SC - Celtic Feast -- Long

[Melissa Martines]

Well, despite dealing with a monsoon on Monday and the minor crisis of
my Laurel Mistress Rosemounde being struck by lightning (she is OK),
Clanne Preachine in the bog did indeed hold their Early Period Celtic
Faire and I taught my class/tasting on a Celtic Feast.  I thought some
of you out there might be interested, so here's the info:

The challenge of doing Celtic, of course, is that no actual recipes
exist.  I relied heavily on archeological information on what foods and
animals were eaten and raised during the time period and tried to keep
preparation methods simple.  The rest is largely the creative part of
Creative Anachronism :)  I welcome anyone's comments, constructive
criticisms and additional knowledge of this area :)

First, we started with stewed rabbit.  OK, it was really chicken
pretending to be rabbit.  The lady at the Giant Eagle looked at me like
I had three heads when I asked for rabbit.  I thought if rabbit tastes
like chicken, then chicken should taste like rabbit :)  I also know
there is a great debate on when rabbit was introduced to the British
Isles.  I basically adhere to the belief that the Normans brought RABBIT
over, but there are several descriptions of the Celts eating HARE (which
of course, is not available in Tennessee or Pennsylvania), so I had
decided to substitute rabbit.

Stewed Rabbit

1 2-3 lb. rabbit cut into pieces like chicken
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 c. chopped onions/leeks
4 clove garlic, if desired
1/2 tsp fennel
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
salt to taste
1 c. red wine
water to cover

Melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven.  Add onions/leeks and
garlic and cook in the butter for about 5 minutes (don't brown).  Add
rabbit pieces to the butter and brown on each side.  Add rest of
ingredients.  Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours.

I decided on stewing a meat, because other than roasting, it is one of
the earliest methods of cooking meat.  The recipes is one that I created
based on one in the British Museum Cookbook and one that Mistress
Rosemounde had created.  The spices were chosen after looking over an
archeological list of plants found in Roman Britain excavations.  I
debated about the wine, because the Romans would have brought it to the
Isles.  Celts probably only had beer and mead until then.  I decided to
add it because I like the taste.  Ale also works well in this recipe and
is probably a little more authentic Early Celt.

Next, I made griddle bread. There is all kinds of archeological evidence
of the use of oats.  There is also a lot of evidence that the Early
Celts made griddle breads and probably didn't bake (they actually found
a  bog man  with part of a burned griddle cake in his belly).  I found a
number of griddle bread recipes and put this one together based on
recipes in British Heritage and a Meridian Publication called Early
Period.  

Oatcakes

2 c. oatmeal
Hot water
salt
pinch of baking soda

Cook the oatmeal and the hot water into a thick porridge and add salt
and a touch of baking soda.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a medium hot griddle
or skillet.  Cook until brown on underside.

OK, I cheated with the baking soda.  It gives it a bit of a rise, but
not much.  It is also is very important to keep the griddle on low heat,
or you end up with a super done bottom and gooey top.

To go on the bread, I copied a recipe for Samit Spread out of Early
Period. We know the Celts were big into dairy food, and nothing in the
recipe is out of the realm of probably foods they would have used.  

Samit Spread

1 lb cottage cheese (NOT fat-free)
1/2 c. softened, but not melted, butter
1/2 c. sour cream
garlic and herbs to taste (I used savory and thyme)

Mix everything together.  I use my food processor, but you could just
mash it all together too.  Again, I used my archeological sources to
pick herbs to use.

I had a hard time determining a vegetable dish to use.  I finally opted
for pottage since I had a lot of different recipes for various pottages
and soups using either oatmeal and/or barley and greens and spices.
This recipe is one that was developed by Mistress Rosemounde.

Pottage

3 c. water
salt
1 1/2 c. barley, cooked
1 c. finely chopped cabbage
1/2 c. finely chopped onion/leek
1 c. chopped spinach

Boil the cabbage, onion/leek and spinach until tender.  Drain.  Add the
cooked barley.  Mix.  Salt to taste.

For a kind of dessert dish, I decided on mixed berries with hazelnuts on
top.  We know the Celts ate strawberries (although not the modern kind)
and raspberries.  Blackberries also existed, but it is uncertain if they
ate them or not (several of the latrine excavations have not included
blackberry seeds).  Hazelnuts were also used by the Celts.

Mixed Berries

1 c. raspberries
1 c. strawberries
1. blackberries
1/4 c. chopped hazelnuts

Mix berries together.  Sprinkle nuts on top.

I also made a small mead to go with the meal that turned out very well.


THLady Morgan MacBride
Shire of Glaedenfeld
Meridies




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