Hard Eggs, part 2

In Part 1 I tried out Alton Brown's recipe for hard-cooking eggs in the oven.

Next I'll show you the results of cooking eggs in ashes and in salt, the more historical methods.

Well, the first attempt was not really in ashes after all.  The fire pit in my field kitchen was so hot that I thought I should just put the eggs in there.  I even built a little heat block so the eggs didn't cook too quickly.

This turned out not to be the best idea because after two hours in there, I cracked one to see how it was doing.  Oops!  It was only partially cooked and when I put it back into the heat, it popped open.
 
I put some hot coals right next to the remaining two eggs and let them sit for another two hours.  They were still somewhat raw, but that didn't stop the people who like soft-cooked eggs from eating them.

I would call this a "failure".

I tried again later by putting the eggs right into the hot ashes.  This fire was a lot hotter and it took all of five minutes for both eggs to explode with a startlingly loud BOOM!  They didn't make a mess (they just opened up; no shrapnel was ejected) but it sure scared me when they exploded.

Then I tried later that same day when the fire wasn't as hot and put the eggs in the ashes.  This time it took about 10 minutes for them to explode.  No such luck in getting eggs cooked in ashes.  I still consider it a failure.

Next I tried cooking eggs in the salt.  I put a layer of rock salt in a cast iron pan and set the eggs on top.

Then I covered them completely with more rock salt.  One thing I realized is that if I kept the salt reasonably clean, I could use it over and over again.

Then I put it into the fire pit with the full force of the heat.  I turned it once after about an hour since most of the heat was on one side.

After two hours I took out one of the eggs.  It was cooked to the point of being scorched around the edges!

All three eggs were like that but again, that didn't stop the hard cooked egg eaters from devouring them.  In fact, the feedback was that the eggs were very tasty.

I would call this a "success" with the caveat that I should try again to get the right timing down.  I thought it was interesting that the first attempt at both methods had the salt eggs cooking quickly as compared to the ones just in the fire pit.  They were all placed in the heat at about the same time.   And then I had such trouble getting the eggs in ashes to cook without exploding.

Hard Eggs, part 1

I know.  You are not used to seeing "hard eggs"; you expect to see "hard boiled eggs".  Well the Alton Brown recipe for Hard Cooked Eggs strolled across my desktop one day and I knew that I had to try it.

He tells you how to cook eggs in the oven instead of boiling them on the stove.  Here's his recipe:  Hard Cooked Eggs. 

I'm excited about this idea for two reasons.  One is that if I'm going to make a few dozen hard eggs then I hate having to haul that heavy pan full of water and attempt to keep the eggs from cracking while they are cooking.  (You have to regulate the heat just right to keep them from boiling vigorously.)  The other is the historical connection.  It made sense to me that people who cooked on a hearth had heat and ashes to spare so why fill a pan full of water and bring it to a boil?

A little reading told me that even during the Elizabethan period in England, people hard boiled eggs.  But before that, when pans for boiling liquids were not as prevalent, what was done?  Easy!  You bake them!

I have seen two references for the process:  bake them in ashes or pack them in a shovel full of rock salt and bake them.  I can see that the first is the easiest but it takes experience to regulate the heat.  When you pack them in salt, it acts as a heat regulator; that is, it heats the egg more uniformly.

I decided to try all three methods.

First I used Alton Brown's method.  I put the eggs on the rack in a preheated 325 degree oven and baked them for 30 minutes.  It was so easy!  I put them in, set the timer, and ignored them until the timer went off.

The eggs sit right on the rack when they cook.

I didn't quite follow the directions when I tried the recipe the first time.  I didn't put the eggs into cold or ice water when I removed them from the oven -- I just put them on a rack to cool on the counter.  I was curious to see how they turned out.

Eggs cooling on the counter.

 Nearly every egg had the little brown spots.  A few were lightly cracked but none exploded or leaked white into the oven.

But the big question was:  How well did they cook? I took one egg and sliced it in half right through the shell.

It looked great!  Both the yolk and the white were firm and cooked.  I saw a little bit of the green ring around the yolk that tells me it was overcooked and I confirmed it by pulling out the yolk.

