Sherbet

“The stew was fiery hot, Hotah knew, though he tasted none of it. Sherbet followed, to cool the tongue.” (aDwD)

Sherbet

Our Thoughts:

Unable to decide which recipes to use, we tried three of them. We’ll start with the modern and work our way back in time.

Modern is YUM. The tang of the Greek yogurt pairs deliciously with the sweetness of the pom juice. This version took the longest to freeze, but was lovely and scoopable once it was.

The Oldish recipe is the most pomegranatey, having the most unadulterated juice in it. We tried molding it, which worked reasonably well, although might do better with a silicone mold.

The Traditional Sharbat is the strangest of the three, but I have a feeling that is just due to the recipe we used. We’ve had sharbat that was delicious, but sadly, this one falls short of expectations. The almond milk would better suit a fruit (haha!) like apricots, I think, rather than the pomegranate.

Verdict? We liked the first two about the same, and the traditional version not so much. Sherbet in just about any form, and any flavor, though, is just perfect on a hot summer day.

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Tyrion’s Breakfast at Winterfell

“A servant approached. “Bread,” Tyrion told him, “and two of those little fish, and a mug of that good dark beer to wash them down. Oh, and some bacon. Burn it until it turns black.” ” (Game of Thrones)

Tyrion’s Breakfast at Winterfell

Our thoughts:

Not a bad way to start a day. This is the favorite breakfast of our sous chef, taster cat. He would like it every day.

However, call me traditional, but I really missed the presence of eggs in this breakfast. Bacon is always a sound choice, and the bread is yum, especially combined with butter and honey. The fish didn’t quite hit the mark, though. We would rather a darker, smokier fish that would suit the bacon, rather than such a light, flaky cod. Perhaps even a dried and salted fish? Next time, we might try pairing it with our Traditional Fingerfish…

For a really decadent and true-to-the-books experience, try pairing the breakfast with a dark coffee porter or stout. The beer goes with the medieval setting, while the slight coffee taste appeals to one’s morning psychology.

Make it at Home!

Operation Keep George Fed!

“I am a very talented eater, though not much of a cook.” -George RR Martin

Alright folks. It is now July, and the official release date for Dance with Dragons is quickly approaching. On July 12th, George RR Martin begins his book signing tour, right outside Boston.

To show our appreciation for all George’s hard work, we are planning to pack a basket of Westerosi goodies for the first signing, in Burlington MA. We’re putting out a call for other fans to make up baskets of edibles for George as he tours the country, so that he can really get a great taste of the world he has shared with all of us.

So, if you want to be a star and support George, as well as your favorite Westeros food blog, let us know, so we can put you on the schedule!

**We recommend making small portioned dishes, such as mini pies, and foods that can be transported easily. Baskets or boxes should be smallish, with just a few foods. Please don’t try to bring a whole honeyed chicken or roasted aurochs to a book signing! We are also affixing labels to everything, as well, so George can tell what he’s eating. :) **

Get the tour details here: http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2011/06/on-tour-george-r-r-martin.html?ref=twt_Suvudu_stream

Tuesday, July 12 – Burlington, MA
7:00pm – Barnes & Noble, 98 Middlesex Turnpike

Chelsea and Sariann– lemoncakes, pork pies, cheese and olives, mulling spices

Thursday, July 14 – New York, NY
7:00pm – Barnes & Noble Union Square, 33 East 17th Street

Oshidori- Beef-and-Bacon (mini)Pie, Salad in Castle Black, Tyroshi Honeyfingers and Plum Wine

Saturday, July 16 – Indianapolis, IN
2:00pm – Barnes & Noble, 14709 US Highway 31 North, Carmel

Kristin– mini modern cheese-and-onion pies, mini fruit tarts, local mead

Sunday, July 24 – San Diego, CA
4:00pm – Mysterious Galaxy, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd

Jason- assorted Dornish goodies

Tuesday, July 26 – Los Angeles, CA
7:00pm – Barnes & Noble, 189 The Grove Drive

Jack- assorted goodies

Wednesday, July 27 – Redwood City, CA
7:00pm – Fox Theatre, 2223 Broadway Street (event hosted by Kepler’s Books)

Friday, July 29 – Seattle, WA
7:30pm – Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave (event hosted by University Bookstore)

Philip- assorted goodies

Adrienne & Kia- Baked goods

Sunday, July 31 – Denver, CO

2:00pm – Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street

Amanda– Honeyed-chicken-in-a-hand-pie-of-some-kind, some local beer, oatcakes, and pease pudding.

