Got dried stuff in your pantry?
Trail mix ingredients.
The thing about trail mix is to get all the pieces about the same size so when you grab a handful, you get a mix and not just the same pieces that have shaken up to the top.
½ pound dried peeled fava beans (soaked overnight and drained)
½ pound dried peas (soaked overnight and drained)
½ pound shelled whole walnuts
½ pound whole hazelnuts
½ C dried blueberries
½ C dried cherries
4 TBS butter
2 TBS smoked salt
¼ cup shredded dried red dulse
1 TBS whole toasted dill seeds
1 TBS whole toasted coriander seeds
3 TBS dried chopped chives
3 TBS dried chopped parsley
Yes, I know it’s harvest time. If you have stuff leftover from last year’s harvest, now is the time to use it up! I’ve been looking at some of the middle eastern ideas of using fava beans and flat bread. I thought, if one can use fava beans, why not use field peas as well?
Vicia faba, commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. Fava beans are what I call old magic; they have been feeding humans for millennia all over the globe. They are so incredibly versatile! Dried or fresh they have many different ways of preparation and can go wheresoever your culinary imagination can go!
Pisum sativum, or common green field pea, is also an Iron Age Scandinavian pantry staple. In the United States, it’s seated itself firmly in Soul Food, so I’ll be taking some cues from that rich cuisine!
Don’t skimp on butter, beer, salt, or your favourite herbs, either! I’m thinking of toasting whole favas in the oven and then tossing them with melted butter, salt, herbs, and possibly radish seeds. You can’t, apparently, buy a big bag of radish seeds to add to your salads, but you can plant them and let them go to seed and then harvest the seeds. Go figure.
What about trail mix? I dreamed up this recipe while thinking of hiking. Give it a try!
The trail mix method.
In a mortar, grind the toasted seeds and dried red dulse with the salt. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the chives and parsley. Allow to boil in the butter.
Add the mixture in the mortar to your butter. Stir and allow to simmer for a few minutes. Keep warm.
Toasting time! Set your oven for 300F. You can do this roasting in shifts or together, but different items will have different roasting times. Once each element is roasted until crispy, they can be added to a deep bowl for mixing.
Peas: 15 minutes then toss with a few TBS of the butter mixture. They should start to brown. Allow to roast for another 15 minutes, turning them frequently.
Favas: Start at 10 minutes. After the first 10 minutes, toss with some of the butter mixture and return to the oven. They should start to get brown and crisp. Toss them frequently for even roasting.
Walnuts: spread them evenly on a baking sheet and toast for 5-10 minutes. They will start to release a beautiful walnutty scent. Let them cool before you crush them a little.
Hazelnuts: spread them evenly on a baking sheet and toast for 5-10 minutes. Toss them at least once during roasting to ensure even roasting. Allow to cool before crushing a little.
Once everything is roasted and in the big bowl, toss with the remaining butter mixture and give the whole thing 5-10 minutes back in the oven to get nice and crisp and get that buttery goodness baked into all of those crispy things! Toss them a few times to ensure even coating and roasting.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Last, add the dried fruits.
Mix together and serve. Once the whole mixture is cool, you can put it in containers.
Dumpling Love!
Pro tip: Allowing dough to rest overnight will let the grain aborb all of the added moisture. This will yield a smoother texture, a deeper flavour, and an easily workable dough.
Dumplings! Beautiful little balls of boiled or fried carbohydrate! They are infinite in their variety!
I’d like to talk about dumplings that are closer to Matzo Balls and biscuits as opposed to the Asian stuffed variety. Both of them are mighty tasty, but only one, the dough ball, is today’s topic.
A dumpling is essentially a quick bread dough that is either dropped in the cooking liquid by spoonful or formed into a small ball. Cooking liquid can be any food based liquid you have on hand: water, stock, beer, wine, mead, whey, or fruit juice. You can use any flour you have on hand: oat, rye, barley, wheat, buckwheat, or millet. You should be aware, though, of what the gluten content in your choice of flour is. That will affect how your dumplings turn out. No rice, no maize, and no wild rice were on the Iron Age Scandinavian diet. Field peas and fava beans have also been found as a flour. Almost anything can be a flour if you grind it small enough!
The next thing to think about is how you’re going to cook them. Iron Age Scandinavians didn’t have a lot of large, heavy iron pots in which to fry large balls of dough. Fat and oils were not solely food based commodities, so there likely wouldn’t be a great deal of it for deep fat frying. Oil and fat were used in many other applications beyond food. If you have smaller balls, about 3 cm in diameter, you don’t need a deep pan or a lot of fat.
Dumpling dough is simple; flour, water, salt, and solid fat. How you mix your dough is important, too. If you over mix your dough, your yield will likely be pasty.
A quick bread or biscuit is flour, water, salt, and solid fat ending in a sticky dough. In contemporary times, a leavening agent like baking soda is added, but for our purposes a little sourdough or a live liquid like beer, wine, mead, vinegar, or whey.Hot Water Dough: Hot liquid into the flour and salt mixture will take apart the gluten. Remember, oats* are technically a gluten free grain as is millet, so those will behave a little differently than wheat, barley, and rye. This dough is very good for steaming or frying. This dough is not great for water based cooking. It can make the dumplings pasty.
Cold Water Dough: This is where you add cold water based liquids to your flour mixture. You will use less liquid, but since your liquid is cold, you get to keep the chewy-ness of gluten. If you are using gluten free flour, you will have less chewiness in general unless you add an egg or other binder.
Sweet or savory! Adding cheeses and herbs, or dried fruits and honey can add texture and flavor to your dumplings. I’d say a nice Pork & Plum Stew topped with Cheese Dumplings would be an excellent dinner! Fish Stew topped with herbed dumplings? Don’t mind if I do! Fruit Soup with salted honey and walnut dumplings? Yes please! Fry any of those dumpling recipes and serve by themselves? Sign me up! Boil some cheese dumplings in beer? Oh, oh my, yes!
