagonally. By contrast today’s lawn tennis players employ top-spin.

Real tennis is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis is descended. It only acquired its ‘real’ tag at the end of the 19th century to distinguish it from the new-fangled ‘lawn’ tennis. The number of real courts has actually risen in the last thirty years. There are now 27 in Britain, 10 in the USA, 3 in France and 6 in Australia. Despite there being no more than a few thousand real tennis players in the world, they make up in keeness for any lack in numbers, organising professional and amateur tournaments practically all year round.

“The Club”  that has given rise to the current Wimbledon tournament however was founded some three centuries later in 23 July 1868 but at the height of a croquet craze! The then-infant sport of Lawn Tennis was introduced in 1875, when one lawn was set aside. The first tennis Gentlemen's Championship in Singles was held in July 1877. Wimbledon’s present Centre Court, built in 1922 upon the move of the Club, was not actually in the centre at the time it was built, but it is so now. British viewers will be eager to follow Andy Murray’s progress especially as he has just won a grass warm-up tournament at Queens for a record fourth time, but lets hope all the ‘great’ players, newcomers, ‘wild cards’ and  underdogs alike have a splendid Wimbledon this year. Some of my favourite players have been Arthur Ashe, Ilie Nastase, John McEnroe and Miloslav Mečíř - players of touch before the advent of the power game, double handed backhands and power racquets (do I mean rackets?).  

With its retractable roof and flood lighting, modern Centre Court is equipped to deal with rain and the failing light of late running matches - remember there is no tie-break in a final set at Wimbledon! Rain never posed a problem for real tennis players, the grilled window in one wall, through which light, but not rain poured, was a featured “hazard” attracting penalties if you hit it. Now if anyone can explain real tennis in simple terms, I’d be surprised. Cambridge University Real Tennis club describes it thus “...subtlety and thought are more prized than power and fitness. It is played in an asymmetrical court which contains many unusual features, sloping roofs, openings (galleries) in the walls and a main wall which has a kink in it (tambour) so the ball on hitting the sloping face moves across the court instead of continuing down the line of the main wall. It has the classic elements of warfare where a failed attack is punished by a counter-attack.”

Magna Carta, Bad King John and Lampreys

A dish of lampreys fit for a King or Queen, 12th scale period dollhouse food by MedievalMorsels

June 15 th 2015 is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta! That is to say the anniversary of King John agreeing to attach his Royal Seal to the historic document. To be honest, the term Magna Carta (great charter) may be more significant to your average American than your average Brit. But I suspect there will be plenty of media attention in the UK and perhaps we will trawl up memories of mostly forgotten history lessons….What’s the fuss, was King John really so bad and why might our American cousins be more enamoured of this anniversary than we can truthfully  admit? And what on earth do lampreys have to do with it?

King John and his second wife Queen Isabella by Angeliqueminiatures, about to set upon their lamprey feast!

A lattice pie by MedievalMorsels filled with John's favourite food, lampreys! Medieval dollshouse one . food

King John was not a good man, not at least according to A A Milne (he of Winnie-the-Pooh fame) in his poem written in 1927. In this enchanting verse we grow to feel sorry for King John as he anticipates no presents again in his stocking at Christmas! Whilst all the time he  really does want a big, red,  India rubber ball. Charming and anachronistic, I had a copy of Milne’s poetry anthology “Now We are Six” on a suitable birthday! Why did people revile him?
England's crown passed to "bad" King John (1167-1216) on the death of his brother, Richard so-called Lionheart. John had  earlier tried to “usurp” the crown while Richard was away doing what he liked best, fighting battles overseas. So he wasn’t trustworthy then. The mighty Barons of England’s shires saw that John abused his power as monarch. Through his outrageous behaviour John had managed simultaneously to alienate all three orders of Medieval society in his realm. First, the powerful nobility - the barons and lesser nobles. Second, the Church - for six years of his rule the Pope ordered churches to be closed and finally he excommunicated John. And last, the remaining 90% of the population, John’s unfair rulings had alienated the peasants. Exasperated the Barons took London and invited Prince Louis, heir apparent to the King of France, to rule England. John was at Windsor Castle and both factions met at Runnymeade on the River Thames to negotiate terms. Such was their mistrust,  the Barons were not going to let him leave without signing. On 19 June 1215, with the Seal presumably affixed by court officials, the Barons then finally swore their allegiance to John.

