Despite this past weekend’s heat at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, my assistants and I made some beautiful wood-fired crumpets, lemon curd and clotted cream. They are all fairly easy to make, but require some patience and time.
Crumpets 4 cups of white bread flour 1 tsp of salt 2 oz of butter 1 cup of milk, warmed 1 tbsp of dried yeast Corneal or flour 2 tbsp sugar
Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and rub in the butter. In a separate bowl, stir in the warmed milk and yeast and add the sugar. Wait two minutes before adding the yeasted milk into the flour. Mix together to form a soft dough. Need for 10 minutes until soft and silky.
Crumpets with lemon curd and clotted cream
Put the dough in a large clean bowl and cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for two hours until it has doubled in size.
After the dough has risen, roll it out until 2.5 cm thick and cut out the dough in
2 -3 inch circles. Cover with a damp cloth for another 30 minutes and bake at 350 degrees.
These should only bake for 350 degrees. First side bakes for 3 minutes. They are flipped and baked for another 4-5 minutes until they are golden brown. Serve warm.
Lemon Curd: 3 eggs
1 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of lemon juice
¼ cup of butter
2 tsp of lemon zest
Whisk eggs, sugar, and lemon juice in a double boiler over simmering water until mixed well, then continue to stir until thick, 7 to 10 minutes.
Drain through a mesh sieve to get rid of lumps. Fold in butter until well incorporated. Mix in lemon zest. Cover curd and chill in the refrigerator until it has thickened, about 4 hours.
Clotted cream: 1 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1/3 cup of sour cream, room temperature
2 tbsp powdered sugar
Using a whisk attachment on the mixer, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Remove from mixer, and hand whisk in the sour cream and confectioners’ sugar until just joined. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Native to Asia, pheasants were introduced as wild game in Great Britain during the 10th century by the Normans and the Romano-British. Although hunted to near extinction in the early 17th century, pheasant was rediscovered as choice game 150 years later. Since then, pheasants have been widely bred and managed by professional gamekeepers. Although pheasant was and still is very popular among nobles, it was illegal for commoners to enjoy the decadent and savory meat. In the case of pheasant, feathers were prized and reserved for nobility; anyone caught wearing pheasant feathers, were labeled as a poacher and were often put to death.
It is no secret that I love cooking and eating game. I been very lucky obtaining pheasant at our local higher-end and Asian grocery stores; they are already cleaned and prepared for cooking, which makes my job as a cook easier. Preparing a pheasant for cooking is usually no easy task. It usually requires removing the skin and feathers, preparing the insides and removing the smaller joints. There are a number of resources available that I like to use including http://www.doityourself.com/stry/cleaning-wild-pheasant#b.
How to Prepare Wild Fowl for Cooking Below is how my family has cleaned wild fowl for generations. I am aware that many of my readers are may be faint of heart and could not deal with explicit directions on preparing wild bird game for cooking. If you are one of my readers, I would recommend skipping the next paragraph and moving onto the recipe.
Cleaning pheasant is a lot easier than most wild game. The first step of cleaning pheasant is removing the feathers. This can be challenging at times as you would pull the feathers in the opposite direction that they lay. An additional step is to use a torch or lighter to remove any extra smaller feathers. Many people choose to save the feathers for their renaissance costuming needs as they make nice additions to hats and brooches, if your societal station allows it. Next, remove the head, wings and feet with a sharp knife or kitchen scissors. To remove the entrails, carefully cut the abdomen and then carefully scoop out the organs out with a finger; taking special care to ensure the trachea and other neck structures are removed as well. Once the bird’s chest and abdomen cavity are cleaned of the larger debris, rinse the inside and outside of the bird with cold water and it is not ready for the oven.
Ingredients:
Pheasant wrapped in bacon before cooking
1 pheasant, cleaned and skinned
1 lb. of sliced bacon
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
½ tsp of black pepper, fresh ground
½ tsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a shallow dish coat the inside of the pan with olive oil; the pan can be metal or ceramic. In a small bowl, add the salt, pepper and minced garlic. Remove the fresh thyme leaves from the sprigs and add the leaves to the small bowl with the other ingredients; dispose of the thyme branches. Take a knife and split the pheasant in half the length way from neck to rear. With your hands, take the spice mixture and apply it liberally to the outside and inside the cavity of the pheasant.
