Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon!

In case you haven't been paying attention, I've made a ton of bacon recently.  Therefore, I find myself using a lot of bacon in recipes.  Brussels sprouts are one of those things that are actually surprisingly good when prepared properly.  Go figure.

Also, for those of you who want to eat something vegetarian (le gasp!), you can absolutely leave the bacon out, you heretics.  It's still delicious even without the meat of the gods.

Historical Accuracy:  While Brussels sprouts apparently were cultivated in the 1300s, Wikipedia states that similar "small cabbages" were popular in Rome and therefore it makes sense that a recipe like this would exist in period.  Is it 100% accurate?  No, but it's a good approximation of an excellent side dish and I'm feeling generous after the dismal score I gave the candied bacon.  Let's call this is 6/10 for accuracy.

How Does it Taste?  I never had Brussels sprouts growing up.  As such, I never developed a dislike for them.  These are delicious little roasted bits of deliciousness combining sweet, sour, and salty flavors.  I could make an entire meal out of these guys, but I won't--I have a t-bone steak and some potatoes and an apple pie that will be showing up alongside these guys.

Recipe:

1 pound Brussels sprouts

1 thick-cut slice of bacon, or 3-4 smaller slices

2 tsps olive oil

1 tsp honey

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Remove the stems and any yellowish leaves from the sprouts.  Slice larger sprouts into halves or quarters--you want these all to be the same size so they roast evenly.  Cube the bacon.  Toss the sprouts and bacon with the olive oil, then place on a baking sheet.  Roast at 425F for 20-30 minutes, stirring regularly.  Put back into a bowl and toss with the honey and vinegar.

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Candied Bacon!

Candied Bacon!

Dog treats for humans.  Just ask Harley.

Historical Accuracy:  All ingredients are period, although the recipe is not.  Call it a 3/10 for historical plausibility, but not entirely accuracy.  Man, I'm kinda rough on myself.

How Does it Taste?  Like bacon slathered in honey.  In other words, good.

Time:  Takes about a half an hour to prepare and cook.  Not bad.

Recipe:

Bacon

Honey

Spices (optional)

Lay bacon strips down flat on a cooking sheet.  Drizzle with honey.  Bake at 425F for 10-15 minutes. Turn the bacon over and add more honey.  Bake for another 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to let the candy set.

Take your candied bacon and hide it away somewhere deep and dark where nobody will ever find it, precious.

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Bacon!

Bacon!

Now that I have your attention, let's begin.

Bacon is good.  Bacon is great.  Bacon is the candy of meats.  Bacon is the one thing that most people I know of can't go without when camping/feasting.

Bacon is also somewhat expensive, unless you're buying the really cheap kind.  But, if you make it yourself, not only is it good, but it's surprisingly cheap.  I was able to cure about six pounds of bacon for a little under $20.  Not bad.

Historical Accuracy:  Bacon is good.  This particular recipe uses period ingredients, but I do not have any historical recipes for how to cure pork belly.  Therefore, I'm going to rate this Bacon/10.

How Does it Taste?  Bacon is good.  I am eating a slice right now as I type this up.  Compared to the store-bought types, this bacon is saltier and meatier and even more delicious.  Plan accordingly when using it in a recipe.  Basically, go easy on the salt!

Time:  Bacon is good.  Bacon is not fast.  The cure itself takes about four days, and you're looking at hours in smoke before the meat is ready to be used.  Did I mention that bacon is good yet?

Recipe:

1 piece pork belly (really, size doesn't matter here--you're going to prepare it proportionally)

1 cup raw honey

1 cup kosher salt

1 gallon filtered water

1 tbsp black peppercorns

In a large pot, heat the water.  Add honey, salt, and pepper and stir to dissolve.  Place the pork belly in a large container (I use a big pitcher) and cover it with the brine.  Refrigerate for 4+ days.

Smoke over hardwood for no less than one hour per pound.  Personally, I just start up the fire, get the temperature low, toss in the bacon, and take it off in the morning when I wake up.  You may want less smoke, however.  Suit yourself.

Oh, and as a side note, when you're cooking this, save the fat.  Not only is it tasty for other recipes, but filtered bacon fat can make really nice soap.  But that's another post!

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Bowls of Brown!

Bowls of Brown!

Looks good, don't it?  Yum!

I've had some people asking about "fantasy"-style recipes, and this was something I wanted to try to tackle myself.  Now, you can eat like a peasant in King's Landing.  Well, a peasant who got lucky and found a few coppers somewhere.  Just pretend the meat's chicken, okay?