Mystral- Lemoncakes

Tuesday, August 2 – Lexington, KY
7:00pm – Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 161 Lexington Green Cir.

Salt Beef

“The rain might have stopped, but the compound was still a morass of shallow lakes and slippery mud. Black brothers were folding their tents, feeding their horses, and chewing on strips of salt beef.”

Salt Beef

Our Thoughts:

We won’t lie. We bought a ten pound piece of meat to cure without even thinking of the blog. We’re that culinary crazy. When one of us realized that we were pretty much making salt beef, we were a) relieved that this meaty goodness could be shared with the world, and b) absolved of the crime of cooking food outside of the blog. We did, however, look like a house of psychopaths for three weeks while the muslin-wrapped bundles hung in our pantry. Which has a window, of course.

But once we unwrapped and sliced into the wondrous meat, the weeks of apparent insanity were completely worth it. The meat is, obviously, very salty, but when paired with a sharp cheese and a good loaf of bread, it is the perfect trail food. We brought a chunk of our salt beef when we went camping, and it became part of breakfast, lunch and dinner!

A long wait for the finished product, but well worth the wait!

Get the Recipe!

Modern Fruit Tarts

Blueberry, Apricot, Berry, Cherry

Our Thoughts

Once again, tart success! As a dessert to an HUGE meal, these tarts were perhaps not well enough appreciated at the time of initial consumption, but it has been determined from their timely disappearance form the left-over counter that they are, indeed, a household hit.

The apricot tart is beautiful in presentation, and has a delicate taste unlike tarts using dried apricots. The fresh fruit has a lighter taste, and is accented phenomenally by the lemon and pistachio combination. Chocolate and cherry is always a fab combination, and eating them with a spoon straight out of the baking tin while no one is looking is certainly the best way to enjoy! The blueberry was a favorite, with a low sugar content it tastes very fruity, almost bordering on savory. The heart warming mixed berry tarts, with their failed shape and lattice, were, as Chelsea pointed out, like most Sariann food is, very rustic. And we loved it.

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Snacking with Davos Seaworth

“Fetch him some hot wine with cloves, I am misliking the sound of that cough. Squeeze some lime in it as well. And bring white cheese and a bowl of those cracked green olives we counted earlier! Davos, I will join you soon, once I have bespoken our good captain. You will be forgiving me, I know. Do not eat all the olives, or I will be cross with you!” (III: 136)

Snacks for Davos

Our Thoughts:

Feta and olives are a classic Mediterranean pairing, and are very nice when combined with the hot white wine. If you like pepper, just a touch sprinkled on top of both olives and cheese can be lovely. Try finding a windswept spit of rock, or a tallship to eat your snack on.

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Salladhor Saan’s Hot Wine

Salladhor Saan’s Hot Wine

Thoughts:

While spiced red wine is perfectly suited to winter in the frozen North, this recipe uses more summery, exotic ingredients that one might find in the holds of a pirate captain’s ship: vanilla, lime, and expensive spices.

This is a unique twist on a usual mulled wine recipe, resulting in something vaguely like a hot sangria. Each of the flavors takes its turn on the palate, from the initial burst of citrus to the semi-sting of cloves and pepper, while the bay leaves impart just a slight hint of earthiness. The vanilla and honey combine to sweeten out the tartness of the lime, rounding out the full taste experience of this drink.

A must try for those who like hot wine!

Salladhor Saan’s Hot Wine Recipe

Cook’s Note: I chose to use a white wine, even though the wine in the book is a red.

Ingredients:

1 lime, keep the peel and half the juice
700 ml white fruity wine (that is 1 normal bottle)
1-2 vanilla pods (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
3 bay leaves
~10 whole cloves
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of white pepper
3 -4 tablespoons honey
6 tablespoons white port (optional, but fortifying)

Peel the lime, cut into small pieces, and juice half of it. Pour the wine in a pan, add the lime peel, lime juice, vanilla pods, cloves, pepper, and bay leaves. Bring to just under a simmer. Lower the heat, cover the pan and leave to warm through for at least 15 minutes. Try to just keep it hot and not let it boil. Add 3 tablespoons of honey and the port, if using, then taste to see or you want to add more honey. Remove the vanilla pods, cloves, lime peel and the bay leaves. Serve in a heatproof glass.

