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All text and pictures of
dishes are the intellectual property of Coquinaria and may not be reproduced
without permission and acknowledgement..
recipe
September/October 2008
Clean hands
That's what you need when eating a medieval meal!
Dutch version
of this recipe
Coquinaria has lots of medieval recipes,
but how do you eat them? With your hands!
Eating with a fork became the thing to do in upper class European courts
during the sixteenth century. Lower classes kept eating with their hands as
late as the eighteenth century.
Eating your food with fork AND knife is a
fairly recent custom, from the start of the twentieth century. Before, people
ate in the same way as many Americans still do today: fork in the right hand,
and only when something needs to be cut, the fork is transferred to the left
hand. The knife was only in the right hand while cutting food, otherwise it
was laid down on the table, and the fork was returned to the right hand.
Before the table fork, one ate with his fingers.
Table manners are relative, what is polite in one culture, is rude in another
time or place.
In some 'medieval' movies you can see fully
harnassed knights grabbing fat roasted chickens, and tearing the meat off the
carcass with their teeth. I'm sorry to dissappoint you, but that is just not the
way it was. Then just as now a meal was a social event, dictated by rules.
Eating with your hands did not mean everything turned into a big mess. On the
contrary, rules were even more important than nowadays. Even though bacteria
were still unknown, hygiene was considered important. To wash your hands before
and after dinner, and sometimes also in between courses, was certainly not an
empty ritual.
Below you'll find a 'recipe' for water to wash your hands, from the Ménangier
de Paris. My favourite is the combination of citrus fruit with sage
leaves, that will make your hands smell lovely, and also makes your skin soft
and supple!
But first I want to share with you a fragment
from the
Disciplina clericalis, written by
Petrus Alphonsus, a
Spanish Jew from the eleventh century who was converted to christianity. The
Latin text I found on the
internet, the translation is mine. I have allowed myself some freedom in the
translation, for readability.
Filius: O pater, quare oblitus es dicere quomodo debet homo comedere coram
rege?
Pater: Non oblitus fui dicere, quia nulla differentia est inter comedere
coram rege et alibi.
Filius: Dic ergo quomodo ubique debeam comedere.
Pater: Cum ablueris manus ut comedas, nihil tangas nisi prandium, donec
comedas; nec comedas panem priusquam veniat aliud ferculum super mensam, ne
dicaris impatiens; nec tantum ponas bolum in ore tuo, ut micae defluant hinc
et inde, ne dicaris gluto; nec glutias bolum priusquam bene fuerit
commasticatum in ore tuo, ne straguleris; nec pocula sumas donec os sit
vacuum, ne dicaris vinosus; nec loquaris dum aliquid in ore tuo tenueris, ne
aliquid intret de gutture in intimam arteriam et sic sit tibi causa mortis;
et si videris bolum quod tibi placeat in parapside coram sodali, ne sumas,
ne dicatur tibi prava rusticitas. Post prandium manus ablue, quia phisicum
est et curiale; ob hoc enim multorum oculi deteriorantur, quoniam post
prandia manibus non ablutis terguntur. |
Son: O father, why did you
forget to say how a man must eat in the presence of the king?
Father: I did not forget to say it, because there is no difference between
eating in the presence of the king and elsewhere.
Son: Then tell me how to eat anywhere!
Father: When you have washed your hands to eat, don't touch anything but
your food as long as you eat; don't eat your bread before other dishes are
served, so as not to be called impatient. And do not stuff your mouth full
of food so that crumbs fly everywhere, or they will call you a glutton.
Also, refrain from swallowing your morsel before you have chewed it well in
your mouth, to prevent suffocating. Don't take your goblet before your mouth
is empty, or you'll be considered a drunk. And don't speak with your mouth
full, that nothing will come from your gullet into your throat and thus will
be the cause of your death. And when you see a tasty morsel in your
neighbour's dish, don't take it, or you will be thought an uncouth lout.