I assumed it was my fault that the yolk was overcooked because I didn't put the eggs into cold or ice water when they came out of the oven.  I have tried this several times since and put them in cold water -- and they always come out perfectly cooked.

I wondered why they were all spotted with the brown dots.  It looks like the little air pocket that all hen's eggs have is the culprit.

I suspect the air inside expanded and cracked the egg.  The moisture inside boiled and that is what caused all the splattering.  It certainly doesn't affect the taste of the egg!

The Verdict:  A resounding success!  Much better than I had expected because it is easy.  The second time I tried it I cooked a dozen eggs at once and it was just as easy.  *It helps to use some tongs to move the eggs to the cold water.  I used the metal kind that has loops as the tong ends; it made grabbing the egg and getting it to the water simple and risk-free.

So that's my experiment with an alternative method for cooking eggs until they are hard.  A later attempt used eggs cold from the refrigerator -- very cold -- and half of them cracked when done.  None leaked or caused a problem in the oven.  I would recommend letting them warm up for even 10 or 15 minutes before putting them in a hot oven.

In the next part, I play around with cooking eggs in ashes and packed in salt.

My Own Tudor Kitchen

Not only do I like to try historical recipes at home, I sometimes demonstrate historical cooking techniques for the public.  This year, with a lot of help from my friends, I created a Tudor Kitchen -- as close to what was found during Queen Elizabeth I's reign as time and budget allowed.

It is actually a field kitchen because it is outdoors.  If a noble person or the Queen herself traveled, sometimes the Kitchen would travel ahead and be set up and cooking when the Lord or Queen arrived.  Or, in the too-often event of a kitchen building burning down (this is why they were built separately from the living quarters), a field kitchen would be erected so food preparation could continue.

The idea was to create a theater set that convinced people they were actually seeing a period kitchen in action.  Certain adjustments for modern fire regulations and to help control public access were made but overall, I thought it turned out well.

Here is the morning of the first day it was open, before the public arrived and before the tools, serving containers, and other items were out.  In other words, this is an undecorated set.

We made it visually interesting by using a lot of colors.  The red and brown box you see is both a counter and a place to hide the modern ice chest and other food supplies.  This is handy because you don't have to leave the set to get your food items and it keeps them shaded and therefore cooler.

Here is a close up of the fire pit.

It is built out of cinder blocks (unmortared) and has a cinder block base to keep the fire up off the ground.  I plastered it over with a mix of clay, sand, and water to make it look less like modern cinder block.  Unfortunately, most of that mix didn't survive the torrential rains that followed the first weekend.

Then we pulled out the props:  bowls, plates, platters, knives, fire tools, cooking pots, spoons, cooking forks, goblets, tankards, etc., and we decorated the set.

I had spent time examining pictures (drawings) of medieval and Elizabethan kitchens and realized that what made them interesting was the joyful clutter of items.  Perhaps those drawings were "condensed", meaning the items were more spread out or not always out but were put into the drawing just to show them.  But I was there to cook and entertain the public, so I reached for the cluttered look.

It turns out this was really too cluttered -- the entire counter top was full and there was almost no room to put food that was being pulled out from under it.  So after that we didn't put out as many props.

Here's what it looked like the second weekend:

That's not me.  That's my assistant, "Lizzie".

The wooden cabinet on the left was a wonderful place to stack the quantities of bowls and platters I would use throughout the day.

To the right of the cabinet we had shelves that were reserved for the "special" items, like glass (expensive at the time), nice tankards, a marble mortar, and fine pottery with turned wooden lids.  There is even a baker's peel and realistic-looking skinned hare.

By the end of the day, those "S hooks" near the hare were filled with fresh herbs tied and hung for drying.

Here are most of the cast iron pots and pans that I cook with:

This cook yard was put to use both Saturday and Sunday for seven weekends by me and by others.  It was functional, roomy, fun, and fascinating to observe.  Some visitors were pulled in by the smell of the cooking food -- especially when we had a chicken roasting on the spit!  Others were intrigued by all the items we had set out.

I had many a good conversation about what I was cooking, how I was cooking it, the various spices and preparation techniques utilized, and whether or not that rabbit was real.  (Of course it is real.  It is not imaginary!)

We produced a number of tasty dishes each day; I did mostly cooking and the person using it on Sunday did mostly baking.  Much of the food went to feed the rest of the people who were there to demonstrate and entertain.

