The World That Was

 Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be taking a look at early medieval cuisine - by recreating a very simple cabbage pottage. Pottage is, essentially, anything you'd toss into a pot to cook - so naturally there's a huge number of variations on the recipe. This one, however, leans heavily onto medieval Irish culinary traditions. In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 1 head cabbage (savoy) 2 leeks, sliced 2 onions, thinly sliced 1 garlic clove 1L water (or stock of your choice) rosemary butter or oil Method 1 - Prepare Vegetables To begin with, we need to deal with our head of cabbage - I'm using a savoy cabbage, because they're in season at the time of recording - and they also were popular overwinter cabbages, so it works well here. Start by washing your head, and removing the tougher outer leaves, before cutting it in half. Medieval kitchens may have used the outer leave...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be taking a look at another one of Apicius' recipes - something recorded as BETACEOS WARRONIS or Varro's Beets - the name seems to be based on a contemporary Roman agricultural writer, Varro. This is a fairly simple recipe, that results in some succulent, tender chicken along with some very filling and herbal beets. In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 500g chicken (the cut is up to you, I used boneless chicken breast here) 200g beets, peeled and chopped 150ml white wine honey olive oil salt pepper cumin Method 1 - Prepare the Chicken To begin with, we need to cut and season our chicken. I'm using boneless chicken breasts here, because they were easy to come by, but really any cut of meat will work here. In any case, cut your meat into bite-sized pieces. Next, season them generously with salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and cumin. Althoug...

Hello and welcome to the World That Was! Today, I'll be making some simple grilled fish with dill - from Elamite cuisine. Much like my Elamite stew from a few months ago, this dish is recorded very fragmentarily - and is described incredibly literally. So, this is my reconstruction of how this dish may have been prepared in antiquity. In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 2 fillets of fish (whitefish, or catfish works best here) handful of fresh dill sprigs olive oil salt pepper Method 1 - Season the fish To begin with, we need to prep our fish. I used haddock here - but whitefish in general works well (whitefish here referring to the colour of the meat itself). Catfish would have likely been eaten in antiquity - as they were a common fish in the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Next, sprinkle some salt and pepper over each fillet. Flip them over, and season the other side. Cumin may have been used to seaso...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! I hope you all had a great New Year, and are keeping safe and well in these trying times. Today, I'll be making some chicken in a blackberry sauce - as recorded in the “Kitab al-Wuslah ila l-Habib” - a collection of Syrian recipes from the 13th century AD! It's a fairly simple tarty sauce that can be made inside a half an hour, and is a delightful addition to any dish! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 250g blackberries - washed 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp fresh mint (minced) 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp cloves Salt (to taste) Pepper (to taste) 500g chicken (but the cut of meat is up to you) Method 1 - Cook the chicken To begin with, we need to cook our chicken. This recipe claims that the sauce is to be added to the chicken when the meat is finished cooking, so they'll need to be prepared separately. Make a couple of cuts into the chicken, to increase the surfa...