A Contribution from Ian
Garlic soup with sour cream
8 cloves garlic, crushed (more if you wish)
55 g (2 oz) butter
115 g (4 oz) plain flour
Thyme or marjoram, crushed
Pinch salt and pepper
1.8 litres (3 pints) beef broth or vegetable stock
Sour cream
Chopped chives
1.In a cauldron, carefully cook the garlic in the butter, being careful
not to allow it to brown. 2.Stir in the flour, herb, salt and pepper;
heat until bubbling. 3.Gradually add the broth or stock, stirring all
the time to prevent anything sticking to the cauldron. 4.Bring to the
boil and cook for one minute. 5.Serve hot or cold, with a dollop of sour
cream and some sprinkled chives.
Buttered worts (greens)
This recipe uses any greens or onions you may have to hand.
0.9-1.35 kg (2-3 lb) of any mixed greens (cabbage, spinach, etc.)
2-3 leeks and/or onions
Salt
A few crushed juniper berries (optional)
55 g (2 oz) butter (or more)
1.Blanch the vegetables in boiling, salted water for 3-4 minutes - no
more. 2.Drain and squeeze out excess water. Add the juniper berries if
they are being used. 3.Place the mixture in a pan with the butter and
120 ml (about half a cup) of water. Stir and leave on a low heat for
another five minutes. 4.Salt to taste and serve.
If buttered worts are to be served on their own, toasted or fried bread
cubes or crispy bacon pieces are a good topping.
Elderflower cheese pie
This dish - which can only be made in a house that has an oven - would
grace any Eorl's table!
4 clusters of elder blossoms
Pastry to line a pie dish
340 g (12 oz) cottage cheese
120 ml (4 fl. oz) pale honey
120 ml (4 fl. oz) fine white breadcrumbs
4 egg whites
1.Keep the blossoms fresh in water or pick just before using. 2.Prepare
the pie dish by lining it with pastry. 3.Beat together the cottage
cheese, honey, breadcrumbs and egg whites. 4.Add the blossoms stripped
from the stems. 5.Put the mixture into the pie case and bake in a
moderate oven for about 45 minutes.
This is wonderful either hot or cold.
Mustard herrings poached in apple wine
The following ingredients are enough for one person. Multiply them to
match the number you are feeding.
1 fresh herring fillet per person
1 sharp-tasting apple, sliced (a Bramley would be good)
1 onion, sliced
Prepared mustard (Dijon is very good with this)
Enough apple wine to cover the rolled herring (dry cider may be used
instead)
Salt and pepper to taste
1.Spread mustard on one side of the herring fillet. Season with salt and
pepper and add a small slice of onion. Roll up the fillet starting from
the tail end. Secure the roll with a little stick (a cocktail stick will
do). 2.Place the prepared fillet in a pan and cover with the wine or
cider. 3.Cook gently, adding the apple slices a few minutes before the
fish is ready. 4.Carefully remove the apple slices from the pan and
distribute them equally on a dish. Top the slices with the fillet.
This dish may be eaten hot or cold. More mustard may be served as a
sauce.
Eggs with green leaf purée
Sufficient eggs for those who are eating
Young green 'worts' (see above) - nettles, sorrel, spinach, sow thistle
or dandelion or a mixture of these
Salt
1.Hard boil or scramble the eggs. 2.Quickly boil the tops of the chosen
plants in salted water until tender. 3.Drain the greens and chop finely.
4.Serve the eggs with the green puréed sauce.
Please note: sorrel and sow thistle can be bitter so change the water
after about five minutes.
Spit roast pork
Sufficient boned pork to serve your guests (loin is best but shoulder
would be good, too)
Crushed garlic to taste
A few juniper berries, crushed
Pepper and salt
If possible, prepare the meat the night before. The flavours develop
better when given time. (Some 20th-century butchers will stuff the pork
for you if you provide the spices. They will then roll and tie it, ready
for the spit or oven.)
1.Lay the pork flesh uppermost and divide the crushed garlic and juniper
berries evenly over the meat. 2.Roll up the meat and secure with skewers
or heavy thread. 3.Place the meat on the spit and rub in a little salt
to taste. Sear the meat over a good heat long enough to seal the
outside. 4.Spread the fire to give a medium heat, turning and cooking
the meat until the juices run clear and the skin has turned to golden
crackling. 5.Rest on a board for 15 minutes before carving.
