[Sca-cooks] Irish food
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Fri Mar 15 22:04:01 PDT 2013
And for the medieval side....
Right off, St. Pat himself was a Briton, so there's a whole other path to
follow there. Otherwise...
We know something about what Irish monks ate - they founded several
monasteries in Gaul, along with rules defining meals. One modern French writer
sums the latter up as "vegetables with a little peas and beans, flour mixed
with water, a small slice of bread." All fairly common fare for monks in Gaul.
The same author adds this delightful note: "The use of certain fermented
drinks was not absolutely forbidden."
_http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/abpo_0003-391x_1932_
num_40_4_1709?_Prescripts_Search_tabs1=standard_
(http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/abpo_0003-391x_1932_num_40_4_1709?_Prescripts_S
earch_tabs1=standard) &
I know of no contemporary accounts of the early Irish, but I would guess
they were much like the early Scots (both essentially lived in the
wilderness). Froissart says that the latter when hunting would drink river water and
cook animals in their own skins (a technique it seems used in several parts
of the world). The only food they carried with them was oatmeal and a hot
stone. Having eaten their "half-cooked" meat, they would then mix some
oatmeal with water and cook the resulting thin paste on a stone (the bannock in
its most primitive form).
_http://books.google.com/books?id=37SRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA51&dq=bread+stone++inaut
hor:froissart&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MPFDUe2yMIr-rQG6tIGQDw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage
&q=bread%20stone%20%20inauthor%3Afroissart&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=37SRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA51&dq=bread+stone++inauthor:froissart&hl=en&sa=X
&ei=MPFDUe2yMIr-rQG6tIGQDw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bread%20stone%20%20in
author:froissart&f=false)
A later writer says they were still eating freshly killed game raw, but not
if (like some Germans in Tacitus' time) they first pounded the meat to
remove all the blood (and not incidentally tenderize it).
The Irish certainly ate beef - one of their famous tales is of a cattle
raid. In one classic epic, both cattle (and their milk) and roast pigs are
mentioned. Though it is sometimes questioned as classical bias, a commonplace
of descriptions of all the early forest-dwelling groups (Germans, Gauls,
Irish, etc) was that they lived largely on meat and dairy.
One nineteenth writer suggested that some Irish heated stones by a stream
and then boiled the water in a trough by throwing them thus boiling the
meat.
_http://books.google.com/books?id=uGIWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA242-IA1&dq=people+having
+lighted+a+great+fire,+the+stones,+made+red-hot+thereby&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h_RDUa
CAK8K6yQH0pIHgDw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=uGIWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA242-IA1&dq=people+having+lighted+a+great+fire,
+the+stones,+made+red-hot+thereby&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h_RDUaCAK8K6yQH0pIHgDw&ved=0
CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false)
The same writer describes food found at the site of an Irish lake dwelling:
"The food on which the lake dweller existed appears to have been plenteous:
fishing implements are found in abundance ; he slew cattle—wild as well as
domesticated—pigs and deer; and, in one refuse-heap, traces of megaceros
were discovered. Immense quantities of carbonized vegetable remains were
found on a crannog site in Meath. The barley was of the same small size as is
found in Swiss lacustrine sites; grains of oats not larger than hayseed,
hazel- and oak-nuts, sloes, and walnutshells were found at Lough Nahinch, and
cherry-stones at Ballinlough."
_http://books.google.com/books?id=uGIWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA231&dq=inauthor:martin+T
he+food+on+which+the+lake+dweller+existed+appears+to+have+been+plenteous:+fi
shing+implements+are+found+in+abundance+;+he+s
lew+cattle&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XPVDUaHKJbKEygGGlYCgCQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=uGIWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA231&dq=inauthor:martin+The+food+on+which+the+
lake+dweller+existed+appears+to+have+been+plenteous:+fishing+implements+are+
found+in+abundance+;+he+slew+cattle&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XPVDUaHKJbKEygGGlYCgCQ&ved
=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Otherwise, several modern works look at the Irish medieval diet. This book
has a whole chapter on food:
The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland By Nancy Edwards
_http://books.google.com/books?id=m5O0Z7UjgwoC&pg=PA49&dq=inauthor:%22Nancy+
Edwards%22+intitle:Ireland+food+and+farming&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ofZDUdaUBYrgyQG9i4
CwDw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=m5O0Z7UjgwoC&pg=PA49&dq=inauthor:"Nancy+Edwards"+intitle:Ireland+food+and+farming&hl=en&sa=X&ei=
ofZDUdaUBYrgyQG9i4CwDw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA)
The details are towards the end.
Two Celtic encyclopedias have pages on the same subject:
_http://books.google.com/books?id=kVslRbrSH7QC&pg=PA219&dq=Irish+medieval+fo
od+seaweed&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-fZDUYXzGsGnqgGI8YGQCQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=
Irish%20medieval%20food%20seaweed&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=kVslRbrSH7QC&pg=PA219&dq=Irish+medieval+food+seaweed&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-fZDUYXz
GsGnqgGI8YGQCQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Irish%20medieval%20food%20seaweed
&f=false)
_http://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA764&dq=medieval+food+int
itle:celtic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8vdDUbSMFsi9rQGx4YG4BA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q
=medieval%20food%20intitle%3Aceltic&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA764&dq=medieval+food+intitle:celtic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8vdDU
bSMFsi9rQGx4YG4BA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=medieval%20food%20intitle:celt
ic&f=false)
As you might expect, grain and dairy played a large part; some at least ate
beef and pork. But if you want something truly unique to the isle, you
might try some cockles with dulse, a seaweed still eaten in Scotland at least.
There is also this 11th century Middle Irish poem, painting an image of
what was apparently considered plenty:
"The door of dried meat,
The threshold of dry bread,
The walls of soft cheese,
Smooth pillars of old cheese,
And juicy bacon joists
Are laid across each other
White posts of real curds,
Supported the house.
A well of wine just behind,
Rivers of beer and bragget."
Certainly then beef was eaten - though probably not corned -, though pork
may indeed have been more available to the Irish in later centuries. And,
of course, no potatoes....
Still modern revelers seeking medieval authenticity can take heart in one
respect: "The use of certain fermented drinks was not absolutely
forbidden."
Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com
Newly translated from Pierre Jean-Baptiste Le Grand d'Aussy:
Eggs, Cheese and Butter in Old Regime France
In a message dated 3/15/2013 12:37:20 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
ranvaig at columbus.rr.com writes:
In honor of St. Pat's, anyone want to talk about period Irish food?
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