King Richard II’s recipe book goes online

The Forme of Curry was written in 1390 in middle english containing over 200 recipes used in the royal court. It is an extremely rare manuscript that the library of Oxford are about to digitally copy and put online for all to see.

Luckily for you, I’ve found a great text only version of this book and surprisingly, middle english isn’t that hard to read - not as bad as Beowulf at least.

Here’s a recipe for cooking geese: (seems the middle aged people loved a hot pot):

GEES IN HOGGEPOT [1]. XXXI.

Take Gees and smyte hem on pecys. cast hem in a Pot do þerto half
wyne and half water. and do þerto a gode quantite of Oynouns and
erbest. Set it ouere the fyre and couere [2] it fast. make a layour
of brede and blode an lay it þerwith. do þerto powdour fort and serue
it fort.

The Introduction to the book written in 1780 made some great observations of what our Anglican ancestors ate around roman times:

The Aborigines of Britain, to come nearer home, could have no great
expertness in Cookery, as they had no oil, and we hear nothing of
their butter, they used only sheep and oxen, eating neither hares,
though so greatly esteemed at Rome, nor hens, nor geese, from a
notion of superstition. Nor did they eat fish. There was little corn
in the interior part of the island, but they lived on milk and flesh
[11]; though it is expressly asserted by Strabo that they had no
cheese [12]. The later Britons, however, well knew how to make the
best use of the cow, since, as appears from the laws of _Hoel Dda_,
A.D. 943, this animal was a creature so essential, so common and
useful in Wales, as to be the standard in rating fines, &c. [13].

More interestingly is the sheer range of exotic spices available to the royal court. Here’s a sauce that uses galangal, a spice that really only became widely known here with the interest in Thai cooking:

SAWSE MADAME.

Take sawge. persel. ysope. and saueray. quinces. and peeres [1],
garlek and Grapes. and fylle the gees þerwith. and sowe the hole þat
no grece come out. and roost hem wel. and kepe the grece þat fallith
þerof. take galytyne and grece and do in a possynet, whan the gees
buth rosted ynowh; take an smyte hem on pecys. and þat tat [2] is
withinne and do it in a possynet and put þerinne wyne if it be to
thyk. do þerto powdour of galyngale. powdour douce and salt and boyle
the sawse and dresse þe Gees in disshes and lay þe sowe onoward.

Which in modern english reads: Take sage, parsley, hyssop and savoury, quinces and pears, garlic and grapes, and stuff the geese with them. Sew the hole so that no grease comes out, and roast them well, and keep the dripping that falls from them. Take galyntyne [sauce or jelly of meat juices] and grease and add to a posset; when the geese be roasted enough, take and smite [cut] them into pieces, and that which is within and add to a posset and put wine in it if it be too thick. Add powder of galingale, powder-douce and salt, and boil the sauce and dress the geese in dishes and put the sauce on them.)

If you love food and history, grab a coffee and spend half an hour skipping through the text version of this amazing book.

Once again in the introduction there’s an amazing detail of the various spices used at the time, the entry for sugar shows just how intricate the trade routes were back in the middle ages:

Sugar, or Sugur [103], was now beginning here to take place of honey;
however, they are used together, No. 67. Sugar came from the Indies,
by way of Damascus and Aleppo, to Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, and from
these last places to us [104]. It is here not only frequently used,
but was of various sorts, as _cypre_, No. 41. 99. 120. named probably
from the isle of Cyprus, whence it might either come directly to us,
or where it had received some improvement by way of refining. There
is mention of _blanch-powder or white sugar_, 132. They, however,
were not the same, for see No. 193. Sugar was clarified sometimes
with wine [105].

Spices. _Species_. They are mentioned in general No. 133, and _whole
spices_, 167, 168. but they are more commonly specified, and are
indeed greatly used, though being imported from abroad, and from so
far as Italy or the Levant (and even there must be dear), some may
wonder at this: but it shouid be considered, that our Roll was
chiefly compiled for the use of noble and princely tables; and the
same may be said of the Editor’s MS. The spices came from the same
part of the world, and by the same route, as sugar did. The _spicery_
was an ancient department at court, and had its proper officers.

As to the particular sorts, these are,

Cinamon. is the Italian _Canella_. See Chaucer. We have the flour or
powder, No. 20. 62. See Wiclif. It is not once mentioned in Apicius.

Macys, They are used whole, No. 158. and are always expressed plurally, though we
now use the singular, _mace_. See Junii Etym.

Cloves. No. 20. Dishes are flourished with them, where we have _clowys gylofres_, as in our Roll, No.
_Powdour gylofre_ occurs 65. 191. Chaucer has _clowe_ in the singular, and see him v. Clove-gelofer.

