{"id":1656,"date":"2015-10-18T03:19:43","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T03:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbouchard.com\/aneleda\/?p=1656"},"modified":"2015-10-18T03:37:40","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T03:37:40","slug":"cooking-the-garbage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbouchard.com\/aneleda\/cooking-the-garbage","title":{"rendered":"Cooking the Real “Garbage”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Garbage<\/a>“Garbage” is a 15th century recipe for a thickened broth made of…well, garbage. Why?<\/p>\n

It was the annual chicken harvest at the Packards’ house. A few\u00a0SCA and non SCA folk gather and harvest the chickens raised over the summer. This year there were 49 chickens. Last week Anya and I made chicken foot stew loosely inspired by the Garbage recipe to make a potluck dish at the Endewearde Hunt. We used last year’s frozen chicken feet. But – behold – it was chicken killing day! There were all KINDS of chickens and ample “garbage” about so we decided to make the recipe today with all the fresh garbage we had.<\/p>\n

The recipe from the late 1400’s goes like this:<\/p>\n

Garbage. Take faire Garbage, chikenes hedes, ffete, lyvers, And gysers, and wassh hem clene; caste hem into a faire potte, And caste fressh broth of Beef, powder of Peper, Canell, Clowes, Maces, Parcely and Sauge myced small; then take brede, stepe hit in the same brothe, Drawe hit thorgh a streynour, cast thereto, And lete boyle ynowe; caste there-to pouder ginger, vergeous, salt, And a litull Safferon, And serve hit forthe.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/learning\/images\/texts\/cooks\/transcript838.html<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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It’s from<\/span>\u00a0“A composite and miscellaneous volume put together by John Crophill (d. in or after 1485), medical practitioner and bailiff of Wix Priory in Essex.” This is the original manuscript<\/a>. I first encountered it on Daniel Meyer’s website<\/a>,\u00a0medievalcookery.com.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Recipe<\/h3>\n
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\"Livers<\/a>
Gizzards and Livers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We cooked based on the above recipe, and redacted it as we cooked. We didn’t formalize it, but this is what it was.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

14 chicken feet<\/strong><\/div>\n
7\u00a0chicken heads<\/strong><\/div>\n
5 chicken\u00a0livers<\/strong><\/div>\n
5 chicken\u00a0gizzards<\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
12 cups beef broth (we used “better than bouillon”)<\/strong><\/div>\n
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\"Herbs<\/a>
Spices and herbs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ground herbs as follows:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

black pepper and ginger each- to fit in the hollow of the palm<\/strong><\/div>\n
cinnamon and clove – about half a palm (2tsp?)<\/strong><\/div>\n
mace – about a quarter palm (1tsp?)<\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
fresh herbs as follows:<\/div>\n
broad-leafed sage, chopped finely –\u00a0to fit in the hollow of the palm<\/strong><\/div>\n
carrot tops, chopped finely –\u00a0to fit in the hollow of the palm<\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
cider vinegar – about 2tbs<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Process<\/h3>\n
\"heads<\/a>Because we were slaughtering, there were lots and lots of parts of chickens. Agatha saved feet, gizzards, livers, and some heads for use in the recipe. (I was plucking.)<\/div>\n
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I carefully cleaned the livers and gizzards and feet. I then plucked the heads as much as I could be motivated to (I figured that medieval people may have also been lazy!) and cleaned them as well. It began to rain heavily, so I fled for a while, and when I returned there was rainwater in the bottom of the cast iron pot hanging over the fire. I added to that steaming water livers and gizzards and feet. Anya brought out the broth and added it. When the broth was in, I added the heads and herbs, except the ginger. Put the lid on. Let it boil.<\/div>\n
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After it had boiled, I added the ginger to it and stirred. We decided to hold on the bread and that the saffron was likely for color, but we didn’t have any anyway. It looked horrible but smelled ok. Put it back on the fire and let it heat up again.<\/div>\n
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