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Three to choose from!

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As any traveler to Britain knows, Indian cuisine has had a huge impact on the British table. Curry dishes are even often standard fare in that most quintessentially British institution the pub.
The below recipes are printed with permission from Jennifer Brennan's book, Curries and Bugles.
The British Raj refers to the period of the British colonial regime on the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947. The Raj began in 1858 with the transfer of the possessions of the East India Company to Queen Victoria, who was proclaimed Empress of India in 1876. It extended mainly over the territories that today make up India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as Burma until 1937.

As the British gradually took control of India, they quickly developed an Anglo-Indian way of life, as English and Indian culture gradually merged - customs, clothing, language and especially food. Anglo-Indian cuisine made its debut. This type of cuisine emerged when British wives interacted with their Indian cooks. They brought an English touch to Indian products. Here are 3 recipes from the British Raj's Anglo-Indian cuisine:

Kedgeree of smoked haddock

Kedgeree derived from a traditional Indian dish originally called Khichri, which is mainly composed of boiled rice, pieces of fish and hard-boiled eggs. It was introduced in England as a breakfast dish by the returning British colonials. It is a prime example of Anglo-Indian cuisine.
Serves 4
Ingredients

½ lb. smoked haddock

4 tablespoons/2 oz. unsalted butter

1 lb./2 ⅓ cups cooked long-grain rice

2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and chopped

3 springs of parsley, finely chopped

1 pinch of nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

1 tablespoon herb vinegar

Method

1. Poach the haddock in a little water until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

2. Drain, remove any skin and bones and flake the flesh into a bowl.

3. Melt the butter in a medium pan over moderate heat and sauté the rice until it is warmed through. Add it to the haddock.

4. Add all the remaining ingredients, stirring lightly to combine everything.

5. Turn the kedgeree out on a heated platter. The kedgeree may be kept in a low oven for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Notes: Kippers or any other smoked fish may be substituted for the haddock. The kedgeree can also be surrounded by a ring of thickly cut, lightly grilled slices of tomato.

Mulligatawny Soup

Mulligatawny Soup comes from South Indian cuisine. It got its name from the Tamil words molagu, meaning pepper, and tunni, meaning water. This "pepper water" was adopted by the poor, who added some salty dried fish to make it more substantial. Later, the British Raj appropriated it after that the Anglo-Indian used to eat it with some chicken. Try this very popular dish from the time of the Raj.
Serves 6
Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled and finely chopped

1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf, broken into fragments

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

Meat from 4 bones and skinned chicken thighs, diced, with the bones reserved

6 fl oz. coconut milk

1 quart chicken stock

6 tablespoons lentils (toor, arhad or masoor dhal)

1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate or 2 tablespoons tamarind pulp, dissolved in 4 tablespoons boiling water, strained

3 tablespoons rice

½ teaspoon garam masala (sweet spice mix)

Coriander leaves for garnish

Method

1. Place the first 8 ingredients, including the vegetable oil, in a food processor or grinder and process or grind into a paste.

2. Place the ghee in a large saucepan and fry the onion, stirring, over moderate heat until it is golden, then add the spice purée from the processor and continue to fry and stir for 3 minutes, until the spices are well cooked and mellowed.

3. Add the chicken meat and the bones and stir for 1 more minute. Then pour in the coconut milk and let the mixture simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

4. Pour in the chicken stock and add the dhal; stir and cover the pan. Bring barely to a boil, reduce the heat and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes, or until the dhal has totally disintegrated and the onion is soft enough to squash against the side of the pan. Fifteen minutes before the end of the cooking, add the rice.

5. Strain out the meat and rice on to a plate and discard the bones. Purée the soup in batches in batches in a blender and then return it to the pan over heat. Stir in the tamarind until it has dissolved, bring the soup just to the point of boiling again.

6. Turn off the heat and pour the soup into a tureen or into individual soup bowls. Sprinkle with garam masala and garnish with coriander leaves.

Notes: There are as many ways to make this soup as there are people to eat it. Lamb stock can be substituted for chicken, or the soup may be made entirely in vegetarian style by using water as the cooking liquid, omitting the meat and, perhaps, frying a few almonds and peanuts in the spice paste instead. Additional onions can be crisp-fried in butter and used for garnish. The soup may also be enriched by chopped celery, carrots and tomato purée being added with the stock.

Tamarind is available in various forms from Asian food stores.

Madras Club Quoorma (Korma)

Korma originated in the lavish Mogul cuisine wherein meat or vegetables were braised in velvety and spiced sauces, with ground nuts, cream and butter. It traveled from the kitchens of the conquering Mogul emperors to the ones of the renowned Madras Club, where it was referred to by the British as quoorma. Enjoy it with a fragrant rice pilaf.
Serves 6
Ingredients

3 lb lean, boneless lamb, cut from the leg

1½- inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped

1½ teaspoons salt

10 tablespoons/ 5 oz. unsalted butter

3 large onions, peeled and sliced into rings

3 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled and finely chopped

1½ teaspoons coriander seeds

1½ teaspoons black peppercorns

6 whole cardamom pods

6 whole cloves

6 oz./ 1 cup ground almonds

6 fl oz. cream

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

1½ teaspoons sugar

Juice of 2 small limes

Method

1. Cut the lamb into 1½-inch cubes and pat them dry with paper towels. Place them in a large mixing bowl with the ginger and salt and toss well.

2. Melt the butter in a large non-stick saucepan and put in the onions and garlic. Fry them slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the garlic from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the onions are limp and very soft.

3. While the onions and garlic are frying, place the coriander seeds, peppercorns, cardamom pods and cloves in a spice grinder or mortar and grind or pound them to a fine powder. Stir the spice powder into the onion mixture and cook it, stirring, for 5 minutes.

4. Turn the heat up to moderate and add the lamb mixture from Step 1, scraping in all the ginger and salt remaining in the bowl. Fry the meat, stirring and turning it until it is nicely browned. Remove the pan from the fire.

5. Place the almonds in a 1-quart measuring jug or heat-proof bowl and pour in ¼ cup of boiling water, stirring to bring out the essential oil and its aroma. Work in the cream, turmeric and sugar.

6. Replace the saucepan on the heat and wait until the oil begins to sizzle again; then stir in the almond cream mixture. Turn the heat as low as possible and stir the lamb well until it is coated with the sauce. Let the meat simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring from time to time to prevent it sticking. The rich gravy should reduce to the consistency of thick cream and should thoroughly coat the lamb (the length of time that the quoorma takes to reach this stage will depend on the diameter and depth of your pan and the amount of moisture in the lamb, so there will be variations in the cooking period.)

7. Transfer the quoorma to a serving dish and sprinkle it with lime juice. The dish may be kept warm in a low oven for a short while before serving, but do not let the gravy dry out.

Notes: If you use lamb in the recipe, you can use filet and 1 lb neck for bones which makes it richer. The proportion is about 1 lb of bones to 3 lb of meat. After the meat bones have given off their taste, they are of course removed prior to serving.

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Recipes from the British Raj - The Royal Oak Foundation

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The below recipes are printed with permission from Jennifer Brennan's book, Curries and Bugles. The British Raj refers to the period of the British colonial regime on the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947. The Raj began in 1858 with the transfer of the possessions of the East India Company to Queen Victoria, who was proclaimed Empress of India in 1876.

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So what is medieval gingerbread? When it comes to 12th century European history, people do not generally think of gingerbread as a food option but it often was, at least for the rich.

Medieval spices were expensive in 11th century Europe because they had to be imported from Asia or Africa. So, only wealthy households could afford to enjoy them. Medieval food could be quite bland, so cooks in the kitchens of the wealthy used honey and spices whenever they could to add extra flavour. A sweet treat with a spicy taste was very much a medieval luxury! You can just imagine a medieval castle Great Hall where the noble lord's family had dinner - the children most probably looked forward the most to when the sweet treats were served, especially gingerbread. This type of scene was, of course, in stark contrast to the reality of the lives of everyday families for whom food made with spices was never a menu option.

Origins Of Ginger & Gingerbread

Ginger has been used in recipes for centuries and originated in Asia. Exactly how it found its way to Western Europe is not entirely clear but many believe medieval knights discovered it in the Eastern Mediterranean about 1,000 years ago who brought it back to Europe with them when they returned.

There are plenty of European historical references to medieval gingerbread and these help shed light on its popularity. For example:

Gingerbread was a feature of many medieval fairs and festivals where it was baked into special shapes (animals, flowers, etc) and decorated. In medieval England and France there gingerbread fairs became popular and these were hosted on a regular basis, many continuing for centuries.

Actual recipes used in the making of medieval gingerbread appear in the 14th and 15th centuries, although the type of gingerbread they made was much sweeter and more like candy and quite unlike what we are used to eating today. The first collection of recipes in English that refers to the use of spices such as ginger is The Forme of Cury. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales makes reference to the definitive type of medieval sweet gingerbread, at that time called "gyngebreed" ....

"They fette hym first the sweete wyn, and mede eek in a mazelyn, and roial spicerye of gyngebreed that was ful fyn, and lycorys, and eek comyn, with sugre that is trye. "

Gingerbread Around The World

The list of countries where people enjoy gingerbread is a long one and Wikipedia goes into this in some detail. The countries include England, United States, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, the Nordic countries and even Panama.

A Medieval Gingerbread Recipe

This is an easy gingerbread recipe which will delight all the family. It is probably the combination of cloves and pepper alongside the ginger that make this so sweet bread so unusual yet appetizing.

NOTE: In this recipe you have to boil the honey and in medieval times this process was called clarifying. When we say 'clarify' today we tend to mean something quite different! You might want to read our medieval glossary for more fascinating culinary terms from 12th century England.