The Verdict:  Success!  It was the best place I have ever had for demonstrating historical cooking techniques.  We got a lot of positive feedback from our fellow performers as well as the public and I have many fond memories of cooking, making mistakes (and laughing them off), learning new techniques, and having excellent conversations about it.

Look for a future posting that goes into detail about the cooking pots and special tools I used.

More on Tarte Goyere -- Upgrade!

I recently had the most incredible appetizer while having dinner with my daughter.  It was a bleu cheese creme brulee served with a thick fig jam on the side.  You scooped both onto a crostini drizzled with a bit of balsamic vinegar reduction.  Yes, the creme brulee even had that light crust of caramelized sugar on top.  Heavenly.  We could have made the entire dinner off of that (but glad we didn't; the entrees that followed were also dreamy!)

This sparked a discussion between us about the Tarte Goyere -- wouldn't it be great to add that fruit flavor to this medieval dish?

So we did!  We searched a farmer's market and a store and had no luck acquiring fig jam.  However we did decide that a rich cider apple butter would make an acceptable substitute.  

My daughter quickly made the tarte and put it into the oven for 15 minutes.  Then she thinly covered the top with a mix of 4 tablespoons of apple butter and 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar.  We tasted the mix before it went on -- she adjusted it until you got that light bite of the vinegar but it did not come through strongly as vinegar.  Then she cooked it for 10 minutes more followed by just a few minutes under the broiler.

After dinner picture!

The Verdict:  My, oh my!  The taste was lovely.  We both agreed that it needed more of the apple butter flavor so we simply spooned more on our slices at the table.  I made sure some of the apple butter got on my crust, too.  This was definitely a culinary success.

Notes:  She used an egg beater to whip the eggs and only got them to the foamy stage.  (The original recipe said, "Whip the eggs" which means I took it to soft peaks.)  This did not affect the overall texture of the tarte but she believes the broiling is what made it right.  She commented that the tarte didn't get puffy until it was under the broiler.

She also used 6 ounces of bleu cheese for a stronger bleu flavor, thinking it would go better with the apple butter.  She was right!

She also feels that next time she would start with the thicker layer of apple butter because it would be easier to spread.  She would also make sure it got on the crust, which was folded over the edges of the tarte.  

A Tarte of Strawberries

It is strawberry season (hooray!) and I have a large quantity just asking to be made into something historical.  I found this site on the web:  Cariadoc's Miscellany; Desserts, Appetisers, Etc.

"Cariadoc" is the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) name of David Friedman, the man who assembled a collection of medieval and Renaissance recipes (receipts) from a variety of sources.  He lists the source with each receipt and includes his redaction.

I chose a Strawberry Tarte receipt along with the recommended receipt for the crust.

To Make Short Paest for Tarte

A Proper Newe Book p. 37/C10

Take fyne floure and a curscy of fayre water and a dysche of swete butter and a lyttel saffron, and the yolkes of two egges and make it thynne and as tender as ye maye.

3/4 c flour
1 T + 1 t water
1/2 stick = 4 T butter
6 threads saffron
1 egg yolk












Cut butter into flour, then crush saffron into 1 t of water; mix that and the rest of the water with the egg yolk and stir it into the flour-butter mixture.

_________________________________________________________________________

***Normally I would cheat and buy a premade pie crust (I know, but it is soooo convenient!) but this one includes saffron and I really wanted see how it tasted.

I did all the mixing by hand, using a fork to cut in the butter and using my fingers to gently and lightly blend the dough.  Using good pastry-making techniques, I used cold water, cold butter, and only worked it until the butter and flour looked like corn meal and the complete mixture was barely blended.

I didn't take any pictures of this process until I started rolling out the dough.  You can see the flecks of saffron in it.

I still don't have an 8 inch pie pan so I used my 8 inch cake pan.

The amount of dough was pretty close to exactly what I needed, given that I rolled it very thin.

It only shrank a little once it had been cooked for its ten minutes (as mentioned below).

Now, on to the filling!

A Tarte of Strawberries

A Proper Newe Book p. 39/C11

Take and strain them with the yolks of four eggs, and a little white bread grated, then season it up with sugar and sweet butter and so bake it.

