Reporting on: Steak kabobs and blackberry drink
Steak kabobs: The Bayeux Tapestry shows a meal being prepared for the Norman army and its officers in the field. Small birds and chunks of what I assume are meat are shown roasting on long skewers, which a server then brings to the table. (There's also a pot of... salt pork? who knows... and Mystery Lumps being cooked on some sort of stovetop or griddle. Maybe breads?)
One day, I want to try the near-vertical skewer arrangement shown here. But for today, I just threaded 1" cubes of NY strip steak onto soaked bamboo skewers and laid them down on a standard charcoal grill. Unsurprisingly, grilled steak bites are delicious! I'll keep an eye out for quality steak on sale over the next few weeks and lay in a store for the dinner.
Servants prepare William and Odo their suppers ahead of Hastings
Blackberry Drink: The original recipe (which was a medicial cure) runs: "Give him crushed bramble berries [blackberries] to drink." Sounds simple. The main problem here is that grocery store blackberries are generally terrible. They are bland, watery, and sour. Frozen ones are usually better, but they're hard to find. I didn't have time to scour the local stores, so I went ahead with fresh and tried some different preparations:
- Crushed berries: Some flavor, rather sour, very pulpy/seed-y. You could give this as medicine, but it's not something anyone would want to drink.
- Crushed berries mixed with water: Water didn't help.
- Crushed berries forced through a fine sieve: This made some blackberry juice. The seeds and pulp were gone, but it was bland, watery, and sour.
- The Sieved Juice mixed with water: This was almost the best of the bunch? The berry juice sort of accented the water rather than trying to actually be a flavor. Which was good, because there wasn't much flavor.
I've ordered a bottle of blackberry juice concentrate. Maybe that will work better.
I bought some more parsnips. I'm going to try to follow the medical prescription more closely - pound the raw parnsips and soak in ale overnight. Then I'll try boiling them and making a further mash.
Since I'll be firing up the grill for the steak, maybe I should do some baked apples and walnuts for dessert?
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