Recipe for medieval style gingerbread using honey and spices.

Gingerbread Recipe

Votes: 199
Rating: 2.99
You:

Recipe for medieval style gingerbread using honey and spices.

Servings

Prep Time

4 people

10 minutes

Servings

Prep Time

4 people

10 minutes

1. Gently heat the honey in a pan and bring to the boil. A scum will appear on the top of the honey as it boils so skim this off.

2. Stir the breadcrumbs into the hot honey and remove the pan from the heat.

3. Mix the spices into the honey/breadcrumb mixture and transfer to a baking tray. You need the mixture to be about 1/2 inch deep in the tray when it settles. Leave to cool.

4. When cold, cut into squares or triangles to serve.

Gingerbread recipe by Shelagh Caudle

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So what is medieval gingerbread? When it comes to 12th century European history, people do not generally think of gingerbread as a food option but it often was, at least for the rich. Medieval spices were expensive in 11th century Europe because they had to be imported from Asia or Africa.

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(scroll to the bottom for the recipe)

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Pass The Flamingo: Ancient Food History and Recipes

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"For me, let them bring in the man of my heart. Let them bring in to me my Ama-ushumgal-anna, the Power of the Date-Palm. Let them put his hand in my hand, let them put his heart by my heart. As hand is put to head, the sleep is so pleasant. As heart is pressed to heart, the pleasure is so sweet." ~ A kunĝar (Sumerian religious song) to Inanna

This recipe is inspired by the "cooking tablets" that form part of the Yale Babylonian Collection, one of the world's most important and extensive collections of Mesopotamian literature. Sometimes called the earliest written cookbook, the three tablets date from around 1750 BCE, when Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) was ruled by the Old Babylonian Empire under Hammurabi, famous for his ancient law code. "Cookbook" might be something of a misnomer, because these texts were not widely circulated for the purpose of instruction like a modern cookbook. Though the Mesopotamians invented writing itself sometime around 3000 BCE, at no point during their long history could they be considered a literate society. It was only priests and scribes in the employ of kings who mastered the art of reading and writing. These literate elites created texts like the cooking tablets to record the practices of contemporary society for posterity (which worked, in a sense; after all, here I am writing about it almost four thousand years later).

There are only two ingredients in this recipe, and both have a very long history in the Middle East: dates and pistachio nuts. The earliest-known Mesopotamian culture, the Sumerians, were planting date orchards by 3000 BCE, around the same time that they developed writing. Pistachio nuts have been consumed far longer, since at least 6750 BCE, according to archaeological evidence found at Jarmo in northeastern Iraq. Despite its ancient history as a food source, the pistachio is poorly-attested in ancient literature, with only a handful of references, including a passing mention in the Book of Genesis. In comparison, much more was written about the date, perhaps because of its special role in the Mesopotamian diet as one of the few sources of concentrated sugar. Date syrup was used in cooking and to sweeten the sour barley beer that was the Mesopotamian staple. Dates were cheaper and available in larger quantities than honey, the other primary Mesopotamian sweetener.

The importance of dates to the Mesopotamian diet led to the date-palm being regarded as sacred from the earliest times. The Sumerians associated the tree with their fertility god Dumuzid, whose title Ama-ushumgal-anna means " The Power of the Date-Palm." Dumuzid would be worshipped in this aspect in cities where the date was a major source of industry, while the people of other cities called him by other names reflecting their own economies: the Shepherd, the Rising Sap, the Good Son. Dumuzid's marriage to the goddess Inanna symbolized the annual date-harvest and storage; Inanna was the date-cellar, Dumuzid the fruit. Their physical union was celebrated with raunchy love-songs like the one quoted above, as well as, according to some scholars, ritual sex (the hieros gamos or "sacred marriage"), with the high priestess of Inanna and the local king acting in place of the deities. Dumuzid's subsequent death and rebirth represented the miraculous changing of the seasons, and was met with an annual cycle of lamentation and celebration that echoes the worship of many other Near Eastern deities, from Adonis and Attis to Persephone and Jesus.

We know from the Babylonian cooking tablets that there were professional pastry chefs dedicated to the production of mersu. Likely the word was a general term covering confections of varying degrees of complexity. My rendition is a simple one, focused on the nuts and dates themselves. The end result is essentially identical to its likely descendant, a modern Iraqi specialty called (مدقوقة), which literally means "pounded", in reference to pounding the dates into paste. There are many variations of modern madgooga, containing both ingredients known to the ancient Mesopotamians (like sesame) and unknown to them (like coconut flakes, walnuts, and chocolate).

I can never eat dates without thinking of a peculiar incident from a Middle Eastern fairytale called The Merchant and the Genie (or Jinni), collected in Medieval times in the original Arabian Nights:

[The merchant] dismounted, fastened his horse to a branch of the tree, and sat by the fountain, after having taken from his wallet some of his dates and biscuits. When he had finished this frugal meal, he washed his face and hands in the fountain.

When he was thus employed he saw an enormous Genie, white with rage, coming towards him with a scimitar in his hand.

"Arise," he cried in a terrible voice, "and let me kill you as you have killed my son!"

As he uttered these words he gave a frightful yell. The merchant, quite as much terrified at the hideous face of the monster as at his words, answered him tremblingly, "Alas, good sir, what can I have done to you to deserve death?"

"I shall kill you," repeated the Genie, "as you have killed my son."

"But," said the merchant, "How can I have killed your son? I do not know him, and I have never even seen him."

"When you arrived here did you not sit down on the ground?" asked the Genie, "and did you not take some dates from your wallet, and whilst eating them did not you throw the stones about?"

"Yes," said the merchant, "I certainly did so."

"Then," said the Genie, "I tell you you have killed my son, for whilst you were throwing about the stones, my son passed by, and one of them struck him in the eye and killed him. So I shall kill you."

Like any good fairytale, this one has a moral: don't litter.
THE RECIPE
2 cups of dates, pitted
2 cups of pistachio nuts, shelled

Mash the dates into a smooth paste. You can use a mortar and pestle, a food processor, or just chop them with a knife. Separately, grind or pound the pistachio nuts.

Combine half the ground pistachio nuts with the date paste and mix well. Roll the mixture into small, uniform balls (wet your fingers to make them easier to smooth and handle). Then, take the remaining pistachio nuts and spread them out on a dish or piece of wax paper. Roll each mersu in the ground nuts, patting gently all around to ensure the nuts stick.
THE VERDICT
Dates are good for you. Pistachio nuts are good for you. So even though this is dessert, it counts as a health food, right? Actually, while this recipe has a pleasant chewy texture, it's nowhere near as sweet as most modern desserts (or some ancient ones; looking at you, Egyptian tiger nut cakes). It's not my favorite ancient recipe, but it's so easy I would probably make it again. V out of X.

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Ancient Recipe: Mersu (Mesopotamian, ca. 1750 BCE)

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"For me, let them bring in the man of my heart. Let them bring in to me my Ama-ushumgal-anna, the Power of the Date-Palm. Let them put his hand in my hand, let them put his heart by my heart....

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Ancient roman flat breads are great to make your favorite sandwiches more balanced. Wrap with salad , turkey or falafel, topped with a light home-made mayonnaise, which we put into the Dip Lunchbox and voila - ready to go with a tasty and balanced menu!

Ingredients

500 g flour (400 g all purpose and 100 white)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp melted lard

125-150 ml warm water

Instructions

1. Put the flour , baking soda and salt in a blender.

2. Pour the lard and a bit of water.

3. Gradually add water until you get a thick dough.

4. Knead it for 2-3 minutes until smooth . Place it in a bowl and cover with a towel. Let stand for 30 minutes.

5. Roll out very thinly. Cut out circles with a diameter of 20 centimeters . Bake on both sides of a Teflon pan without oil .

6. Serve hot with a slice of ham, salad , sausages or fresh soft cheeses.

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Ancient roman flat breads are great to make your favorite sandwiches more balanced. Wrap with salad , turkey or falafel, topped with a light home-made mayonnaise, which we put into the Dip Lunchbox and voila - ready to go with a tasty and balanced menu!

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A collection of recipes from Baghdad in the 900's. Our favourite is Bazmaawurd.

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Saudi Aramco World : Cooking with the Caliphs

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It's the 10th century; Baghdad is the hub of the world, and you've been invited to dinner at the palace: What's on the table? Don't expect hummus or tabouli. Look for complex stews with spices and herbs; sample roast meats, soups, breads and cheeses. Save room for sweets.

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Compare this to other breads- why is it different?

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When we chose Norway as the Scandinavian country we'd study for geography club, it was really all about the Vikings. The clothes, longboats, food, and way of life is fascinating

Really, what little boy could resist?

My rough and tumble boy certainly wasn't one to resist the topic, and frankly, my girls were just as excited about the study, andwere all over the staged fights and raids too.

And. Still. Are.

Interestingly, we learned that the Vikings may not have been as anti-Christian as they've been portrayed. According to Gareth Williams, curator of The British Museum, at the beginning of the Viking age, Scandinavia was primarily pagan. But, the Vikings had many gods, and it was not difficult for them to accept a Christian God alongside theirs.

Scholars believed, according to Williams, that the concentrated raids on Christian churches and monasteries had little to do with differences over religion and were more about the fact that they were places of wealth and little defense.

In fact, once the Vikings settled {and took wives} in predominately Christian lands, they converted to Christianity very quickly. source

We learned a lot about Vikings. The age was a fascinating one, and I could write about it for a long time. Learning alongside my kids is a blast!

Since it was our turn lead our geography club meeting, we needed to come up with some food to bring. Along with some crock-pot split pea soup, we made a delicious Viking Bread Recipe.

Do you want to give it a try?