Buttered worts (see above) are a good accompaniment.
Cherry bread pudding
475 ml (16 fl. oz) fresh cherries (or 590 ml/20 fl. oz tin of cherry pie
filling)
300 ml (10 fl. oz) red wine
1-1.4 litres (32-48 fl. oz) brown breadcrumbs
120 ml (4 fl. oz) clear honey
Single cream (optional)
1.Stone and cook the cherries in the red wine until tender; leave to
cool. (Omit this step if you are using tinned pie filling.) 2.Mix the
cherries with the other ingredients until all the flavours are evenly
distributed. 3.Serve as it is or with cream.
Cheese platter
The Anglo-Saxons do not appear to have made hard cheeses such as Cheddar
and the like. To provide a cheese platter, use soft cheeses; goat's- and
ewe's-milk cheeses were common, perhaps flavoured with herbs. Soft
crumbly cheese such as Caerphilly can also be used. As the Anglo-Saxons
knew about smoking and preserving in brine, modern cheeses made in this
way may be useful too.
Serve the cheese on a platter or in a basket lined with leaves (vine
leaves if possible), accompanied by fruit, fresh or dried.
Bread
Each guest at a banquet (or any meal) will have a small - 20-25 cm (8-10
in) diameter - mixed grain round loaf. If the feast-giver is really out
to impress, all the loaves will be white.
Drinks
In the literature, there are references to ale and fermented fruit
drinks including cider and wine.
Mead is served at the end of the meal, often by the feast-giver's
daughter or other attractive member of the household. As the horn of
mead is taken round the table, the first person to drink is the
feast-giver and the last is the most honoured guest (perhaps because, by
then, if anything is wrong with the contents, it will be noticed and the
honoured guest will be saved!). A toast is made by each guest before
they drink.
This is known as the 'passing of the mead cup' and the end of its
journey round the table is the signal that the official part of the
feast is over.
And here is a little article on Anglo-Saxon etiquette
Anglo-Saxon feasts and etiquette
This article was abridged and adapted from Ann Hagen's book A Handbook
of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and consumption published at £8.95 by
Anglo-Saxon Books [www.englisc.demon.co.uk], Frithgarth, Thetford Forest
Park, Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk IP26 4NQ.
The period covered by Ann Hagen is AD 400 to about 1100.
Feasts in hall offered a variety of sense impressions - taste, smell,
warmth, music and entertainment, the play of light on tableware, the
colours of hangings, the clothes of the guests. Companionship, a
confirmation of one's position in the community, reward, the chance to
drink and escape day-to-day concerns were all part and parcel of
feasting, and the potent appeal of the feast derives in part from them,
as well as from the rich and plentiful food.
The function of feasting
Although the feast was not primarily a gastronomic event but a ritual -
with religious, aesthetic, legal and societal ramifications - the
provision and consumption of food and drink was central. The 'chieftain'
provided food and drink that was prestigious in kind and plentiful in
quantity ...
The function of royal feasts was to emphasise the ruler's power and,
through a lavish display of wealth, attract followers and supporters.
Those who partook of the feast were declaring or confirming their
obligations to the provider. In return for sustenance, they were pledged
to fight to the death for him, sustaining him in his position of power,
but also obliging him to continue to provide well for them ...
A noble king not only provided amply for his retainers, but created a
splendid occasion - an image of plenty and assured harmony in a world
where shortage, uncertainty and conflict were the experience of many.
The feast retained its symbolism as a unifying force, even when the
guests were not dependent on the king for sustenance and support.
... People apart from the king had the resources for a social life that
included feasting. The visit of guests was celebrated with a feast,
though if the king was the visitor, the royal provisioners would arrive
the day before to see everything was ready and suitable. The king could
not have his status compromised by attending a feast at which the
supplies were insufficiently lavish, or the mead might run out.
Sometimes the guests may have been visiting specifically to consume the
food, payable as the 'food rent'.
Most people probably arranged feasts for special occasions, which could
be personal - celebrating the arrival of a guest, celebrating or
commemorating rites of
there was a hall about 22.9 m long dating from the mid-9th century.
