Medieval Feast

One of the most memorable homeschool memories my children have is when we head to the kitchen to do a historically inspired meal. In this case, we’re focused on the Middle Ages in Europe. We’re using the book Pelyn Delit Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks by Constance B. Hieatt, Brenda Hosington and Sharon Butler.

We do all kinds of hands on projects and activities for our Middle Ages unit. You can see the complete playlist of videos.

While we took liberties in making our Medieval Feast, you can find the complete recipes in these excerpts from the book Pleyn Delit Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks.

Here’s how we made our versions of these medieval recipes:

Gilded Chicken

1 whole chicken seasoned with salt and dried French thyme. A couple of slivers of onions stuffed inside the chicken. Between the skin and flesh, I stuffed several sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary and sage with several cloves of crushed garlic and salt.

Once the chicken is 30 minutes from being done (we used our rotisserie), gild the chicken with 1/4 teaspoon of saffron mixed with two egg yolks by brushing the mixture on the outside of the chicken. Continue cooking until done.

Roasted vegetables

Cube carrots, butternut squash and potato (potatoes were not a medieval food at the time. They were introduced later. We added them as an innovation; it is not authentic). Season vegetables with salt, olive oil, dried thyme and garlic powder. Roast in oven for 25-30 minutes at 430 degrees.

Peas

Boil peas for 2 minutes. Add cooked peas to sautéed onion and season with salt and olive oil.

Baked Brie

Cut a circle or square of puff pastry enough to wrap around a round of brie. Scoop two tablespoons of preserves (we used strawberry), a handful of crushed pecans and 5-7 quartered dried apricots. Layer round of brie on top (we used goat brie, but you can also use cow brie) and wrap puff pastry around it making sure it’s all contained and sealed. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with fresh baked bread or crackers.