Viking Bread Recipe

This is a heavy bread, most likely what you read about when you come across references to "brown bread" in history or historical fiction books. While I wouldn't recommend it as a substitute for your Italian or sourdough dinner bread, it was really good as a snack - warm from the oven and drizzled with honey - we read that the Vikings likely ate it with honey, so that's what we did, too.

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 cups water

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup rolled oats {for sprinkling on top}

Instructions

Mix all dry ingredients and then add the water.

Stir all of the ingredients with a wooden spoon until you can't stir any more.

Then, knead the dough with damp hands until flour is completely incorporated.

Finally, form the dough into a round, place it on a baking stone sprinkle with reserved oats, and place it in a cold oven.

Turn the oven to 375-degrees, and leave it alone for an hour.

After an hour, pull the bread out of the oven, let it cool slightly, then rip it apart in chunks like a Viking (or cut it in nice wedges) and drizzle honey on it.

What do you think? Are you ready to give it a try and cook like the Vikings?

A Viking unit study is actually a lot of fun, and can lead to some interesting discussions and projects. Try out some of these ideas to go along with your bread recipe:

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Viking Bread Recipe | Kids in the Kitchen

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When we chose Norway as the Scandinavian country we'd study for geography club, it was really all about the Vikings. The clothes, longboats, food, and way of life is fascinating Really, what little boy could resist?

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Millet porridge with herbs and stewed apples

Rinse the millet seeds in cold water. The seeds are quite bitter, but it is neutralized when you rinse.

Bring water to the boil in a pot, add the millet and lenseed and cook for a while over low heat. Remember to stir frequently. Add the milk and the herbs and let the porrige cook until the millet seeds are tender. Season to taste with salt.

Stewed apples and nuts: Crush the nuts. Clean and dice the apples. Place nuts and apples in a pot over the fire and add a little water. When the apples are tender you may add some honey.

Millet porridge with toasted nuts and stewed apples

Rinse the millet seeds in cold water. Bring water to the boil in a pot, add the millet and cook for a while over low heat. Remember to stir frequently. Add the milk and let the porrige cook until the millet seeds are tender. Season to taste with salt.

Toasted nuts: Crush the hazelnuts and put them on a hot pan. Toast for about 5 minutes until golden brown.

Stewed apples: Clean and dice the apples. Place them in a pot over the fire and add a little water. When the apples are tender you may add some honey. Season to taste with cinnamon.

Barley porridge with smoked bacon and vegetables

Mix barley groats and water in a pot by the fire. Remember to stir frequently and turn the pot to prevent the porridge from burning. It may be necessary to ad a little more water ad you don't want the porridge to become too thick.

Chop the bacon and the vegetables. Cook on a pan until golden brown. Then transfer the bacon and vegetables to the pot with the porridge.

Cook the porridge for another 25 min. and serve.

Wheat porridge with raspberries, nuts and apples

8-10 cup water
3 cup cracked wheat which has been left to soak in cold water overnight.
1 cup nut kernels
1 cup raspberries
1 cup apples, diced
3-4 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon salt

Drain the cracked wheat. Mix the wheat with 8 cups water in a pot by the fire. Remember to stir frequently and turn the pot to prevent the porridge from burning. It may be necessary to ad a little more water ad you don't want the porridge to become too thick.

Crush the nut kernels. Clean the apples and remove the cores. Dice the apples.

When the porridge has cooked for about 45 minutes, you want to add the nuts and raspberries. Season with honey and salt and cook for another 10 minutes. The raspberries will colour the porridge pink.
1 cup = 150 ml approx.
Ribe VikingeCenter's 2012 project 'Nordic food is Viking food' is supported by Region Syddanmark.

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Rinse the millet seeds in cold water. The seeds are quite bitter, but it is neutralized when you rinse. Bring water to the boil in a pot, add the millet and lenseed and cook for a while over low heat. Remember to stir frequently.

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A variety of Viking staples to choose from!

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Mashed swede and pork

Rinse and peel the swedes and, next, cut them into smaller pieces.

Boil the pork in water for a while before adding the swedes. Remove the pork when tender. Save the water for later use.

Mash the swedes and use some of the water to smooth the mash. Season to taste.

Serve the mashed swedes and pork with mustard and rye bread.

Bread omelet

Dip the bread slices into the milk. Melt some butter on a frying pan. Place the bread slices on the pan and make sure the bottom of the pan is covered completely. Cook the bread on both sides until golden.

Mix the rest of the milk, the eggs and flour to form a batter. Pour it over the bread slices in the pan and cook over low heat until the egg mixture has set.

Serve the bread omelet with stewed fruit.

Stuffed cabbage leaves

Prepare a porridge of cracked barley groats, milk and salt.

Rinse the cabbage leaves and cook them 'al dente' in boiling water. Remove the leaves from the water to drain. Place a big spoonful of porridge on each leaf. Fold in the sides and roll the leaf up tightly. Tie each 'parcel' with a string of lime bast.

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Cook the stuffed cabbage leaves, some at a time, in the water for a few minutes. Remove to drain. Serve hot with melted butter.

Fried porridge dumplings

Some left-over barley porridge
3 eggs
3 tablespoon wheat flour

Add egg and flour to the left-over porridge and mix well until the porridge is a fairly firm paste.

Melt some butter on a frying pan. Use a spoon to form balls/dumplings of the porridge. Cook the dumplings on both sides until golden brown.

Serve hot with fruit of the season, e.g. stewed blueberries or hip.

Cabbage soup

Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook the smoked pork until tender. Then remove it from the water and put to one side.

Clean the onions, carrots and parsley roots and dice all the vegetables. Add them to the water in which the pork was cooked. Cook the vegetables until 'al dente'. Rinse and finely chop the cabbage leaves. Add them to the soup and continue to cook until vegetables and cabbage leaves are tender. Season to taste.

Serve the soup with the pork, mustard and bread.

1 jug = 1 liter approx.
1 cup = 150 ml approx.

Ribe VikingeCenter's 2012 project 'Nordic food is Viking food' is supported by Region Syddanmark.

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Rinse and peel the swedes and, next, cut them into smaller pieces. Boil the pork in water for a while before adding the swedes. Remove the pork when tender. Save the water for later use. Mash the swedes and use some of the water to smooth the mash. Season to taste.

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Healthiness : (2087 votes) Comments: Although this is basically an easy dish to make, the preparation of the vegetables is the main work and care needs to be taken using a sharp knife.
Preparation Time: 20-30 mins
Cooking Time: 30 - 40 mins
Number of servings: 4
Serving suggestions: Sprinkle with grated cheese and eat with fresh wholemeal bread.
This is a vegetarian recipe

The ordinary people ate a lot of pottage in Medieval Britain. It is a vegetable soup, flavoured with herbs and thickened with oats. It is very nutritious, although vegetables were not thought to be so in the Middle Ages. In fact, the word vegetable was not used; all green things were herbs. The root vegetables were considered only fit for the common folk and were not eaten by the wealthy.

The ordinary people would not have been able to afford much meat, so would rely on this soup as their staple diet with bread and cheese.

The vegetables in the soup would depend upon what the people had grown and what time of year it was. The amounts of vegetables would also vary according to taste.

Often the soup was made with only a few of the possible ingredients with one vegetable dominating eg cabbage pottage and leek pottage were great favourites.

So, when you make it, you too can choose what vegetables and how much of each to put in - and also what your favourite herbs are to flavour it with.

The ordinary people would not have had salt etc so the herbs are important.

It is surprisingly delicious!

1 litre of water (adding some vegetable stock powder or cube makes it tastier).

Choose a selection of the following vegetables (about 250g of each will do):

cabbage

carrots

celery

green beans

leeks

onions

parsnips

sorrel

turnips

garlic was also grown, but you don't need 250g - one or two cloves will do

A selection of fresh herbs (to be authentic, though dried will do) chosen from:

2tbs oats (porridge oats)

Always wash your hands before preparing food.

1. Wash and prepare the vegetables - eg taking off outer skins etc

2. Chop the vegetables and the herbs

3. Put them all into the stock

4. Bring the soup to the boil

5. Turn down the heat and simmer until vegetables are cooked

6. Add enough oats to thicken and simmer again until cooked

7. You may enjoy it better with a little salt and pepper

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I'm amazed that vegetables weren't thought of as a regular part of a medieval diet. Very interesting article. Pottage came from a book I'm reading - THE SHIP BUILDERS DAUGHTER which must have required so much research. Author - Virginia Lofft.

This is a delicious and easy recipe - adding a bit of chicken or some butter, cannelini or borlotti beans to it makes it even more filling.

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Pottage - a vegetable soup recipe - Cookit!

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Healthiness : (2087 votes) Comments: Although this is basically an easy dish to make, the preparation of the vegetables is the main work and care needs to be taken using a sharp knife. Preparation Time: 20-30 mins Cooking Time: 30 - 40 mins Number of servings: 4 Serving suggestions: Sprinkle with grated cheese and eat with fresh wholemeal bread.

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Healthiness : (243 votes) Difficulty:

Comments: These beancakes require the use of a sharp knife for chopping ingredients. The cakes are fried in a heavy based frying pan. It is a little tricky to brown them thoroughly without burning them. To avoid this keep turning them and adjust the heat to ensure they cook properly.
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 12-15 minutes
Number of servings: Makes 10-12 cakes
Serving suggestions: Serve hot or cold.
This is a vegetarian recipe

This recipe uses flour. The end of the Anglo-Saxon period saw development of water mills but most flour was ground using a quern. The broad beans would have been grown in plots in the village along with other vegetables.

The Saxons would have cooked foods such as small cakes or pancakes on a big iron skillet or hanging griddle near an open fire.