Lay strips of bacon evenly, surrounding the pheasant from top to bottom. The bacon will help keep the pheasant from drying out and some additional flavor to the meat. Lay the bacon-wrapped pheasant in the oiled pan and cover the pheasant before placing in the oven.
Final dish: Pheasant with Bacon and Green Beans
The pheasant should bake covered for 20 – 25 minutes. Pull the pheasant out, uncover and put it back in the oven in the opposite direction it was cooking originally for another 10-15 minutes until the bacon is crisp on the outside. The meat should be done, but one can double check by using a meat thermometer and the internal temperature should be 160-165 degrees. The meat should rest for 5 minutes before serving. I usually serve the pheasant with the bacon as they complement each other.
In the photo, I prepared fresh green beans with the pheasant. In the past, I have served pheasant with oven-roasted turnips, parsnips, and carrots to add some additional color to the plate. I usually serve pheasant with a robust red wine.
Several years ago, I wrote an article for Renaissance Magazine (issue #74 on meatloaf and how recipes could be traced back to ancient Roman cooking. Back then, meatloaf was prepared in sheep stomachs like the Scottish haggis or in upper intestines like sausage and the meatloaf would be baked in a large oven.
Similar recipes have existed for meatballs and have been discovered in German, Belgium, and Holland cooking. In Europe, they use pork, beef, and/or horse meat. In Asian cooking they would use pork, fish or seafood. Unlike meatloaves that had to be shaped and then cooked, meatball recipes were more versatile – could be baked, boiled or fried.
The meatloaf and meatball recipes add various fillers including bread, rice, or oatmeal to chopped, minced or ground meat, and would allow anyone could stretch a small amount of meat to feed others. My mixing the meat and the fillers, cooks could use their hands or spoons to drop the meat in boiling water, hot oil, or bake and choose to serve them immediately, use in another recipe or wrap up to be eaten at a later time. Because of its size, it was very portable and could be used when traveling.
Modern eaters are accustomed to seeing the meatball used in Italian dishes and can be used in other recipes or eaten as a snack. The meatball stew recipe below is simple and is a great people pleaser for the fussiest of palates. It can be adapted for any guest and any ingredient and travels well to potlucks and family dinners.
Meatballs 2 lbs. of ground beef (or turkey)
1 cup of raw oatmeal or breadcrumbs
2 eggs
Mix all of the ingredients together. Form 1.5” – 2” balls and bake for 20 minutes in the oven at 300 degrees. These may be frozen for future use or used in the recipe below.
Meatball Stew 2 lbs of meatballs (Can be pre-prepared or home-made)
4 cups of beef broth (use chicken or turkey broth with ground turkey)
1 cup of baby carrots or regular carrots thickly chopped
One medium onion, coarsely chopped
10 green onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of rice
1 sprig or rosemary
1/2 tsp of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste Optional: red potatoes, turnips (peeled), green beans, pea pods, or sweet potatoes (peeled) Serves 3-4
In a cast iron Dutch oven, add the meatballs, broth and add enough water to covered the meatballs. Cook on stovetop or open flame for 20 minutes and add the onions and garlic and let cook for another 20 minutes. Add the carrots and stir occasionally.
If water is getting low, add more water so the meatballs remain covered. Continue cooking for 10 more minutes and add rice, rosemary, and thyme. Stir it up and the rice will settle near bottom to cook. Add optional ingredients. Keep an eye on the pot to make sure the rice doesn’t burn. Cook for 20 – 30 minutes and when rice is done. Garnish with the green onions and serve hot.
This dish was made during the 2013 Siouxland Renaissance Festival on a cooking fire. You can great this dish at home either on a stove top or on a cooking fire. I used a cast iron pot and would recommend using the same.