Wash your hands when dinner is over, because that is according to the health
theory (?) and speaks of community spirit. Because the eyes of many are
deceived, that they wipe their hands without washing them after the meal. |
I love this text! But mind you, just as there
are people today that know how to eat civilized, and people that don't, in those
days there were also people who knew how to behave, and 'uncouth louts'.
How do you eat with your hands? You use just
one hand, the other stays clean. From that single hand only thumb, index finger
and middle finger are used, and from those only the outher phalanx is used. That
way, you can eat quite decently. Dishes like pottage or porridge were
eaten with a spoon, of course. Sometimes the table was laid with knives, or
there were servants who would carve the food into bite-size chunks. It was also
common to carry your own knife and spoon with you when you went to dinner.
So eating with your fingers does not have to end with messy clothes, furniture
and floors. It can even add an extra dimension to eating: the sense of touch is
now used. No wonder some children do not care to use eating utensils, food
tastes better when you have felt it with your fingers too.
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Because the food was served in shared dishes,
even medieval people knew the importance of good hygiene. It was a sign of
courtesy if the host himself would pour water over the hands of his guests, but
servants ('ewerers') could also be allocated to the task. There was also a towel
to wipe the hands on. That was a linen cloth, not terry-cloth (that was a
nineteenth century innovation).
The water was poured from beautiful vessels,
made especially for this, often shaped like an animal. It was called an aquamanile.
Above there is a picture of a very luxurious one from the twelfth century. On
the right there is a picture of a much simpler model, from the fifteenth
century. This did not stand, but was hung from a hook. Water could be poured by
tilting the vessel so the water run from one of the two spouts. On the woodcut
below you can see the same vessel hanging in the upper right corner, with a dish
to catch the water, and a towel rail next to it.
The original recipe
Water to wash your hands. Would you need a
recipe for that? Apparently yes. In the Ménagier de Paris (edition),
a cookbook from the end of the fourteenth century, there is just that. More on
the Ménagier can be read at the recipe for Mustard
and Hypocras.
| Pour faire eaue a laver
mains sur table mectez boulir de la sauge, puis coulez l'eaue et faictes
reffroidier jusques a plus que tiedes. Ou vous mectez comme dessus camomille
et marjolaine, ou vous mectez du rommarin, et cuire avec l'escorche
d'orenge. Et aussi feuilles de lorier y sont bonnes. |
To make water for washing
hands at the table. Boil sage, strain the water and let cool to a little
more than tepid. Or take camomille and marjoram in stead [of sage], or
rosemary, and boil with orange peel. Bay leaves are also good. |
The modern adaptation of the recipe:
The orange in the recipe was a sour orange, sweet
oranges were only introduced in Europe at the end of the fifteenth century (and
this recipe is from the fourteenth century). Sour oranges have a short season,
they are available in January/February. Use a sweet orange instead, or add a
slice of lemon. Smells good too.
List of ingredients:
2 litre (2 quarts) water
15 sage leaves, or some sprigs of camomille and marjoram, or rosemary or bay
leaves
optional: 3 slices of orange and 1 slice lemon
Preparation:
Pour boiling water over the citrus fruit to remove the wax layer.
Put everything in a pan, bring to the boil, let simmer for five minutes. Then
strain the water, and let it cool to just a little more than hand warm.
To serve:
To 'serve' the water you can use a matched set of
water jug and basin. Pour the water over the hands of your guests above the
water basin. Then you present the towel. If you want to be in style, use a linen
cloth (a dish towel or something?), not a terry cloth towel.
Of course, after having cleaned your hands the medieval way, you have to eat the
medieval way too: with your fingers!
Ingredients
All descriptions of ingredients
Citrus fruit
Bibliography
The editions below are in my
possession. Links refer to available editions.
All books mentioned on this site
Le Mesnagier de Paris.
Edition Georgina E. Brereton and Janet M. Ferrier, translation (in modern
French) Karin
Ueltschi. Paris, 1994.
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