2 c strawberries
4 egg yolks
1/2 c bread crumbs
1/3 c sugar
4 T butter
8" pie shell (see recipe above)

Force strawberries through a strainer or run through a blender, then mix with everything else (the butter should be melted).

Just blended strawberries

 

Strawberries and everything else

Bake crust for 10 minutes, then put filling into the crust and bake at 375deg. for 20 minutes.  *Note:  I baked the crust and let it cool while I was making the filling.

Before baking

After baking

My observations:  20 minutes at 375 degrees is exactly the right amount of time to cook the filling.  It was perfectly set and well-flavored.

This is before I chilled it

Using a blender is a good thing, as it made the process quick and easy.  Since the receipt didn't say how to measure the strawberries (whole?  sliced?), I sliced them up right into the blender to its measure of 2 cups.


The result?  I loved the taste of the filling before it went into the oven.  It was a light and flavorful strawberry "mousse" of sorts.  Once the tarte was cool, I tried a piece.  Overall I liked it but there was something, some aftertaste, that I didn't like.  So I chilled the whole thing and tried it again later.  The flavor was still good but that aftertaste remained.  I think that off-flavor was the crust, which I didn't like much because the bottom was tough.

There was really only one thing to do:  Make another one!  This time I used the premade crust.  The only other difference between the first and second tartes was that in the second one, I poured the filling into the hot crust as soon as it had baked its ten minutes.  In the first, I poured the filling into the cooled crust.

Take two!

 The crust was cooked more than the first, probably because it didn't have a chance to cool down before the filling went in.  The "off" flavor was gone which I suspect was contributed by the saffron but am still not sure.  It was also gone from the first attempt after two days in the refrigerator.

The second crust was not tough.  It could be that the first crust got tough because it was allowed to cool before I filled it.

Having two pies in the house prompted me to take one to work to share.  I asked people for their honest (not "polite") feedback.  The responses were overwhelmingly "I like it" with an emphasis on how much the delicate strawberry flavor came through.  One person, who admits to being very particular about textures, wished the filling was stiffer, more like a custard.  But she still thought it was good overall. 

The Verdict:  I declare it a success!  I would try the saffron crust again but will either increase the quantity so it didn't have to be rolled quite so thin or use an actual 8 inch pie pan.  And I will follow the directions better so the crust doesn't cool before I put in the filling.  I think it deserves another chance, certainly.

More on Brawn en Peverade

Last night I made Brawn en Peverade but I made a variety of modifications.

The first was that I didn't have my usual spice selection available (it's a long story!) so I had to get creative.  Instead of the specified mace, pepper, cinnamon, and cloves, I used Grains of Paradise, cardamom, and cinnamon.

I'm pretty new to using Grains of Paradise; they are considered a pepper substitute.  They do have a peppery-bite that is strong before they are cooked and milder afterwards.

The spice combination was very fragrant while cooking.  The meat and gravy had a lovely flavor, too.  I really liked it!  One thing about the Grains of Paradise -- they had a "slow peppery bite"; that is, first I tasted their flavor then shortly thereafter a light pepper burn spread across my tongue.  Not unpleasant at all! 

In my first attempt at this recipe, I loved the gravy but noticed it was a bit gritty when I first made it.  So my thoughts then were to start soaking the dried bread crumbs in the wine and wine vinegar when the meat went into the oven.  I did that this time but without the results I had hoped for.  The gravy was not gritty, however it never did thicken properly.  I had to make adjustments to get it to thicken.

Also, I used white wine instead of red and the flavor was good.

Green Cheese

No, not Green Eggs and Ham, although I think I should make that for St. Patrick's Day some time.  This is a typical "farmer's cheese" made without rennet.  It is called "green" because it is unripened.  It is a lot like cottage cheese or ricotta.

It is as easy as can be to make and fun, too.  The ingredients are few:

1/2 gallon whole milk
1/4 - 1/2 cup white vinegar
salt is optional

First heat the milk in a pan over a low fire.

And I mean very low!

You want the milk to heat slowly so it doesn't skin over, or at least not too much.  Let it warm until small bubbles start forming at the edges and maybe a few in the middle.

Take it off the fire and gently stir in the vinegar.

