[Sca-cooks] Spices and the Irish Common folk

[Elaine Koogler]

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise wrote:
>>   1.  They didn't have any spices.
>>     
>
> ermmm... I would kinda doubt that, even if you define spices as 'stuff 
> that comes from a long way away. There's no reason to assume that people 
> never had access to, say, peppercorn from time to time.
>
> Without going and looking at C. Ann Wilson, I'm not sure what seed 
> herb/spices were grown in Ireland. But I'm willing to bet on mustard 
> seed, since mustard grows practically like a weed. Coriander, Caraway, 
> Anise, cumin, dill, fennel, all are among the herb seeds I would suspect 
> as possibly in use as spices in medieval Ireland. 
>
>   
>>   5.  If they had any 'herbs', they would not be considered anything 
>> other than another vegetable.
>>     
>
> See above
>
> Pickled brawn and pickled cabbage appear to have been things served to 
> servants in Britain. Of course, whether the brawn was beef or pig might 
> have differed from place to place. 
>
>   
Except, according to Peter Brears ("10,000 Years of British Cooking", 
"All the King's Cooks") and Madge Lorwin ("Dining with William 
Shakespeare") at the Yule season, when pork brawn was served as a 
celebratory dish for the Christmas feast.  Brears even has pictures of 
the cooks at Hampton Court recreating the dish at the Christmas 
celebrations there.  It's a wonderful dish...I've served it at a couple 
of late period feasts and it was consumed with great glee by the attendees.

Kiri