4 hard-boiled eggs, preferably duck eggs (see this page)
3 black tea bags
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground clove
1 star anise
½ cup soy sauce
4 sausages, your favorite kind
Persimmon, figs, dates, or other fruit (optional)
Using the back of a spoon, gently crack the shells of the hard-boiled eggs all the way around so there are spiderweb-like lines all over the shells. Place them back in the pot and cover them with water. To the pot, add the tea bags, spices, and soy sauce. Simmer the eggs in this mixture for 30 minutes, then either continue to simmer for another few hours, or soak them overnight. At this point, you can either chill the eggs for up to a week and serve them cold, or you can serve them warm.
When you’re ready to serve, peel the eggs, taking care to just remove the shell and the outer membrane and to preserve the beautiful cracked pattern on the egg white.
Cook the sausages according to your preference, slice up some fruit, arrange everything on the plates, and serve.
Cook’s Note: Both the eggs (and the wine, if you choose to serve it) require time to steep, and are best prepared the day before.
Biscuits and Bacon
Ysilla was turning the biscuits. She laid an iron pan atop the brazier and put the bacon in. Some days she cooked biscuits and bacon; some days bacon and biscuits. Once every fortnight there might be a fish, but not today.… They were best when eaten hot, dripping with honey and butter. —A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
Serves 4 Prep: 10 minutes
Biscuits: 15 minutes Gravy: 10 minutes
Pairs well with Medieval Pease Porridge,
Modern Beet Pancakes,
Sister’s Stew
Like many of our modern recipe interpretations, this one is a bit loose. We doubt that Ysilla would have the means to make this particular pairing on the deck of a ship, but it was too delicious to pass up.
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder Salt
3 cups milk (whatever is in the fridge)
2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
6 slices bacon
Ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 450°F and grease a baking sheet.
In a bowl, combine 2 cups flour, the baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Combine 1 cup of the milk and the butter, then stir this into the dry ingredients until just blended. Drop the biscuits by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
While the biscuits bake, preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place the bacon in the skillet and cook until it is just shy of crispy. Set it aside to drain on paper towels. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour to the grease, and whisk it in thoroughly. Cook for about 1 minute, taking care not to burn the flour. Then add the remaining 2 cups milk and whisk thoroughly. Heat the mixture until bubbling, then simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Meanwhile, crumble the bacon and add it to the gravy along with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Allow the gravy to simmer until the desired consistency is achieved, then serve it over the biscuits.
Honey-Spiced Locusts
Hizdahr had stocked their box with flagons of chilled wine and sweetwater, with figs, dates, melons, and pomegranates, with pecans and peppers and a big bowl of honeyed locusts. Strong Belwas bellowed, “Locusts!” as he seized the bowl and began to crunch them by the handful.
—A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
Makes 1 cup of cooked insects
Prep: 15 minutes Cooking: 10 minutes
Pairs well with exotic fruits, Honey-Sweetened Wine
This Volantene recipe results in a sweet and spicy, super crunchy snack. It takes a bit of psychological adjustment to get over the idea of eating bugs … but the novelty and brag factor make it well worth the effort. Underlying the more familiar tastes of honey and spice is the real flavor of the crickets—a sort of smoky nuttiness that takes several crickets’ worth to savor.
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
1 cup freeze-dried crickets or locusts
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or paprika
Preheat the oven to 200°F.
Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the insects and salt and stir gently for around 10 minutes, making sure to completely coat them in butter.
In a small bowl, combine the honey and the Aleppo pepper. When the bugs are suitably crisped, drizzle the mixture over them and stir a bit more.
Spread the crickets on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for around 10 minutes, until the bugs are no longer quite so sticky. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Beet Soup
Sweet beets were grown in profusion hereabouts, and were served with almost every meal. The Volantenes made a cold soup of them, as thick and rich as purple honey. —A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
Roman-style Beet Soup
Concides porrum, coriandrum, cuminum, uuam passam, farinam et omnia in medullam mittes. ligabis et ita inferes ex liquamine, oleo et aceto.
—APICIUS, 1ST CENTURY
Serves 4 Prep: 10 minutes Cooking: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Pairs well with Black Bread,
Roman Buttered Carrots, red wine
This Roman recipe is the less familiar of the two beet soups in this book, and more rustic than your average borscht. The vegetables, especially the leeks, don’t quite break down when mashed, which gives the soup a hearty texture with an earthy taste.