The cakes are best eaten hot but are also good cold. They need to be cooked slowly to ensure the batter is cooked all the way through. The cakes should be firm and not sticky, when hot they will be slightly crisp on the outside.

225g broad beans ( fresh,in their pods or frozen)

85g plain flour

100ml milk (approx)

2 15ml spoonfuls runny honey

a knob of butter, approx 25g

optional: 1 15ml spoonful of linseeds

A chopping board

A knife for chopping

15ml Spoon

Measuring jug

Large mixing bowl

Heavy based, frying pan

Wooden/metal spoon for mixing

Fish slice

Serving dish

Optional: Kitchen roll to drain the cooked cakes on

Always wash your hands before preparing food.

1. Shell the beans from their pods, if they are in pods. Defrost if frozen

2. Chop the beans roughly on a board into small pieces

3. Add the flour

4. Moisten this with milk to make a paste

5. Add the runny honey. This will make the paste wetter. You may need to add more milk to make sure the batter drops off your spoon

6. If you wish, you can add a sprinkle of linseeds and some crushed hazelnuts

7. When the batter will drop from the spoon, lightly grease the frying pan , you could use oil/ butter for this

8. When the fat begins to sizzle and smoke a little, drop spoonfuls of the bean batter into the pan

9. You will need to turn the cakes and move them around so they don't scorch - you will need to reduce the heat so the cakes cook right through

10. Once they are golden on both sides they are ready

11. Eat hot or cold

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Healthiness : (243 votes) Difficulty: Comments: These beancakes require the use of a sharp knife for chopping ingredients. The cakes are fried in a heavy based frying pan. It is a little tricky to brown them thoroughly without burning them. To avoid this keep turning them and adjust the heat to ensure they cook properly.

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This recipe is in categories Romano-British, Desserts, Party food

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Eaten aboard ships during the time of Scurvy. Be very careful with your teeth!

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Healthiness : (1842 votes) Comments: Take care when removing the biscuits from the oven - let them cool before moving them to a tray.
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes
Number of servings: 16 biscuits
Serving suggestions: You'd be better off with digestives or shortbread!

The name hardtack refers to the iron hard biscuits that were stored on ships during the Tudor and later periods. They were a staple part of the diet. They were made from a simple unleavened mixture of flour, water and salt, rolled out thinly and baked slowly until very hard and dry. We have added milk instead of water to our biscuits, and a little buitter, to make them more edible.

If cooked slowly, these biscuits are a challenge for even the healthiest of teeth. The sailors must have softened them in some liquid to be able to eat them. Cooked properly, they are hard not brittle and no good for dunking in tea as they are still rock hard afterwards.

However, in former times, maybe the maggots helped to break them down. As voyages progressed, the food would become infested with worms, maggots and other creatures. Ferdinand Columbus, describing one of his father's voyages, wrote:

"Food had become so wormy that sailors waited to dark to eat ... so they could not see the maggots."

The original ingredients for hard Tack:

1 lb flour

1/2 pint water

1/2 tablespoon sea salt

Optional to suit more modern tastes:

2 oz butter (This was not used in the original recipe, but it will makes the biscuits easiert to eat. You can leave it out if you wish but the biscuits will be very hard).

Use 1/2 pint skimmed milk insted of water.

Always wash your hands before preparing food.

1. Measure out the flour and place in a mixing bowl

2. Measure out the milk and butter and place in a saucepan

3. Melt the butter in the milk over a very low heat

4. Add the sea salt to the flour and mix

5. Add the milk and butter then the flour and mix until you have a dough, kneading the dough until all the flour is absorbed (it should be a thick, shiny, stiff mix)

6. Roll the dough out until fairly thin

7. Cut the biscuit shapes using a cup rim

8. Place on a baking tray and prick all over to let out any air when cooking

9. Bake slowly at only a moderate heat (A moderate heat is 350°C, 177°°F, Gas 4 )until golden brown (30-40 minutes - the time will depend on thickness of the biscuits). The biscuits should be dry right through or they might go mouldy when you take them to sea.

10. Turn off the oven and leave to cool. Store in a dry place until needed.

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I think the temps are wrong... Should be 180C 350F or thereabouts.
Just made some of theses, some without butter for my vegan friends, to go with a rum tasting on talk like a pirate day next week...

You will find them more palatable if you add dried herbs (practice to find combo's that work for you) or dried Chillis to the dry flour..
Bon appetit!

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Hardtack (Ships Biscuits) recipe - Cookit!

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Healthiness : (1842 votes) Comments: Take care when removing the biscuits from the oven - let them cool before moving them to a tray. Preparation Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes Number of servings: 16 biscuits Serving suggestions: You'd be better off with digestives or shortbread!

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Country Captain

by A Thirty Five Years' Resident

The recipe is taken from The Indian Cookery Book which was first published in 1880. The book sold over 10,000 copies and was re-printed as new editions in Calcutta until 1948.

Chicken Country Captain

The country captain is usually made of chicken, and occasionally of kid and veal. Cold meats and curries are also sometimes converted into this dish, the condiments for which are as follows:- Two chittacks [117g] or four ounces of ghee, half a teaspoonful of ground chillies, one teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground turmeric and twenty onions cut up lengthways into fine slices.

Cut up in the usual way an ordinary curry chicken. Warm the ghee and fry the sliced onions, which when brown set aside; fry the ground turmeric and chillies, then throw in the chicken and salt, and continue to fry, stirring the whole, until the chicken is tender. Serve it up, strewing over it the fried onions.

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Country Captain by A Thirty Five Years' Resident The recipe is taken from The Indian Cookery Book which was first published in 1880. The book sold over 10,000 copies and was re-printed as new editions in Calcutta until 1948. Chicken Country Captain The country captain is usually made of chicken, and occasionally of kid and veal.

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Meanwhile, fry the onions in the butter, stirring regularly for 10 mins until they are soft and starting to colour. Add the garlic and beef and stir well, crushing the mince into fine grains until it changes colour. Stir in the curry paste, herbs, spices, chutney, sultanas and 2 of the bay leaves with 1 tsp salt and plenty of ground black pepper.

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Meanwhile, fry the onions in the butter, stirring regularly for 10 mins until they are soft and starting to colour. Add the garlic and beef and stir well, crushing the mince into fine grains until it changes colour.

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Dhal and Meat Curry

by G.L.R (Mrs G. L. Routleff)

The recipe is taken from The Economical Cookery Book (For India) which was first published in Lucknow in 1913.

Put three quarters of a large tea-cup of dhal, cleaned and washed, in three cups of boiling water, and boil till the grains are soft.
Strain the pulp through a coarse towel or a bit of curtain net, saving the gravy.
The mussalas to be ground are, one dessert-spoon of roasted and husked coriander, half a tea-spoon of jeera [cumin seed], half a tea-spoon pepper corns, four red chillies, six cloves garlic, one square inch of fresh ginger, one and a half inch turmeric.

Warm a table-spoon of ghee [clarified butter], and brown a sliced onion in it, then the mussalas, add half a seer [467g] of fat mutton or beef cut into one inch pieces, when both are nicely browned add the dhal pulp with salt to taste; have a very slow fire, and let the meat, etc. cook gently for ten minutes, then pour in the dhal gravy, and as much warm water as is needed to cook the meat, and form gravy.

Simmer the curry till the meat becomes tender. No acid is needed.

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Recipes from the Raj - Dhal and Meat Curry

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Dhal and Meat Curry by G.L.R (Mrs G. L. Routleff) The recipe is taken from The Economical Cookery Book (For India) which was first published in Lucknow in 1913. Put three quarters of a large tea-cup of dhal, cleaned and washed, in three cups of boiling water, and boil till the grains are soft.

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What was the occasion?
We were celebrating the docking of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury port, which marked the beginning of West Indian immigration to the UK. Last year, we had a big party for the 65th anniversary - we organised it in a few weeks and it was a massive success, with music, a big cricket match, local performers and of course lots of Jamaican food. So we decided to do it again this year, but bigger and better. About 800 people came. The weather was glorious - we had the Caribbean sunshine with us all day long. It was a big thank-you to the older generations for being brave enough to come over in the first place, bringing all these cultural riches with them.

What was on the menu?
There were a number of different food stalls. I served celebratory Jamaican fare - it was a limited menu, but there was a lot of it! We had curried goat - essential to any Caribbean celebration, curried chicken, stewed chicken with thyme and scotch bonnet pepper, all served with coleslaw and rice and peas.

We also had roti (a kind of wrap with spiced meat or veg and potatoes) and a cake stand with Jamaican black fruit cake, nyam n guweh ("eat and go") pineapple cake with a ginger caramel topping, and then other more traditional British offerings: a Victoria sponge, a ginger cake and a lemon drizzle. To drink, we had come up with a Windrush cocktail - a fusion of British and Caribbean tastes, with Pimm's, rum and fruit juice. itmeBut due to the licensing restrictions we couldn't serve it. I'm sure some people managed to sneak a few in, though ...

What did you talk about?
I spent most of the day in the kitchen, and our main worry was whether we'd run out of food or not ... Outside though, everyone just looked so happy. Nobody was complaining about anything. It was wonderful to see the children running around playing.

Nyam n guweh cake

I first heard the expression nyam n guweh after running in to my local Caribbean eatery for lunch, and running out again after eating. My Jamaican dad told me what this patois means: nyam (eat) n (and) guweh (go away). It is used when someone visits, cheekily grabs some food and leaves without staying for a chat.

I came up with this cake recipe to satisfy my father's taste for spice and my British mum's love of sponge cake. My little girl loves all things with caramel so this is an all-round winner.

I've discovered that whenever I tell people I'm making this gooey, sticky, pineapple cake, I tend to receive more than my usual share of visitors who nyam n guweh. Hence the name!

