tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post6982318747114396026..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: WHAT'S FOR SUPPER? by Jane BorodaleMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-6687575681928500502013-02-22T22:21:30.883+00:002013-02-22T22:21:30.883+00:00Re eggs - depending on the strictness with which t...Re eggs - depending on the strictness with which the period observed fast days, sometimes they were not allowed, sometimes they were turned to as an alternative. And I wish we had alexanders round here, Sarah, I've never tried them.<br /><br />Leslie I'm intrigued by your grandmother's egg preserving - am dying to know how she did it - were they raw or whole or liquid? Do you have the recipe? Maybe that's a whole post!<br /><br />Thanks Adele - yes I read John Saturnall's Feast straightaway! And loved it.<br /><br />Mark - you're right, leeks are faithfully with us through the hard times, but they lie in the veg box every week mocking me and are the bane of my culinary life.<br /><br />bnachison - Your French text sounds really interesting. I wonder whether the mushrooms would have been dried as well.<br /><br /><br />Jane Borodalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04869783602793206715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-16298137811646640312013-02-22T21:35:12.253+00:002013-02-22T21:35:12.253+00:00I did enjoy this. Incidentally, eggs used to be pr...I did enjoy this. Incidentally, eggs used to be preserved in a crock with isinglass (A substance got from the dried swim bladders of fish, apparently - still used to clarify beer). My German grandmother used to do that. I do think that seasonal food tastes best and indeed there is still plenty around. I have leeks in the garden, cavolo Nero, miners lettuce and the last of last year's pumpkin. It's around Easter things get tough. But then you can have salads of new beech leaves, marjoram, salad burnet, violet and primrose flowers, hawthorn shoots...Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-66143176408161903302013-02-22T19:05:13.349+00:002013-02-22T19:05:13.349+00:00I acquired a little while ago a recent translation...I acquired a little while ago a recent translation of La Varenne's Le Cuisinier Francais (The French Cook), originally published in 1651. It has some very long sections of recipes specifically for Lent, as well as recipes for non-Lenten fast days, and includes a table of foods commonly available in different seasons. For Lent, many ordinary vegetable and fish recipes would be thickened with pea puree and/or lots of extra butter rather than eggs. Other Lenten dishes included creamed spinach and baked apples with cinnamon, butter & sugar. The vegetables in the Lent sections are largely roots, peas (presumably dried), and cabbages, but also lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, herbs & asparagus. Sounds about right for February with a greenhouse. bnachisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14404276643660920978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-23555608037989667072013-02-22T14:00:20.190+00:002013-02-22T14:00:20.190+00:00Lovely post! And Jane, you must read a novel calle...Lovely post! And Jane, you must read a novel called JOHN SATURNALL'S FEAST..by Lawrence Norfolk pub Bloomsbury and soon out in pbk with the gorgeous illustrations still intact. Lots of 17th century food in that. adelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15826710558292792068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-66679350902585356922013-02-22T12:52:10.169+00:002013-02-22T12:52:10.169+00:00Thank you Jane. Your post highlights how we've...Thank you Jane. Your post highlights how we've become out of touch with seasonal food, largely due to the power of supermarkets. A shame in my view because food is much better in season. I've never understood why people think strawberries at Christmas are a good idea!<br />One vegetable you don't mention, and very useful over the winter, is the leek. Apparently a favourite of the Anglo Saxons!Mark Burgesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17271587070391155947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-1935181725448658902013-02-22T10:47:56.897+00:002013-02-22T10:47:56.897+00:00Second that on local libraries: where would we be ...Second that on local libraries: where would we be without them?<br /><br />We belong to a Farmshare and the produce at the moment in the 'Hungry Gap' is exactly what Thomas Hill mentions: carrots and 'parsneps'! (Also turnips, but they hadn't come in until Turnip Townsend in the 18th century, I believe). It's a bit early to forage for nettle tops but alexanders are showing - the Romans used them as a pot herb, and the young stems taste a bit like asparagus.<br /><br />I've always understood that during Lent people avoided eating eggs, to allow the hens to raise a brood or two, so that the big pancake feast on Shrove Tuesday was just the last opportunity to eat eggy dishes until Easter. Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16288917377032021803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-13410205446397267072013-02-22T10:04:38.029+00:002013-02-22T10:04:38.029+00:00Your so topical post made interesting reading Jane...Your so topical post made interesting reading Jane. I'll join you for the Dagobent pear. Yay! for local libraries too. Theresa Breslinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240135723649161949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-86320657314975063952013-02-22T08:48:53.938+00:002013-02-22T08:48:53.938+00:00Absolutely, thanks catdownunder, - surely the Len...Absolutely, thanks catdownunder, - surely the Lenten fast can't have made much difference to the poorest diet - pottage is pottage after all! Middling sorts/ yeoman farmers etc would have had more, of course. It depends what period, what status and income, how remote your location, variations in the strictness with which Lent was observed etc... <br /><br />But I was really just thinking about the food chain in a rather general way.<br /><br />Aren't local libraries marvellous - even medieval cookbooks to hand!<br />Jane Borodalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04869783602793206715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-65027927301727828162013-02-22T02:51:56.851+00:002013-02-22T02:51:56.851+00:00Some years ago there was a mediaeval cookbook in o...Some years ago there was a mediaeval cookbook in our local library. It mentioned a great range of (to us) strange dishes - often requiring large quantities of things like eggs. I can't imagine the peasants ate like that! Their diet must surely have been fairly limited? catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.com