Galyngal, 30. and elsewhere. Galangal, the long rooted cyperus [106], is a warm cardiac and cephalic. It is used in powder, 30. 47. and was the chief ingredient in _galentine_, which, I think, took its name
from it.

Pepper. It appears from Pliny that this pungent, warm seasoning, so much in esteem at Rome [107], came from the East Indies [108], and, as we may suppose, by way of Alexandria. We obtained it no doubt, in the 14th century, from the same quarter, though not exactly by the same route, but by Venice or Genoa. It is used both whole, No. 35, and in powder, No. 83. And long-pepper occurs, if we read the place rightly, in No. 191.

Ginger, gyngyn. 64. 136. alibi. Powder is used, 17. 20. alibi. and
Rabelais IV. c. 59. the white powder, 131. and it is the name of a
mess, 139. quare whether _gyngyn_ is not misread for _gyngyr_, for
see Junii Etym. The Romans had their ginger from Troglodytica [109].

Spirit House Awards

Last night at the Restaurant and Caterers Awards, Spirit House won the Best Themed Restaurant award as well as the Best Tourism Restaurant Award. I think there will be a few sore heads this morning as our staff love to celebrate.

Spirit House ‘Business Sense’

From the Business Sense program on Channel 9 on Sunday mornings is this segment interviewing Helen Brierty - owner with her husband, Peter, of the Spirit House. Here’s a great insight into the beginnings and business lessons behind the Spirit House

Slow Motion Lightning

Amazing view of lightning shot with a high speed camera:

Whole Crispy Fish Recipe

This Spirit House signature dish is one of the easiest to make - as long as you’re not scared of a wok of boiling oil or you have a large deep fryer.

The Tamarind Chilli Sauce

The easy way …
You can take the easy way out and head to an IGA and buy a bottle of Spirit House Tamarind Chilli Sauce. Here’s the method: open bottle, pour 100ml or so into a saucepan and heat. For a strong flavour, boil sauce for a few minutes to reduce the sauce down a tad.

… If that was too easy, you can do it the hard way and make your own sauce …
Make your own tamarind chilli sauce
4 tablespoons chopped garlic
4 red chillies, finely chopped, deseeded
2 golden or red shallots, sliced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh or
pickled galangal
1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander root or stem
10 white peppercorns
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar
half cup tamarind water
coriander or Thai sweet basil to garnish

method:
in mortar, pound white peppercorns, add garlic, shallots, galangal, coriander root - pound to coarse paste.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in wok and stir fry the paste and chillies until fragrant - about 2 minutes. Add fish sauce, palm sugar, tamarind water. The sauce should be sweet, tangy and salty and should be quite thick. If too dry, moisten with a few tablespoons water. Simmer this sauce for a few minutes for the flavours to come together. Remove sauce from wok, keep warm.

Cooking The Fish

1 whole fish, weighing about 500 gms -cleaned, scaled, gutted & gilled
plain flour to coat fish
4 cups vegetable oil for deep frying

Method
Score both sides of the fish diagonally with a sharp knife. This opens the flesh making it quicker to cook and easier to eat.

In a Wok, make sure oil is sizzling hot by testing with a piece of garlic. Slide fish gently into oil, head first. Using wok flipper, spoon oil over the top of the fish while cooking. This will take about
10 minutes. Carefully turn the fish over, fry on the second side for about 5 minutes. Carefully lift out, drain on paper towel.

Transfer to serving platter, spread apart the gill area just behind the head, this will make it easy for the fish to stand upright on the plate spoon over sauce and garnish with coriander leaves or basil.

Louis Vuiton Trash Bag

How rich people take out the trash:

Leaves and spray paint = art

Not food related but very cool - grab a cheap chinese canvas from a hobby shop and some spraypaint and you’re ready to make some high end art. Well at least that’s my plan for my 8 year old niece and I this weekend. This video shows you how:

Had trouble with your luggage?

We all have our share of travel stories but none are as funny as what happened to this Welsh comedian’s bag when he came to Australia. I never would have thought such a simple event could be so funny and not a swear word in sight.

A whole new way of seeing the world

Guaranteed: You’ve never seen data presented like this. By any logic, a presentation that tracks global health and poverty trends should be, in a word: boring. But in Rosling’s hands, data sings. Trends come to life. And the big picture — usually hazy at best — snaps into sharp focus.

Rosling developed breakthrough software which animates trends in incredible ways showing you that most of the third world is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity, and many countries are moving twice as fast as the west did. This has UNBELIEVABLE impacts on the world as you and I might know it.

Bring a tear to your eye

Cleaning up the bookmarks in my web browser I found this gem. At the time of this clip, Paul Potts used to be a salesman at ‘carphone warehouse’ … just shows you never to judge anyone by their job. Turn your speakers up, and try not to cry.