The acid in the vinegar makes the milk solids separate from the liquids.  This is Little Miss Muffet's Curds and Whey!

Some curds already separating out.

I first put in 1/4 cup of vinegar.  After it had set for about 5 minutes, there were curds but the liquid was still very white.  That means you can get more curds out of it, so I added another 1/4 cup of vinegar.

Now it looks just like it should:  white curds and golden whey.

The curds are fully separated from the whey.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes or so to finish curding and to cool.

Next you line a strainer with cheese cloth or unbleached muslin.  Pour the mixture into it, so you keep the curds and discard the whey.

You can keep the whey if you'd like.  I'm sure there are some recipes out there for it, and I've heard you can use it as the primary liquid for bread, too, although I've never tried it.  There have been days where I was demonstrating cooking techniques while cooking over charcoal and sitting in the sun, and I found that the whey tastes very, very good then.   Try it; you may like it.  I've enjoyed it both warm and cold.

The recipe I first learned from suggests you squeeze the curds to press out the whey but I found this tends to push the curds through the cheesecloth.  So I just let it drain for about an hour.  That seems to work well.

Once it is done you have moist but not soggy curds that smell like fresh milk.

You can mix in a little salt to flavor it and to help preserve it.  You can also mix in a variety of things:  herbs, chopped fruit, spices, or even a little cream to smooth out the texture.  Before you put in the cream, though, work the curds thoroughly with a fork to break them up into smaller pieces.  You may like that texture better and don't need the cream.

Keep in mind that you only get about 1 - 2 cups of curds from 1/2 gallon of milk.  That tells me why cheese is so expensive!

The Verdict:  Success, as always!  This recipe has never failed me.  It is fun, easy, and makes a tasty result.

This is an old, old recipe.  People have made cheese like this for centuries.  You are limited only by your imagination in what you can do with it.  Make lasagna or a sweet spread for bread or something to put between cake layers or...

I'll leave it to you!

Brawn en Peverade -- Pork in Pepper Sauce

My favorite receipt book for medieval cookery is Pleyn Delit ("plain delight"), which has the subtitle of "Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks".  The first two authors listed, Constance B. Hieatt and Brenda Hosington, are professors of English and linguistics (respectively) with an emphasis on medieval studies.  The third author, Sharon Butler, was also an Old English specialist and artist.  All the recipes are verified and based on manuscript readings; "Authenticity of composition, taste, and appearance are the book's main concern."

Publisher:  University of Toronto Press

The receipts are interesting; not all "weird" or "shocking" so as to make you think that medieval people ate nothing but cow's udders and dormice (we'll leave that to the Romans!).  I've tried a number of them and have found them to be worthwhile and often delightful.  What I like is that they include the original recipe written in its original form, which could be in Old English or Middle English.  Once you get used to reading and interpreting these languages, you can see for yourself how well the modern, redacted versions were done.

This is receipt #76, Brawn en Peverade.  The receipts are numbered, not the pages.

3 lbs boneless pork tenderloin or 4 lb lean, tender pork roast (not small chunks)
24 very small onions (1 inch diameter) or fewer slightly larger ones, peeled
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp each mace, freshly ground pepper
1/8 tsp cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
3 tsp wine vinegar (I used balsamic)
2 cups beef broth (I used chicken broth, which was what was on hand)
3 Tbsp red wine
1/4 breadcrumbs or 1 - 2 slices of bread, soaked in the wine
optional:  pinch saffron, sandalwood spice  (I skipped this part)

Brown pork in a frying pan, then put it in a casserole with onions, salt, spices, and 1 tsp of the vinegar.

Browned in the frying pan

The spices

After the spices were sprinkled on

Pour the beef broth over, cover tightly, and cook in a 350 degree oven about 1 1/2 hours, until meat is done.  Remove it to a serving platter and slice neatly.  Keep it warm in the turned-off oven while making sauce.

Right out of the oven

Strain cooking juices into a bowl, reserving onions.  Blend breadcrumbs or soaked bread with wine and 2 tsp vinegar until very smooth; beat in cooking juices and stir in a saucepan with the reserved onions until sauce is hot, smooth, and thick; then pour sauce over the meat on its platter and serve.

The sauce is nearly ready

Dinner is served.  I should have garnished it with parsley!