Olive oil
2 leeks (white and light green parts only), well washed and cut into ½-inch slices
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¾ cup wine (red or white, whatever you’re drinking)
1 cup beef or chicken broth or water
⅓ cup red wine vinegar
4 medium beets, peeled and finely diced
Drizzle some olive oil into a medium saucepan. Add the leeks and the spices and cook, stirring gently to keep them from burning. When the leeks are golden, after about 5 minutes, add the wine, broth, vinegar, and beets. Cover and simmer until the beets are fork-tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Drain off the liquid and reserve it, then mash the beets and leeks in the pot, adding the reserved broth as needed. Ladle into individual bowls and serve hot or cold.
Modern Beet Soup
Serves 4 to 6 Prep: 5 minutes Cooking: about 40 minutes
Pairs well with Crusty White Bread,
Fish Tarts, meat pies, red wine
This soup is simple, wholesome, and hearty, with a lovely smooth texture that borscht is known for. It showcases all the best aspects of root vegetables. For a seasonal change, make it with water in the spring and summer and with beef stock in the fall and winter. The beef gives it a little more heartiness that will warm you to the core in cold months, while the warm-weather version can be served hot or cold, like a gazpacho.
1 medium yellow onion
1 medium carrot
1 clove garlic
4 cups water or beef broth
2 potatoes
1 pound beets
Unsalted butter
Roughly chop all the vegetables, but keep them separate.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt enough butter to coat the bottom of the pan, then add the onion, carrot, garlic, and a splash of the water or broth, and cover. Cook until the vegetables are soft and the onion is glossy. Add the potatoes, beets, and remaining water or broth, and simmer, mostly covered, until you can slide a fork in and out of the potatoes and beets without any resistance, about 30 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and puree it, either with an immersion blender, or in small batches with a standard blender.
Finished soup may be served hot or chilled.
Tyroshi Honeyfingers
Roman Honeyfingers
piper, nucleos, mel, rutam et passum teres, cum lacte et tracta coques. coagulum coque cum modicis ovis … ita ut durissimam pultem facias, deinde in patellam expandis. cum refrixerit, concidis quasi dulcia et frigis in oleo optimo. levas, perfundis mel, piper aspargis et inferes. melius feceris, si lac pro aqua miseris.
—APICIUS, 4TH CENTURY
Makes 30 to 40 honeyfingers
Prep: 15 minutes Cooking: 20 minutes
Pairs well with Beet Soup,
Rack of Lamb, Iced Milk with Honey
This recipe is a curiosity. The honeyfingers fry to a crispy crunch on the outside while remaining a bit chewy on the inside. The pieces are easy to cut into shapes, and could probably even be rolled into logs. The flavor is really all about the honey, but the pepper and cinnamon on top, as well as the pine nuts, add a slight complexity.
⅛ cup plus ¾ cup flour
1 cup whole milk (goat or cow)
Olive oil
2 tablespoons cooking sherry or sweet wine
1 egg, beaten
⅓ cup pine nuts, finely chopped
Cinnamon to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 cup honey, or more if needed
Chopped pine nuts for garnish
In a medium saucepan, whisk the ⅔ cup flour a little at a time into the cold milk so that there are no lumps. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and the sherry, and cook on medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until a thick porridge forms. Remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir briskly to cool the mixture.
When the porridge is lukewarm, add the egg and stir briskly until it is blended. Stir in the pine nuts and a dash of cinnamon and pepper. Stir in the remaining ¾ cup flour to make a dough that is sticky but can still be handled.
On a floured board with floured hands, press the dough out to a ½-inch-thick rectangle; cut it into finger-size strips.
Cover the bottom of a frying pan with a layer of olive oil about ½ inch deep. Heat the oil and fry the strips of dough until they are golden brown and crispy. Remove the fried strips to a plate covered with paper towels to drain. Dip them in honey and sprinkle them with cinnamon and pine nuts.
Modern Honeyfingers
Makes 15 to 18 honeyfingers Syrup: 3 hours to overnight
Dough: 2 hours Frying: 20 minutes
Pairs well with Sweet Pumpkin Soup,
Quails Drowned in Butter, Iced Milk with Honey
Delighted with the spiced sauce and the incredibly luscious texture, you will find yourself gobbling up these pastries and shamelessly licking your fingers. The braided fritters are impressive in presentation, yet reminiscent of fried dough from country fairs.
For the Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup honey
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 stick cinnamon
For the Dough:
2 cups cake flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
¼ cup whole milk
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Oil for frying
Cook all the ingredients for the syrup in a pan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring the syrup to a boil, then cover it with the lid and allow it to boil for 1 minute.
Uncover the pan, then turn down the heat to medium high and let the syrup simmer for about 5 minutes. Chill the syrup in the fridge for several hours, or overnight. It should be ice cold when you make the honeyfingers.