Cooking Classes!
On this beautiful August Saturday, two lovely folks joined us in our beautiful yard for some live fire cooking! We learned about fire management for cooking, some cooking techniques, fire tricks, and herb mixology!
Today’s recipes were Pork & Plum Kebabs, Mashed Carrots with walnuts, and Thin Onion Pancakes.
Good feast!
*Onion Skewers*
*Onion Skewers*
The Plan
Prepare onions
Chop off the ends and peel the whole onion.
Cut a wedge on one side only to the middle. You want to have a whole layer of onion to stuff.
Put enough water in a saucepan to cover the onions. Add the crushed coriander, juniper berries, and vinegar in and bring to a boil.
Add the whole onions and simmer for 15 minutes.
When the onions are easy to peel apart, remove them from the water and set aside to cool.
Reserve the cooking juice.
Filling
In a deep pot, melt the fat and add the chopped onion and shallot. Sautee until translucent.
Add the beet paste.
Add the ground meat and cook until the meat is nicely browned.
Add the whole oat groats and mix well.
Add the fresh herbs.
Add the salt.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Assembly
Peel onion layers big enough to be able to hold about 2 TBS of filling.
Form meatballs of about 2 TBS each.
Wrap each meatball in an onion layer. Put three of them on a skewer.
Place each skewer in a deep baking dish.
Once all of the skewers are in, cover with the braising liquid.
Bake covered for 15 minutes at 400F.
Uncover and sprinkle cheese on top.
Return and bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown a little.
Ingredients
4 medium onions
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 TBS dried, crushed coriander seeds
4 crushed dried juniper berries
Filling
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 medium shallot, chopped fine
1 small beet, roasted and mashed fine
1/2 TSP dried summer savory
1/2 TSP ground coriander seed
2 TBS dried ground mint
1/2 C chopped dill
1 1/2 C chopped parsley
1 C chopped cilantro
1 pound ground meat
1 C cooked whole oat groats
1 TBS butter
2 TBS lard
3 TBS smoked salt
Braising liquid
Onion cooking water, reduced by half
12 oz beer, mead, or wine
12 heavy skewers
1 C fresh goat cheese crumbles
Viking-ify something?
Don’t mind if I do!
Warning! You’ve got to do some thinking!
In order to Vikingify something you’ve got to think about these things:
Is this food in the Iron Age Scandinavian Food Shed?
Can this be made using Iron Age Scandinavian technology?
Is there any evidence of this?
Yes, I know I have modern cooking in mind when I’m making these recipes, but I field test them on the firepit with period correct cooking gear. I’m still working on getting ingredients in season and what out of season ingredients would have looked like or used. That’s where the ceramics come into play.
There are so many pottery finds on domestic and manufacturing sites, it leads me to believe that pottery was pretty important. So, to that end, I’ve been making vessels that outwardly look like they are coming from a pit fire, but are 21st century food safe. Using these vessels with waxed linen covers tied on with hemp twine makes for a pretty good storage system. If your vessels have lugs or handles on the sides, they are easily suspended from poles or rafters to prevent vermin from snacking on your preserved goodies.
Today’s recipe is about fried bread. This kind of thing appears to be very old human food magic. It’s pretty basic and fairly calorie rich due to the fat content. These are best eaten hot and slathered with soft new cheese, honey, and fruit. You can use any grain or combination of grains to make this tasty and filling treat!
Fried bread
2 Cups whole grain flour
12 oz flat beer
2 TBS honey
1 TBS smoked salt
1/2 C lard or other fat for frying
Mix the flour and salt together.
Add half the beer and all of the honey.
Add more beer to moisten so you can roll the dough into a log.
Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes to absorb the beer. Add more beer if the dough gets dry.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
Cut dough into 10-12 equal pieces and roll or stretch out to about twice the size of the log or as far as it will stretch.
Fry in melted fat until golden.
This can go either sweet or savory, but cheese and fruit is best!
GOOD FEAST!
Street food! Glorious Street Food!
What’s the best thing about visiting new places? STREET FOOD! Trading centers like Hedeby had to have places for visitors to eat at or just grab a quick bite. Street food and fast food are not new things, my friends, this is old, old human magic!
Imagine, if you will, a sunny late June day in a busy trading season. You’ve brought lumber, sheep, wool, and other trade goods to sell. It’s been a long trip from the farm and your travel food is running out or just plain boring. But lo! The scent of grilled meats, baking breads, and herbs will draw your tired hungry self by your nostrils to the stalls of street food goodness!
Want to make some street food goodness at your house? Follow me and I’ll show you a world of imagination!
Lamb Kebabs
1 pound ground lamb
1/2 pound finely chopped beef seuet
1/2 Cup finely crushed bread or cracker crumbs
1 egg, scrambled
1/2 C dried blueberries
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1 mint leaf, finely chopped
2 sage leaves, finely chopped
1 TBS smoked salt
1/2 TSP finely ground mustard seed
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and cover.
Let it stand in a cool place for half an hour to blend and meld.
Get a bowl of cold water to keep your hands wet while forming the sausage logs.
Each log should be about 4cm in diameter and about 2/3 of the skewer in length.
Fry in melted fat until each is golden on the outside.
Serve on Onion Pancakes and cream cheese.
GOOD FEAST!
Leeky Turnips
〰️
Leeky Turnips 〰️
4 pounds turnips
1/2 pound butter
3 leeks about 1.5 inches in diameter
1 medium shallot chopped fine
2 TBS chopped fresh chives
2 green onions
1 TBS chopped fresh thyme
2 TSP dried summer savory
1 TSP cider vinegar
1/4 Cup smoked sea salt
Clean and slice just the white parts of the leek. Discard the roots and green parts.