Hen stuffed w/carrots, chestnuts, and prunes

“I never eat prunes myself. Well, there was one time when Hobb chopped them up with chestnuts and carrots and hid them in a hen. Never trust a cook, my lord. They’ll prune you when you least expect it.” (DwD)

Black Hen, carved, w/carrot-chestnut-prune stuffing

Our Thoughts

So, as soon as we learned about black chickens, we knew we had to try one. However, we didn’t realize that ours came with a head. Or with giant dinosaur feet. This made the preparation of the meal something of an adventure, and we mean the kind where it’s sort of unpleasant. We rolled up our sleeves, though, and soldiered on. The only solution was to cut that bird up until it looked like the sort of chicken we know and love, and so it stopped staring at us.

Eating this chicken is a strange experience. Your tastebuds say “chicken!”, while your brain can’t quite get over the color. The texture of the meat is somehow reminiscent of turkey, with a richer flavor than one gets with regular chicken. There isn’t a great deal of meat on one of these birds, but what you do find is tasty. Thankfully, the stuffing is absolutely YUM. Each flavor gets its own sort of showcase in your mouth, and each provides a nice, different texture from the others.

Bottom Line? A nice recipe, but next time we’ll put the stuffing in a normal chicken.

Get the Recipe…

Medieval Fruit Tarts- blueberry, strawberry, apricot, cherry

“A man was pushing a load of tarts by on a two-wheeled cart; the smells sang of blueberries and lemons and apricots. Her stomach made a hollow rumbly noise. ‘Could I have one?’ she heard herself say.” -A Game of Thrones

Medieval Fruit Tarts

Thoughts:

These are a wonderful treat that really showcase the fresh fruits of summer. We went all out and made all the varieties mentioned in the books: blueberry, strawberry, ambiguous berry, and apricot. We also added a cherry version because we found a tasty recipe for it, and cherry pie is a Father’s Day favorite.

Of all these tarts, our favorite was probably the apricot one. It had the most complex assortment of flavors, followed by the cherry tart. What all of these tart recipes have going for them, though, is that after eating several slices of each, you won’t feel bogged down by sugar, because there isn’t all that much in any of the recipes. The real focus of each tart is the fruit, and the flavors of the berries in particular comes across beautifully. In short, these are the perfectest herald of summer.

Basic Medieval Pastry Dough Recipe

Take fine floure and a curtesy of faire water and a disshe of swete butter and a litle saffron and the yolkes of two egges and make it thin and tender as ye maie. –A Propre new booke of Cokery, 1545

Ingredients

3 cups Flour
1/2 cup Water
1-2 sticks Butter (we used one, could do with more!)
pinch of saffron
1 Egg yolk, slightly beaten

Dissolve the saffron in your 1/2 cup water. While that is going, rub in the butter to the flour, then add the egg yolk and saffroned water. Stir until entirely incorporated, adding more water very gradually until everything just sticks together.

To pre-bake a shell, line a pan with dough, rolled very thin. Using a fork, poke holes all over the bottom of the pan, or use a pie weight. Bake for around 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Don’t let it start to brown! Remove from oven and fill as per the recipe.

Makes enough for 8-4 inch tart pans and one 9 inch pan.

Medieval Cherry Tart Recipe

To make a close Tarte of Cherries. Take out the stones and laye them as whole as you can in a Charger and put in synamon and ginger to them and laye them in a tart whole and close them and let them stand three quarters of an hour in the oven, then take a sirrope of Muscadine and damaske water and sugar and serve it. –Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswifes Jewell, 1596

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. whole cherries
dash of rose water (optional)
1/4 cup sweet red wine
1/4 cup honey or sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
dash of red wine vinegar (to taste)
pastry dough for 1-9 inch pan, or 8-4 inch tart pans

Combine cherries, wine, and vinegar in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for around 1/2 hour, or until the pits can be easily removed by squishing the cherries through a colander. Put cherry puree in a bowl and add the sugar and spices. Allow to cool. Line your tart pan with pastry dough (recipe above), and trim the edges. If you like, you can make decorative shapes with the dough remainders to place on top of your filled tarts.