Other business was also carried on in the hall at mealtimes, so that
Harold might receive news of William's landing when he was dining at
York, and when Cnut was at table in hall at the end of a feast, a crowd
of petitioners occupied his ear, while a bard wanted to sing him a poem
he had just composed. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that,
although communal feasting in hall continued, in the late period we hear
that the lady of the household, and sometimes the lord, retired to a
private room to eat. Some people were no doubt grateful for their
entitlement to sleep in the hall after the feast.
Hangings and table-linen< wine
through the delicate and expensive sieve spoons that indicated their
status and were buried with them. Women's graves also contained bucket
pendants, which perhaps symbolised the female role as servers of drink,
though buckets were more likely to have been used as intermediate
vessels for the serving of mead, beor or ale, rather than wine, which
was imported in flasks or casks. Female servants who held the office of
'cup-bearer' are referred to in the 7th-century laws of Ethelbert, since
an eorl was entitled to 12 shillings' compensation if anyone slept with
his cup-bearer; a ceorl was entitled to half this amount. What had
traditionally been a female role would, of course, have to be filled by
a man in a monastic household. However, it seems that, towards the end
The scene of feasting was the great hall, furnished with trestle tables
and benches, and guarded by door-keepers who turned away gate-crashers
and prevented anyone from entering while the meal was in progress ...
The archaeological record provides much evidence of halls - e.g. one of
these at Yeavering was over 24.4 m (80 ft) long and 12.2 m (40 ft) wide
and the walls were white-plastered on the inside, while at Cheddar,
there was a hall about 22.9 m long dating from the mid-9th century.
Other business was also carried on in the hall at mealtimes, so that
Harold might receive news of William's landing when he was dining at
York, and when Cnut was at table in hall at the end of a feast, a crowd
of petitioners occupied his ear, while a bard wanted to sing him a poem
he had just composed. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that,
although communal feasting in hall continued, in the late period we hear
that the lady of the household, and sometimes the lord, retired to a
private room to eat. Some people were no doubt grateful for their
entitlement to sleep in the hall after the feast.
Hangings and table-linen
Hangings, sometimes interwoven with gold, were used to decorate halls
from early in the period. Tablecloths were in use, at least on the
Continent, by the early 9th century. Table napkins, known of by the 8th
century, were certainnbsp;
enjoe rest of the guests, serving them all until dinner was
finished.
In the early period, high-born women perhaps poured imported wine
through the delicate and expensive sieve spoons that indicated their
status and were buried with them. Women's graves also contained bucket
pendants, which perhaps symbolised the female role as servers of drink,
though buckets were more likely to have been used as intermediate
vessels for the serving of mead, beor or ale, rather than wine, which
was imported in flasks or casks. Female servants who held the office of
'cup-bearer' are referred to in the 7th-century laws of Ethelbert, since
an eorl was entitled to 12 shillings' compensation if anyone slept with
his cup-bearer; a ceorl was entitled to half this amount. What had
traditionally been a female role would, of course, have to be filled by
a man in a monastic household. However, it seems that, towed candles, shining tableware. But, aesthetic
enjoe rest of the guests, serving them all until dinner was
finished.
In the early period, high-born women perhaps poured imported wine
through the delicate and expensive sieve spoons that indicated their
status and were buried with them. Women's graves also contained bucket
pendants, which perhaps symbolised the female role as servers of drink,
though buckets were more likely to have been used as intermediate
vessels for the serving of mead, beor or ale, rather than wine, which
was imported in flasks or casks. Female servants who held the office of
'cup-bearer' are referred to in the 7th-century laws of Ethelbert, since
an eorl was entitled to 12 shillings' compensation if anyone slept with
his cup-bearer; a ceorl was entitled to half this amount. What had
traditionally been a female role would, of course, have to be filled by
a man in a monastic household. However, it seems that, towards the end
for obvious reasons, a desirable position.
Guests seem to have been allowed to bring companions to a feast. A guest
who arrived with a large retinue assumed his host had considerable
resources. If anyone brought a fotsetla to a feast of the Cambridge
Thegns' Guild, he was to pay a sester of honey. Whatever sort of
retainer the fotsetla was (and he could have been a minstrel, since
these are recorded as sitting at the feet of their lords, or even a
foot-warmer such as the Welsh king had), in the context of a guild feast
where the members had to provide the food and drink, he was to be paid
for.