Clean and chop the turnips.
Add to 2 quarts boiling salted water and boil until tender.
Reserve 1 Cup of the cooking liquid.
Drain the remainder of the liquid out and smash the turnips into a fine paste. Set aside in a bowl.
Return the pot to the fire and add 2 TBS of butter.
Add the shallot Fry until beginning to soften.
Add the sliced leeks and cook for 5 minutes or until the slices are beginning to soften.
Add 1 TSP salt.
Add cider vinegar.
Add fresh and dried herbs and stir it well. Allow to cook on low heat for a few minutes.
Add the remainder of the butter to melt. Once the butter is melted, add in the cream and reserved liquid slowly, you don't want the cream to split. You won't use all of the turnip water, just a few spoons to help lower the temperature of the fat.
Fold in the smashed turnips, alternating between cream and smaller portions of turnip water.
If you want a crust on top, you can put this in your oven at 425F for 15 minutes or until browned.
Garnish with chopped green onions and serve with sour cream or plain skyr.
Little Packages of Delight
Little Packages of Delight
Make up a batch of Sweet & Salty Pork Sausage:
1 lb ground pork
1 lb beef suet
1 C chopped dried blueberries and cherries
2 TBS salt
1 TBS fresh ground horseradish
3 finely shredded sage leaves
2 TBS butter
1 TBS Norwegian flake salt
Next you’ll need 2 very large leeks. Monster ones.
Cut off the root end and the green parts at the top of the plant.
Carefully slice along the grain all the way from root to top, but ONLY GO THROUGH HALF THE LEEK. You want to create a series of leek sheets.
Wash them in cold water and allow to dry. It’s important they are dry so when you fill them you don’t get extra water in there.
Put a table spoon full of the meat mixture onto one sheet kind of in the middle.
Fold the leek sheet like you fold a flag and tuck in the ends.
When you have finished, heat 4 TBS of butter, lard, or bacon fat in a pan so it melts. Add the little triangles. Sprinkle with salt and cover to allow all of the steamy goodness to get through the little package and cook the pork. On low-medium for about 15 minutes or until the center is very firm.
If you want to make a sauce, remove the little packages of delight and deglaze the pan with a little mead. Add a half cup of cream and allow to reduce and thicken. Careful, though, if you get your sauce too hot the cream will split. Add a dollop of coarse mustard, a little smoked salt, and a dash of dried summer savory. Keep stirring until it’s fragrant. Pour over your little packages of delight!
Good Feast!
Fabulous Fava Beans
Fava beans are very versatile, they can go sweet or savory! They can be peeled, seasoned, and roasted for a crunchy road snack!
Vikings only had one real bean and that’s the fantastic FAVA! Add these buttery, flaky treasures to your dinner rotations today!
Ingredients
16 Oz dried fava beans
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 sprig fresh sage (1 TSP dried, rubbed)
2 sprigs fresh thyme (1 1/2 TSP dried)
2 sprigs fresh parsley (4 TBS dried)
2 TBS lard (or butter)
24 oz beer
1 TBS smoked salt
Directions:
Soak the fava beans overnight in a gallon of water.
Clean the beans by making sure you get the hulls and floaters out.
Melt the lard in a large, heavy bottom pot.
Add the onions and herbs.
Cook until the onions get translucent.
Add in the beans, stir and coat well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Add in the beer and salt and stir well.
Replace the lid and allow to simmer for 45 minutes. Do not let the pot run dry. Keep beer on hand to ensure this.
Material Culture
I’ve been thinking about material culture; Vikings vs. 21st Century.
I’m not usually one to automatically say “the old ways are the best ways'' indiscriminately. Some things are better, but definitely not all. I’m thinking about that whole material culture. For most of human existence, we haven’t had anywhere near the amount of personal belongings we do now. We have a plethora of hoo-has, totchkeys, knick-knacks, whatzits, and ding-dongs; so much so that we pay to store them and then forget about them.
What if we started going back to that model? What if we made a few shirts and pants out of quality fabrics and just used them? What if those of us who had the wherewithal to grow food, grew some? Not enough to feed armies, but just one person?
From the archaeological record, we have mostly trash, grave goods, offerings, and sacrifices to study. We don’t have the luxury of Pompeii-like excavations for the Viking age, so we get the far ends and all around, but not much in the core of homes, workshops, and common lives. We know from finds that anything that could be repaired, was. Anything that couldn’t be repaired was repurposed. Since most things were, by their very nature, biodegradable, not much survives of the material culture. So we study not only what we do have, but also what surrounding surviving cultures say about Iron Age Scandinavians.
With all of that reading, here’s what I came up with: Iron Age Scandinavians liked their bling, but with the caveat that they mostly made their own. Some of the more recent publications about our time period are coming out with detailed directions for making your own. I think in order for us to understand the material culture of our ancestors, we should make our own. Yes, I’d like for you to buy my wares, but ultimately I’d like for you to have valuable experiences.
To this end I’d like to issue a challenge: Make Your Own Gear. Do a deep dive into something you’d like in your kit and make it. If you don’t know how, find someone who can help. I can help with ceramics. I can teach via video feed to individuals or groups.
Good Feast!
Light A Fire In Your Belly!
Classes coming soon!
Want to learn how to cook over an open fire? How to manage your fire in a fire pit or a grill? Mixing and fixing in the old ways? I got you. I’ll be running a series of 3 live classes online via Google Meet at noon CST. I’ll do these first few classes on a donation via Paypal because this is going to be Beta testing of classes.
I’ll need the email addresses of folks who are participating in the live events. The videos will eventually go up on YouTube on our soon to be created video site!