The Verdict:  This was very, very good.  Easy to make and tasty to eat.  I served it with a tossed green salad and homemade sourdough bread, and felt I had made a worthwhile dinner.  I was especially happy to discover that the pepper is a nice flavor but is not overwhelmingly so.  (I am not always fond of pepper in my food.)

My notes: 
I used pearl onions, which worked well.

After I measured the spices into the bowl, I mixed them together and used my fingers to sprinkle them evenly over the meat and onions.  Then I dribbled the vinegar over the meat and the onions.

I would not use balsamic again because it is not acid enough -- when I first tasted the sauce I wanted more of a vinegar "bite", so I mixed in about a teaspoon of rice vinegar and that made it right.  Also, I used a fairly mild red wine and I think I would use a more robust-flavored one next time. 

My interpretation of the directions caused me to put the breadcrumbs in with the wine when making the sauce; next time I will start soaking the breadcrumbs when the meat goes in the oven.  The problem is that the sauce was gritty at first; after it sat for awhile that went away and was more pleasant.  **In case you haven't done this before, the bread crumbs are the thickener for the sauce; it is a healthier method that using a roux because a roux uses butter.  Bread crumbs are a very medieval way to thicken a sauce. I keep a container of them in my freezer. 

Finally, I did not put the reserved onions into the sauce until it had begun to thicken.  My experience is that big chunky items like that get in the way of whisking the sauce, so once the sauce was smooth and thick, I added the onions and heated them through.

I can and have recommended this book to others who are interested in medieval cooking.  It is a good way to get started understanding this fascinating cuisine.

Tarte Goyere -- A Cheese Tart

The recipe is from the same book as the Baked Stuffed Pumpkin (page 20).  The name of the recipe tells you it is an old version!  The text in the book says, "Cheese tarts, both sweetened and not, have been eaten since the Middle Ages.  This version may be served either hot or cold."

I used this recipe as a savory main dish accompanied by a large bowl of mixed vegetable salad. 

1 8 ounce package cream cheese at room temperature
2 eggs, separated
pinch salt, white pepper (I used black pepper)
1/4 tsp thyme
2 Tbsp cream (I used sour cream)
1/2 to 1 cup strong cheese (parmesan, rouquefort, sharp cheddar) 
    (I used blue cheese, a little over 1/2 cup))
1 8-inch pie crust, unbaked

Beat egg yolk, cream cheese, cream and seasonings until smooth.

Add strong cheese, beat until well blended.

Whip egg whites and fold into cheese mixture.  Pour into prepared pie crust and bake in the bottom half of a preheated 375 degree oven 20 minutes, or until pastry is well-browned and cheese is firm.  If cheese browns too quickly, cover with a piece of brown paper or foil.

(I baked mine in a straight-sided 8 inch diameter cake pan since I have no 8 inch pie pan or 8 inch tart pan.  The quantity for the pan seemed just right.)

Before going into the oven

Puffy when it came out of the oven

Settled a bit when it cooled

Other resources tell me that recipes for cheese tarts have remained nearly the same despite the passing of over 500 years.  This version uses the whipped egg whites folded into the batter of eggs, cheese, and spices; basically making it a Chiffon Cheese Tart!  When I have made similar tarts (in particular with onions and brie cheese, an "Ember Tart"), the cooked filling was dense.  I expected this to be fluffier and was not disappointed.

The Verdict:  As the friend who tried it with me said, "This one is a keeper!"  I loved the flavor.  The blue cheese made itself known and the thyme was a pleasant undertone, much more muted than when I tasted the batter.  Since the thyme made pleasant speckles in the batter, I didn't worry about the black pepper doing the same.  The filling was fluffy, not dense at all.  I thought about using more blue cheese the next time I try it but in all honesty, I think the strength of its flavor was just right.  Not overwhelming.

It was good for dinner and then good for lunch right out of the refrigerator the next day.  We thought it would make a good finger-food appetizer if you made it in mini-muffin cups, especially with a little diced ham or crispy bacon mixed in.  If you didn't want to go to the trouble of making a lot of little appetizers, you could make the 8 inch size and then cut narrow slices.

Note:  Cooking it in the bottom part of the oven was a good idea; the bottom of the crust was fully cooked and not soggy or raw tasting.