1 Preheat the oven to 180/350F/gas mark 4. Grease a 30x20cm tray-bake tin, and line with greased baking parchment.
Place all the cake ingredients except the pineapple pieces into a large mixing bowl. Add 1-2 tbsp of the reserved pineapple juice and beat with an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Fold in the pineapple pieces. Put the mix into the tray and bake for around 35 minutes until golden and springy. Place on a wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, make the topping. Over a low to medium heat, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When the butter starts to turn golden, add the sugar and ginger. Stir continuously with a metal whisk until the sugar dissolves and the caramel thickens (around 1-2 mins). Remove from the heat and mix in the milk and vanilla extract. Whisk in the icing sugar to thicken the sauce - it should still just pour.

4 While the cake is still slightly warm, cover with the caramel. Decorate with grated stem ginger and orange zest. For best results, leave until the next day before cutting into 12 rectangles to serve. There are several uses for the leftover pineapple juice and the juice from the zested oranges and limes ... all of them involve rum, a tall glass and lots of ice!

Rice 'n' peas

The staple of any Caribbean dinner! Despite the name, this dish often contains beans, such as red kidney beans. It is a delicious dish on its own, but combined with a rich gravy from chicken or lamb, it becomes sublime.

1 Put the liquid in a large saucepan over a high heat, add the creamed coconut and stir until dissolved.

2 Add the thyme, spring onion, salt and scotch bonnet pepper and simmer for a few minutes to infuse the liquid with the flavours.

3 Add the rice and beans and stir gently, taking care not to break the scotch bonnet pepper. Boil rapidly for 4-5 minutes, or until you can no longer see the liquid above the rice.

4 Stir again, gently. Turn the heat as low as possible, cover with a tight lid and leave to steam for about 15 minutes.

5 Remove the scotch bonnet pepper and the spring onion before serving.

Jamaican lamb or goat curry

1 Put the lamb in a bowl and stir in the onion and curry powder. Add a little of the oil as this helps the spice stick to the meat. Cover with clingfilm and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight.

2 Heat a glug of oil in a heavy frying pan or wok. Scrape away as much of the onion as possible from the lamb and set to one side.

3 Brown the meat in batches until well coloured. Reduce the heat and add the onion, garlic, ginger, scotch bonnet, salt and pepper and fry gently for 5 minutes until the onions begin to soften.

4 Add the water and cinnamon stick to the pan. Give everything a good stir, cover and leave to simmer for 1 hour. Check the pan halfway through and add more water if required.

5 After 1 hour, taste for seasoning and sauce consistency - the gravy should be nice and thick and the meat tender. Boil rapidly to reduce, if necessary.

6 Serve with rice 'n' peas and a green salad.

Brown stew chicken

1 Squeeze the lime over the chicken and rub well. Drain off the excess juice. Mix together the tomato, spring onion, onion, garlic, pepper, thyme, all-spice and soy sauce in a large bowl with the chicken pieces. Cover and marinate for at least one hour, preferably overnight.

2 Heat a glug of oil in a heavy fry pan or wok. Remove the chicken from the marinade and set the chopped veg aside to use later in the sauce. Brown the chicken a few pieces at a time in very hot oil.

3 Drain any excess oil and return the chicken to the pan. Add the veg and the carrot, stir and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.

4 Add the water or stock and simmer for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Boil rapidly to reduce to a thick gravy.
Serve with rice 'n' peas, sliced tomato and avocado.

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A Jamaican jamboree for Windrush day | Get-togethers

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What was the occasion? We were celebrating the docking of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury port, which marked the beginning of West Indian immigration to the UK. Last year, we had a big party for the 65th anniversary - we organised it in a few weeks and it was a massive success, with music, a big cricket match, local performers and of course lots of Jamaican food.

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Scroll down to "Jerk Roast" to find out all about the history of Jerk, and make your own Jerk pork.

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Hu Suhui ( fl. 1314-30) was a pioneer of dietary science. Born into a Mongol family at some point in the late thirteenth century, he appears to have become fascinated by the relationship between health and nourishment while still a young man. It was probably nothing more than a hobby at first. Responsible for overseeing the provision of the imperial court in Beijing, he dealt with food only indirectly. But he became such an acknowledged expert that, in c.1315, he was made chief therapist to the Dowager Empress Zhenge (d. 1327). While he was serving in this role, the Great Khan Buyantu (1285-1320) suddenly fell sick. The imperial doctors were baffled. Though all agreed that his kidneys were the source of the problem, they had no idea what had caused his malady, or how to treat it. In desperation, they turned to Hu Suhui - who promptly recognise that it was the khan's diet that was to blame. Having spent much of his reign campaigning, Buyantu had grown used to eating far too much meat and dairy. Hu Suhui put him on a strict diet, the centrepiece of which was a thin vegetable soup. Within twelve weeks, Buyantu had completely recovered - and had even fathered a child by one of his concubines. Overjoyed, he showered Hu Suhui with honours, and excused him from most of his formal duties so that he could concentrate on developing his dietary theories further.

Completed in c. 1330, the Yinshan Zhengyao (lit. 'Dietary Principles) was the distillation of Hu Suhui's learning. Based on many years of careful observation, it was founded on the belief that there was an intimate connection between diet and health, and that many ailments were caused by eating badly. It was divided into three sections. The first gave a brief account of the life and achievements of three legendary paragons (Fu Hsi, Shen-nung, and Huang-ti), followed by dietary recommendations for four common scenarios (pregnancy, nursing, drinking, everyday life). The second part comprised a number of recipes and a series of brief monographic essays on related topics ("strange changes in fowl and quadrupeds", "foods incompatible with one another", "the correspondences of the four seasons" etc.). And the third section explained the pharmaceutical properties of 204 common foods (rice, honey, vinegar etc.).

Hu Suhui's recipes were typical of his approach. Though he did his best to feature as many of the khans' favourite dishes as possible, he was concerned to make these 'foreign' importations conform to classical Chinese theory, and to adapt their recipes to his broader conception of what a 'good' diet should be. The results were eclectic to the point of eccentricity. Islamic, Turkic, and Chinese elements all came together in one strange, delicious mixture - without preference being given to any. There were novel recipes for sheep bone soup, 'Russian' olive soup, mallow leaf broth, tabliqua cakes, 'butter skin' yuqba, and innumerable different types of noodles - to name but a few. Each had its 'typical' ingredients tweaked; many required novel methods of preparation; and some were scarcely recognisable. Hu Suhui's recipe for sweet börek is typical in this regard. Though just about identifiable as a form of the Turkic dish common in Anatolia, it had been transformed into something completely different - but no less delicious.
Makes enough for a hungry [imperial] family.
Walnuts, two chin [c. 1kg] (remove the skins in warm water). Clean and dry. Put into a mortar and pulverize. Add one chin of cooked honey [c. 500g], one chin of roasted chü-lü-she [kürsak?] cakes [c.500g], crushed in the hand. Combine the three ingredients evenly. Work into small patties. Adjust consistency with roasted chü-lü-she [kürsak?] cakes. Cover the stuffing with a dough skin. Knead into sanbūsak shapes. Put into the oven and cook until done...

From P. D. Buell, 'Pleasing the Palate of the Qan: Changing Foodways of the Imperial Mongols', Mongolian Studies, 13 (1990): 57-81, here 72.

Lady Bird Johnson's Barbecue Sauce

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-73) was a Texan through and through. Though his political career would take him far from the small farmhouse in Stonewall where he was born, he remained rooted in the rugged terrain of his youth. He would often come down to his ranch on the Pedernales River to rest and recuperate from the stress and strain of life in Washington D.C. He was also apt to use it for his own political purposes, too. From the mid-1950s onwards, he invited a steady stream of staff, constituents, donors, politicians, and even foreign dignitaries to stay. There were some extremely distinguished guests. In 1959, for example, Johnson - then Senate Majority Leader - hosted ex-President Harry Truman and Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos; and two years later, the newly-elected Vice President welcomed West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. The relaxed atmosphere made for an uncommon intimacy, and helped reinforce Johnson's carefully-crafted image as an all-American everyman.

Visits would begin with a tour of the ranch itself. Dressed in Texan suit, high boots, and his trademark Stetson, Johnson would lead his guests out into the pasture, often on horseback. After a few hours roaming the long grass, they would then return to the homestead to inspect the cattle; and, once they had talked their fill, the evening would be rounded out with an old-fashioned Texas barbecue. As Johnson's political star rose, and the number of his guests increased, the barbecue pits grew steadily larger and a host of smoke-masters, headed by local legend Walter Jetton, would be bussed in to do the cooking. But as the Texas humourist Richard "Cactus" Pryor later recalled, Johnson insisted that his barbecues always had "the look and feel of a chuck-wagon dinner".

There was always one constant - Lady Bird's barbecue sauce. Like most true Texan classics, the recipe was one Johnson's wife had learned from her mother. Though it included a few 'foreign' importations (such as Worcestershire sauce), it relied on the traditional mainstays of Texan cuisine - fiery red peppers, aromatic pepper, and tabasco. It was also wildly popular. At the victory barbecue Johnson held at the ranch on 4 November 1964 to celebrate his re-election as president, his vice-president, Hubert Humphrey made no secret of his appreciation. According to Jetton, Humphrey "sure gave those ribs a fit...He went at them like Clyde Beatty to cats and must have eaten them for an hour, putting away more of them than I have ever seen anybody do." And it's easy to see why!

Makes approximately 1 ½ cups.
¼ cup butter
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup catsup
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup Worcestershire [sauce]
Salt, pepper, red pepper, tabasco
(sometimes add garlic or onion for variety)

Melt butter in sauce pan, add other ingredients and bring to a boil. Pour over meat to be barbecued.

