historical cooking – Page 6

September 17, 2012

Orange and Rosemary Game Hens

final 5th weekend dish — Final dish of the orange rosemary game hen (cut in half), field mushrooms with hazelnuts, and port wine poached pears. Created September 16, 2012.

A very simple dish to make. We created enough for 4-8 depending on the size of the rest of the meal and the appetites of your guests.

Ingredients:
4 game hens
2 cups of orange juice
1 tsp garam masala (can be found in most ethnic food sections)
4 oranges
1 large leeks, diced (a very mild onion flavored vegetable)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Black pepper (to taste)

Marinate the hens in 2 cups of orange juice for at least 4 hours. While marinating, remove the zest and juice from the oranges. In a large pot or Dutch oven, place the hens with a trivet at the bottom to prevent sticking.

Add the majority of the zest (reserve 2 TB of orange zest) and fresh juice along with 1 cup of water. Tear the rosemary in half and add to the mixture.

Cook until the hens reach 160 degrees. Pull off the heat and let set for 5 minutes before serving, sprinkling the 2 TB zest and garam masala to the dish and serve family style along with some rustic bread and red wine.

September 17, 2012

Port Poached Pears

This past weekend was Wine, Romance, and Chocolate weekend at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We created quite a few recipes and this is one of many.

The Port Poached Pears continue to be one of my favorite recipes, and yet it is fairly easy to make:

Ingredients:
4-6 Pears, peeled (recommend Bosc or Anjou)
1 1/2 cups of red wine (recommend Merlot or Port)
3/4 cups of granulated sugar
2 tbsp of lemon juice (can also add lemon zest if desired)
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp of ground cinnamon or 3 sticks of whole cinnamon
1/2 tsp of whole cloves
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients, except pears, and bring to a boil. Once the wine mixture is boiling, turn heat down to a simmer and add the pears. Simmer pears for 10-12 minutes and then turn pears and simmer for an additional 8-10 minutes – until they are tender. Remove pears and let them cool. Boil wine sauce until the liquid has been reduced by half. Pour sauce over pears and serve.

September 12, 2012September 12, 2012

Love, Chocolate, and Romance Weekend schedule – September 15 & 16

This next weekend is Love, Chocolate and Romance weekend at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We will be performing 5 shows each day this weekend:11:00am – Spice making demonstration

12:30pm – Bread making – history of bread and how it was made back in the Renaissance (we will be using wheat flour).

2:00pm – History of spices and their uses

4:00pm – Romantic meal: Cornish game hens along with field mushrooms with hazelnuts and port wine poached pears

5:00pm – How to season your cast iron pots, wooden utensils, and honing your kitchen knives.

We are always cooking up a storm! We are located next to Como Cottage and near the Mead Booth and Mac’s Pub. Hope to see you there!

September 10, 2012September 12, 2012

Making your own yeast for bread

Looking forward to the upcoming weekends are the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, we will be bringing a lot of period bread recipes to the festival. Unlike modern bread making, they did not go to the store to buy prepackaged yeast, they would have to either make their own, or find someone who has.

Below are two ways that I know of making yeast from scratch and preparing it for bread. This is not something that grows in a couple of hours. It takes days, if not weeks, to grow yeast. I hope you enjoy these techniques.

At the turn of the 20th century, yeast was made from boiling grated potatoes with a little sugar and salt until it became translucent. A cup of the old yeast was added to make it ferment faster. This yeast mixture was set on the back of the stove to ferment. It would keep for 2 or 3 days before going sour. The mixture would be the yeast that would be used for breads. When more was needed, bakers would add a cup of the “old yeast” to a new potato and sugar mixture.

Combine 1/2 cup unflavored yogurt and two tbsp of flour in a clean bowl. Cover and allow resting for 24 hours. Remove any liquid that develops over the yeast. Add two tablespoons flour and two tbsp water and stir every morning for a week. If too much starter grows, throw away half and replace it with an equal volume of the flour and water mixture. If bubbles develop, begin feeding the yeast every six hours with the flour and water mixture. Continue to pour off any water. Feed the yeast about an hour before you plan to use.

September 10, 2012September 11, 2012

Highland Fling recipes – Scotch Eggs, Haggis, and Shortbread

short1 — Traditional shortbread triangles. Made on September 8, 2012

This past weekend was the Highland Fling at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. With Highland Fling come men in kilts, people speaking in Scottish brogues, and the Highland Games. We demonstrated a wide variety of dishes including Haggis, Scotch Eggs, and Shortbread. You can see the recipes for the Haggis and Scotch Eggs by clicking on those words, the Shortbread was something that I hadn’t written about.

Below is my family’s recipe for Scottish Shortbread.

Shortbread
Ingredients
6 tbsp or 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
5 tbsp or 1/3 cup castor sugar (finer grain than crystalized sugar)
1 and ¼ cup (20 tbsp) butter
1 lb plain flour all purpose flour (rice flour may be used instead for a gluten free option)

Directions
Set oven to 325F

Cream the butter, icing sugar and castor sugar together using a wooden spoon.

short2 — Lavender shortbread cookies. Made September 9, 2012.

Sift the flour 2 or 3 times, then gradually mix into the creamed butter and sugar using your hands, until a firm dough is formed.

On a lightly floured surface roll or press dough until about 1/2 inch thick and use a cookie cutter to make ’rounds’ or shapes, or slice into 3″ x 1″ bars and prick the top with a fork.

Bake in pre-heated 325F oven for for approx 20-25 mins, shortbread will be a light golden color when it’s ready.

We sprinkled other additives to the dough to enhance the flavor including lavender, Damascus rose petals, and lemon zest. All of which turned out beautifully.