(Hint:  It's only partly chicken.)

Getting away from the horrible humor, something like this is a great recipe for a long event.  It can cook literally forever, and additional ingredients can be thrown in at any time.  Turn your leftovers into a tasty, nutritious stew that will keep people fed in between meal times.

Historical Accuracy:  Well, this is tricky.  Despite it being a "fantasy" recipe, the ingredients are all period (to my knowledge--please let me know if I messed up!).  It's historically plausible, I suppose, but it isn't based on anything but my own "creativity" and the few accountings of the dish from a Game of Thrones.  Call it a 3/10 at best.

How Does it Taste?  Yum.  It's basically stew, with lots and lots of pearl barley to "extend" it. There is absolutely nothing fancy about this recipe whatsoever, but it's comforting, wholesome food that will last indefinitely.

Time:  Expect to be cooking this for several hours.  I'm still cooking this batch even after having a small amount, and I plan on serving it for dinner tomorrow.  Slow cookers are great sometimes.

Please Note:  This is a highly-subjective recipe.  Feel free to change anything in it, add, delete, do whatever.  It's all good.

Recipe:

3/4 pounds salt pork, diced

3/4 pounds lamb, diced

3/4 pounds diced stew beef

3/4 pounds chicken, diced

2 large rutabagas, peeled and diced

8 large carrots, peeled and diced

1 1/2 large white onions, diced

8 stalks celery, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 package sliced mushrooms

4 cups pearl barley, soaked overnight

plenty of beef stock or similar to cover

browning sauce, optional

Render the salt pork in a dutch oven or large pan.  Remove the meat and reserve the fat.  Brown the lamb, beef, and chicken and remove from the fat.  Add the onions and celery to the fat and saute until tender.

Put all ingredients into a slow cooker and cook for hours and hours and hours.  Seriously, don't rush this.  10 hours is a good start.  Add liquid as needed until needed.

Serve with crusty bread and don't ask what's in it.

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Pickles!

Pickles!

Okay, small confession here:  I'm not actually a huge fan of pickles.  There's just something about them that doesn't agree with me.  That said, they were a very important part of period cooking--particularly in the winter when keeping food preserved.  Pickling, drying, smoking, and salting were all very important methods of keeping food to last throughout the winter.

In the picture above are four varieties of pickled "stuff"--a cucumber/onion salad, whey-pickled carrots, homemade sauerkraut, and a pickled egg.  There is also some homemade mustard to try to add a little extra flavor.  So guess what, lucky readers?  You get not one, not two, but five recipes today!  Hooray!

Historical Accuracy:  That somewhat depends.  Charlemagne supposedly had cucumbers in his garden in the 8th century and they were common throughout Rome even earlier.  So, depending on what you are trying to represent, I would call the cukes and onions between a 4/10 and a 7/10.  The carrots should be a different variety, but hey, we can't always get what we want.  Call it a 7/10.  The kraut and eggs and mustard are all extremely accurate from what I can tell (although, oddly, fermented cabbage seems to have disappeared for a period of time before being reintroduced).  Call them 8-9/10,

How does it Taste?  If you like pickles, you'll probably like these.  There isn't much different about them.  Pickled eggs are not my thing at all, but people have told me how good they were, so go figure.  The mustard is HOT, which is a good thing, and you can always adjust to taste.

Time:  Here's the big thing.  Pickles take time.  They can be eaten in a few days, but they'll be better the longer they stay in a jar.

ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO STERILIZE YOUR MASON JARS, PEOPLE!  DON'T GO GETTING SICK BY THESE!

Pickled Eggs Recipe:

12 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled

1 1/2 cup white vinegar

1 1/2 cup water

1 tbsp pickling spice (or, you know, whatever you want--things are easy like this)

1 clove crushed garlic, or to taste (I like to add lots of garlic)

1 tsp mustard seed

1 tsp dill

Bring the water and vinegar to a boil.  Add the herbs and spices and allow to steep.  Place the eggs into a STERILIZED container (mason jar) and cover with the liquid.  Refrigerate for 8-10 days, if not longer.

Whey-Pickled Carrots Recipe:

(Note: I love using whey for pickling--it's historically-accurate for Vikings, adds some good stuff to a recipe, and it's a natural byproduct of making cheese!)

