Renaissance Recipes

Get ready for LARP season with renaissance costumes

The end of February is not too far off, which means that Live Action Role Playing (LARP) season will be here before you know it! Many groups like to hold their first events of the year during March. This means that it is time to dig out your Medieval costumes, oil up and polish your Medieval armor, and to start practicing with your boffer or latex weapons.

What is LARPing? LARPing is a type of roleplaying that takes you away from a gaming table and actually places you inside the role of your actual character. When you create a character, you actually come up with their personality, put on a Renaissance costume, and head out to a location, such as a campsite, to act out how your character would respond to the situations that are presented to you.

In most cases, there is a game staff that comes up with the story, villains, and other characters to help immerse you within the world of the game. Then you spend the entire length of the event acting out your character as you come across various scenarios. It is both a unique and entertaining experience.

If you are thinking about attending a LARP and are in need of a costume or armor, make sure to visit our site to see all of the fun options we have available.

Delicious Medieval food is simple to do!

We have in the past presented you with Medieval or Renaissance themed recipes that have been largely focused on main courses. Today we wanted to sweeten things up a bit with a traditional Italian desert. This recipe is for a Cherry Torte.

Ingredients list:

1 pound cherries

1 pound ricotta cheese

3 eggs

1/8 cup rose petals

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ cup sugar

½ tps. ginger

1 pinch black pepper

1 Tbsp. rose water

Procedures

-Start by grinding the dried cherries, making sure to drain them if they are from a can.

-Take the eggs, sugar, ricotta, and ground cherries and mix them thoroughly into a large bowl.

-After mixed, add in the ginger, pepper, cinnamon, and rose petals.

-Pour this mixture into an unbaked pie crust, covering with a top crust and bake at 350°F until the top of the crust is golden brown.

-Prior to serving, make a small hole in the top of the crust and pour in the rosewater.

This recipe brought to us from the good folks at Medieval Recipes. If you are planning on a Renaissance themed dinner, then this Cherry Torte can be an excellent desert compliment to the meal. For added ambiance, consider serving the dish as an authentically as possible while wearing this Tavern Keep Clothing.

Enjoy!

Create authentic food for medieval celebrations

From time to time we like to bring you recipes that have a Medieval flair to them so that you can include period food during your reenactments or  LARP event. And so we realized that when it comes to the Middle Ages,  there is something that takes precedence when it comes to food: Preservation.

Since there were no means of freezing or refrigeration, tavern owners needed to adopt other methods of making their food harvested during Autumn last through the Winter. Here are some of the more popular methods, other than salting, that were used:

-Smoking: Smoking via wood smoke was the common way to preserve fish or pork.

-Drying: Grains, cereals, meats, and fruit could be preserved through drying.

-Picking: Substances high in salt such as brine, or liquids like vinegar, were the usual methods of preserving fish and others meats. This was also a great way to keep vegetables longer into the colder months.

-Honey: When it came to certain drinks, such as mead, honey was sometimes used as a way to preserve the eventual mixture.

-Gelatin: Meat and fresh fish could be well kept by cooking them in a material that will eventually produce and solidify into a gel.

These are just some of the methods used during those times. If you ever wanted to give your customers/players a true sense of historical food, you can consider trying one of these preservation techniques. It can also be an educational process if you have your servers, who are dressed in beer wench costumes, work with your customers/players in assisting with some of these methods so that they can learn how people had to prepare for the winter months in the Middle Ages.

As our loyal readers know, we like to provide you with a number of recipes so that if you are planning a Medieval themed dinner, you can provide your guests with adequate fare. If you are looking to keep everything as authentic as possible, you could even consider serving your dinner dressed in a Medieval Tavern Wench costume.

Today’s Recipe: Grave of Small Birds

(Note: “Grave” is attributed to being the origin of the word “gravy.”)

This is a very simple poultry dish that you can easily serve with very few ingredients, and little preparation time, and actual cooking time.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Chicken thighs

½ Cup red wine

½ Cup water

½  Tsp. Salt

¼ Cup cooked bacon pieces

¼  Tsp. Ginger

¼  Tsp. Pepper

First gather all of your ingredients into a single large pot. Bring the content of the pot to boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce it to a simmer and allow it to simmer until the ingredients are cooked through. This process generally takes about 20 minutes.

We hope you enjoy!