I’ll also send out a list of materials you’ll need to follow along at home. Classes will happen on Jan 20, 27, Feb 3. Sessions will be about 45 minutes long with time for questions at the end.
Small table to hibachi style grill
This isn’t bushcraft. It’s how to use fire to cook your food. I’m operating on the assumption that you have access to a grill or fire pit. Don’t discount a picnic table top hibachi grill, they can be very useful!
Fire pit in the big hall at Lijre.
Part 1: Set up yourself for success! Getting your gear and space set up.
Part 2: How to build and manage a cooking fire in a fire pit and a grill.
Part 3: How to use a fire to cook: veg, meat, container cooking
A Fire In Your Belly
Saturday 20 Jan
Part 1: set up yourself for success! Getting your gear and space set up.
Get out that rusty old hibachi you got in college! If you have a charcoal grill, drag it out! Got a fire pit? Dig it out! We’ll be cooking outside, so dress warmly! Any weather is outdoor cooking weather!
Materials you’ll need for three class sessions:
A charcoal grill (a little table top or hibachi grill is fine)
Lump charcoal (usually a 15# bag) regular charcoal works, too. Lump charcoal burns hotter longer per square inch of surface. Menards, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Fleet Farm, and Tractor Supply have these.
Fatwood (a fire starting material not necessary, but really nice)
3 TP tubes filled with dryer lint (fire starting material)
Lighter or matches
Lighter fluid
Fire extinguisher (you need some in your house anyway)
Squirt bottle with water in it
2-3 bundles of firewood (if you have a fire pit)
Leather gloves or oven hot pads
Long tongs for charcoal
Fire iron and blow tube for fire pit (not necessary if you don’t have a fire pit or access to a fire pit)
Long tongs for food
Something to cook (something easy like brats or kebabs or veggies)
Some kind of table or work surface you can put some of your materials on; a folding table, picnic table, or a folding chair.
Bleach/disinfectant wipes
Topics:
Cleaning before-during-after
Getting your cooking area ready
Fire ingredients; O2, ignition, fuel
Flame vs. coals; How hot is it?
Fast or slow cooking: size does matter.
smoke ; what it means. Transparent, white, gray, black
Hot smoke vs. cold smoke
Time vs. patience
Got an emergency? Squirt bottles, sand, fire extinguisher.
Saturday 27 Jan
Part 2: How to build and manage a cooking fire in a fire pit and a grill.
Materials you’ll need:
Bleach/disinfectant wipes
The stuff from the first session
Something to cook
Topics:
Cleaning before-during-after
Building a fire about cooking, not entertainment.
Fire ingredients; O2, ignition, fuel
Daylight cooking is best
Grilling
Fire pitting
Cleaning
Saturday 3 Feb
Part 3: How to use a fire to cook: veg, meat, container cooking
Materials you’ll need:
A charcoal grill (a little table top or hibachi grill is fine)
Lump charcoal (usually a 15# bag) regular charcoal works, too. Lump charcoal burns hotter longer per square inch of surface. Menards, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Fleet Farm, and Tractor Supply have these.
Fatwood (a fire starting material not necessary, but really nice)
3 TP tubes filled with dryer lint (fire starting material)
Lighter or matches
Lighter fluid
Fire extinguisher (you need some in your house anyway)
Squirt bottle with water in it
2-3 bundles of firewood (if you have a fire pit)
Leather gloves or oven hot pads
Long tongs for charcoal
Fire iron and blow tube for fire pit (not necessary if you don’t have a fire pit or access to a fire pit)
Long tongs for food
Something to cook (something easy like brats or kebabs or veggies)
Some kind of table or work surface you can put some of your materials on; a folding table, picnic table, or a folding chair.
Bleach/disinfectant wipes
Cast iron cooking pot
Ceramic cooking pot
Recipe for Butter Barley
Recipe for Nutty Grain and Peas
Food thermometer
Topics:
Cleaning before-during-after
Making sure your fire is a cooking fire
Getting your cooking vessels filled
Placement of vessels by or on the fire
Checking your food
Adjusting your fire
Daily Viking Meals
Split yellow peas cooked in beer in my rice pot. It was excellent!
We’ve all heard of entire boars, goats, sheep, deer, and snipe roasting on spits over a roaring fire, heaping baskets of raised round bread, overflowing bowls of fruit, and a never-ending supply of Suttung’s mead. It's an epic image! It’s so Hobbity-Dwarifity Tolkienish, you expect a wizard to wander into the frame.
That’s not necessarily what happens. On fancy feast days, probably. On a regular Thursday, whether or not you have the hang of Thursdays, it’s probably a one pot meal.
This house has vents at either end and above the door for smoke and air, but not a lot of light gets in there. https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-people/viking-homes/
Where you live shapes how you prepare your food
Lijre open air museum. That’s Daniel Serra’s hand! Smaller homes like this one were smaller farmsteads with one family, animals, storage, and any farm hands they had.
Iron Age Scandinavians mostly lived in longhouses or halls with extended family and servants. These were usually made of wood, stone, or sod with wood shingles, reed thatch, sod, or stone roof tiles. There are generally two exterior doors and a smoke hole in the roof. Some houses had more than one roof hole, some had a smoke exit at the top of the roof on either end of the hall.
These homes are not brightly lit. There aren’t a lot of windows. Windows are great for light and a breeze, but not particularly defensible. There is some evidence recently found that some of the more fancy, expensive halls had very small windows with glazing. These little windows were, it seems, more about allowing coloured light into a space than for looking out of.
There’s not a lot of indoor space. It is a very open plan with benches along the sides and a center hearth for cooking and heating. Humans on one end, farm animals on the other, and work space in the middle.
During the summer months, folk are outside doing farm work or other skilled labor like fiber, wood, ceramic, stone, and metal fabrication.