6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into sticks

1/4 cup whey

1 tablespoon sea salt

1-2 sprigs dill

4 cloves crushed garlic

Filtered water to fill

Put the carrots in a STERILIZED container.  Add the other ingredients, then fill to 1/4" of the top with filtered water.  Close the lid, shake, and let sit at room temperature for 4-7 days.  Refrigerate after opening.

Cucumber-Onion Salad Recipe:

2 large English cucumbers, halved and sliced, seeds removed

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves crushed garlic

1 cup kosher salt (really, any salt works here)

1 tbsp pickling spice

1 1/2 cup white vinegar

1 1/2 cup water

Toss the cucumbers in the salt and place in a colander.  Add weight to the top of the cucumbers and allow the salt and pressure to remove moisture for about 15-20 minutes.  Rinse off the cucumbers and place them and the onion in a STERILIZED container.  Add the flavorings, vinegar, and water, then seal and refrigerate for 4-7 days, if not longer.

Sauerkraut Recipe

2 heads of cabbage, root removed, sliced

1-2 tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp pickling spice (optional)

1 tsp mustard seed (optional)

Put all the cabbage in a BIG bowl.  Toss in the salt.  Then, get something heavy--either a heavy spoon or a potato masher or meat tenderizer or something.  This is therapeutic, guys!  Begin to beat the heck out of the cabbage.  Macerate it until all the cabbage is, well, macerated and there is a large amount of cabbage juice in the bowl.  That's the pickling liquid, people!  Toss in the spices at this point.

Stuff the cabbage into a STERILIZED container.  Grab a wooden spoon and really mash that stuff in there.  When you think it's full, you're wrong.  Seriously.  You can get two heads of cabbage inside a mason jar if you try.  Keep smooshing it until it's packed in and coated with liquid, then seal and refrigerate for as long as you can stand.  It'll be ready-ish in five days, but it'll be better with more time.

Mustard Recipe

(This is one of those recipes that requires a little bit of fiddling--adjust all the proportions as you see fit!)

Mustard seed (I used a whole container)

Honey (I used about 1/4 cup)

Whey (Again, about 1/4 cup)

Salt

Mix everything up in a blender and blend until you're happy with the texture.  Historically, mustard was hot and relatively coarse.

Now, I will say that this stuff works wonders on the pickled eggs!

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Rugbrod!

Rugbrod!

Yeah, I can't type that correctly.  If someone knows how to make umlauts and those crosses that go through the vowels and all that, let me know!

Rugbrod quite literally means "rye bread" in Danish, as far as I can tell (Please note:  I don't speak any Scandinavian language).  It is a dense, heavy bread made with mixed-grain flour that, oddly enough, contains a LOT of rye.  To be honest, I'm in love with this stuff.  Click HERE to check out Wikipedia's article on rugbrod.

Historical Accuracy:  I'm going to give this an 8/10.  We're not entirely certain that this sort of bread was made during the Viking Era, and yet all the ingredients were readily available and the bread is still made to this day.  Flatbread is likely more accurate, but this stuff is good.

How does it Taste?  If you like pumpernickle or other "dark" breads, you'll love this stuff.  It's dry--almost cracker-y--but it's especially good with homemade butter or cheese (but more on that later).

Difficulty:  It's more complex than a "standard" bread.  If you can follow directions, you can totally make this!  Give it a try!

Recipe:  Shamelessly adapted from My Danish Kitchen.  Used without permission, but geez, it was good.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

10 fluid ounces water (3 deciliter)

6.2 dry ounces Dark Rye flour (3 deciliter or 175 gram)

Directions:

Day 1: heat water to 110 degrees F and remove from heat. Sprinkle yeast over water, give a quick stir and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir Rye flour into yeast mixture until smooth. Cover bowl loosely with a lid and let sit out on your counter at room temperature.

Day 2: add 2 dry ounces Rye flour and stir (1 deciliter or 60 gram)

Day 3: stir dough.

Day 4: stir dough.

Day 5: in the morning or evening mix 1/2 of the sour dough starter with the following ingredients.

