Christmas in Chaucer's Kitchen
By Tim Hazell
His breed, his ale, was alweys after oon;Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales abound with food references. In his England of the late Middle Ages, allusions to feasts, groaning tables at rustic nuptial celebrations and convergences between gastronomy and social class delineated character as well as personality. Table-fellowship, protocol based upon rank, attire and profession validated shapes of feudal community. Table and gullet for those of courtly habits and social climbers demanded exclusion of the unrepentant, the maverick and provincial, although sumptuary laws had been passed during the reign of Edward III to curb extravagance. In contrast to the modest decorum of a rural meal, feasts in well stocked houses of the nobility became opportunities to flaunt holdings and political clout. For others eschewing pride of indulgence, statutes of diet were a means of redirecting attention towards the distress of the impoverished, and therefore towards compassion.
A bettre envyned man was nowher noon.
Withoute bake mete was nevere his hous
Of fissh and flessh, and that so plentevous,
It snewed in his hous of mete and drynke,
Of alle deyntees that men koude thynke.
— Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
Earthy Yuletide traditions and celebrations meant elaborate and joyous restorative processes for all. Chaucer (1340-1400) was a master when it came to infusing food metaphors with medieval aphrodisiac lore. Crusades had brought the high gastronomic culture of the East back to English and Frankish kitchens two centuries before. Arab and Egyptian cooks taught the knights gourmet predilections of Jerusalem, Ramle and Acre, along with customs integrating music, dance and storytelling with holiday banquets. Ingredients such as lotus fruit, mustard, saffron, cloves, licorice root and coconut bore witness to trade routes that extended from west to east. Snow-cooled fruit juices were early predecessors of today’s sorbets.
The marriage of abundant game and domestic animals at home with exotic condiments from the Silk Road created options for extravagance that gilded the menus of 14th-century European households at Christmastime. Added cooking mediums such as ready-prepared sweet wines, tart verjuice and almond milk gave chefs of the day the opportunity to raise their art to a level of aesthetic enterprise whose boundaries were constantly changing. Dash and ingenuity led to ornate food presentation along with artifice in concealment (apparelling). Shifting configurations of pastry, fruits, meats and vegetables counterfeited each others forms. Ingredients took on qualities reminiscent of fluid variable architectures. Here for your revelry is a Chaucerian dish worthy of the bard’s own table, redolent with herbs from an English garden and spice of the Orient.
Henne Dorre
(Golden Cardamon Chicken)
Ingredients:
1 large roasting chicken cut into serving portions1/4 cup pecans, coarsely ground
1/4 cup cashews, coarsely ground
4 tablespoons butter or olive oil for sauteing
3 tart apples, cored and peeled
2/3 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup currants
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely crushed
good pinch of thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed cardamon
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 cup wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
Glaze:
6 egg yolks1/2 teaspoon saffron
2 tablespoons honey
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Saute the chicken and nuts in butter or olive oil in a Dutch oven or covered baking dish until the meat is lightly browned. Leave in the dish and remove from heat.
Half the apples and cut into thin slices, slivers or cubes. Place in a mixing bowl and fold in the raisins and currants.
Combine and stir together all the spices and salt. Mix with the fruits.
Distribute the spiced fruit amongst the chicken and nuts.
Stir the chicken broth and wine together and pour over the ingredients in the saucepan.
Bake covered in a slow oven for 40 to 45 minutes until the chicken is tender.
Remove from the oven and prepare the golden honey glaze.
Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees.
Beat the egg yolks, saffron and honey thoroughly. Pour the glaze evenly over the chicken so as to coat each piece, or use a basting brush for a more even golden result.
Return to the oven uncovered for 5 to 7 minutes to let the glaze (endoring) set.
Remove and serve warm garnished with rosemary or sweet basil.
Flavorful side dishes include small new potatoes boiled until just cooked and sauteed with a little Seville orange marmalade. A whole cauliflower brought to the boil, covered and left to cook in the saucepan with the heat turned off can be drained and inverted on a serving plate. Thinly sliced onion, garlic, bay leaf, cumin seed and saffron fried gently in olive oil until golden and poured over completes a resplendent presentation alongside the fragrant dish of chicken. This Roman piquant sauce makes an excellent accompaniment, as would a sweet chutney. Small bowls of crushed sweet basil, mustard and brown sugar are traditionally passed to guests during the meal.
Roman Piquant Sauce to Serve With Poultry
(Ius Candidum In Avem Elixam)
2 oz (55g.) blanched almonds1/2 level teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon chopped lovage leaves or celery stems and leaves
1 level teaspoon ground cumin
1 level teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Lightly toast the almonds and grind coarsely in a bowl. Add the pepper, lovage or celery stems and leaves, cumin, celery seed, salt and honey. Stir in the oil and vinegar. The mixture should be fairly thin at this stage as the nuts will absorb the liquid. Pour into a small saucepan and simmer very gently for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to stand in a warm place for 30 minutes. Reheat gently just before serving.