These folks were BUSY! Between all of the work to be done to make sure food, clothing, and shelter are to be had in the winter, common daily meals are going to be as easy and extendable as possible. I also want you to remember how dim these homes are. Lots of chopping, mixing, fixing, baking, sauteing, roasting, steaming, boiling, or any other kind of meal prep is going to be limited.
Cooking pot from the Iron Age collection at the Danish National Museum
Enter the ceramic cooking pot. You might know it as a Crock Pot. A ceramic cooking vessel that has low and slow heat over a long period of time. Yes, I know they didn’t have electricity, but they did have fire and ceramic cooking pots. It’s pretty easy to use your central hearth to bank up a fire and set a pot of cooking liquid, grain, herbs, and a little bit of meat to cook slowly.
Open hearth in the hall at Lijre, Denmark.
Dagmal (Daymeal)
This meal is usually leftovers from the night before and/or possibly fresh porridge. See my post on Porridge Power from 31 Oct.
Remember, folk are busy. Everyone has a job to do, probably many jobs. When it’s dark, it’s hard to chop, stir, and do all the things we are used to doing with our meal prep. There is a limited amount of oil for frying or sauteing; most fats used in cooking are rendered animal fat or butter. Sometimes there is whale oil. Any fat or oil has a wide range of jobs to do; sometimes not a food related job at all.
Nattmal (Night meal)
This is the big, fresh meal. Since you can start preparing it in the light hours of the day and let it simmer all afternoon, you can do the bulk of your daily food prep in daylight. This is also the big morning meal, so lots of this is made.
Snacks!
Snacks at the airport. I didn’t get them for the plane ;)
We can’t forget the ever present snacks. These are also excellent travel foods Dried meats, hard cheeses, nuts, dried plant matter (fruits, herbs, vegetables), rendered fat, crackers or “hard tack” <click-click>.
Snacks are just as prevalent today as they were then. Sometimes you need a snack to get you through the day. While Vikings didn’t have sugar and chocolate to prevent the hangries, there were plenty of snacks to be had. Folk living a very physical and outdoor on-the-go lifestyle need far more calories to maintain energy levels and body warmth than the more sedentary, modern folk we have morphed into.
Bibliography
Lover, History. “The Viking Diet- What Did the Vikings Eat?” Museum Facts, 7 Jan. 2021, museumfacts.co.uk/the-viking-diet/.
Natmus. “Viking Homes - National Museum of Denmark.” National Museum of Denmark, 2019, en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-people/viking-homes/.
Weiss, Daniel. Vikings Had Glass Windows - Archaeology Magazine. www.archaeology.org/news/11788-231010-vikings-glass-windows#:~:text=The%20researchers%20believe%20that%20the,colorful%20light%20to%20filter%20in.
Good Feast!
Porridge Power
Winter is coming. You’ll need some porridge.
Porridge is, in its simplest form, a starchy grain boiled in milk or water until it’s thickened. It can be sweet or savory, herb laden and flavored with just about anything. It's easy to make, one pot, and easy to shop for. Thin porridge is gruel. No, not that kind of “Please sir, may I have some more,” kind of thing. Gruel is a thin, more liquidy version of porridge; still a grain and liquid base, but you end up adding more liquid and cooking it longer to break down the grains more. Further breakdown of grain can make it easier to eat and digest.
The basic recipe: Two or three parts liquid to one part grain. Different grains will absorb your cooking liquid at different rates. The ratio listed below is for raw, uncooked, unprocessed whole grains, not cut, rolled, or otherwise processed.
Oats: 3.5-4 cups of liquid per cup of uncooked whole oat groats
Barley: 4 cups liquid per 1 cup of whole uncooked grains
Millet: 2 cups liquid per 1 cup of whole uncooked grains
Rye: 4 cups of liquid per 1 cup of whole uncooked grains
Wheat: 4 cups of liquid per 1 cup of whole uncooked grains
Buckwheat: 2 cups of liquid per 1 cup of whole, uncooked grains
When cooking your grain, wash it first to get any extra dust off. Rinse it three times, scrubbing with your hands the first two times and a good rinse the third time. Much like you would for whole, unprocessed rice. If you use too much liquid or cook it for too long, your grain can get mushy. Part of the fun of whole grains is the texture!
Possible cooking liquids:
Water
Milk
Whey
Stock
Beer
Wine
Mead
One thing to watch with your cooking liquids; the thicker your cooking liquid, the more you have to watch what’s happening during the cooking. Slow and steady does the trick! You want the grain to be your desired texture, not underdone and not super mushy. Fluffy! All of these grains can be fluffy when you watch your cooking. Check your grain occasionally and give it a gentle stir or fluff. If you get really vigorous, you can mash up the grains and you’ll end up with a more gruel-like consistency instead of a nice, toothsome texture.
While you don’t have to babysit cooking grains, you do have to check them. A nice low temperature in a heavy bottom pot or a crock pot or a rice cooker is fine. This is a one pot deal! Porridge isn’t a fancy thing, but it is filling and comforting!
Vegetarian Viking
Did you know? Iron Age Scandinavians were predominantly vegetarian. It’s not because of any health reasons, but financial reasons. It costs a lot to raise animals for meat and then to preserve the meat. You want to stretch that out for as long as you can because you plan your food around an agricultural calendar; planting to harvest. Your best months for the greatest variety and amount of food is late summer into harvest season. That’s about a three month window. Most of the rest of the year you are eating from your larder.
Food doesn't magically arrive in spring. That’s the leanest time. You can harvest some of the early greens and start fishing as soon as the ice is out, but you are still utterly dependent on your winter stores.
Sweet vs. Savory
The next step is to figure out what direction you want to go with your flavors and textures. The only sweetener Iron Age Scandinavians had was honey or certain fruits.