If barbecuing chicken - cut chicken in quarters, wash, drain, salt and pepper and place in pan large enough not to have any chicken on top of other pieces. Place under flame and brown to a golden brown on both sides. Add barbecue sauce and cook uncovered in oven for about 1 hour or until nice and tender. Baste often.

From LBJ Library and Museum.

Read more on the history of the barbecue.

Picnicking with Gertrude Stein

On the evening of 8 September 1907, Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967) - a thin, unassuming woman with a voice "like a viola at dusk" - rang the bell of 27, rue de Fleurus, and waited. Newly arrived in Paris from San Francisco, she had been asked to dinner by the American writer, Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). Though they had briefly met in California the year before, she cannot have helped being a little nervous. Then preparing her third novel for publication, Stein was a rising star of modernism. She counted Picasso, Cézanne, and Matisse among her friends. And her salon - which Toklas would attend that evening - was frequented by everyone who was anyone.

But no sooner had Toklas entered the apartment, than all her worries melted away. Seeing Stein - "a golden brown presence, burned in the Tuscan sun, and with a golden glint in her warm brown hair" - she instantly fell in love. Stein, too, was besotted. And for the next forty years, they would be inseparable.

During the long, carefree days between the wars, they purchased two cars - the first christened 'Aunt Pauline' and the second 'Lady Godiva'. In these "gentleman's cars"(as Toklas called them), they would take regular jaunts into the countryside around Paris, gathering "the early wild flowers, violets at Versailles, daffodils at Fontainbleau, [and] hyacinths (the bluebells of Scotland) in the forests of Saint Germain". Sometimes, they would stop at nearby restaurants to dine on "panade veloutée, ham croquettes, and pêches flambées". But more often than not, Tolkas would prepare them a picnic lunch. She had two variants, each as delicious as it was simple:

First Picnic Lunch

A chicken is simmered in white wine with salt and paprika. Ten minutes before the chicken is sufficiently cooked add ½ cup finely chopped mushrooms. When cooked removed the chicken and drain. Strain mushrooms. The juice may be kept in the refrigerator to be used as stock. Put the mushrooms in a bowl, add an equal quantity of butter and work into a paste. This is very good as a sandwich spread or may be thoroughly mixed with the yolks of 3 hard-boiled eggs and put into the hard-boiled eggs which have been cut in half.

For dessert fill cream-puff shells with crushed sweetened strawberries.

Second Picnic Lunch

One cup finely chopped roast rare beef, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley, and 1 teaspoon crushed shallots, salt, pepper, 1-teaspoon tomato purée, 1 tablespoon sour cream, and a pinch of dry mustard. Mix thoroughly. Lightly toast on one side only eight slices of bread. Butter generously the untoasted sides. Spread on the buttered side four slices of the bread the meat mixture. Cover, with buttered side over the meat, with the other four slices of bread.

To eat with these sandwiches, prepare lettuce leaves on which boiled diced sweetbreads are placed, 1½ half cups for four large lettuce leaves. On the sweetbreads place 4 chopped truffles that have been cooked in sherry. Roll the lettuce leaves round the sweetbreads and truffles, neatly trim with scissors and tie with white kitchen string in three places.

For the dessert peel apples, core, cut in half and caramelize in ¾ cup sugar and ¼ cup water that has boiled to the caramel stage, for about 10 minutes. Completely coat the apples with the caramel. When dry wrap in square of puff paste [ sic.], moistening the edges so that they will adhere. Fry in deep fat until golden brown on all sides. Remove from fat to absorbent paper. While still hot cover generously with sifted icing sugar. Excellent hot or cold.

From The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook (1954).

Read more on the history of the picnic.

For more than two hundred years after the Maroons first started making jerk, nobody troubled to write down the recipe. There was simply no need. Although plenty of Jamaicans ate jerk, the Maroons were pretty much the only ones doing the cooking. Even after open fires replaced the traditional pits, most lower- and middle-class town dwellers tended to buy their jerk from street vendors; while the colonial elites generally only consumed it on hunting trips or on manoeuvres, when it was prepared by native servants. It was almost never served at formal dinners; and there are no records of any official asking their cooks to prepare it - let alone learn how to do so. Indeed, when the first Jamaican cookery book was published by Caroline Sullivan in 1893, jerk was still considered so alien to the colonial table that it was not so much as mentioned. Thus confined to the Maroons - whose culture remained predominantly oral until comparatively late - "jerking" was simply passed down from generation to generation, so much so that, even today, many of the Maroons' descendants still prefer "family" techniques to anything else.

Not until the early 20th century did this change. Attracted by employment opportunities abroad, a growing number of Jamaicans left the island for Britain, the United States and Canada - taking their cuisine with them. This naturally required traditional methods to be changed. Some traditional ingredients, including as Scotch bonnets and allspice, were less readily available, and had to be replaced with such 'un-Jamaican' alternatives as curry powder and soy sauce. But it also introduced jerk to a whole new group of consumers. This was especially true of Britain - especially after the first Jamaican restaurants began to appear in London and Birmingham in the 1950s and 1960s. So popular did jerk become that, before long, non-Jamaicans were soon clamouring to know how to make it for themselves; and - as a result - recipes at last began to be written down. To be sure, these were often changed even more radically to suit the tastes of jerk's new fans - so radically, in fact, that they are sometimes scarcely recognisable as jerk. But in time, a greater premium came to be placed on 'authenticity'; and today, a wide range of truly excellent recipes are available.

The following is adapted from a recipe originally published in 1922, and is a good example not only of how jerk was adapted to reflect Anglo-American dining habits, but also of how widely jerk had already spread in the years after the First World War.

Serves 8 people.

1.4kgs (3lbs) lean pork loin, boneless
2 tbsp onion, dried
2 tsp thyme, dried
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp allspice, ground
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp red pepper
½ tsp cinnamon, ground
½ tsp nutmeg, ground

Pat pork loin dry with a paper towel. Mix the remaining ingredients together and rub evenly over the meat. Place in a shallow roasting dish and cook at 180°C (350°F) for between 45 and 60 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Carve into slices and serve.

An Early American Take on Sushi

Although America's love affair with sushi only began in the 1960s, Japan's favourite delicacy had reached its shores much earlier. Back in 1852-3, an expedition led by Commodore Matthew Perry had succeeded in breaking Japan's centuries-long policy of isolation, and in forcing the Shogun to open his ports to American ships - paving the way for trade between the two nations.Over the next few decades, these burgeoning commercial ties encouraged a growing number of Japanese to seek a new life in the United States.

On 8 February 1885, 676 men, 159 women, and 108 children arrived in Honolulu (then unofficially under American control), becoming the first official immigrants; and, by 1906, almost 200,000 people of Japanese origin had set up home in California. It was not long before some of them started setting up restaurants; and, by the beginning of the 20th century, sushi had gained quite a following amongst Americans. Unfortunately, the excitement was not to last. In 1907, the American government - unnerved by the sheer number of new arrivals - concluded an informal agreement with the Japanese Empire, whereby Japan would prevent any further emigration; and in 1924, the federal Immigration Act banned Japanese immigration altogether.

Before that unhappy moment, however, popular enthusiasm for sushi was hard to miss. Japanese dinner parties were all the rage, and newspapers gleefully - if not always accurately - explained the secrets of Japanese cooking to their readers. The following sushi recipe is one of the most striking. First published in the Charlotte News on 19 May 1906, it was later syndicated to a number of other periodicals (including the Yale Expositor and the Minneapolis Journal); and though it cannot be said to reflect contemporary Japanese techniques, it nevertheless makes a creditable effort to adapt them to the habits of the American kitchen.
Makes enough for a small family
"Sushi" is made by boiling a half cup of rice with two tablespoons of chopped preserved ginger. When cold, mold into cakes about two inches long and one inch wide, flattened on the top. Cut up a half pound of any kind of fish into narrow strips, boil, then add a small bottle of sho-yu [soy sauce]...Cool the fish and serve a strip on the top of each rice cake."

Wartime Falafel

In the spring of 1940, Mandatory Palestine was in a state of high tension. Though Italy had not yet declared war on the British Commonwealth, and the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa had so far been spared the horrors of bombing, the shadow of the Second World War had already fallen across the region. Already, thousands of Jews fleeing the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and Easter Europe were arriving in Palestine in defiance of the restrictions imposed on immigration by the British at the London Conference the previous year. The pressure on resources - especially food - was acute. Many familiar dishes, and even some staples, were out of reach. Falafel, however, was still available to all; and in the circumstances, appealed even to some of those who still regarded it as a 'foreign' importation. On 27 May 1940, the following recipe appeared in Haaretz - then, as now, a leading newspaper. It is remarkable in a number of ways. Unlike most other recipes, it adopts a flexible attitude towards the main ingredients. Fava beans, dried peas, or any other pulse could be used. Even more unusually, it omits the herbs and spices which are most commonly associated with falafel (e.g. cumin and coriander) - but which were, of course, unavailable - and outlines not one, but two different methods of preparation in the recognition that cooking oil may not be available.
No quantities are given. Adjust ingredients to taste and to suit the number of diners.
Cook the legumes (dried peas, lubia [fava beans], or another type), grind, mix with oil (preferably sesame) until thickened, add plenty of crushed red pepper and salt (you can also add fresh green pepper while grinding and add other minced vegetables at the end). Make small balls from the mixture and deep fry in boiling oil until yellow-brown. You could also make an easier version with pea-flour (if available), mixed with water until thick or cooked in water with a pinch of baking soda and finished as above.
Translation from Y. Raviv, 'Falafel: A National Icon', Gastronomica, 3/3 (2003): 20-5.
Pellegrino Artusi's Tuscan Panettone

Pellegrino Artusi (1820-1911) was never meant to be a famous cook. The son of a wealthy shopkeeper, he was destined for a career in commerce. After completing his studies in Bologna, he returned to his native Forlimpopoli, and immersed himself in the family business. But his life was turned upside-down when the bandit, Stefano Pelloni (known as il Passatore), appeared in town on the night of 25 January 1851. With ruthless efficiency, Pelloni and his gang stormed the theatre and took all of the town's wealthiest families hostage - including Artusi. Huge sums of money were extorted, and many of the women were raped. The experience scarred Artusi deeply. Four months later, he and his family decided to leave Forlimpopoli and take up residence in Florence instead. There, Artusi pursued a successful career in finance; and, after inheriting a large sum of money, devoted himself to his favourite hobby: cooking. In 1891, he published La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene ('The science of cooking and the art of eating well'). As its title suggests, it was the product of a profoundly methodical approach to cookery - and it is still a classic.