Servants
The emphasis on those who 'sat to' the feast was perhaps because sitting
down was a privilege in itself, for some of those present at a feast,
including the servers, were not entitled to sit. One such was the
unfortunate apparitor of the Welsh laws, who, though a court official,
was not allowed to sit while the king was eating and drinking in hall
'lest the house be burnt while the king is at meat'. At a great feast,
the servants had to 'scurry to and fro ... speed on their tasks'. What
they might be doing is shown in manuscript illustrations - bringing food
on spits from the kitchen and kneeling with it in front of the diners
who then helped themselves, servicing drink, etc.
Almost all the evidence as to who served food comes from Celtic sources
and indicates that men were in charge of the great hall and the serving
of food in large establishments. Rank was observed among servants too;
high-ranking servants served diners of high status. It is possible that
men served men with food, and women served women.
On occasion it seems to have been the women who served the drink to men
at feasts. The Gnomic Verses outline the duties of a queen:
Always everywhere before the band of comrades at the mead-drinking, she
shall first of all greet the protector of the nobles, quickly offer the
first cup to her lord's hand, and know good counsel.
In Beowulf, it is the queen who offers the cup to Hrothgar and his
guest. The wife of a noble who was cured of an illness was then well
enough to carry out her duties as hostess and brought the cup to the
bishop and the rest of the guests, serving them all until dinner was
finished.
In the early period, high-born women perhaps poured imported wine
through the delicate and expensive sieve spoons that indicated their
status and were buried with them. Women's graves also contained bucket
pendants, which perhaps symbolised the female role as servers of drink,
though buckets were more likely to have been used as intermediate
vessels for the serving of mead, beor or ale, rather than wine, which
was imported in flasks or casks. Female servants who held the office of
'cup-bearer' are referred to in the 7th-century laws of Ethelbert, since
an eorl was entitled to 12 shillings' compensation if anyone slept with
his cup-bearer; a ceorl was entitled to half this amount. What had
traditionally been a female role would, of course, have to be filled by
a man in a monastic household. However, it seems that, towards the end
of the period, high-born women were eating with the men at feasts and
were not required as servers.
Blessing food and breaking bread
Hrothgar simply invites Beowulf to sit down and enjoy the feast, after
the food was blessed before the eating started. After grace, the most
important guest seems to have broken the bread or divided the food.
Manners
By the end of the period, table manners were a matter of concern and
interest to some. It was not considered polite to gulp down or gobble
your food, for which the perjorative word fretan is used. It was also
employed to show that it was not the done thing to pick up and eat any
morsel of food that had fallen on the floor:
When a chunk of food slips from the hand of one of these clever men, he
spots it in the light, bends down to pick it up, blesses it, covers it
with seasoning and actually consumes it.
At Coppergate in York, the evidence from the faecal layers - which
contained fruit stones, apple core fragments and fish bones - is that
food was bolted, or at least eaten in uninhibited fashion. There is no
way of knowing whether hunger was the reason for these foods being
bolted, or whether this method of eating was habitual to the inhabitants
of Viking York.
The food
It seems that feast-day food was anticipated with dinary bread was probs not generally acceptable to leave
before the end of a feast. Some banquets seem to have continued
overnight. St Eligius exhorted people - ineffectually as it turned out -
not to make feasts lasting all night nor to indulge in intemperate
drinking on the Calends of January. The three-day feast seems to have
been the standard for any great celebration.
The drink
It is clear from the references to feasting that drink was as important
as the food. Ealu (ale), beor (probably fermented fruit-based drinks,
including cider), meodu (mead) and win (wine) are the four drinks
frequently mentioned ...The over-riding concern was that there should be
plenty of drink.
Drunkenness
The consumption of unlimited quantities of alcohol tended to militate
cified for
funeral feasts; ordinary bread was probs not generally acceptable to leave
before the end of a feast. Some banquets seem to have continued
overnight. St Eligius exhorted people - ineffectually as it turned out -
not to make feasts lasting all night nor to indulge in intemperate
drinking on the Calends of January. The three-day feast seems to have
been the standard for any great celebration.
The drink
It is clear from the references to feasting that drink was as important
as the food. Ealu (ale), beor (probably fermented fruit-based drinks,
including cider), meodu (mead) and win (wine) are the four drinks
frequently mentioned ...The over-riding concern was that there should be
plenty of drink.