Nuts? Don’t mind if I do! The most common and easily available nut is Hazelnuts followed by pine nuts. Walnuts are a distant third as they aren’t suited to growing zones that get below -30F in winter (World planting zones). That means very southern Sweden, Denmark and coastal areas up the Baltic. Research suggests Romans brought walnuts with them as they came through Europe. There is also evidence of walnuts coming through Belarus.
Dairy? Yes please! Dairy can include any kind of milk product from goats, sheep, and cows. Whole milk, buttermilk, butter, whey, cheeses both new (soft) and aged (it gets harder as it gets older as the moisture is leaving).
Seasoning is the act of adding salt and herbs to food to enhance the flavor of the porridge. Remember, porridge is all about the grain. That is your major ingredient. The next ingredient will be some salt. From that point, it’s really about anything you’d like to add, literally from Hazelnuts to walnuts and everything in between. Herbs like sage, thyme, and mint go very well together when balanced with a little Berry Vinegar, honey and dried fruit.
A bit dull? No worries! A bit of acid will sparkle it right up! A splash of cider or Berry Vinegar or even sour beer will change the flavor slightly! And don’t forget the butter!
Meat? Absolutely! Chop up cooked meat fine and toss it in for some excellent flavor!
Porridge FAQ
Yes, I hear your question in the back! Peas porridge! Yes! You can cook peas in this same way, but start with dried white, yellow, or green peas. A lentil is not a pea! The ratio is usually 3 cups of liquid to 1 cup of dried peas. The peas can be whole or split. If you want the pea to remain whole, cook for only about 20 minutes. If you want a puree, 40 minutes. Watch the liquid absorption. You can go from fluffy to burnt on the bottom quickly.
What about toasted grains? Absolutely! Toast grains in a dry, hot, heavy bottom pan. Keep those grains moving! They will start to toast and will burn quickly, so keep them moving and keep watching them. They will pop, but not big fluffy poofs like popcorn. Toasting them will cook them partially. If you are going to make porridge, have your cooking liquid handy so once 90% of your grain is popped, you can add in the liquid. I don’t recommend milk at this stage as milk can scald or split easily in a hot, dry pan.. Start with just water and then add milk as the pan cools. Allow to cook for about 10-15 minutes at a low simmer. Check it frequently and stir it gently.
Can I boil whole, uncooked grains in fat? Absolutely! Remember, the only fats available on a casual basis were rendered animal fat and butter. There isn’t a lot of evidence for nut or seed oils used in food production. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, but that there isn’t a lot of evidence of this activity. Here at MUVC, we are evidence and research based. I haven’t cooked these grains in fat, so I don’t really know how long to cook them for. I’d boil them in fat for a few minutes until they have absorbed the fat and started to pop a bit, then add a non-dairy cooking liquid very slowly down the side of the pot so the fat doesn’t splutter everywhere.
Bibliography
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14614103.2022.2137648
Elegant Pillaging Party Menu
Pillaging in the schedule for this weekend? Don’t do it on an empty stomach! Call your friends and have a little dinner party before hand and coordinate!
Tender Oat & Walnut Flatbread
Stewed Elk with cherries
Leek & Pork Wraps
Fava Surprise
Tender Oat & Walnut Flatbread
Flatbread
2 ½ C oat flour
1 C plain skyr (or plain yogurt)
8 oz beer
1 tsp salt
Mix the dry in a large bowl, reserving ¼ C flour.
Mix the wet in another bowl and slowly add, mixing each time, to the flour bowl.
Add more flour as needed to make a soft dough.
Divide into 6 equal pieces and roll out thin. Set aside under a towel while making the filling.
Filling
8 oz soft cream cheese
4 oz plain yogurt
2 oz honey
1 C fresh or frozen blueberries (use them frozen)
½ TSP salt
1 C crushed walnuts
Gently fold everything but the blueberries and walnuts in a bowl. Divide into 6 portions
Lightly butter a flat baking pan. You’ll probably need two or bake in a couple of batches.
Lay out a flat bread and spoon the filling into the center of a flat bread. Leave an inch around the edge so you can crimp it into a pretty edge. Don’t enclose this, it’s not a pasty.
Sprinkle ⅙ of the blueberries and ⅙ of the walnuts on top of each.
Bake at 375 in a preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the flat bread is crisp on the edges.
Stewed Elk with Cherries
1# elk meat cubed
½ pound bacon, chopped fine
3 medium onions, chopped
½ pound dried cherries, chopped
2 TSP dried thyme
½ C fine grind oat flour
1 TSP flake sea salt
2 C stock (beef, chicken, or veg)
1 C beer
2 TBS cider vinegar
Mix all of the flour, half of the thyme, and half of the salt in a bowl.
Toss the elk with the flour and set aside.
Brown the bacon in an oven safe pot. When it’s nice and crisp, remove the bacon and add the elk.
Brown the elk in bacon fat. When it’s brown on all sides, add the onions. Stir and cook until the onions are starting to turn translucent and get a bit soft.
Add the cherries and cook for a few minutes until the cherries are coated with all the pan goodness.
Add the elk back into the pan.
Add the remainder of the flour, thyme, and salt. Stir well, but gently.
Add the vinegar and stir.
Add half the liquid gently and stir very slowly while adding it. Carefully get all of that goodness off the bottom of the pot to help make a nice thick gravy.
Add the remaining liquid. Put the lid on and bake at 300F for an hour. It’s done when the elk is tender and nearly falling apart.
Don’t let it dry out. If you need to add more liquid, add it in small amounts.
Leek & Pork Wraps
2 large leeks
8 oz ground pork
8 oz ground lamb
½ C finely ground bread crumbs
1 egg
6 oz chopped dried blueberries
2 medium shallots finely chopped
2 TBS plain skyr
½ C finely chopped parsley
3 sage leaves finely chopped
1 mint leaf finely chopped
1 TSP flake sea salt
Cooking liquid:
2 TBS cider vinegar
4 TBS chicken stock
6 oz beer
Prep the leeks:
Cut off the root end and the green parts. Discard.