Bacon Hash made at the Siouxland Renaissance Festival
Ingredients:
1 lb. bacon, cut up in 1 inch strips
1 cup fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
4 large carrots, large julienne cut
4 medium red potatoes, washed and 3/4″ cubed
2 medium gloves of garlic
sea salt (to taste)
Over medium heat add the bacon. The fat will render quicker than it will cook. When the bacon is half done, remove it from the pot and pour the bacon fat into a bowl (do not dispose of it yet). Put the pot back on the heat and add 4 tablespoons of bacon fat (olive oil may be used if you are watching your fat content). Add all the vegetables at one time to the pot and stir constantly for two minutes. Add the bacon back in to the pot and continue cooking for 4 more minutes. Add a 1/4 cup of water and continue to stir. The dish is ready when the carrots and potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and let it set for 2 minutes before serving.
Cheese has been traced to the Sumerians, Egyptians, and has been found throughout the world. Each culture has had its own version of cheese; in central Asia, cheese was made from yak milk. North Africans used milk from wild pigs and Europeans used milk from reindeer, water buffalo and mares. But it was the Romans who perfected the art and began to age their cheeses, preparing to send their product out to the marketplace.
Cheese pie served with fresh apple slices and blueberries
Early cheeses were made from adding milk into a container made from an animal’s stomach. The stomach contains a natural enzyme called rennin and would cause the milk to curdle. When churned, the milk would be separated from curds and whey, which could be strained to create two milk by-products. The curds would be gathered and cooked to create cheese. Softer cheeses were cooked at a lower temperature and higher temperatures results in the harder varieties. Cheese makers would drain off any additional liquid whey, and then would salt and cut the hardened curd. The processed curd would be pressed into molds and would be further aged/cured in nearby caves or holes in the ground.
During the Renaissance, cheese was served as a dessert and was reserved for the middle or wealthier classes. The merchant/middle class would enjoy softer goat cheeses with grapes or figs and the wealthy would enjoy a cheese course, which was served before or during dessert.
One of the more popular desserts was the cheese pie. This dessert is very different than the desserts for modern palates; it is not sweet and, depending on the cheese, can be pungent. To offset its strong flavor the cheese would be served with fresh grapes or figs. Traditionally, pastry crusts were very hard and were used as a container for many types of dishes. The pie crust below is a modern execution of that recipe and creates a flakier and tastier crust.
Pie Crust Recipe: 2 cups of all-purpose flour
½ tsp of finely ground sea salt
½ cup of butter or lard, softened
¼ cup of cold water
Mix the flour and salt until well combined. Cut the butter or lard up into teaspoon chips and add it to the flour mixture.
Using a large fork, begin crushing the butter or lard into the flour and salt mixture. Begin adding the water at 2 tablespoons increments until a soft, non-sticky dough forms into a ball.
Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour or more before rolling out. This will allow the fat to combine with the flour and will create a flakier crust. While the crust “cures” in the refrigerator, you can begin making the filling.
Cheese Pie Filling Recipe: 1 cup of all-purpose flour
¼ tsp of salt
Pinch of black pepper
¼ tsp powdered mustard
½ cup of grated Gouda cheese (other “white” cheeses may be used as well).
2 egg yolks
¼ cup of lard or butter
Water
Mix together the flour, salt, pepper, mustard. Add the butter or lard and begin to blend together with a fork. Add the cheese and egg yolks. If the filling seems too dry, add the water 2 tablespoons at a time until a thick cream is developed. Cover and let cool for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Roll out the pie crust into a 10” circle. You can use a plate to measure the circle. Place the pie crust into an 8” pie tin; there should be enough of the crust to go over the pie tin. Pierce the crust 6 times in the bottom of the pan; this will help the crust to cook evenly.
Move the cheese mixture from the covered bowl onto the crust and spread evenly. Roll the edges of the pie crust inward or crimp or pinch the crust; this will add a decorative element to the pie.
Set the pie into the oven to bake for approximately 12-18 minutes, depending on altitude. The crust edges should be golden brown. Let cool for 7-10 minutes before cutting. Serve with fresh figs, berries or apples and honey.