Drunkenness
The consumption of unlimited quantities of alcohol tended to militate
against the preserve="3">
Day-long feasts were common. It was not generally acceptable to leave
before the end of a feast. Some banquets seem to have continued
overnight. St Eligius exhorted people - ineffectually as it turned out -
not to make feasts lasting all night nor to indulge in intemperate
drinking on the Calends of January. The three-day feast seems to have
been the standard for any great celebration.
The drink
It is clear from the references to feasting that drink was as important
as the food. Ealu (ale), beor (probably fermented fruit-based drinks,
including cider), meodu (mead) and win (wine) are the four drinks
frequently mentioned ...The over-riding concern was that there should be
plenty of drink.
Drunkenness
The consumption of unlimited quantities of alcohol tended to militate
against the preservation of an image of harmony that the feast was
calculated to further. Men 'drunken with beor renewed old grudges', and
in extreme cases, the conflict might threaten the king's peace, so this
had to be protected by severe penalties. Fines for murder committed at a
feast were much higher than if the act was done at an open grave, when
feelings might be expected to have been running high.
Gluttony
Although fefeasting
in hall. Such instruments have been found in the archaeological record.
Professional entertainers, jesters, actors and dancers as well as
singers and other musicians were employed as part of their establishment
by those who could afford them. Riddles were asked and stories recited.
Nostalgia
Most people saw feasting as an infinitely desirable pastime.
Hagiographers even made use of this fact in their writings. St Agatha
'went as cheerfully to the dark dungeon as if she were invited to a
pleasant banquet', though she was perhaps outdone by some brothers who
'went as gladly to their deaths as to a banquet'. It is the dramatic
contrast of the feast in the warm hall where the king sits with his
retainers around him and the cold darkness outside that is drawn on for
an analogy of human life.
The loss of prosperity evokg this conflict was to dispose of
the leftovers chPoem says that, when rich, 'guests came and went, mingled their
talk, lingered over delight, adorned themselves richly.' The Seafarer
regrets that he hears now 'the cry of the curlew instead of men's
laughter, the scream of the seagull in place of the mead-drinking'.
The regret for the silent, deserted ruin which was once 'a meadhall full
of the sounds of music', a place where people had gathered and feasted,
where the horn was passed round, is found also in the Celtic literature.
The hall was a centre of companionship: the isolated exile has no one
'who knows my mind in the meadhall'. It is in The Wanderer that
nostalgia for the joys of feasting finds its most eloquent expression.
The lament refers to several essential elements of the noble feast:
The wine-hall crumbles, the walls decay ... Where is now the place of
feasts? Where are the joys of hall? Alas for the bright cup! Alas for
the armed warriors, al who miraculously acquired the power to sing] is well known.
Harping must have been a common pastime at feasts since it is used as a
metaphor for feasting. The poetic epithet for the harp/lyre was 'the
wood of joy', suggesting an association with the pleasures of feasting
in hall. Such instruments have been found in the archaeological record.
Professional entertainers, jesters, actors and dancers as well as
singers and other musicians were employed as part of their establishment
by those who could afford them. Riddles were asked and stories recited.
Nostalgia
Most people saw feasting as an infinitely desirable pastime.
Hagiographers even made use of this fact in their writings. St Agatha
'went as cheerfully to the dark dungeon as if she were invited to a
pleasant banquet', though she was perhaps outdone by some brothers who
'went as gladly to their deaths as to a banquet'. It is the dramatic
contrast of the feast in the warm hall where the king sits with his
retainers around him and the cold darkness outside that is drawn on for
an analogy of human life.
The loss of prosperity evokes nostalgia for feasting. The lord of the
Rhymed Poem says that, when rich, 'guests came and went, mingled their
talk, lingered over delight, adorned themselves richly.' The Seafarer
regrets that he hears now 'the cry of the curlew instead of men's
laughter, the scream of the seagull in place of the mead-drinking'.
The regret for the silent, deserted ruin which was once 'a meadhall full
of the sounds of music', a place where people had gathered and feasted,
where the horn was passed round, is found also in the Celtic literature.
The hall was a centre of companionship: the isolated exile has no one
'who knows my mind in the meadhall'. It is in The Wanderer that
nostalgia for the joys of feasting finds its most eloquent expression.
The lament refers to several essential elements of the noble feast:
The wine-hall crumbles, the walls decay ... Where is now the place of
feasts? Where are the joys of hall? Alas for the bright cup! Alas for
the armed warriors, alas for the might of the nation ...
E-mail: david.iosson@hess.com