Carefully slice your leeks the long way, but only half way deep, you want to make leaves or sheets of leek.
Wash them carefully and set aside to dry in a stack with towels to keep them flat.
Filling:
Combine all of the filling ingredients in a bowl. Cover and allow to rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Using a spoon or small ice cream scoop, add a scoop to the leek sheet. Fold the little package like a US flag, tucking in all the edges to make a neat triangle.
Place each finished triangle point side up in a baking dish.
When all of the triangles are in the baking dish, add the braising liquid.
Cover and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.
Remove the cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes to reduce the braising liquid.
Fava Surprise
2 C shelled fresh fava beans
2 C shelled fresh peas
4 mint leaves chopped very fine
1 C chopped fresh parsley
1 C finely crumbled feta cheese
2 TBS sour cream
1 TBS Berry Vinegar
1 TSP flake sea salt
Wash and allow to dry all of the veg and herbs. No extra water is needed.
In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, berry vinegar, and salt together with a fork or whisk. You’ll want a little fluffiness.
Toss the plants all together in a bowl.
Add the feta cheese crumbles.
Add the dressing and toss lightly.
Excellent with crisp bread or as a side dish.
TOAST! CRISP, BUTTERY TOAST!
What if I told you open face sandwiches were all the craze?
What is an open face sandwich? It’s basically a one sided sandwich. Just the bottom. Traditionally, the bready portion of the sandwich is crisp bread or toast. Top it with a spread of some kind then add sweet or savory toppings.
A simple sweet open faced sandwich is toasted rye bread with cream cheese spread on it. Top it with fresh blueberries and a drizzle of honey.
A simple savory open face sandwich is that same toasted rye bread and cream cheese, but add a little mustard and chives to the cheese, a few thin slices of lox, and sprinkle a few fresh dill fronds on it.
It’s supposed to be very simple, but sometimes you need a zip! Try the following green spread for a savory treat!
2 C fresh cilantro leaves, no stems
2 C fresh parsley leaves, no stems
1 C fresh chives (garlic is best, but regular works too)
6 sprigs of fresh thyme, strip the leaves
¼ C salted butter
2 TBS bacon fat
1 TBS berry vinegar (can use cider vinegar)
Toss all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor. Taste it to see if any adjustments need to be made. Add a few drops of vinegar, salt, or a little bit of honey to help balance it out. If you want a bit of heat, add freshly grated horseradish.
GOOD FEAST!
Midwest Viking Festival, Green Bay
Midwest Viking Festival Green Bay 2023 is in the books!
It was a GLORIOUS weekend! The weather was perfect, the demonstrations were magnificent, the food was excellent!
I attended as a ceramics demonstrator, not a cook, this weekend. Sadly, I missed the firing schedule so I didn’t have much pottery this weekend to sell, but I did sell a lot of cookbooks. I also don’t tend to take a lot of photos as I’m busy demonstrating. I’ve got to hire a photographer for events to take lots of photos of me and the husband.
Chris The Magnificent was with me this weekend demonstrating Hnefatafl, Fidchell, and 12 Man Morris. Lots of excellent games were played! I’d like to thank Beth & Charles Knutson over at historicgames.com for the game boards! We’ll definitely be stocking those for in person shows!
We arrived on Thursday afternoon to set up, but we don’t have a tent. Yet. It will eventually get ordered, but we don’t have quite enough funds for that. Yet. We’ll probably get a fly and some more period correct tables first. And more sheepskin. Possibly a cowhide.
I’ve got a list of ceramics to build for this coming holiday season:
50 1 pound loom weights
24 tumblers
24 saggy bottom bowls
6 cooking pots with lugs & lids
4 pitchers
12 tiny pots/salt pots/horde pots
12 each of lamps (post, pinch, flat, and cup)
6 big garden gnomes
24 Gnomix small gnomes
Other projects for the holiday season:
Aprons
Grocery bags
Linen kitchen cloths
New recipes
I’m working on the Kindle version of MUVC 2023. I decided to just go back to the beginning and write it all over again in a format that will be acceptable instead of cutting and pasting. That’s going to take a lot of typing. The new book will have both formats coming out at the same time. Possibly in about 18 months. It’s a lot of work to get all that stuff researched, tried out, typed up, and vetted.
I’m still working on the Patreon and member areas for the website. Only so many hours in a day!
GOOD FEAST!
Cooking with Scouts
No, we did not make Girl Scout Cookies with real Girl Scouts. That’s a whole different conversation.
Chris and I spent Saturday with the Scouts teaching some Viking foods, games, and fire management.
I can hear you now: but they learn how to cook and do fire management in scouts! And you would be correct. But these are young folks. Not a lot of experience points. So they did different things within the whole sphere of fire management for baking, general cooking, and frying. I did the frying, though, as it was pretty hot smoky work. We had some damp, punky oak to use.
The troop leader, Austin, picked up a cookbook and decided his troop would be experimenting with some new flavours and textures. In Cold Day Soup, we used coarse mustard and calendula flowers. They did not expect to like it, but were surprised when they did. I did tip the scales a little in my favour by making sure everything had plenty of butter, a bit of extra salt, and just enough vinegar.
Hmm, now I’m having thoughts about a butter beer sauce……
Anyway, for Viking Fried Barley, we switched out the barley for buckwheat. We made a fire and a tripod. Both were things of beauty. I used my new Iron Age pot for frying the buckwheat. The buckwheat did get a big soggy as not all of the water was drained off after cooking. But, a hot iron pan steamed much of it off.
