I’m late getting my post up this week because I had a wonderful weekend.  I have two food related items to post today.

The first is a thank you to my cousin, Leah, for posting this recipe to Facebook.  She was absolutely right.  This recipe for biscuits is amazing!  I have probably had better, but given the ease of this recipe, there is no contest.

• 2 cups Bisquick mix
• 1/2 cup 7-up (yes the soda)
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Mix the ingredients and pat out the soft dough.  Cut with a biscuit cutter.  (Handy tip here: don’t twist the cutter as you cut.  You don’t want to seal the sides.  If they stay unsealed, the biscuit rises better and has a flakier texture.)  Melt 1/4 cup butter in the bottom of a baking dish or cast iron skillet and bake at 425 F for 12-15 minutes.  So easy, so tasty.

My second culinary success came at the Society for Creative Anachronism event that the family attended this weekend.  A potluck day board was organized for the event.  It was a truly impressive spread, and there was lots of wonderful food.  I tried out three medieval recipes that I had not made before.  The first was:

Torta of Herbs in the Month of May

Platina book 8

Cut up and grind the same amount of cheese as I said in the first and second tortae [“a pound and a half of best fresh cheese“]. When you have ground this up, add juice from bleta, a little marjoram, a little more sage, a bit of mint, and a good bit of parsley; when all this has been ground in a mortar, add the beaten whites of 15 or 16 eggs and half a pound of liquamen or fresh butter, and mix. There are those who put in some leaves of parsley and marjoram that have been cut up but not ground, and half a pound [surely a typo for half an ounce, as in the previous recipes] of white ginger and eight ounces of sugar. When all of these have been mixed together, put this in a pot or deep dish that has been well greased on the coals at a distance from the flame so that it does not absorb the smoke; and stir it continually and let it boil until it thickens. When it is nearly done transfer it into another pot with the crust and cover it with your lid until it is all cooked with a gentle flame. When it is done and put on a plate, sprinkle it with best sugar and rose water.

I have to thank Cariadoc’s Miscellany for his redaction of all of the recipes (I’ve included links to his page in the titles of the recipes).  I didn’t fool with them a whole lot, though in consideration of modern palettes I didn’t add sugar or rosewater to the otherwise savory tarts.  The medieval palette made less of a distinction between sweet and savory than ours do.  The herb tarts I made as tartlets in a muffin tin.  There weren’t any left after the first two hours, so I guess they were pretty popular.

For the second offering I made krumkake with two dips.

Strawberye

Two Fifteenth Century p. 29

Take Strawberys, and waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne; + an strayne + orwe a clo+ e, and do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun o+ er with + e flowre of Rys, and make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, annd do + er-in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, and a lytil whyte grece put + er-to; coloure it with Alkenade, and droppe it a-bowte, plante it with graynys of Pomegarnad, and + an serue it forth.

This one didn’t do as well as the other two dishes.  When it was finished it was brownish and the raisins made it lumpy.  My husband and I thought it was very tasty though.  It might be interesting to adapt it into a more jam like recipe.

Creme Boylede

Two Fifteenth Century p. 8/52

Take creme or mylke, and brede of paynemayn, or ellys of tendre brede, and breke it on the creme, or elles in the mylke, an set it on the fyre tyl it be warme hot; and thorw a straynour throwe it, and put it into a fayre potte, an sette it on the fyre, an stere euermore: an whan it is almost y-boylyd, take fayre yolkes of eyron, an draw hem thorw a straynowr and caste hem ther-to, and let hem stonde ouer the fyre tyl it boyle almost, an till it be skylfully thikke; than caste a ladel-ful, or more or lasse, of boter ther-to, an a good quantite of whyte sugre, and a litel salt, an than dresse it on a dysshe in maner of mortrewys.

This one was very popular.  It is very similar to a modern pudding.  Very tasty.  I thought the redaction added a bit too much salt, and I will probably cut back on that the next time I make it, but make it again I will, even though it did involve a ton of stirring.

Everyone had a wonderful time this weekend, and  I received an award for my contributions to the arts in our barony! 🙂