Add rosewater and port to cherries. Add enough sugar to sweeten, but not make it cloy, plus the ginger. Add a little vinegar or lemon juice to sharpen. Cook for 45 minutes or until flavors are mingled. If needed, you may thicken with bread crumbs. Let cool. Fill shells, close, bake at 375º F for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serves 4-6

Apricot Tart Recipe

Leche frys in lentoun. Drawe a thik almaunde mylke wiþ water. Take dates and pyke hem clene with apples and peeres, & mynce hem with prunes damysyns; take out þe stones out of þe prunes, & kerue the prunes a two. Do þerto raisouns, coraunce, sugur, flour of canel, hoole macys and clowes, gode powdours & salt; colour hem vp with saundres. Meng þise with oile. Make a coffyn as þou didest bifore & do þis fars þerin, & bake it wel, and serue it forth. -Forme of Cury, 14th Century

Our Changes: The original recipe for this is sort of a hodgepodge of fruit. We took out the apples, pears, and dates, replacing them with fresh apricots and dried ones. The yellow-orange of the apricots is beautiful against the red of the almond milk filling.

Ingredients

2 cups extra thick Almond Milk
1/2 cup dried apricots, sliced lengthwise
3-5 fresh apricots, diced
1/2 cup pitted prunes, sliced lengthwise
1/2 cup currants
2 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp. each cinnamon, mace & cloves
1/4 tsp. each ginger, nutmeg, white pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
few drops red food coloring (in substitute of sandalwood)
2 Tbs. olive oil
one 9-inch pre-baked pie shell, or 8-4 inch pre-baked tart shells

Mix together well the almond milk, sugar, spices, oil, and food coloring. The color should be a brilliant red; the mixture should be thick but runny. In a separate bowl, mix together the fruits. Add the almond milk mixture and thoroughly blend. Place this filling in the pie shell. You may find that you have to put the fruit in the shell first, then spoon the almond milk over that. Bake at 375° F for 45 minutes, or until the filling is set and the top has slightly browned. Remove from oven; allow to completely cool before serving. Serves 4-6.

Medieval Berry Tart Recipe

Daryoles. Take wine & Fresh broth, Cloves, Maces & Marrow, & poweder of Ginger & Saffron & let all boil together & put thereto cream (& if it is clotted, draw it through a strainer) & yolks of Eggs, & mix them together, & pour the liquor that the Marrows was seethed in thereto; then make fair coffins of fair paste, & put the Marrow therein, & mince dates & strawberries in time of year, & put the coffins in the oven, & let them harden a little; then take them out & put the liquor thereto, & let them bake, & serve forth. -Two Fifteenth Century Cookbooks

Our Changes: We took out the marrow. Yeah. Not needed here. We also used this recipe for the blueberry and ambiguous berry tarts.

Ingredients

3/4 c. cream
1/4 c. wine (we used a sweet red, like that for the cherry tarts)
1/4 c. milk
5 egg yolks + 1 egg
1 pint strawberries, or other berries of your choice, or a mix
1/2 c. chopped dates
1/2 c. honey
1/4 tsp each saffron & ginger
1/8 tsp each mace & ground cloves
2 pre-baked pie shells, or 8-4 inch pre-baked tart shells

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, wine, saffron and other spices, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. In a separate container, beat egg yolks and honey together. While beating, add a bit of the hot milk mixture. Pour this back into the pot with the hot liquid while whisking furiously. Place the cut strawberries and dates in baked pie shells and spoon the cream mixture over fruit and into the shells. Bake at 375° F for 45 minutes, or until the filling has set. Serves 4-6.

Blackberry Preserves

“There was much more than she’d asked for: hot bread, butter and honey and blackberry preserves, a rasher of bacon and a soft-boiled egg, a wedge of cheese, a pot of mint tea. And with it came Maester Luwin.” (I: 113)

Blackberry Preserves

Our Thoughts:

These preserves are bursting with the intensity and vibrancy of spring! Slathered over a buttered scone, the tanginess of the blackberries is balanced wonderfully by the relatively meager sugar content (as compared to commercial jams). A perfect destination for berries that are either fresh off the plant, or at the end of their life, this recipe can be followed using other berries as well, or even mixing berries. If pectin is added and proper canning technique used, these preserves could be saved to brighten up a dreary winter morning.

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