 Louise Goldsborough Bird creates historically accurate 12th scale dolls, MedievalMorsels can supply their favourite foods!

Magna Carta was without precedent, drawn up to protect all “free” men by calling on the law, and fair judgement by equals (a jury as we would now say). And no longer to be subject to the whim of the power crazed, autocratic and selfish King John. Clause 39 states that “No free man is to be arrested, or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any other way ruined, nor will we go against him or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.”  The "villeins" or unfree tenants were excluded, technically they fell within the jurisdiction of their lords.

In essence most of Magna Carta’s 63 clauses granted by King John, under duress he would later argue, dealt with specific grievances relating to his rule. The Barons sought to make the despotic King John subject to the law of the land, but within three months of attaching his seal John petitioned the Pope for its anulment. After John’s premature death however the Baron’s swiftly resurrected an updated Magna Carta. Although nearly a third of the text was deleted or substantially rewritten within ten years, and almost all the clauses have been repealed in modern times, Magna Carta remains a cornerstone of the British constitution. Some of Magna Carta’s core principles, Clause 39 in particular, are echoed in the United States Bill of Rights (1791) and in many other constitutional documents around the world, as well as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1950).  

The same King John loved to eat lampreys, eel like fish which happened to be a favourite dish of earlier  English Royal courts. Some centuries before, King Henry I (1068-1135) was also known for his lust of eating them, reportedly dying from a "surfeit of lampreys" as one chronicler elegantly put it. This befell that particular monarch on a hunting trip to France and since, like most early  English monarchs, Henry was really more French than English perhaps a gastronomic death in France was fitting! Most historians believe that he died from food poisoning, but quite possibly it was the lampreys "wot did it ".

Well, the same fate befell quite plausibly befell King John. Soon after learning his baggage “train” and its treasure including his crown jewels were lost in the Fenland marshes he too sucumbed to food or some other more sinister poisoning, dying at Newark Castle. Whether his last meal included the exceptionally fatty and highly indigestible lamprey Medieval chroniclers do not say, but I imagine they were easy to trap in the marshes and we know that he often called ahead for such a dish of lampreys to be prepared and even brought out to meet him as he approached a town on his "Royal Progress".
So great was the demand for lampreys during his reign, that John issued a mandate to the sheriffs of Gloucester, where the best were to be found, forbidding the first lampreys of the season to be sold for any more than two shillings a piece. This sounds very expensive indeed! According to the Royal Cookbook, King John also levied a fine of 40 marks (a mark was about two third of a pound) on the city of Gloucester for failing to "pay him sufficient respect in the matter of his lampern." Perhaps they had forgotten him at Christmas?! Or to send a lamprey pie to meet him at the city gate. Embarrassing because his first wife, before acceding to the throne, was Isabella of Gloucester. Perhaps the bad temper levelled at Gloucester really arose because he wanted to divorce her for a younger bride now he was to be King Notably the very beautiful and much younger Isabella Countess of Angouleme, France.

Queen Isabella, Countess of Angouleme, may not have shared her husband's enthusiasm for lampreys

Unlike other fish, the lamprey has no scales, jaws, gill covers or bony skeleton. Fossil evidence has shown lampreys date from before dinosaurs, evolving some 250 million years ago and belonging to a near-extinct family of jawless fishes. So now for some unpalatable natural history about the ancient sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). A lamprey's downward slanting mouth consists of a large, tooth-lined sucking disc. Once it has latched onto the side of another fish, the lamprey opens a hole in its host by wiping its raspy tongue across the skin. The parasite (because that is what a lamprey is!) then secretes an anticoagulant that keeps this wound open so that the lamprey can feed on the prey's blood and tissue.

Wild boar, New Forest inhabitants of old

MedievalMorsels' 12th scale boars heads for your period dollshouse

I have just listened to a programme on BBC Radio called "The Kitchen Cabinet", it was dedicated to the New Forest. I should really make an effort to listen more often because as well as loads of food history, you hear from local experts notably food producers and chefs.

Now, I did know a bit about the New Forest. I have camped there for one. In a very rudimentary Forestry Commission campsite as I recall with one loo and one tap. Unfortunately on sloping land! I am sure it is either closed or has been "glammed" up by now. I do recall the lack of facilities meant we had to wash in a brown, brackish stream in the forest.....we only camp in hot weather. The abundant foxgloves afforded us some modesty! As far as I know there were no quadrupeds watching us, but on our rambles we did bump into horses, cattle, sheep and pigs. Back then I am not sure there were wild boar in the forest, but there are escaped specimens estimated at several hundreds today.

