The World That Was

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be making a quick and easy sesame snack from the Cretan Iron Age! A treat so sweet that it's still popular today (with a few adaptations of course) - the koptoplakous as it's known in antiquity - or the Pasteli as it's known today! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 200g sesame seeds 200g honey sea salt (to taste) Method 1 - Toast the Sesame Seeds To begin with, we need to lightly brown and toast 200g of sesame seeds. Do this by tossing them into a hot pan, and letting them cook over a high heat for a couple of minutes. Don't let these sit still, keep them moving around the pan so they toast evenly! Do this for about 5 minutes, or until your seeds are nutty and fragrant. Take these off the heat, but keep them warm while you deal with the honey. 2 - Boil Honey Next, place a pot onto a high heat. Into this, scoop about 200g of honey an...

 Hello and welcome to the World That Was!  Today, I'll be going back to the Hellenistic Period, to the Hasmonean dynasty of Judea. The recipe in question is a simple honeyed-hens, recorded by Seleucid accounts of a feast held by one of the ruling elite. Though the original recipe refers to it plainly as chicken with honey, I'm going to be recreating it today based on our knowledge of contemporary dining habits! In any case, let's now take a look at the World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 4 chicken thighs salt (to taste) pepper (to taste) ground cumin ground coriander 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp honey 2-4 cloves garlic Method 1 - Prepare the Chicken To begin with we need to season our chicken. Do this by sprinkling some salt, some freshly ground black pepper, some ground coriander, and some ground cumin on top of your chicken, before rubbing it in with your hands. I used some skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs, but really ...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I'll be taking a look at a Byzantine baked cheesecake - that's quick, simple, and very tasty! It seems to be based on an earlier Greek recipe for a baked cheesecake, but was adapted to suit the tastes of Medieval Byzantine elite cuisine! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients 500g ricotta cheese (or myzithra, anthotyro cheese) 150g honey 3 eggs flour cinnamon butter (to grease baking tin) Method 1 - Whisk Ingredients To begin with, we need to place our cheese in a bowl. I used ricotta here, because it has a good texture and is widely available, but other soft Greek cheeses would work well - such as myzithra or anthotyro. Into this, pour 150g of honey, and whisk it well. Crack an egg one at a time into the bowl, whisking it until it's well combined before adding two more. Chicken eggs would have been used in this period, along with wildfowl and pi...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, is the Elaphebolia - a Greek festival celebrated by Athens in the Iron age! So, I'm going to be making some Elaphoi cakes dedicated to Artemis Elaphebolos (Artemis the Deer-Slayer). They're recorded by Athenaeus as being honey-cakes shaped like stags - so that's what I' made here! Now let's take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Ingredients (makes about 6 Elaphoi) 2 cups flour 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup butter (melted) 1 egg sesame seeds (for decoration) Method 1 - Prepare Dough First, we need to make our dough. Do this by pouring in a half a cup of honey, and a half a cup of melted butter into the bowl and mix it well. When the mixture has cooled, crack an egg into this and combine it well. Pour in two cup's worth of flour into the butter and honey mix, a bit at a time, mixing it through as you go. I used wholemeal flour, which has a similar bran level to archaic flour - but s...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was This week, I'm making some archaic Greek tiganites - which were basically very rudimentary pancakes, fried in olive oil. They're still made today, but with ingredients that your average Athenian wouldn't have had access to. In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients (makes 4 large tiganites) 1 cup flour 1 cup water salt honey olive oil Method 1 - Prepare the Batter To begin with, we need to make the batter. It's recorded as being a very thin, liquid batter, so make this by pouring a cup of wholemeal wheat flour into a bowl, followed by a pinch of salt. Whisk this together, if you want. It doesn't really do much here. Then, pour in a cup of water on top of this, followed by a generous pour of olive oil. Ancient Greek cooks would have likely used seawater, instead of dry salt and fresh water. If you want to make these very sweet, you can add a generous sque...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! Today, I'll be taking a look at a recipe from the Heel of Italy, also known as Magna Graecia (due to the intensity of Greek colonies here from the 8th century BC). I’ll be making some small bread-rings, called taralli. They're still made today, albeit in a different way. This recipe has been adapted from the Tavola Mediterranea, so I suggest you check them out! In any case, let's take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 2 cups wholegrain flour 1/2 cup water 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp white wine (or white wine vinegar) 1 tbsp fennel seeds Method 1 - Make the Dough To begin with, we need to make a dough. Do this by pouring two cups of flour into a bowl, followed by the fennel seeds. Whisk these together just so they're combined. You can add less fennel here if you want a milder final product. Next, pour in a half cup of water, your two tablespoons of olive oil, and your two tablespoons o...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was! This week, I made a dish recorded by the Greek playwriter Aristophanes - a simple brown lentil and leek soup! This is an easy and very versatile recipe, and even has parallels with a modern Greek dish! In any case, let's take a look at The World That Was! Ingredients: 1 leek 1 onion 1 garlic clove 1 stick celery 1 carrot 1 parsnip 1 cup / 250g lentils (preferably brown lentils) 750ml water (or stock) 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar (preferably red wine vinegar) rosemary bay leaves olive oil salt pepper Method: 1 - Chop the Leek and Onion, and Prep the Pot First, pour some olive oil into a pot. Place this over a medium-high heat while you prepare your other ingredients! Slice your leek into rings, each one about as wide as your finger. Then, chop your onion in half, and then into thin little crescents. Toss your leek and onion into your pot when the olive oil starts to shimmer. Next, go crush a clove of garlic into it all. Add a little salt and pep...

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was Today, we'll be taking a look at a recipe from the kingdom of Colchis! A sweet apple-based treat, that’s much like a cake or cookie! Colchis roughly covers the same area as modern-day western Georgia, but it's origins date back to the middle 13th century BC - around the same time as the Middle Assyrian Empire! In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above! Ingredients 2 cups plain flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 3 apples (either cooking or eating apples) 1/4 cup cream 1 cup cream cheese 1 cup greek yoghurt 1/2 cup walnuts Method 1 - Prepare Applesauce To begin with, we need to make a basic applesauce! Start by peeling a few small apples, before chopping and coring them. Then, dice each of these chunks into small pieces. Toss the remaining apples into a small pot with some water - enough to just about cover them. Pour a few tablespoons of honey into the pot too. Then place this over ...