The Queen is well aware that when it comes to the winter months, that her subjects enjoy nice warm meals to take away the chill in the air.  Therefore, she has ordered her cooks to provide you all with her favorite winter stew recipe.

Ingredients

-4 slices turkey bacon, coarsely chopped

-1 ½ cups finely chopped onion (2 medium)

-1 ½ cups diced carrots (2 medium)

-½ cup diced celery (1 stalk)

-3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth

-2 cups dry red wine, ie: Merlot or Zinfandel

-1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ½ teaspoon dried leaves

-2 bay leaves

-2  2 ½-inch-long strips of orange zest

-3 ½ pounds of sliced shank, or cubed stewing beef, that is already trimmed

-½ cup chopped watercress or parsley

-Fresh ground pepper for seasoning

1)      Heat oil in a 4 to 5 quart Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add in bacon and cook, stirring often until the bacon is lightly browned, which should take about 3 to 5 minutes.  Into the Dutch oven put the carrots, celery, and onion and stir until they are all lightly browned and softened which should take about 8 to 10 minutes.  Add broth, wine, thyme, orange zest, and bay leaves and bring them to a boil.

2)      Rinse the beef under cool water then place into a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker set to high.  Add the mixture from step one into the cooker. Put the lid on the cooker and allow the beef to cook for 6 to 7 hours, or until the beef is very tender.

3)      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and using a slotted spoon, place the cooked beef into a bowl. Remove the bones.  If desired, scoop the marrow from the bones and add to the meat.  Use the spoon to break the meat into small bite-sized pieces.  Cover and keep warm.

4)      Remove orange zest and bay leaves from the sauce and skim out the fat.  Then pour the remainder of the sauce into a large skillet.  Bring the sauce to a boil over high heat, occasionally removing the foam for about 20 minutes.  Season with pepper.  Return the beef to the broth and heat through.

5)      Ladle the stew into bowls and sprinkle with watercress or parsley.

At winter Renaissance Faires or Medieval events, this delicious stew can be dished out by those wearing serving wench costumes.  The Queen hopes you enjoy!

As we embark upon the week where we give “thanks,” we thought that we could provide you with a recipe that you can use to supplement your meal.  Although Thanksgiving is a relatively young holiday, it does not mean that we can not include dishes from an older time.  A combination of new and old can enhance any meal.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today’s recipe is an old Italian dish that was originally found on a poem written by Petrarch.  Italy was the birth place of the Renaissance.  This dish can be used as a side dish for your feast.

Sun-dried Tomato and Olive Polenta

Ingredients:

~ 1 cup instant polenta

~ 4 cups vegetable broth

~ 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

~ 2/3 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

~ 2/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomato

~ 1/3 cup sliced kalamata olive

~ ½ cup sliced fresh basil

~ ¼ cup olive oil

~ ½ cup flour

1. Boil the vegetable broth; once boiling, stir in the polenta.  Let mixture simmer on low heat while stirring frequently for 15 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan, feta, tomatoes, basil, and olives.
3. Once you’ve stirred in the ingredients for step 2, put the mixture in a greased cake pan and spread the mixture evenly.  Press down if necessary.
4. Let the mixture firm up in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours.
5. Once firm, cut the mixture into slices (about 16 slices total) and coat them in flour, taking care to shake off the excess.
6. Fry the floured polenta in olive oil until nicely browned, then drain on paper towel.

Enjoy!  If you are running with a Renaissance theme for your Thanksgiving meal, do not forget to have your servers bring forth the food in their wench outfits.  Have a nice holiday!

Now that we are well into Autumn and on the verge of Winter, we know that it is going to be cold outside.  As you travel from merchant shop to merchant shop in the Peddler’s Village, you want to make sure you stay nice and warm.  You could of course bundle up in many layers as you complete your holiday shopping, but what about staying toasty with a nice warm drink?  Below you’ll find an excellent warm spiced cider recipe that can be served at any tavern.  You can even wear a serving wench costume while passing out this tasty drink to your customers.

Warm Spiced Cider:

Ingredients:

½ gallon apple cider

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 naval or Valencia orange, halved and sliced

Cinnamon sticks for garnish

1. Pour apple cider into a 2-quart slow cooker crock
2. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.  Float orange slices on top
3. Turn slow cooker to high until cider becomes steaming hot
4. Let Simmer for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to “low” or “keep warm”
5. Serve in mugs, garnished by a cinnamon stick