A taxidermist's young wild boar, on sale at Tewkesbury medieval fayre in 2014

A nose garland of leaves for this one inch scale boar's head

Regarding miniatures though,
I have shared a stall with my sister at a dollshouse fair at Lyndhurst in the New Forest too! And since I model boars' heads I had to "bone up" on Medieval forest practice, so as to provide an accurate context for a boar head at the feast. 

The radio programme reminded me that the New Forest is England's oldest, having been declared a royal hunting chase or forest by William Duke of Normandy, aka William the Conqueror, in 1079. It is the only forest where the ancient peasant right of pannage remains - for a levy you bought or buy the right for your livestock to forage for food, notably mast - acorns and beech nuts. In September at the start of the acorn season the pigs and wild boar, and today's hybrid breeds such as the Tamworth pig, come into their own. The digestive systems of horses, cattle and sheep do not benefit from grazing on acorns, so out porcine friends are positively encourage to hoover them up. Do acorns contain arsenic or similar I wonder?

The Tamworth breed of pig, crossed with the wild boar

We heard how the nutty flavour is transferred to the meat, especially the fatty meat of pigs. Boar meat on the other hand is lean, and pretty tough if the animal has been running around a good few years. Wild Boar were in fact extinct in the wild by the C13th, they were hunted and eaten out of existence. And efforts to re-introduce them in the C16th and 17th met with exactly the same problem! That's what an aristocracy can do for you....

We also heard that in Victorian times a boar's head would be singed of hair and bristles, soaked in brine for two weeks then roasted. Next it was "pimped" with the obligatory apple in it's jaw, artistically arranged port wine jelly, a piped family crest, and leaves or even garlands. Really, it sounds as if no-one wanted to eat the thing. And perhaps the dish was little better in Medieval times? Certainly boars heads, a dish reserved for the nobility, were glammed up in Medieval and Tudor kitchens too. Well I certainly had fun pimping mine, as you can see!

MedievalMorsels' pimped boar's head a la Medieval feast, Victorian dining!

A relic of the mast system still survives in Spain today where black and red  Iberian swine feed in oak woodland on the Sierra Morena, producing a delicious, sweet, melt in your mouth  dry-cured ham called jamon iberico. Now we are talking ham!

MedievalMorsels 12th scale leg of ham 

Medieval, Tudor feasting one inch scale

Let them eat Bread!

Dark rye breads by MedievalMorsels , miniature breads for the one inch period dollshouse

Bread. A staple food of so many civilisations. It can be, and is, made with almost any grain you care to imagine. But it can be, and has been throughout history, adulterated with non-grain products along the way if grain proves too expensive! Additives such as clay, alum, chalk, ground bones, potash or pea (vetch) flour!

Cereals germinate and grow well in particular temperature and soil conditions, so there have been marked regional variations in what is cultivated in different areas of the northern hemisphere from earliest times. And man didn't necessarily have to grind locally grown cereals into a flour! After all, millstones could be in short supply if the geology wasn’t right. (I guess they were traded?) Precisely how much time can one afford to dedicate to grinding  grain if there are other time consuming chores that must be done to keep body and soul together, to eek out an existence? A coarse bread made from pounded, crushed grain meal would suffice and be just as nutritious, if a little harder wearing on the teeth!

A peasant in Medieval Europe was more likely to use pounded grain in his cooking pot, or make a “mash” or porridge mixed with water, than to bake bread. Buckwheat - which would grow just about anywhere - was a favourite for porridge or pancakes. Or the same peasant might make “maza” an unleavened cereal meal dough paste, thicker than porridge, which could be shaped and baked on a stone in the embers of the fire. In Scotland barley meal used in this way would produce a barley bannock.

Mixed grain wholemeal "maslin" loaves, perfect for a 12th scale Tudor dollhouse

The craft of breadmaking was recognised from the 6th Century (the Dark Ages). In the Middle Ages in Medieval society both the master miller and the master baker were allowed to mill or “bolt” flour. Using the lord’s, or the abbot’s grain traded locally.

