Medieval Receipes

Pottage : Cut meat into small cubes. Put into cauldron with four pints of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for two hours. Add any vegetables that may be available. After ten minutes stir in 4oz of oats and local herbs. Cook for a further five minutes. Skim off any excess fat before serving.

Lenten Stew : Remove the crusts from 8 rounds of bread. Toast the bread lightly on both sides. Lay the slices side by side in a shallow dish. Slice eight onions into rings, and simmer them in sunflower oil, turning often, until soft and golden. Mix a teaspoonful of honey with a quarter of a pint of boiling water. Add the onions and pour the mixture over the toasted bread.

Sauce Vert & Fish : Boil the fish in water and ale. Chop the leaves of parsley, mint and fennel. Sprinkle 2 oz breadcrumbs with cider vinegar and leave for ten minutes. Add salt and herbs to the breadcrumbs. Pound until well blended. Then add 50ml. cider vinegar to mixture. The sauce is then poured over the cooked fish.

Green Porray : Boil peas in water until tender. Drain the peas and keep warm. Chop 5 onions and 5 sprigs of parsley and 2 sage leaves. Mix with 2 teaspoonfuls of wine vinegar and add to the peas. Boil the mixture for 50 minutes. Just before serving add four slices of diced bread.

Horse Bread : Boil beans for two hours. Drain the beans and add them to 1.4 kg of rye and wheat flour. Work the beans into the flour adding 100 ml of sunflower oil, 5 teaspoonfuls of salt and 700 ml of ale. Knead until the texture of the dough has reached ear lobe consistency - pinch your ear lobe gently and this is how your dough should feel. Bake for 45 minutes.