Medieval Christmas at Brockhampton

Lower Brockhampton lies at the heart of the National Trust's Brockhampton Estate, near Bromyard in Herefordshire. Surrounded by a moat and entered through a quaint gatehouse, this romantic timber-framed manor house dates back to the late 1300s. Each Winter, the house is decorated as if for a Medieval Christmas.

  


The dining table in the Medieval hall

 

The Ludlow Jam Pan

Had a very pleasant morning at Ludlow Farmers' Market.

A favourite stall of mine is the Ludlow Jam Pan, where Sara-Jane Brough sells her home-made preserves. Sara-Jane uses produce from the hedgerow, orchard and kitchen garden to make delicious jams and chutneys. This means that it is handmade in small batches, and what she makes and sells varies with the seasons.

I purchased some Strawberry & Rose Petal Jam, which makes a fantastic sauce for vanilla ice cream. Other personal favourites include her Lemon Curd, Apple and Mint Jelly, and Gooseberry Chutney. My all-time favourite is the Spicy Medlar Chutney - but I've bagged the last jar, so you will have to wait until she makes some more in the autumn to try it!

Wartime Cookery

As part of the Tenbury 1941 event, held on 9th and 10th July at Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, there was a demonstration of wartime cookery by Wilma Hayes from Tenbury History Society. There was also a display of wartime recipes in the Pump Rooms, including food to taste.

A leaflet on war time cookery contained the following advice:

"Cooking during these trying times is where women at home can make the greatest contribution to the war effort! Rationing means that many things you normally use are becoming increasingly difficult to get. Many foods are needed to feed troops before they become available to the general public and imported fuel will soon be a precious commodity.
People in rural Britain are perhaps luckier than many. Fuel can be found in the form of wood and many people will be able to grow their own vegetables or make their own butter and some of us have hens to produce eggs. But imported items such as sugar are as difficult for us to get as for everyone in the country.
This all means we must develop a new way of thinking:  food will be more important than ever in keeping up our morale and strength. We must use what we have and economise in all we do and we must share whatever we can.
Because some members of the family will have irregular hours, if they are on fire watch or on other duties for example, nourishing meals must be available when they need them. Housewives may find that they have less time to prepare meals if they are also engaged in war work; men may find that they will have to prepare their own meals if this is the case."

A wartime recipe for Vegetable Casserole

Use the vegetables you can harvest from your garden

1 lb potatoes
1 lb onions
1 lb carrots
1 lb cooked haricot beans
1 lb tomatoes
1 large cauliflower
½ lb cooked macaroni or spaghetti
1 quart water or water saved from cooking vegetables
4 oz margarine
Salt and pepper

Wash and peel potatoes and carrots.  Cut into small pieces.  Peel and slice onions.  Wash cauliflower in salt water,pull off flowerets and slice the stalk and leaves around the flower. (Save the stalk for flavouring stock for soup.) Put all into a casserole with the margarine.  Add salt to taste and about a quarter of the water.  Bring to the boil and simmer until vegetables are soft.  After about 15 minutes add the tomatoes and beans. Cook the macaroni separately in water,drain and put into the stew just before serving.  Add a little pepper to taste.

Suitable for 12 people.

Pork Rillettes

One of my favourites - shredded pork, flavoured with garlic and thyme. Great for lunch, with crusty bread and cornchons.

You need:

half-kilo shoulder of pork, skinned and boned
1 kilo belly pork, skinned and boned
10 juniper berries
2 dessert spoons of chopped thyme
half-teaspoon allspice
2 heaped teaspoons sea salt
3 bay leaves
3 crushed cloves of garlic
10 black peppercorns
100 ml water
salt and ground black pepper

Method:

Cut the pork into pieces half-inch x 1 inch
chop up the fat into small cubes
Put into a large casserole dish
Add the thyme, allspice, salt and garlic
Crush the peppercorns and juniper berries and add
Add the water and mix well.

Cook in a low oven for 4-5 hours. Top up the water if it becomes dry during cooking
Empty the cooked mixture into a sieve and let the fat drip through into a bowl.
Leave the drained fat to cool and separate.
Use a pair of forks to shred the pork - not too finely, there should be texture to the meat. This will take a little time.
Pack the pork tightly into sterilised jars and allow to cool slightly.
Take the pork fat off the top of the drained liquid and reserve
remove stock and any jelly that has formed and warm slightly. Pour over the rillettes, up to the top of the meat. Allow to cool slightly.
Pour a layer of the pork fat over the top to seal.
Put lids on the jars and allow to set.

Will keep and improve for a couple of months in the fridge.

Some alternative methods:

Add dry white wine instead of the water (I am going to try adding dry cider instead of water next time).

Instead of separating the stock and fat, pour the mixed drained juices over the rillettes so that it seeps into the meat and a layer of fat forms on top.

The Traditional English Breakfast

The Full English Breakfast, as it is known today, is based, like so many British traditions, on what became popular amongst middle-class families in the Victorian era.

In 1861, Mrs Beeton's The Book of Household Management,  suggested that the 'comfortable meal called breakfast' could include a selection from:
"Broiled fish, such as mackerel, whiting, herrings, dried haddocks, &c.; mutton chops and rump-steaks, broiled sheep's kidneys, kidneys à la maître d'hôtel, sausages, plain rashers of bacon, bacon and poached eggs, ham and poached eggs, omelets, plain boiled eggs, oeufs-au-plat, poached eggs on toast, muffins, toast, marmalade, butter, &c."

Many villagers kept a cottage pig, and it was an essential part of the family economy, fed on kitchen scraps, windfall apples, and acorns collected in the autumn. But a Victorian working class farm labourer was more likely to have a slice of bread spread with jam or dripping (the fat from roasting meat) than a cooked breakfast. Curing the pork for bacon was a way of preserving the meat. Black pudding used the pigs blood, and sausages were made from the meat and fat scraps left from its butchery.

My take on the traditional English breakfast includes grilled bacon (own-cured bacon from Phil @theClockhouse, Tenbury Wells), Ludlow sausage (from DW Wall & Sons, Ludlow), black pudding (made at the Ludlow Food Centre), fried free-range egg (from Whistlewood, Boraston), tomato and mushroom (from The Barn store, Tenbury Wells) and fried bread.

Christmas Dinner at Hanbury Hall

Hanbury Hall is a charming National Trust house near Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire. This December the dining room table has been laid for Christmas Dinner as it might have been in the late Georgian period (1750-1800).

Bombay Duck

Bombay Duck is not, of course, a bird, but a dried and salted fish from India. The fish are trimmed and filleted, brined, and hung up on racks on the beach to dry in the sun. It has a pungent smell and is an acquired taste, but has a following among the affectionardos of Indian food.

Bombay Duck is usually prepared by frying or heating in the oven, and can be eaten as a side dish or crumbled over curries. It can also be cooked with other ingredients as a starter dish to an Indian meal.

Bombay Duck was banned by the European Commission in 1997 on public health grounds, because of the way in which it is produced. Thankfully, commonsense prevailed and this restiction was lifted in 2003 on condition that the product was packed in an EC approved facility, and one has been approved in Mumbai.  However, it has been slow to return to restaurants in the UK and is often difficult to find.

We are fortunate that the excellent Balti Bar restaurant in Cleobury Mortimer has it on the menu at a very reasonable £1.50 (as does its partner restaurant, the Spice Empire). I recommend that you try it, as I did last night.