Of the hundreds of recipes in Artusi's book, perhaps the tastiest and most touching is for panettone. The invention of Artusi's Tuscan cook, Marietta, this is much easier to make than the traditional Milanese version, and no less delicious.
Panettone Marietta
Marietta is a fine cook and so good and honest that she deserves to have this dessert named after her, since it is from her that I learned it.

Flour, finely ground 300g
Butter 100g
Sugar 80g
Sultanas 80g
Eggs 1 whole and 2 yolks
Salt a pinch
Cream of tartar 10g
Bicarbonate of soda a teaspoon, that is, just under 5g
Candied fruit 20g, cut into little pieces
Lemon zest
Milk about 200ml

In the winter, soften the butter in a bain-marie and then work it with the eggs. Add the flour and milk a little at a time, then the rest [of the ingredients] except the sultanas, cream of tartar and baking soda, which should be kept until last. Before adding these, work the mixture for at least half an hour and make sure that you add enough milk to get the right consistency - that is, not too liquid, not too solid. Pour into a mould, taller than it is wide, and twice the volume [of the mixture] so that it doesn't overflow, and so that it will take the shape of a round loaf of bread. Grease the sides of the mould with butter, dust with finely-ground sugar mixed with flour, and bake in the oven. If it turns out right, it should rise a lot, forming at the top, a cracked dome. This is a dessert which deserves to be recommended, because it is much better than the Milanese panettone you find in shops, and doesn't take much trouble.

Stephana Malcolm's Kedgeree

Born in rural Dumfriesshire to an impoverished family of tenant farmers, Stephana Malcolm (1774-1861) spent most of her life in the Scottish border country. But her brothers travelled widely. While two, Charles and Pulteney, became admirals in the Royal Navy, a third, John, won fame and fortune as a member of the East India Company. Rising to become both a major-general and the governor of Bombay, he opened his family's eyes to the culture - and cuisine - of the subcontinent. Evidently much taken with kedgeree, Stephana duly noted it down alongside Indian pickle and mulligatawny soup in the hand-written recipe book she had been keeping since c.1790. Her version was, by necessity, different both from the colonial dish and khichdi; but her ingredients are nevertheless a testimony both to the local economy of the Solway Firth, and to the reach of British trading interests in the late eighteenth century.

Serves 3-4 people.

Mince into very small pieces a large cold boiled Haddock or bit of cod, Haddock is best, add to it 4 hard boiled Eggs, also minced, boil a large Tea Cup full of Rice, drain and dry it nicely, melt in a stew Pan a piece of butter the size of an Egg, make the mince very hot in it, mixing with it very lightly the Rice, season with salt and a little Cayenne Pepper, & serve very hot, heaped very lightly on a dish.

Via the National Library of Scotland.

Gouffé's Pot-au-Feu

Jules Gouffé (1807-1877) was one of the most famous and influential French chefs of the nineteenth century. After studying under Marie-Antoine Carême, he became Napoleon III's personal cook in 1855, and, in 1867, accepted an offer from the novelist Alexandre Dumas to become the officier de bouche at the Jockey Club of Paris. While in that role, he wrote a number of important cookery books, remarkable for their sophistication and precision. The most notable of these was Le Livre de Cuisine (1867), which naturally included a recipe for pot-au-feu ("the soul of home cooking"). This was based on that of Carême, but differs in the care with which Gouffé described the method of preparation.

INGREDIENTS

750g meat [leg or shoulder of beef]

125g bone (more or less the amount in the meat given above)

4 lt water

30g salt

1 carrot, peeled

1 large onion, peeled, with a clove stuck in it.

3 small leeks

1 stick of celery

1 medium-sized turnip

1 small parsnip

Note: Some people have a habit of adding garlic; I do not advise it. The taste of the garlic - always so pronounced - tends to impair the aroma of the broth, and makes it unsuitable for consumption by sick people.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

The first requirement is to get your fire going well. Feed your stove well with charcoal. A cooking pot which is placed on a well-made fire can go three hours without you having to touch it. Whenever it is necessary to put some more fuel on the fire, be careful not to make the flames too hot: a strong heat never does any good to a pot-au-feu, which always needs to be cooked very gently. [Modern cooks who prefer to use electricity or gas instead of charcoal should simply be sure to use a relatively low heat.]

Take care, when putting the lid on the pot, to leave a gap two fingers' wide: the broth may become cloudy in an hermetically sealed pot.

METHOD

Bone the beef.

Tie it round [with string], to hold it together.

Break the bones with a cleaver.

Place the pieces of bone into the pot first, and the meat on top.

Add the water, which should be filtered....

[Cover the pot, as above, and place on a low heat].

Add...30g of salt.

As soon as the scum starts to rise, you should cool the broth down; that is to say that you should add...150ml of cold water... Skim with a slotted spoon. Repeat three times. After this is done, your soup will be perfectly skimmed.

Add the vegetables... This will momentarily stop the boiling.

As soon as you have brought the broth back to the boil, move the pot to the corner of the stove... Cover the rest of the fire with ashes [i.e. lower the heat], and allow the broth to simmer for...three hours.

Keep the heat steady...continual simmering is one of the most essential preconditions for a good pot-au-feu.

When the broth is completely cooked, take the meat out and put it on a plate... [then remove the vegetables, slice, and serve together. Keep the broth for later].

Taste the broth to check that there is enough salt in it. If more needs to be added, do so only at the last minute, just before serving.

Thomas Jefferson's Vanilla Ice Cream

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) - the third president of the United States - was an early fan of ice-cream. He probably encountered it while serving as America's ambassador in France between 1784 and 1789, and, after returning to his estate at Monticello, took steps to ensure that he could continue enjoying it. The instructions he wrote for his cook (below) constitute the first recipe for ice-cream ever written by an American.

2 bottles of good cream [= about 4 pints / 1.9 litres]
6 yolks of eggs.
½lb. sugar
One stick of vanilla
Handful of salt
Large quantity of ice

Mix the yolks & sugar. Put the cream on a fire in a casserole, first putting in a stick of Vanilla. When near boiling take it off & pour it gently into the mixture of eggs and sugar.

Stir it well. Put it on the fire again stirring it thoroughly with a spoon to prevent its sticking to the casserole. When near boiling take it off and strain it thro' a towel. Put it in the Sabottiere [a metal canister, small enough to fit into the tub used for the ice]. Then set it in ice an hour before it is to be served. Put into the ice a handful of salt.

Put salt on the coverlid of the Sabottiere & cover the whole with ice. Leave it still half a quarter of an hour. Then turn the Sabottiere in the ice 10 minutes.

Open it to loosen with a spatula the ice from the inner sides of the Sabot[t]iere. Shut it & replace it in the ice. Open it from time to time to detach the ice from the sides. When well taken (prise) stir it well with the Spatula.

Put it in moulds, jostling it well down on the knee. Then put the mould into the same bucket of ice. Leave it there to the moment of serving it. To withdraw it, immerse the mould in warm water, turning it well till it will come out & turn it into a plate.

Allen Ginsberg's Cold Summer Borscht

Born into a Jewish family in New Jersey, the poet Allen Ginsberg came to embody the 'Beat Generation'. But he was also famous for living extremely simply - even at the height of his fame. Among his favourite dishes was this recipe for cold summer borscht, which recalled both the flavours of his childhood home and his family's Russian origins. The directions and ingredients are given exactly as he wrote them.

Serves 10-12 extremely hungry people.

Dozen beets [UK beetroots] cleaned & chopped to bite size salad-size Strips
Stems & leaves also chopped like salad lettuce
All boiled together lightly salted to make a bright red soup, with beets now soft - boil an hour or more
Add Sugar & Lemon Juice to make the red liquid sweet & sour like Lemonade

Chill 4 gallon(s) of beet liquid.

Serve with:
(1) Sour Cream on table
(2) Boiled small or halved potato on the side (i.e. so hot potatoes don't heat the cold soup prematurely)
(3) Spring salad on table to put into cold red liquid
1) Onions - sliced (spring onions)
2) Tomatoes - sliced bite-sized
3) Lettuce - ditto
4) Cucumbers - ditto
5) a few radishes
Via the Allen Ginsberg Project.
Pizza Marinara

In the mid-19th century, Neapolitan fishermen were fond of eating this simple, but hearty pizza for breakfast, before heading out to sea. Indeed, so eagerly did they wolf it down that, according to legend, it was named the 'seafaring pizza' ( pizza marinara) in their honour.

Makes three good-sized pizzas.

Pizza Dough

4 cups / 18oz Italian tipo '00' flour or bread flour
1 ½ cups / 12 fl oz water
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon active dry yeast

1. Place the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, until the dough is smooth.

2. Shape into a ball and cover with a clean cloth. Allow to rise for around two hours, or until it has doubled in size.

3. Punch the dough down to remove the air bubbles.

4. Divide into three roughly equal pieces, and shape each into a ball.

5. Pinch the top of each ball, and gently stretch the dough, wrapping it around the rest of the ball as you go, so that it forms a sort of outer coat.

