Christmas plans
15 December 2011 00:13![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
argurotoxosLike last year, I'm making Christmas dinner. My theme, inspired by Thief, is medieval European food.
This is a list of all the food in the first two Thief games. The rotisserie chick, frozen fish, and herbs aren't edible in game, so I didn't count them while making my menu. I also cut out cucumber since my dad can't eat them. Thief also has bottles of both wine and ale, but again, not useable in game.
Most of my recipes were found through Medieval Cookery, along with two medieval cookbooks via the library. The recipes are adapted for modern cooking (stove and oven as opposed to fire pit) and for ingredients that may not be widely available anymore.
One thing I vaguely knew but nevertheless surprised me was the extent of alcohol use, particularly red wine. Though for good reason - alcohol tended to be much safer to drink than water in medieval times - it meant more improvising on my part since my parents don't drink alcohol.
So, what I'm making:
Drinks
-Almond Milk (a milk-like liquid made from ground almonds and water)
-Hypocras (spiced wine; I'll be substituting grape juice)
Fruits
-Emplumeus (medieval variant of applesauce, served warm)
-Peres in Composte (stewed pears, quince, and dates cooked with wine and spices; a recipe from 15th century England that can be used as a side or a dessert)
Vegetables
-Rapes in Potage ('rapes' are turnips, but I'm using carrots; cooked, mashes carrots with onions, broth, and spices)
-Braised Spring Greens (not really in season, though the recipe calls for either spring greens or spinach; I might substitute a Salad of Asparagus recipe instead)
Main Dish
-Venison (venison stewed in wine with bacon and spices; a middle Dutch recipe)
I expected the venison to be rather difficult to find, but my mom happened to mention to it to one of her coworkers. It turned out her husband is a hunter and she gave me several pounds of venison at no cost, saying she liked venison in moderation, but they always had too much after hunting season and ended up throwing some away.
One of the venison steaks.
Other
-Frumenty (a wheat porridge traditionally served with venison)
-Cheese (cheese; seems easier to make from scratch than I would have thought)
-Twisted Bread of Milk and Sugar* (I might make this for the recipe below, or simply buy bread from the store)
Dessert
-Payne Foundewe (14th century English bread pudding)
A lot of recipes, but most aren't very complicated and I'll be making at least half the day or more before. There won't be any torches, period clothing, or great courts, but I'll gladly forgo those for modern plumbing and sanitation.
Medieval Europe usually isn't one of my periods of interest outside of Thief, which takes place in a pseudo-medieval world blended with film noir, steampunk, magical, horror, and (later) sci-fi and Victorian elements and isn't set out to be historically accurate. I vaguely remember one of our projects in Junior High English was to write a historical fiction piece set in medieval Europe; I found the whole idea dull and wrote a terrible story about people dying during the Black Death. 'Terrible' because I used it as an excuse to do what I really wanted to do, namely, learn languages; I included a cringe-worthy amount of French and German words, which is exactly the opposite of how I feel about including foreign languages in stories today.
(Before Mary Renault and other Ancient Greece historical fiction, I avoided the historical fiction genre like the plague. Er, pun intended. I still don't read any historical fiction outside of Ancient Greece. The other novels I've read that take place in older times were contemporary, which I don't consider historical fiction.)
This is a list of all the food in the first two Thief games. The rotisserie chick, frozen fish, and herbs aren't edible in game, so I didn't count them while making my menu. I also cut out cucumber since my dad can't eat them. Thief also has bottles of both wine and ale, but again, not useable in game.
Most of my recipes were found through Medieval Cookery, along with two medieval cookbooks via the library. The recipes are adapted for modern cooking (stove and oven as opposed to fire pit) and for ingredients that may not be widely available anymore.
One thing I vaguely knew but nevertheless surprised me was the extent of alcohol use, particularly red wine. Though for good reason - alcohol tended to be much safer to drink than water in medieval times - it meant more improvising on my part since my parents don't drink alcohol.
So, what I'm making:
Drinks
-Almond Milk (a milk-like liquid made from ground almonds and water)
-Hypocras (spiced wine; I'll be substituting grape juice)
Fruits
-Emplumeus (medieval variant of applesauce, served warm)
-Peres in Composte (stewed pears, quince, and dates cooked with wine and spices; a recipe from 15th century England that can be used as a side or a dessert)
Vegetables
-Rapes in Potage ('rapes' are turnips, but I'm using carrots; cooked, mashes carrots with onions, broth, and spices)
-Braised Spring Greens (not really in season, though the recipe calls for either spring greens or spinach; I might substitute a Salad of Asparagus recipe instead)
Main Dish
-Venison (venison stewed in wine with bacon and spices; a middle Dutch recipe)
I expected the venison to be rather difficult to find, but my mom happened to mention to it to one of her coworkers. It turned out her husband is a hunter and she gave me several pounds of venison at no cost, saying she liked venison in moderation, but they always had too much after hunting season and ended up throwing some away.
One of the venison steaks.
Other
-Frumenty (a wheat porridge traditionally served with venison)
-Cheese (cheese; seems easier to make from scratch than I would have thought)
-Twisted Bread of Milk and Sugar* (I might make this for the recipe below, or simply buy bread from the store)
Dessert
-Payne Foundewe (14th century English bread pudding)
A lot of recipes, but most aren't very complicated and I'll be making at least half the day or more before. There won't be any torches, period clothing, or great courts, but I'll gladly forgo those for modern plumbing and sanitation.
Medieval Europe usually isn't one of my periods of interest outside of Thief, which takes place in a pseudo-medieval world blended with film noir, steampunk, magical, horror, and (later) sci-fi and Victorian elements and isn't set out to be historically accurate. I vaguely remember one of our projects in Junior High English was to write a historical fiction piece set in medieval Europe; I found the whole idea dull and wrote a terrible story about people dying during the Black Death. 'Terrible' because I used it as an excuse to do what I really wanted to do, namely, learn languages; I included a cringe-worthy amount of French and German words, which is exactly the opposite of how I feel about including foreign languages in stories today.
(Before Mary Renault and other Ancient Greece historical fiction, I avoided the historical fiction genre like the plague. Er, pun intended. I still don't read any historical fiction outside of Ancient Greece. The other novels I've read that take place in older times were contemporary, which I don't consider historical fiction.)
