The World That Was

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'm going to be recreating a recipe for a German apple pie from the Registrum Coquine - the contents of which are suited for a middle-class palette of medieval European world In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Consider supporting me on Patreon if you like my recipes! Ingredients 6 apples 2 cups flour water butter (or oil) ground cinnamon ground nutmeg cloves (either whole or ground) honey Method 1 - Peel and Chop Apples To begin making an apple pie, we of course need apples. Though the original recipe doesn't state any particular apples, tart apples tend to make the best filling. Peel your apples, and chop them into fairly evenly-sized chunks so they cook evenly. I found that about 6 apples suited a pie fit for about four people. 2 - Prepare the Filling When your apples are chopped, go toss some butter (or oil) into a pot, and let it melt. When it's foaming,...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making a simple cherry pudding recorded in the 14th century AD - from the region of the Holy Roman Empire! Cherries were (and still are) a very popular fruit to eat, given the extensive range at which they can be grown. The original recipe is recorded in The Forme of Cury - a 14th century English manuscript - but the origin of this recipe likely comes from a central European source, given the variety of recipes recorded here. In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above. Consider supporting me on Patreon if you like my recipes! Ingredients 500g fresh ripe red cherries 200ml red wine 100g white sugar 1 tbsp unsalted butter 100g soft white breadcrumbs salt Edible flowers (e.g. clover, lavender, etc) Method 1 - Prepare the Cherries To begin with, we need to wash, de-stem, and stone the cherries. Do this by cutting into them carefully with a knife, before using your thumb ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making a simple bread-based soup - referred to as juscellum by Apicius! It's a lot like Tuscan "aquacotta" soup, which is prepared in a similar way - though today it often includes tomatoes, which would not have been available in antiquity. Ingredients 1 onion 1 carrot 1 stick celery 3 cloves garlic thyme 2 slices bread (torn or grated) 2 eggs 750ml chicken stock olive oil salt pepper Method 1 - Chop Ingredients To begin with, we need to chop and dice an onion. You don't need to worry about being too careful here, as they'll soften up considerably while its cooking. Peel and dice a carrot or two - carrots and parsnips were considered to be the same vegetable to the Greeks and Romans, so either one works well here! Finally, deal with some celery by slicing it thinly. 2 - Sautee and Cook Toss a bit of olive oil into a pot, and place this over a medium heat. When it's shimmering, toss in your onions, car...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making a 13th century cheesecake, from Andalucía - the South of Spain! The original text is from a medieval cookbook, by Ibn Razin al-Tujibi, and the audience seems to be for elite members of society. Though today, it's a simple and easy cake that anyone can make inside an hour! Ingredients 1 cup flour 1 cup milk 1tbsps yeast (or 1/3 cup sourdough starter) 250g ricotta (or other soft white cheese) honey olive oil cinnamon Method 1 - Prepare Dough To begin with, we need to make a simple dough. Pour a cup of flour into a bowl, along with a tablespoon of yeast. Dry yeast wouldn't have been available in antiquity, but wild yeast from a sourdough starter would have been used, and a third of a cup can be used here. Pour in a cup of room-temperature milk on top of this, along with a splash of olive oil. The original recipe calls for "fat" which can be any one of a huge number of things - like butter, lard, or oils. ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making an Etruscan dish - which is preserved through Roman cuisine through to modernity! The simple testaroli - a rudimentary ancestor to the pasta that we know and love today! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 1/2 cup plain flour 1/2 cup wholemeal flour 1 cup water pesto Method 1 - Prepare the Batter To begin with, we need to make the batter. To do this, toss a half a cup of plain white flour into a bowl, along with some wholemeal flour. Mix in an equal amount of water, to form a thin slurry. 2 - Oil the Pan and Make the testaroli When the batter is ready, pour a ladleful into a pan that's been oiled with olive oil. Spread this into a very thin layer, by tilting the pan around. Cook the thin layer of batter for a minute or two over a high heat, or until the edges start to firm up. Don't cook it all the way through! Flip it over and let ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I'm recreating some Akkadian bread, as seen in some cuneiform inscriptions, as well as visual representations in carved panels in Akkadian palaces. The original bread has a striking similarity to modern Iraqi samoon - from it's shape to it's description in Akkadian! In any case, let's now take a look at the world that was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 1 cup wholemeal flour 2 cups plain flour salt water active dry yeast (or 1/3 cup sourdough starter) milk sesame seeds Method 1 - Preparing the Dough and letting it Rest To begin with, we need to make a starter. The easiest way to do this today is to use some dry active yeast, opening a sachet, and placing it in a bowl with a bit of warm water. But if you have some sourdough starter, you can use 1/3rd of a cup of that instead! But keep in mind that the sourdough starter will affect how hydrated your dough is later on. Pour in 1 cup of wholemeal fl...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was This week is Halloween, a pre-Christian Irish festival, so decided to make a bread which is fragmentarily recorded on Old Irish ogham stones - a simple sweet fruit bread which can be baked on a pan! In any case, let's take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 500g / 3 cups flour (wholemeal) 300g / 2 cups blackberries (or raspberries) 300g honey water to mix Method 1 - Mix the Flour and Berries Pour your flour and berries of choice into a bowl, and gently toss everything together. Flour would likely have been stone-ground by hand in Bronze-Age Ireland, so modern wholemeal flour acts as a good substitute today. You can also use plain flour here. I'm using blackberries in this recipe, because they're in season, but raspberries (or other soft fruits) would also work well. 2 - Add Honey and Water When your berries are well-distributed through your flour, pour in your honey. Gently fold all thi...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making another Hittite dish called "fried bread with apples". One of the universal staples of humanity is fried dough, and this is how I'll be interpreting the dish here - as lumps of fried batter with chunks of apple! Since we don't know how fried bread with apple actually was, this is taking a lot of notes from later Greek “tageientes”, and modern apple fritters. In any case, let's take a look at the world that was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 3 small apples 1 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup apple cider (or apple juice) honey butter (for frying) oil (for frying) Method: 1 - Chop the Apples To begin with, peel your apples and cut out their cores. When this is done, chop your apples into chunks, and transfer them into a small bowl. Apples in antiquity were probably not as sweet as apples today, but any apple would work for this. I'm using some sweet eating apples - instead ...