A Twelfth Century German Salad?

Presented by Rycheza z Polska

Reconstructing Medieval Food is a different discipline than most other A&S pursuits.  First off we (That is us wackos that aren’t satisfied with  just throwing a burger on the grill at events) do not have extant articles to examine.  There are no bowls of mortrews or wardyns in syrup gathering dust in some museum storeroom, no herb or meat pies waiting to be found in an attic.  There are some finds in the archeological record, but these take the form of bones or the burnt residue on a pottery shard, and analysis of human remains can point us to a general diet, but none of it is really the sort of thing to lead directly to reconstructing a whole dish, let alone a meal.  Such might show that people were eating oysters but was that raw on the half shell, breaded and fried or in a chowder?

Pictorial records may show a loaf of bread served up at the last supper or a chicken on the table of an inn.  But how do we know how it was made what proportion of flour to other ingredients, what kind of yeast and how was the chicken seasoned and was there stuffing or a sauce?

We do have some recipes. Yes, that is true, however, until well into the sixteenth century and beyond these rarely give quantities or precise directions.  Many are little more than a list of ingredients ending in the instruction to cook it ‘til it be well.  And those are rare until printing became all the rage.

Even with a recipe in hand we still face the questions of what exactly are ayern or skirrets?  How different is the garlic in my hand from the bulb a 12th century cook held.  (There is little doubt that any cultivated plant or domesticated animal has been redefined, but what has been lost and what gained?)

Thus warned, this is an interpretation of a 12^th century green salad.  The inspiration comes not from a ‘cookbook’ but from a treatise on the medical application of various plants, animals and other substances.  Physica was written between 1151- 1158 by Hildegard von Bingham, a German nun,  She was a remarkable woman, well known as a religious mystic and at one point in her life established her own convent.

While the Physica concentrates on the uses of plants and animals in medicinal preparations, Quite a number of entries give us clues to what was being eaten and even some hints towards recipes.  This is not surprising as diet was considered an intricate part of medicine and health maintenance.  This entry on domestic lettuce gives some very clear clues.

            Domestic Lettuces (latich), which can be eaten, are very cold. Eaten without condiment, their injurious juice makes a person’s brain empty, and they fill his stomach with illness. Whence, one who wishes to eat it should first temper it with dill, vinegar, or garlic. So that these suffuse in it a short time before it is eaten,   Tempered in this way, lettuce strengthens the brain and furnishes food digestion. 

For our salad we start with some leaf lettuce. I am fortunate to deal with a farmer who grows many heirloom varieties including this one dating to 1750.   Then dress it with a simple dressing of vinegar and oil, with garlic, dill and a bit of salt.  The final garnish of borage flowers (home grown) was suggested by a painting Still Life with Flowers and Refreshments by Georg Flegel (1563-1638)

For The Dressing:

                ¼ cup red wine vinegar

                2 tablespoons olive oil

                1 clove garlic, crushed or minced

                ½ teaspoon dried dill weed or fresh

                Pinch of salt.        

Bibliography

Bingen, Hildegard von. Hildegard von Bingen's Physica. Trans. Priscilla Throop. Rochester: Healing Arts Press, 1998.