Medieval Monday – Ember Day Tarts / Emberdags Terter

A meat free fasting day tart recipe found on cookit.e2bn.org

Four times every year in the Catholic calendar, there were “Ember Days” – consisting of a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday – when meat was forbidden. Cheese and eggs, however, were allowed. An ‘Ember Day Tart’ therefore was a filling dish served instead of meat on these fasting days. The tarts in the recipe are a little like a sweet quiche.

The recipe uses galingale, it is well worth finding some as its aromatic taste is not easily replaced. You can use ginger as a substitute but this will give heat rather than a more rounded flavour.

The recipe was originally written down as follows:

‘Tart in embre day: take and parboile onynons; presse out the water & hewe hem smale;take brede & bray it in a mortar,and temper it up with ayren; do perto butter, safron, spice and salt and corans & a ltel sugar with powdor douce, and bake it in a trap,& serve it forth.’

Medieval Monday – Pork Pie / Pai Med Svinekjøtt

A historic pie recipe found on mediumaevum.tumblr.com

Tak fayre porke y-broylid, & grynd it smal with yolkys of Eyroun; than take Pepir, Gyngere, & grynd it smal, & melle it with-al, & a lytel hony, & floryssche thin cofyns with-ynne & with-owte, & hele hem with thin ledys, & late hem bake, & serue forth – Original recipe

Medieval Monday – Soul Cakes / Sjelekaker

A delicious cake recipe found on Lavender & Lovage

Karen who runs  “Lavender & Lovage” writes: These little cakes are a cross between a biscuit and a scone and were traditionally made for All Soul’s Day, which is on the 2nd of November. Packed with currants and mixed spice, these lovely little cakes are delicious with an afternoon cuppa.

This recipe is adapted from “A Calendar of Feasts – Cattern Cakes and Lace” by Julia Jones and Barbara Deer.

Plum Cake / Plumkake

A traditional cake recipe found in “Det Nye Kjøkkenbiblioteket”
(The New Kitchen Library) published in 1971

Many may  certainly find names like plum cake and plum pudding somewhat puzzling. And with good reason. The names are in fact misleading, It is not plums, but raisins and currants that gives these dishes their characterizing flavor.

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Sixteenth Century Orange Chicken / Appelsinkylling fra det Sekstende Århundre

A Elizabethan recipe found on allrecipes.com

This recipe was adapted from “A housewife’s Kitchen Guide” published in 1594! The sauce is slightly sweet, but very good.

   

Easter Biscuits / Påskekjeks

A delicious biscuit recipe found in
“Robert Carrier’s Kitchen Cook Book”
published in 1980

   

Red Currant Snow with Mint / Ripssnø med Mynte

A recipe from “Alt om Urter” (All about herbes)
published by Den Norske Bokklubben in 1985

This book is actually basically a herb encyclopedia plus a large section about growing herbs. Luckily there is a smaller section of herb recipes at the end – Ted

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Rote Grütze – German Fruit Pudding / Tysk Bærpudding

A German dessert speciality found on expatica.com

This red fruit pudding is a popular dessert in the North. It’s made from black and red currants, raspberries and sometimes strawberries or cherries, which are cooked in their juice and thickened with a little potato starch or cornflour. It’s served with cream, vanilla sauce or milk.

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Eccles Cakes / Eccleskaker

An afternoon tea  classic found on essentially-england.com

The Eccles cake is an English tradition, something ancient and respected and well-loved all over Britain. To tell the truth, it isn’t actually a “cake” at all, it’s actually a flaky, buttery pastry wrapped around a spicy currant filling. The first appearance of this luscious little treat was in 1793 when James Birch began selling them out of his shop in Eccles, England.

Who knows what he called them back then, but such names as Squashed Fly Cake, Fly Cake, Fly Pie or even a Fly’s Graveyard have been bandied about ever since, due to the uncanny resemblance of the currants to little black insects.

It still appears wonderfully appetizing, however, so I know you’re just dying to make this toothsome pudding in your own kitchen.  

 Recipe in English –  Oppskrift på norsk

Recipe posted at:

Old-fashioned Currant Cake / Gammeldags Korintkake

An old-fashioned recipe from “Norsk Ukeblads Store Bakebok” (Norsk Ukeblad’s Large Book on Baking)
published by Ernst G Mortensen’s Forlag in 1984

This recipe contains currants and since there is a little confusion about what this really is, here’s Wikipedia’s explanation on the subject;
Currants are dried, dark red, seedless grapes. They are dried to produce a black, tiny shrivelled, flavour-packed flavouring. The grapes were originally cultivated in the south of Greece, and the name currant comes from the ancient city of ‘Corinth’. These currants are known as Zante currants in the States.

 Recipe in English –  Oppskrift på norsk

Recipe posted at:

Mother Monsen / Mor Monsen

A classic Norwegian Christmas cake found on tine.no

Mother Monsen, one of my favourites, is deliciously soft and juicy unlike most other Christmas cookies and cakes we traditionally bake for Christmas here in Norway, and it has a mild lemon flavour. In addition it is very easy to make.

The most accepted theory about the name of the cake: Mother Monsen was a skilled ‘bakste kone’* Hanna Winsnes honoured by naming a visit cake after her. When she wrote her famous cookbook “Textbook in the various branches of housekeeping” in 1845, Winsnes named one of the cakes “Mrs. Monsen’s Visit Cake”. Nowadays we just call it “Mor Monsen”.

* A ‘bakste kone’ (lit: baking wife) was a woman who went from farm to farm in the weeks before Christmas baking lefse, cakes and cookies for people in the old days. These women were particularly skilled bakers and where held in high regards. The Children on the farms used to gather round these women as they baked as many of them were great storytellers too.

Tip: The cakes keep well in the refrigerator. Cut it into nice pieces, and store it in an airtight box. It can also be frozen.

See this and lots of other delicious recipes on:

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Black Currant Ham / Solbærskinke

A tasty dinner recipe found at dinmat.no

Here is a tasty and healthy Sunday dinner. Currants are full of vitamin C and has a strong flavour, and thus helps to establish a good and rich taste of the roast.

See this and other delicious recipes on:
 

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Sugared Redcurrant With Custard / Sukret Rips Med Vaniljesaus

A recipe from “Mat For Alle Årstider” (Food For All Seasons) published by Det Beste in 1977

Sugared redcurrants are among the traditional summer desserts in Norway. With currants in the freezer one can eat this healthy and good dessert all year round.

This was my favourite desert as a kid and is still among the top five. The combination of the acidic redcurrant and the cold, thick sweet custard is unbeatable on a warm summer evening – Ted

See this and lots of other delicious recipes here:

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Rum Babas

A recipe from “Good  Housekeeping – Cookery Book” published by  Ebury Press in 1976. The Book was first published in 1948

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