Dolls house miniature food by MedievalMorsels, bread loaves for a period, pioneer or rustic dollhouse

In fact the word “lord” derives from an Old English word  hlaford  meaning "master of a household, ruler, superior," and even earlier still from the German word hlafweard, literally "one who guards the loaves," from the word hlaf "bread, loaf". This direct connection is because a lord maintains and feeds his household, and offers hospitality to the traveller. The word lady  derives from Old English hlǣfdige, the dige part related to our word dough, which became lady by 1382, and literally means "bread-kneader". The Old English hlafæta is a "household servant," literally "loaf-eater." So “lord” and “lady” both retain vestiges of their original meanings, but as the Free English Dictionary by Farlex remarks - England's aristocrats have not been elbow deep in flour, let alone dough, for several centuries!

By contrast MedievaMorsels has been kneading dough, or more accurately Fimo modeller’s clay!

Period, rustic loaves by MedievalMorsels

1:12 scale dollshouse bread

I have extended the range of period breads for a Dark or Middle Ages dolls house, a Tudor, Renaissance dollhouse or a Colonial, pioneer setting. 

But these loaves would look equally at home in a modern dollshouse, rustic dirama or market scene. I have added introduced large rolls, as well as loaves because at a meal, or indeed a feast, the noble company on the top table may well have been served an individual, fine white manchet loaf. Though we may fancifully believe otherwise, bread was in fact a very large part of the upper class, noble diet whilst the humble peasant was not allowed to mill flour or bake bread. If he could not afford to buy it, he and his family would make do with pounded cereal meal added to the family cooking pot.

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Fair means or fowl?

12th scale roast goose - the Medieval meal for Michaelmas, celebrating harvest's end.

In England herds of geese were walked into London and other large centres of population in advance of seasonal fairs that marked the Church’s important religious festivals. “He who eats goose on Michaelmas day shan't money lack or debts to pay.” In Germany a fruit filled goose was eaten on high days and holidays, including Michaelmas (29 September).

Nottingham’s Goose Fair (originally a “Goods Fair”) was granted a charter by Edward I in 1284 from the eve of the feast of St Edmund and for twelve days following. Michaelmas (autumn, fall) fairs were important for trade because town and country dwellers alike, rich and poor, had to stock up with goods, such as cheese and ham, against the risk of isolation and starvation during the dark days of winter. The change of name to Goose Fair was first mentioned in the Nottingham Borough Records of 1541. The fair typically saw the arrival of over 20,000 geese raised on the flat, low-lying Fenland in Lincolnshire and sold to provide the traditional Michaelmas dish. I used to live in Nottingham and seven centuries later the fair is still referred to as the Goose Fair. It offers mechanical rides amongst its principal  attractions, but not live poultry. However I don’t remember if “hook a duck” stall was a “hook a gosling” stall. Obviously, it should have been.

And what of the fowl in the title of this post? As well as modelling some more roast geese to replace stock, I have made MedievalMorsels’ first hanging chickens. 

24th scale chickens to hang by MedievalMorsels, these ones cut off at the knee!

A challenge because this was a custom order at half inch or 24th scale, much more fiddly! But it was good practice and now scaling up to the more typical 1:12 or 12th (one inch) should prove easy.

But its not just chickens.  For a while now, I have longed to model guinea fowl, I don’t know why.

Medieval, Renaissance, Tudor fare: roast guinea fowl, one inch scale dollshouse food 

Detail from Caravaggio's "The Supper at Emmaus" 1601 with a splendid guinea fowl

 It may be something to do with the fact they have elegant plumage and proportions - long, blackish legs and a deep breast. They were popular with the noble classes, enjoying their heyday with the goose before the turkey reached Britain’s shores. They are sometimes to be found in English supermarkets and they taste very nice actually. But the real reason is probably that Caravaggio painting that lurks in my mind, its still life element includes guinea fowl and interesting “tear and share” bread! See what you think!

So my first guineafowl is previewed here in this blogpost. I can’t offer it for sale in my online shop until I have made at least a brace (pair) of them. 

Last I have sad news about MedievalMorsels’ pheasants. I have made more bodies but unfortunately I have clean run ot of feathers!

A work in progress - nude fowl by MedievalMorsels - awaiting genuine pheasant feathers

 I phoned an illustrious butcher who deals in game yesterday asking about the availability of feathers and was told to get back in touch in the game season, which starts  for pheasants in September. Road kill it is then, although there is precious little of that in Swindon. I have asked friends and family to be on the look out. I guess I should provide the latex gloves!