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Kasan
Dec 24, 2006


You read the title correct (or perhaps not). This is a modern take on a 13th century recipe. In non-phonetic english, it's called "Beef Stew". Unfortunately I didn't know the NICSA this month was alcohol or I would have a bunch of before and during shots instead of the "Man this looks so good, I'll post it to the what I had for dinner thread". Thankfully, the dish is obscenely simple to make so following along shouldn't really require pictures. The dish turned out well enough that my wife would like me to make it again sometime in the next two weeks, and I'll try and remember to get some pictures to edit back into this post. So without further adieu, the recipe! (transliterated into modern english so nobody gets a headache)

Beef Stew with good Broth (scaled to serve 4 instead of 20)
2 lbs of Beef for stewing. (I used short rib)
1/2 bottle of Pinot Noir (or similar wine)
32oz of beef Consomme
1 Head of Celery - roughly chopped with leaves and base removed
1 lb of Carrots - roughly chopped with ends removed
2 red onions - roughly chopped
1 pack of fresh mushrooms (dried works too. I recommend porcini)
2 Cans of Peeled cherry tomatoes (in hindsight I would use crushed)
Rosemary - (A few inches of fresh, or 1 heaping tablespoon of dried)
4 cloves of garlic - peeled and chopped
1 long pepper - crushed to death in a mortar and pestle (spice grinder would work too)
Pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons of unsalted sweet cream butter.
Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon of mild honey (like sour wood)
Flour for dredging
2 Cinnamon sticks (if using caisson. 3 if using real cinnamon from Madagascar. 2 1/2 teaspoons if using powdered)
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Firstly chop all your vegetables. To prepare your beef, slice thinly and into smallish pieces (my short ribs were ~2 inches long and as thin as a heavy meat cleaver blade). Dredge lightly in flour and set aside. In a dutch oven, heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom and add the butter and non-powdered spices. Fry lightly for about 2 minutes then add in all the vegetables and fry for 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. The goal here is to soften the veggies more than cook them. Add the powdered spices (if using) and the meat to the pot and continue to fry lightly for another 5 minutes. The meat should just start showing color. Add all the liquids (and the honey) and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover tightly with two layers of tin foil and a pot lid. Go play video games for two hours then come back and remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Ladle into a bowl and enjoy your delicious stew.
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Some thoughts and notes:
The peeled whole tomatoes were a bit much to try and eat. Unwieldy more than anything. I'd use crushed tomatoes in my next batch.
The dish could have used more heat in my opinion (my wife disagrees).
This stew REALLY needs a crusty bread to compliment it. A crisped Portuguese roll would be amazing.

Why a 13th century recipe?
I'm an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and one of the things I do is learn period cooking. Recipes, methods, reasons for food pairings etc.

Long Pepper? What the hell is that?

(credit to wikipedia for the picture): A long pepper is another member of the black pepper family. It is pungent and EXTREMELY peppery. On the level of some nightshades in terms of heat. On that note, long pepper was used because nightshades were actually fairly uncommon so when heat was wanted to be added to a dish this was used instead of tossing in a few chilies. If the thought of peppery death intimidates you, use grains of paradise (an African pepper) instead. It has a similar flavor profile with out all the heat. Use black pepper if you have to, but use fresh cracked pepper corns. Generic ground pepper is horrible stop using it.

EDIT:
Some pictures of the before since I made it again today. I used what's on hand so the wine doesn't match up and the tomatoes are diced instead of whole. I also used the entire bottle of wine :ohdear: I didn't remember to whip out the cellphone camera until I'd already chopped all the veggies and put them in the pot.



Kasan fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Jul 28, 2014

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Mr. Wiggles
Dec 1, 2003

We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.
No tomatoes in 13th century Europe. :hist101: Also, needs more exotic spices to show off the wealth and prestige of the lord or bishop or whoever.

But it looks good! I'd eat it.

I need to get back into the SCA one of these days. Just no time, though.

Kasan
Dec 24, 2006

Mr. Wiggles posted:

No tomatoes in 13th century Europe. :hist101: Also, needs more exotic spices to show off the wealth and prestige of the lord or bishop or whoever.

But it looks good! I'd eat it.

I need to get back into the SCA one of these days. Just no time, though.

I did say it was a modern take :v: And I could have tossed saffron in it but I don't like the hay taste of it, and nearly every recipe I have all calls for using saffron like it wasn't $16 an ounce.

Edit: I have a "peasants stew" recipe that calls for 3 lbs of truffles. If only truffles were still considered peasants food and not worth putting on the lords plate.

Kasan fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Jul 20, 2014

Scientastic
Mar 1, 2010

TRULY scientastic.
🔬🍒


Kasan posted:

with-out further adieu

Is one of the criteria for joining the Society for Creative Anachronism that you make bizarre distortions of perfectly good English phrases?

Kasan
Dec 24, 2006

Scientastic posted:

Is one of the criteria for joining the Society for Creative Anachronism that you make bizarre distortions of perfectly good English phrases?

No, that comes from living in the south.

bloody ghost titty
Oct 23, 2008

tHROW SOME D"s ON THAT BIZNATCH
You've got the point, and extra special thanks for contributing!

Now do it again wearing armor and yelling "fireball" every time you light the stove and you're a shoo-in.

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Kasan
Dec 24, 2006
Added some pictures of the before to the end of the post since I made it again. :radcat:

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