Rugbrød (makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

1/2 of the sour dough starter (approx 7 oz. or 1 1/2 deciliter)

9.7 dry ounces Dark Rye flour (275 gram)

11.7 dry ounces porridge mix (Bob’s Red Mill) (5 deciliter or 330 gram)

10.6 dry ounces whole grain flour (300 gram)

24 liquid ounces cold water (7 deciliter)

1 tablespoon honey

1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt

Directions:

Oil a 13 x 4 x 4 inch bread pan and set aside. Mix all of the ingredients together, stirring to make sure there are no dry pockets left within the dough. Pour into oiled pan and smooth top of dough. Cover pan with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 10 to 12 hours. Before baking, pierce the dough with a skewer 20 times. Brush top of dough with an oil/water mixture and bake in a 400 degrees F preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. After baking allow bread to cool in the pan on a baking rack. When bread is still a little warm place in a plastic bag. The condensation inside the bag will help soften the very hard outer crust. Once completely cooled remove the bread from the moist bag, wipe the bag dry before placing the bread back into the bag. The bread is now ready for slicing or freezing. Enjoy!

I highly recommend slicing the bread thinly--otherwise, it's very dry.

UNSOLICITED PIMPING LINK:  I used Bob's Red Mill products for this recipe, and I highly recommend you do, as well.

Patreon Link:  SUPPORT ME!  Yay!  This stuff ain't cheap, you know!

Posca!

Posca!

Posca is the drink that conquered an empire.  This beverage was the preferred "sports drink" of the Roman Empire, and as history has shown, they had a pretty good run of things.

I know, I say I'm focusing on Viking stuff and immediately go off into Roman beverages.  Go figure. I don't know how to justify it aside from saying I had some posca laying around and decided to put some content up.  Click HERE to view Wikipedia's article on posca.

Historical Accuracy:  Well, as far as we can tell, this is more or less 100% accurate.  As time passed, posca became haymaker's punch, swapping out the coriander for ginger.  There is plenty of room for interpretation, however:  vinegar and honey would be available nearly everywhere, but various herbs or spices would be added as flavoring.  Try it with mint on a hot day.

How does it Taste?  Honestly, it tastes rather like funky lemonade.  It takes a little bit to get over the change from citric to acetic acid, but once you do that, the beverage is quite enjoyable.  I have personally found that my enjoyment of the drink increases as the temperature rises (which is pretty much par for the course for any sort of sports drink).

Difficulty:  None.  If you can use a measuring cup and a long-handled spoon, you've got this.

Time:  About two minutes if that.  Let it sit for 30 minutes or more to let the flavors blend.  You'll be happier when you do so.

Recipe:  
1/2 cup raw honey
1 1/2 cup red wine vinegar

4 cups water

Either:

1 tablespoon crushed coriander seed

4 sprigs mint leaves, muddled

1 tablespoon preserved ginger, diced small

Mix all ingredients.  Let sit, refrigerated, at least 30 minutes.

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Okay, So This is New

Okay, so this is new.

After attending Midreign for Amtgard this past weekend, a few people suggested that I create a blog to chronicle my adventures with period cooking.  Therefore, here I am!  I hope to bring you guys a plethora of recipes (with pictures, instructions, and all sorts of fun stuff) to make the best period food possible.

It is important to note that there really isn't a whole lot of information about "period" cooking. Cookbooks just weren't a thing way back then, so there will be quite a lot of conjecture going on.  If I make a mistake, call me out on it!  Please!  Email me at JustCookingPeriod@gmail.com with any issues and I will do my best to address them!

What is Period?  This is one of those nebulous terms that gets thrown around in recreation and LARP circles.  "Period" can be any time from prehistory until the advent of gunpowder in a region. Obviously, this can cover a VAST amount of time.  I plan on focusing primarily on "Viking" food, although you should expect a lot of deviance from that!  Whatever catches my fancy will be chronicled!

Suggestions Welcome!  I encourage all my followers to email me with ideas for recipes, cuisines and cultures to try to emulate, or whatever else is going on.  Please, help me get some ideas!  My goal is to have a repository of recipes for themed feasts here that could be used by anyone.

Pimping my Patreon!  Get used to this.  I'm going to be shameless here.  You can donate to my Patreon HERE.  Donating is very much appreciated--it will help me afford ingredients and otherwise make things easier, blah blah blah.  Yes, I'm begging you for money.  It's horrible, I know, and ALL my content will be available free-of-charge as long as I maintain this blog.  Please, don't ever feel like you HAVE to give me money.  That said, if you like what I do and feel that it's worth a few dollars a month, by all means, throw it my way!  I'll be ever so grateful!

Please note, my Patreon is set up as a monthly donation.  Don't give me more than you can afford in a given month, because once the calendar rolls around, it'll take that again.  I think.  I don't really know how all this works.

Anyways, howdy and welcome!  I hope you guys enjoy this blog as much as I will enjoy making it!