Welcome
back to the kitchen! I apologize for my absence recently, but I’ve been
busy with mundane matters and haven’t been able to find the inspiration
to write regular articles. This morning, however, I stumbled onto an
idea for holiday gifts, and realized that it was also a good article
idea.
Looking around online, I saw a picture of little jars of homemade spice blends. Immediately I went to the idea that I could do those with Medieval Spice mixes, and how wonderful a gift idea for other medieval cooks that would be. I haven’t addressed spices and seasonings in an article yet, so this seems like a good time for that, as well. I’ll focus on spices, as opposed to herbs, this time, and will try to do another article on herbs later - likely in the spring, when green things are growing again.
Seasoning for medieval dishes, while it uses the same spices we use today, is distinctly different than the way we use those spices in mundane cooking. I’ve often said “you know you’ve been doing medieval cooking when you automatically add cinnamon to your mundane chicken pot pie.” Often, the spices that we associate mundanely with sweet dishes, such as cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg, are used in savory dishes as well.
Just as you can buy pre-mixed spice blends in stores today, there are several spice blends which were also available pre-mixed in period. The two most common I have seen in recipes that I use are “poudre fort” and “poudre douce” (essentially, “strong powder” and “sweet powder”.) To be honest, I haven’t mostly used the actual blend, because making the blend used more spices than I needed for the recipe, and it didn’t occur to me that I was using them often enough to actually use the proper blend. Generally, if something called for Poudre Fort, I just added some “basic brown spices” (generally cinnamon and clove) and pepper, while if it called for Poudre Douce, I used other “basic brown spices’ (generally cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace) and a bit of sugar. Note - allspice is not a period seasoning, as it comes from a South American plant. If your medieval recipe calls for allspice, someone either did the translation wrong, or is substituting it for something else. THe other two spice blends which are fairly common are Poudre Fine and Poudre Blance, but they’re not ones I remember using, so I won’t offer recipes for those here..
Just as “curry powder” or “chinese five-spice” is different depending on the brand you buy, there doesn’t seem to be one consistent recipe for any of the spice blends. However, I will try to give you some ideas, and you can play with the blends in your recipes or do further research to find which fit your particular taste. Just remember to write down the recipe you are using as you play, so when you find one that you really like, you can reproduce it.
Poudre Forte - Strong Spice mixture
As the name suggests, this mixture should have a strong flavor. The one constant I have seen in all the recipes for this is pepper, in multiple varieties.
Poudre Douce - Sweet Spice Mixture
This is, as it says, a sweet spice mixture. Many recipes include sugar, but some don’t. Ingredients vary, but things to play with and possibly include are cinnamon, mace, cloves, nutmeg, mace, galingale, ginger, and cardamom.
Looking around online, I saw a picture of little jars of homemade spice blends. Immediately I went to the idea that I could do those with Medieval Spice mixes, and how wonderful a gift idea for other medieval cooks that would be. I haven’t addressed spices and seasonings in an article yet, so this seems like a good time for that, as well. I’ll focus on spices, as opposed to herbs, this time, and will try to do another article on herbs later - likely in the spring, when green things are growing again.
Seasoning for medieval dishes, while it uses the same spices we use today, is distinctly different than the way we use those spices in mundane cooking. I’ve often said “you know you’ve been doing medieval cooking when you automatically add cinnamon to your mundane chicken pot pie.” Often, the spices that we associate mundanely with sweet dishes, such as cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg, are used in savory dishes as well.
Just as you can buy pre-mixed spice blends in stores today, there are several spice blends which were also available pre-mixed in period. The two most common I have seen in recipes that I use are “poudre fort” and “poudre douce” (essentially, “strong powder” and “sweet powder”.) To be honest, I haven’t mostly used the actual blend, because making the blend used more spices than I needed for the recipe, and it didn’t occur to me that I was using them often enough to actually use the proper blend. Generally, if something called for Poudre Fort, I just added some “basic brown spices” (generally cinnamon and clove) and pepper, while if it called for Poudre Douce, I used other “basic brown spices’ (generally cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace) and a bit of sugar. Note - allspice is not a period seasoning, as it comes from a South American plant. If your medieval recipe calls for allspice, someone either did the translation wrong, or is substituting it for something else. THe other two spice blends which are fairly common are Poudre Fine and Poudre Blance, but they’re not ones I remember using, so I won’t offer recipes for those here..
Just as “curry powder” or “chinese five-spice” is different depending on the brand you buy, there doesn’t seem to be one consistent recipe for any of the spice blends. However, I will try to give you some ideas, and you can play with the blends in your recipes or do further research to find which fit your particular taste. Just remember to write down the recipe you are using as you play, so when you find one that you really like, you can reproduce it.
Poudre Forte - Strong Spice mixture
As the name suggests, this mixture should have a strong flavor. The one constant I have seen in all the recipes for this is pepper, in multiple varieties.
Variation
1) Take equal parts clove, nutmeg, mace, black pepper, and grains of
paradise, with three parts (three times as much as any other single
ingredient) long pepper. If possible, freshly grind all spices.
Variation 2) one part each pepper, cloves, and nutmeg, with three parts each cinnamon and ginger
Poudre Douce - Sweet Spice Mixture
This is, as it says, a sweet spice mixture. Many recipes include sugar, but some don’t. Ingredients vary, but things to play with and possibly include are cinnamon, mace, cloves, nutmeg, mace, galingale, ginger, and cardamom.
Variation
1) 3 Tablespoons Ginger, 2 Tablespoons sugar, 1 ½ Tablespoons Cinnamon,
1 Tablespoon powdered bay leaves, 1 teaspoon each ground cloves and
nutmeg
Variation
2) 3 teaspoons Ginger, 1 ½ Tablespoons Cinnamon, 1 teaspoon each grains
of paradise and ground cloves, 2 Tablespoons Sugar
No comments:
Post a Comment