La Noisette

I got a couple pounds of raw hazelnuts from Whole Foods because of a DIFFERENT SCA project! I learned sometime ago that roasted hazelnuts (or filberts if you prefer) were so plentifully sold as a snack. (like popcorn at the movies today) at medieval English gathering places that the shells could be combined with cinders to form a paving layer for the area where the groundlings stood. NEAT RIGHT? Thus I brought them along to distribute during a lecture I gave on the archeology of The Rose. That was fun. Then I had leftovers... what to do...

Hazelnuts or noisettes, are an ingredient in some Norman recipes, not as common as almonds but present nonetheless. The tangled stem of wild hazelnut bushes grow into tall trees that line most country roads and lanes in the region. The famous landscape of Normandy—the thick hedgerows surrounding fields- are composed of many plants including the wild hazelnut. I suspect they were a common foodstuff and less likely to be included in recipe collections wherein the dish was intended for nobility. Terence Scully in The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages, points out that nuts of all kinds were considered an important part of the medieval menu due to their naturally dry properties. Physicians recommended that if fish was served it should be immediately followed by nuts, as their dry humour would absorb & balance the moisture found in most fishy dishes. This idea is echoed in Viandier.

Scully also mentions filbert oil. I am not going there today!

When the ripe nuts hit the ground, their casings (which were the leftover bits used for ground cover in theatre) turned dark brown and are quite crisp. The broken edges are sharp and get under your nail bed quite easily. Trust me. These shells split and fall off. What's left is the hazelnut meat we know from modern grocery stores and cans of salted nut mix. They do need to be dried, though and this stage is called "raw". They still retain some moisture, and their flavor is not unpalatable, kind of green. They need cracking and toasting to remove their skins, which can be bitter.

Hazelnuts in medieval literature were closely associated with fertility and sexuality and considered an aphrodisiac, a hazel tree figures in Tristan and Iseult. This recipe is found in Le Menagier de Paris (France, 1393 - Janet Hinson, trans.)

HAZELNUT BEVERAGE. Parboil and peel, then put in cold water, then grind and mix with boiled water and strain: grind and strain twice, then put in the cellar to cool; and it is better than a tisane.

It reminds me very much of cashew milk and almond milk for which many vegan recipes call.

In Chaucer’s famous “Canterbury Tales,” pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Thomas a Becket lightened their travel by sharing stories. Among the pilgrims was one cook who made “sweet blanc-mange.” This is one of the earliest mentions of a dish often considered an almond-flavored pudding. Blancmange which in Chaucer’s time was also made with rice, hazelnuts and chicken, it has fallen out of favor over recent centuries. Cold chicken nut jello? It has a hard time competing with bacon cheeseburgers. Cooking God August Escoffier, believed that “blanc-manger when well made can be one of the best sweets served,” which is high praise from a man whose culinary skills were legendary.

Despite a very French name, blancmange most likely originated in the Middle East where sweets made with chicken gelatin were common. European trade with the Middle East led to the introduction of rice and nuts and the dish eventually became popular with the nobility and upper-classes.

While other dishes of the time were quite flavorful and spicy; spices helped to balance the humors of the body (as well as prevent food spoilage), blancmange usually had no spices. Chefs created spectacular presentations for royal feasts by coloring part red while leaving the other part white. Sometimes the pudding was scented with roses, another Middle Eastern influence. I dislike rose flavored food, mine tasted kind of...well..boring.

King Richard II’s chefs included a recipe for “blank mang” (the Middle English spelling) in their 1390 cookbook Forme of Cury. This dish has inspired me to start shopping for prettier molds/tins. I used my little creme brulee dishes. meh. Now I want to "tip out" pretty forms.