The scouts tried both dishes, and were pleasantly surprised; they liked both of them! The Cold Day Soup disappeared fast, even though it was a hot evening.
Chris did marvels with teaching them how to play Hneftafl! I wanted to play, but we were busy over at the fire with managing and baking.
Crunchy Viking Snacks!
I’m thinking of crunchy snacks. It’s a basic food group: crunchy salty.
I recently tried some roasted edamame as a crunchy snack, and I thought: How can I Viking-ify this? While soybeans are definitely not in the Viking Food Shed (VFS), other beans are.
According to the Ribe Viking Center, Horsebeans were part of the VFS.
Horsebeans (Vicia faba)
Horse beans were an important source of food in the old days. Beans contain a lot of protein, and as they can be dried and kept for years, they were very useful for providing a Viking family with food throughout the long, dark and barren Nordic winter
https://www.ribevikingecenter.dk/en/learn-more/manor-farm-crops.aspx#:~:text=Horsebeans%20(Vicia%20faba),dark%20and%20barren%20Nordic%20winter.
Horse bean, broad bean, and Fava bean are all different names for the same bean.
What are Horsebeans? Horsebean plants, Vicia faba var. equina, are a subspecies of the broad bean proper, also known as Windsor or straight bean. They are a cool-season annual that bears large, thick pods. Inside the pods, the beans are large and flat. This leafy legume has an erect habit with a stiff stem. The leaves look more akin to those of English peas than bean leaves. Small, white blooms are borne in spikelets.
Read more at Gardening Know How: What Are Horsebeans – A Guide To Horsebean Uses And Cultivation https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/beans/horsebean-uses-and-cultivation.htm
This seems to be the only bean listed that is eaten podless. So, if it’s typically eaten podless, it can be dried and salted and seasoned with other dried herbs. So, Viking Snacky Snacks! I have found dried fava bean snacks readily available, but they include non-period correct ingredients.
Bada Bean Bada Boom has snacks that include the following: fava beans, sunflower oil, rice flour, and cane sugar. So of that list only the bean is on our menu. Plain dried beans can be a bit mealy, so I’ll roast them. The big question is seasoning before roasting or after?
Peas are also on the menu. I could dry them, roast them, and season them. Dried foods like this would be a nice trail snack as it’s light.
Here’s the process I’m going to use:
2 C dried beans/peas
1 TBS fine grind sea salt
1 TBS melted butter
2 TBS dried slightly ground parsley
I’ll make two batches. Batch A will be just dried beans with the toppings. Batch B will be toppings on then dry roasting in an oven.
Photos and video in later posts.
I’m thinking of crunchy snacks. It’s a basic food group: crunchy salty.
I recently tried some roasted edamame as a crunchy snack, and I thought: How can I Viking-ify this? While soybeans are definitely not in the Viking Food Shed (VFS), other beans are.
According to the Ribe Viking Center, Horsebeans were part of the VFS.
Horsebeans (Vicia faba)
Horse beans were an important source of food in the old days. Beans contain a lot of protein, and as they can be dried and kept for years, they were very useful for providing a Viking family with food throughout the long, dark and barren Nordic winter
Horse bean, broad bean, and Fava bean are all different names for the same bean.
What are Horsebeans? Horsebean plants, Vicia faba var. equina, are a subspecies of the broad bean proper, also known as Windsor or straight bean. They are a cool-season annual that bears large, thick pods. Inside the pods, the beans are large and flat. This leafy legume has an erect habit with a stiff stem. The leaves look more akin to those of English peas than bean leaves. Small, white blooms are borne in spikelets.
Read more at Gardening Know How: What Are Horsebeans – A Guide To Horsebean Uses And Cultivation https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/beans/horsebean-uses-and-cultivation.htm
This seems to be the only bean listed that is eaten podless. So, if it’s typically eaten podless, it can be dried and salted and seasoned with other dried herbs. So, Viking Snacky Snacks! I have found dried fava bean snacks readily available, but they include non-period correct ingredients.
Bada Bean Bada Boom has snacks that include the following: fava beans, sunflower oil, rice flour, and cane sugar. So of that list only the bean is on our menu. Plain dried beans can be a bit mealy, so I’ll roast them. The big question is seasoning before roasting or after?
Peas are also on the menu. I could dry them, roast them, and season them. Dried foods like this would be a nice trail snack as it’s light.
Here’s the process I’m going to use:
2 C dried beans/peas
1 TBS fine grind sea salt
1 TBS melted butter
2 TBS dried slightly ground parsley
I’ll make two batches. Batch A will be just dried beans with the toppings. Batch B will be toppings on then dry roasting in an oven.
Photos and video in later posts.
Viking Longhouse Saturday
This weekend's Viking Longhouse event in Wyoming, MN menu:
Pork & Plum Stew (GF, NF)
Walnut & Bacon Grain 2 versions (one is oat and one is wheat)
Green Salad (GF, V, DF)
Sour cream cherry dressing (GF, V)
Blueberry coriander dressing (GF, V)
Viking Fried Oats (V)
Marvelous Millet Salad (V)
Baked Butter Barley(V, NF)
You'll be sampling whole grain wheat, oats, millet, and barley. You'll also be sampling spruce tips, summer savory, marigold, horseradish, and elderberry flowers.
Feel free to bring your own eating utensils and chopping utensils, but if you don't have those things, we will have them. If you want to bring any aprons with you, that would also be helpful for mess mitigation!
Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday!
GOOD FEAST!
Merchandise is on the way!
Branded merchandise!
We have prototypes for grocery bags and aprons! They will have the logo and Modern Urban Viking Cooking on them. Simple and sweet and oh so washable!
These bags will make your weekly pillage at the grocery or farmer’s market that much easier. An apron you can wash is always helpful to keep your fantastic urban fashions free from kitchen mess!