6. Dust lightly with flour, and cover with a damp cloth. Leave to 'prove' for around an hour.

Marinara Topping

230g / 8oz. chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
olive oil
oregano

1. Preheat your oven to 250°C (480°F)/ fan 200°C (390°F).

2. Stretch the balls of dough into circles and place on a non-stick pizza pan.

3. Put 1/3 of the tomato, a few slices of garlic, a drizzle of olive oil and a scattering of oregano onto each pizza. Use your fingers to distribute the toppings evenly.

4. Bake for 5-10 mins, or until the edge is golden brown.

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Hu Suhui ( fl. 1314-30) was a pioneer of dietary science. Born into a Mongol family at some point in the late thirteenth century, he appears to have become fascinated by the relationship between health and nourishment while still a young man. It was probably nothing more than a hobby at first.

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Recipe from the 1770s

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Click here to view full-sized manuscripts

a Crust for Tarts (p. 37 fol. 19r)

Take a quart of the finest flower a quarter
of a pint of Cream - a quarter and half quarter
of butter - the yolks of two Eggs - a handfull
of sugar Make it into a past - and role it out thin

To Make a Lemon Tart (p. 61 fol. 31r)

Take three Clear Lemons andd grate of the
outside rind - take the yolks of 12 Eggs and
six whits beat them very well - squeese in
the Lemons - then put in three quarters of a pound
of fine suger powdered - and three quarters
of a pound of fresh butter melted stir all well
together - put a sheet of past a the Bottom
and sift suger on the top - put it in a brisk
oven three quarters of an hour will bake it

Notes for a Modern Kitchen: Crust Makes one 10-inch tart that can be baked in a pie dish or a fluted tart pan. *Feel free to substitute a store-bought pie crust here or your favorite pastry recipe. If you use a store-bought graham cracker crust (or other pre-baked crust), you can skip the blind baking step. - 2 cups/350g flour, additional flour for rolling out the pastry - 1 Tablespoon sugar - 6 Tablespoons/85g butter - 1 egg yolk - 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup heavy cream Preheat oven to 425°F/218°C Stir together flour and sugar in a large bowl. Cut butter into small cubes. Rub butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture is grainy. Add the egg yolk and 1/4 cup of heavy cream and stir to form a soft pastry. Continue to add heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until all the flour is integrated into the pastry. (I ended up using a whole 1/2 cup in the end.) Grease a pie or tart dish with butter or baking spray. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface. Arrange pastry in baking dish. To blind bake the crust, cover the pastry with foil and fill the dish with baking beans or another weight. Bake at 425°F/218°C for 12 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350°F/180°C for 10 minutes. The crust should be golden and set, but not as brown as when a pie is completely finished baking. Filling - 3 whole eggs - 3 egg yolks - Zest and juice of 1 1/2 lemons - 3/4 cups/175g sugar, plus 1 tablespoon to sprinkle on top of the pie - 3/4 cup/175g butter, melted While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Separate the egg yolks, melt the butter, zest and then juice the lemons. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Stir in the sugar and then the melted butter and mix well. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F/163°C. Place the pie dish containing the baked crust on a baking sheet. Pour the filling into the crust and scrape any sugar from the bottom of the mixing bowl into the dish. Sprinkle the top of the lemon custard with sugar. Bake for 45 minutes until the sugar on the top crisps and browns and the lemon custard is set, but still jiggly. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes before serving.

The Results

This is a delightfully lemony pie with a flavorful crust. The sugar topping gives each bite a nice crunch, but the pie is only mildly sweet overall. Sharp lemon balances the rich custard and crust.

The Lemon Tart recipe comes from a handwritten cookbook probably compiled in Camberwell, England, between 1770 and 1846. It consists of two sections: the first section is all written in the same hand between 1770 and 1772. These recipes include transcriptions from printed sources (including Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747)) and unpublished recipes, all from British cuisine. The second section appears to have been written in the early- or mid-nineteenth century and presents more British recipes in various hands. An inscription reads "Browne, 1827, Camberwell, Surr[e]y."

While this tart includes a crust that is edible, many early recipes for pies and tarts used inedible crusts that could aid in preservation or simply act as a vessel for the tasty interior.

A lemon tart, known in French as the popular tarte au citron, generally consists of a pastry base, a filling, and an open top. While you might come across a lemon tart in an American bakery, a more American spinoff is the Lemon meringue and Key lime pies which add a fluffy egg-white based meringue on top of the tart citrus filling.

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This slideshow requires JavaScript. Click here to view full-sized manuscripts a Crust for Tarts (p. 37 fol. 19r) Take a quart of the finest flower a quarter of a pint of Cream - a quarter and half quarter of butter - the yolks of two Eggs - a handfull of sugar Make it into a past - and role it out thin To Make a Lemon Tart (p.

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Meni-meniyong is a wonderful Malinese sesame-honey sweet. It's easy to make and is great for kids and adults alike.

Makes about 40 pieces

Ingredients

Sesame seeds -- 1 cup

Honey -- 1 cup

Butter, unsalted -- 4 tablespoons

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450ºF. Spread the sesame seeds on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and cool.

2. Heat the honey and butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until it bubbles and darkens somewhat, about 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Stir the toasted sesame seeds into honey mixture. Spread the mass onto a buttered baking sheet to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cool until it is just warm and break or cut into finger-sized pieces. Cool completely and serve.

Meni-meniyong Variations

For a tasty coating that will keep fingers less sticky, roll the candy in more toasted sesame seeds to coat after cutting it into pieces.

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Meni-meniyong is a wonderful Malinese sesame-honey sweet. It's easy to make and is great for kids and adults alike. Makes about 40 pieces Sesame seeds -- 1 cup Honey -- 1 cup Butter, unsalted -- 4 tablespoons Preheat oven to 450ºF.

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Vegetarian jollof rice - Benin

Serves 2-3

Directions

1. Soak the black-eyed beans over night in plenty of water.

2. Drain the following day, place in a pan and cover with 2l water.

3. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Drain (reserve the water for coking).

5. Slice the aubergines into rounds about 1.5cm thick and place in a colander.

6. Salt liberally and allow to drain for 5 minutes.

7. Meanwhile heat the oil in a large pan.

8. Add the drained eggplant, 1 tsp of the chopped onion, 1 tbsp of the ginger, 1 chilli, 1 garlic clove and the bell pepper.

9. Fry, stirring all the while, until the eggplant has browned (about 5 minutes) then remove the aubergine from the mix and set aside.

10. At this point add the remaining onion, ginger, chilli, garlic, reserved bean cooking water, tomatoes, tomato purée, cayenne pepper and chilli powder.

11. Stir everything to combine then add hot pepper sauce, to taste.

12. Simmer for 10 minutes before adding the black-eyed beans, carrots and the rice.

13. Allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes then add the green beans and cooked eggplant.

14. Simmer for a further 15 minutes, uncovered.

15. Cover the pot and simmer for a further 20 minutes then serve.
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south america and south east asia recipes

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Black-eyed peas and eggplant tomato (Jollof) rice

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Add to Recipe Box Need any ingredients? Visit our Store! Vegetarian jollof rice - Benin Serves 2-3 1. Soak the black-eyed beans over night in plenty of water. 2. Drain the following day, place in a pan and cover with 2l water. 3. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

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Can a recipe become extinct? If so, this one should be on the endangered recipe list. It is described in two historic texts (see below), but (as far as can be determined) recipes appear in print on...

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This soup version of Sub-Saharan Africa's ubiquitous Chicken in Peanut-Tomato Sauce comes from the Kongo people of the two Congos and Angola; it has much in common with other African peanut soups and sauces. Serve with Rice, or Baton de Manioc (also called Chikwangue), or Fufu and more hot pepper

Muamba Nsusu Recipe

Soup version of Sub-Saharan Africa's Chicken in Peanut-Tomato Sauce from the Kongo people of the two Congos.

Ingredients

red or cayenne pepper (to taste)

Instructions

Fill a large pot with enough water for soup. Bring it to a boil. Add the chicken and cook at slow boil it until the meat is done and a broth is obtained.

While the chicken is boiling, in a soparate pan gently sauté the onion in several tablespoons of red palm oil until the onion is tender.

Remove the chicken from the broth and remove meat from bones. (Save the broth and keep it at a low simmer.)

Combine one cup of the chicken broth with the peanut butter and tomato paste and stir until smooth.

Return the chicken meat to the broth and add the peanut butter-tomato paste mixture. Stir and continue to simmer until the soup is thickened. Season to taste.

Ingredients

red or cayenne pepper (to taste)

Directions

Fill a large pot with enough water for soup. Bring it to a boil. Add the chicken and cook at slow boil it until the meat is done and a broth is obtained.

While the chicken is boiling, in a soparate pan gently sauté the onion in several tablespoons of red palm oil until the onion is tender.

Remove the chicken from the broth and remove meat from bones. (Save the broth and keep it at a low simmer.)

Combine one cup of the chicken broth with the peanut butter and tomato paste and stir until smooth.

Return the chicken meat to the broth and add the peanut butter-tomato paste mixture. Stir and continue to simmer until the soup is thickened. Season to taste.

Recipe contributed by Janet Patton. The Congo Cookbook welcomes contributions from readers.

Nsusu na buha or Poulet fumé à la pâte d'arachide (Smoked chicken with peanut sauce) is a similar dish from the Congo region.

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This soup version of Sub-Saharan Africa's ubiquitous Chicken in Peanut-Tomato Sauce comes from the Kongo people of the two Congos and Angola; it has much in common with other African peanut soups and sauces.