There should have been six...

well...
I am off pace already!

Thanksgiving was supposed to have SIX recipes that would count for this project. There were two. C'est la vie!
Puff pastry is nightmare. Confirmed French origins, pâte feuilletée or feuilletage. See also croissants and palmiers. (Just skip the yeast.) Puff pastry is made by repeatedly layering pastry dough and cold butter, this technique is called laminating. I am not a pastry chef. I am certainly not a PATIENT pastry chef. This is why we BUY puff pastry dough. I also learned why there are so many SMALL wee tiny little dishes made with puff pastry. When it is bigger the middle doesn't cook. OI.

Recipe #3 should have been a variation on the onion tarts I did for Gregoire's Vigil, which were a huge success. They were red onion sauteed in balsamic vinegar with chevre on puff pastry. Bite size and very popular. This go round I used mushrooms with brie and shallots but instead of bite size I went with one big one because frankly after wrestling with actually making the pastry dough and all the other dishes I was about done in. In a fit of lazy girl I decided to make one big one. FAIL. delicious, ugly fail. The edges of this were amazing. I plan on a re-do.

Recipe #4 Preserved Cherry Tart with chestnuts after minimal research I assured myself that cherries, while not as common as apples or pears, would not have been unknown in my time period in France. Most likely smaller than we are used to and assuredly uncultivated until the late 16th century. They would have been known. This was reassuring as I have several pints that were put up in warmer months and these coupled with roasted and chopped (who am I kidding those little fuckers are so fragile...let's just go with crumbled) chestnuts made a delightful addition to the dessert line up.

Bonus Recipe: Parsnips roasted with rosemary. This one doesn't count because the only "new" thing was slicing the parsnips on a diagonal to make pretty coin shapes. Delicious and fit the period/geographical requirements except...I have done this before. NO POINTS.

I guess that December will have five extra Medieval French Dishes. Hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew!

trumeau, trumel or toumeaulx

In Scully's translation of The Viandier he discusses four manuscripts, all variations on the original. In the edition from the Mazarine Library in Paris there is a folio excerpt that he references as MAZ. Pretty simple...just like this

MAZ cuisiez tresbien toumeaulx de beuf

A little blurb from the medicinal section is a basic broth. I have made stock on several previous occasions, however I haven't ever used this cut of beef. This entry was commenced by a request for boeuf bourguignon, which I knew wasn't going to fit the requirements for this project. No tomatoes allowed. I started riffing. Looked at Pot au Feu, looked at Osso Buco, keeping in mind that beef would have been boiled at this time, braising is different than boiling. When I saw the grass fed shanks in the meat counter I knew what was going to happen.

1. Carmelized an onion in bacon fat.
2. Into crock pot added 1 cup red wine.
3. Three chopped carrots
4. Three beautifully marbled beef shanks
5. Crock pot for six hours.

The falling off the bone, mouth watering meat was heaped on a platter. Served with roasted leek & fingerling potatoes. The taters weren't period either. One of these days the whole meal has to be historically accurate, this was just a by product because remember this is a suggestion for a base stock.

The actual goal was a quart of the richest most beautiful stock I have ever made. It is my hearty recommendation to use all of the beast. Even the bits that maybe aren't wrapped in plastic. There is a certain mouth feel, a layer of succulence that cooking "bone in" lends to a dish. Think about chicken salad made with boneless skinless meat VS left over from a whole roasted bird? Quite a difference in flavor. Admittedly it was odd, rather disconcerting to remember my reaction to The Human Body Exhibit in Chicago several years ago... I saw a cross section cut of a human shin. I swear to god as repulsive as it is, my literal first thought was ... "We would make good stock". I may be a big "The Walking Dead Fan" but beef shanks are close enough to address this question! The concept of what many modern eaters perceive as disgusting is quite distinct from what was seen as viable foodstuff in the fifteenth century. I plan to try other ingredients that previously I would have deemed "nasty" or "weird" (like oxtail, or fish heads) because I am here to learn!

#1--Paupiettes

The first thing I learned was not to use the yellow Fiestaware for the "Plate it Up" shot. Sorry about that. This is how we learn right?

The oldest recipe for this dish is dated 1337 from Le Viandier (The Viander of Taillevent edited by Terence Scully) and despite variations in the name contains neither larks nor olives. Two popular variations in the nomenclature do give one pause to ponder... "Blind Larks" or "Birds without Heads" and "Beef Olives" were amusing to the modern mindset while being rather tricksy at the same time. It should be noted that there are a multitude of options with this cooking technique. As far as I can tell the term "paupiette" refers to thinly sliced meat wrapped around a filling, which is usually meaty but can be veg. The recipe from Le Viandier uses veal shank meat wrapped around marrow. There are lots of fish ideas, especially sole wrapped around shrimp. I saw a couple of duck around pork, pork around pork. Beef and pork. Beef and beef. Several beef around cheese. Some had a crepe batter outside, some did not. Many had mushrooms. One had an egg cooked in the center! The more modern dishes often had a tomato based sauce but those were disregarded as tomatoes were considered poisonous. I plan on doing a fish entree for Meatless Monday for this project. I do love me some duck. That one might need to happen also.


After cross referencing roughly 100 recipes I finally settled on what I was going to feed the boys. (Isabel, the resident vegetarian abstained from this dish. She was mortified by the titles from the very beginning!) Beef with beef and mushrooms.
So here is my interpretation.

 

Paupiettes du boeuf
serves 3-4

Beef brisket sliced thinly to form the outer wrap. (Not prosciutto thin...but pretty thin) I was working with roughly 4x6 inch slices of medium rare roast. I used about 1/4 lb of meat and got 12 little bundles.

1 pound Ground beef 85% lean.

1/8 c fresh shallots minced fine

2 tablespoons chives, dried and minced fine

four cloves of fresh garlic minced fine

salt to taste

long black pepper (a couple grinds)

green peppercorns (a couple grinds)

one whole egg

2/3 cup fine bread crumbs

 

two generous tablespoons of beef tallow

baby portabella mushrooms sliced

porter (about half a bottle)

beef broth

 
1. Combine the ground beef with all the spices, the raw egg and the bread crumbs. Form into 1X3 inch oval shapes. These apparently are the size of a lark's body and are supposedly reminiscent of said dish. Thus the headless/blind bird reference.
2. Lay the sliced brisket "flat on a clean dresser" and put a little meatball on one end. Wrap it up. Tie with twine. repeat till all your filling is used up.
3. melt tallow in large sturdy skillet. In small batches, brown the outsides of the bundles.
4. deglaze pan with broth, porter and mushrooms
5. They will hold in the oven.

Serve with mashed root veg.


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These were damn tasty. I like this technique.

Introductory Matter...

 I am a card carrying member of a group called the Society for Creative Anachronism. This organization is approaching a 50th anniversary, in honor of this event I am challenging myself to try 50 "new to me" pre 15th century French Foodstuffs before the June 2016 celebrations. This "Arts&Sciences" project will include breads, meats, veg (pickles), cheese? maybe? That might be a separate project. Nor do I think I will go into beverages so much. My self imposed rules:

1. 15th C or earlier French

2. properly sourced and period ingredients, as authentic as possible techniques. No microwaves etc.

3. edible

Method:

1. redact, adapt and prepare dish

2. keep notes on process

3. photograph final product

4. feed family & friends in small groups

5. print up modern pages, bind in some sort of feeble attempt at a cover that sort of looks like a period book.

Wanna watch?