Pie Shenanigans!

 

Each WW I try to take on dinner for the household, and I was looking for an idea. Well, On the way to Kingdom A&S there was a pit stop at Norske Nook for pie, and it dawned on me that given mediaeval food preservation methods, that a mediaeval camp would consist of a large amount of foods preserved in a crust. In addition, my household brother and I are well known for shenanigans, and this played right into one of our inside jokes.

And so pie shenanigans commenced! 

Mediaeval feast days would have been a long drawn out affair, with several courses, and entertainments presented between the removals. I styled my courses after french traditions, which varies slightly from the mediaeval pattern, but I didn’t have the bandwidth to study humoral theory in the midst of everything else.  These pies also don’t subscribe to any one time or place, they were chosen for availability of ingredients, and frankly my personal whim.

 

All the pies and sauces were made in the week before the event and then kept cold or frozen, for modern food safety precautions, and thawed the day of the feast. Due to time and energy involved, I used several premade pie crusts, but used period recipes for the meat crusts. The hand pies were edible coffins made in oversized muffin tins. I used a cookie cutter to distinguish the pies from each other, and provide venting. In period any venting would have been sealed with fat while hot for preservation.

The plan was for 12 people give or take, and so everything was split between 2 tables, each table getting its own pie.

Course 1- appetisers

Breads, various cheeses, butter, honey butter, garlic butter, and tapenade

Water, hydromel and white wine on the table. 

Course 2- savoury pies 

(2) spinach* tarts (our laurel is allergic to spinach so adjusted the quantity of the greens to eliminate the spinach.)

https://medievalcookery.com/recipes/display.html?make1001

(2) Mushroom tarts- Looking back, the mushroom pie had a bit of texture issues, and would have been better served fresh.  

http://greneboke.com/recipes/mushroomtart.html 

(2) Parsnip pie- I added honey as the parsnips were cooking.

https://medievalcookery.com/recipes/display.html?pars1001 

Course 3- meat pies

(2) Salmon pies - I used honey, mustard and rosemary for seasoning, shaped it like a fish, and plated it on a bed of salad. 

https://medievalcookery.com/recipes/display.html?salm1001 

(15) Chicken and pear hand pies

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2014/03/how-to-fill-your-coffin.html 

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2014/03/how-to-raise-edible-coffin-1594.html

(15) Venison date and currant hand pies- I substituted Venison for veal in the recipe

https://toriavey.com/shakespearean-cooking-funeral-baked-meats/

Dipping sauces- 

Cameline, http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec13.htm

Aioli, http://www.godecookery.com/friends/frec127.html

Mustard http://www.godecookery.com/begrec/begrec46.htm

Red wine on the table

Course 4- sweet pies

(1) Cherry rose torte- I deviated from the recipe to make it open faced, my child liked it so much they stole one, and it has become a household recipe. 

https://medievalcookery.com/recipes/display.html?cher1002 

(2) Pear Tart- I choose this one because it used up the bits of fruit I had left from other parts of the feast

http://greneboke.com/recipes/peartart.html 

(2) Darioles- Courtesy of Edwin

Various household members contributed bread, cheese, salad, wine, and helped decant the sauces and plate the meal. 

Although we soon found out that we had an abundance of pie, and began inviting more folks to join, it became a jovial feast by the end, with leftovers for the next day.

Lady Isabelle Montfort de Bretagne