To make the dough, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
Make a well in the middle of the bowl and pour in the remaining ingredients, except for the oil. Mix thoroughly, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until it is soft and elastic, but not sticky. It should be of a consistency that it can be rolled out easily. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 2 hours.
Roll the dough out to a ¼-inch-thick rectangle, then cut it into strips about ½-inch wide. You can decide your desired length. Braid 3 strips of the same length together, pinching the ends well to prevent them from unraveling. Do this with all the dough. The braids should be 6 to 8 inches long.
Place the chilled syrup in a larger bowl of ice water to help keep it cold and set it near your stove. Heat about 1 inch oil over medium heat until it is very hot. Carefully drop the braided fingers a couple at a time into the oil and fry them for just a few minutes until they’re golden on both sides. Remove the honeyfingers from the oil and plunge them into the cold syrup. Leave them in the syrup until they have stopped cooking, about 30 seconds.
Pull the finished honeyfingers from the syrup mixture and set on a cooling rack with parchment paper or a cookie sheet underneath to catch the dripping syrup. Serve immediately once all the honeyfingers have been fried and cooled in syrup.
Wintercakes
He could still recall the sounds of the three bells, the way that Noom’s deep peals set his very bones to shuddering, the proud strong voice of Narrah, sweet Nyel’s silvery laughter. The taste of wintercake filled his mouth again, rich with ginger and pine nuts and bits of cherry …
—A FEAST FOR CROWS
These Elizabethan cakes are dense and heavy, yet addictive. The overall taste is one of pleasant, homey shortbread, but when you get a bite with cherry or ginger, the flavor shifts from familiar to foreign and fantastic. Consider eating them with your afternoon tea or coffee while lounging in a large armchair.
Elizabethan Wintercakes
Take three pound and a half of very fine flower well dryed by the fire, and put to it a pound and half of loaf Sugar sifted in a very fine sieve and dryed; Three pounds of Currants well washed and dryed in a cloth and set by the fire; When your flower is well mixed with the Sugar and Currants, you must put in it a pound and half of unmelted butter, ten spoonfuls of Cream, with the yolks of three new-laid Eggs beat with it, one Nutmeg; and if you please, three spoonfuls of Sack. When you have wrought your paste well, you must put it in a cloth, and set it in a dish before the fire, till it be through warm. Then make them up in little Cakes, and prick them full of holes; you must bake them in a quick oven unclosed. Afterwards Ice them over with Sugar.
—THE CLOSET OF SIR KENELM DIGBY KNIGHT OPENED, 1669
Makes 12 to 14 cakes
Prep: 15 minutes Baking: 25 minutes
Pairs well with Cold Fruit Soup, Mulled Wine or tea
We added dried cherries, pine nuts, and ginger to comply with our chosen historical recipe, but we decided to omit the icing. We found that it wasn’t really needed when all was said and baked—but you are more than welcome to give it a go!
3½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup dried cherries, diced
¼ cup candied ginger, diced
⅓ cup pine nuts
5 tablespoons double cream (or heavy cream)
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons sweet white wine, such as marsala or sherry, plus more if needed
Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a baking sheet.
Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl. Rub in the butter, then add the dried cherries, ginger, and pine nuts. In a separate bowl, mix the cream and egg yolks, then pour this over the dry mixture. Stir in the nutmeg and wine, combining everything thoroughly until the dough holds together and forms one big ball (add a little more wine if needed).
Form the do
ugh into disks about 4 inches across and ¾ inch thick and place them on the baking sheet, giving each cake room to spread a little. Bake the cakes for about 25 minutes, or until they are slightly golden on top.
Modern Wintercake
Serves 10 to 12
Prep: 30 minutes Baking: 30 to 40 minutes
Pairs well with Modern Stewed Rabbit, cold apple cider
In the modern cake, the spice of the ginger combined with the tang of the cherries is reminiscent of an English fruitcake, but the texture is more like the interior of a moist, high-quality scone. It is incredibly flavorful and comforting—the perfect baked good to consume by a fire on a brisk winter day.
For the Cake:
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
⅓ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons candied ginger, diced
¼ cup pine nuts
For the Topping:
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
2 tablespoons candied ginger, diced
1 tablespoon flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons milk or cream
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a large angel-food cake pan.
In a large bowl, using a hand mixer (or in the bowl of a standing mixer), beat the brown sugar and butter together at medium speed, scraping the bowl often, until completely combined. Add the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla, and continue beating until well mixed. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the flour, baking powder, salt, and ginger. Beat well. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the cherries, candied ginger, and pine nuts. Pour the batter into the baking pan and smooth it out.
A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook Page 13