#medieval germany
Today, I’m going to be recreating a recipe for a German apple pie from the Registrum Coquine - the contents of which are suited for a middle-class palette of medieval European world
In any case, let’s now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Consider supporting me on Patreon if you like my recipes!
Ingredients
6 apples
2 cups flour
water
butter (or oil)
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
cloves (either whole or ground)
honey (if the apples are too tart)
Method
1 - Peel and Chop Apples
To begin making an apple pie, we need apples. Though the original recipe doesn’t state any particular apples, tart apples tend to make the best filling. Peel your apples, and chop them into fairly evenly-sized chunks so they cook evenly. I found that about 6 apples suited a pie fit for about four people.
2 - Prepare the Filling
When your apples are chopped, go toss some butter (or oil) into a pot, and let it melt. When it’s foaming, toss in your freshly-grated nutmeg, cinnamon, and a few cloves, and stir them around so they’re all covered in hot butter. You can, of course, crush your cloves, but I enjoy the sensation of biting into a whole clove - it’s up to you!
When your spices have cooked a little, toss in your chopped apples! Stir everything around so they’re all covered in butter and let it all cook away over a medium heat for a few minutes - until they soften and turn golden. At this point, take them off the heat and let them rest while you make your dough.
3 - Make Pie Dough
Since the original recipe assumes people know how to do this, we’re going to be using a cup or two of plain flour mixed with a little water. Add it little by little until it comes together into a cohesive dough. Knead this together until it’s smooth, and roll out using a rolling pin. Do this twice - once for the base of the pie, and twice for the lid. Roll the dough out fairly thin, as the whole pie won’t be baked for too long.
Pour some olive oil (or butter) into a pie dish, and stretch your pie dough over it, tamping it down with your knuckles into the corners.
4 - Assemble Pie
Pour the cooked apples into your pie dish, spreading it out evenly. When this is done, place your other circle of dough over the top. Crimp the edges of the two discs of dough together - it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t look too pretty! It’ll bake wonderfully, and taste delicious either way!
When your pie is ready, toss the whole thing into the centre of an oven preheated to about 180°C/356°F for about 25 minutes!
When the pie is done, take it out of the oven to cool down to room temperature before dividing up and digging in! Drizzle some honey over the slice you’re eating to really amplify it’s texture!
The finished pie is delicious and sweet, the spices forming a lovely warming sensation with each bite. The texture of the cooked apples is practically melt-in-your-mouth, and contrasts with the pie crust! As a side note, the pie crust itself - once cool - is rather tough. However the crust on the base of the pie is soaked in the juice from the apples during the cooking process, and is a much more palatable part of the pie. If I were to make this again, I’d either omit the top lid of the pie, or remove it before serving.
Today, I’ll be making a simple cherry pudding recorded in the 14th century AD - from the region of the Holy Roman Empire! Cherries were (and still are) a very popular fruit to eat, given the extensive range at which they can be grown. The original recipe is recorded in The Forme of Cury - a 14th century English manuscript - but the origin of this recipe likely comes from a central European source, given the variety of recipes recorded here.
In any case, let’s now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above. Consider supporting me on Patreon if you like my recipes!
Ingredients
500g fresh ripe red cherries
200ml red wine
100g white sugar
1 tbsp unsalted butter
100g soft white breadcrumbs
salt
Edible flowers (e.g. clover, lavender, etc)
Method
1 - Prepare the Cherries
To begin with, we need to wash, de-stem, and stone the cherries. Do this by cutting into them carefully with a knife, before using your thumb to dig out the stone. Do this to about half a kilogram of cherries.
When your cherries have been stoned for their sins, place them into a bowl, along with 100ml (or a cup) of red wine - I used a merlot here, but a sweet dessert wine would work nicely. On top of this, also add about 50 grams of white sugar. Mix and mash everything together until it forms a very thick, lumpy soup.
2 - Cook the Pudding
At this stage, place a tablespoon of butter into a large saucepan or pot. Place this over a high heat until it starts to melt. At this point, place your breadcrumbs and cherry-wine mix into the pot, along with another 50g of sugar. Mix everything together. If it’s looking a little dry, add in another cup of wine. Put this onto a medium-high heat and let it cook away for about 10-15 minutes. Keep the whole thing stirring as you cook it, so nothing sticks and burns onto the pot.
3 - Cool and Serve
The pudding should thicken up considerably, and act like a porridge when it’s done. Let everything cool a little, before spooning into a bowl of your choice. The original recipe claims that you should decorate it with edible flowers.
The finished pudding is super sweet and flavourful. The breadcrumbs soaked up the cherry juice and wine mixture and became fantastically smooth, with a sharp undertone (thanks to the wine). If you wanted to make an alcohol-free alternative, you could use some grape juice instead!
The pudding itself can also be used as a pie or tart filling, and firms up quite nicely if baked.
realmedieval said: If I recall correctly, I’ve seen articles lately stating that this cathedral is again falling into disrepair.
Thanks for the comment! As for falling into disrepair, I wouldn’t be surprised, given the history of the cathedral. She is almost 900 years old, and for more than half those years, she stood without a roof to cover her. I imagine the rain, snow and ice getting into all the mortar and joints from the inside did their share of damage. Add to it the bombings in WW2, and I’m amazed she still stands at all.
Then there’s always that pesky economy which often diverts money away from things deemed unnecessary, and I would think that a 900 year old church must be very money hungry to keep it looking good.
I was last there in 2009, and there was scaffolding in various spots on the exterior and in the interior. But, there has always been scaffolding there whenever I’ve been there. It was explained to me that if they calculated real age on the cathedral the way humans do medically, the real age of the Cathedral is thought to be twice its actual age - but only in its joints, compounds and mortars. I was told most of the stones are strong and weathering quite well, but they must constantly be vigilant to cracks and stresses that are still just beginning to show themselves. I was also told it’s a bit like a game of whack-a-mole; you fix one area and make it strong again, and the area adjacent to it begins to feel the stress more, therefore leading to a constant work in progress.
The picture above is one I took in 2009, showing one of the top pieces from one of the spires that was knocked off from a bomb. Except for losing the very top finial, it came down mostly intact, This is perhaps a good indication to the strength of the stones used? Anyone else know additional info?
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Kölner Dom
She’s been through so much, this cathedral.
Someone dreamed her up and began building her in 1248, even though they knew they would never see her finished.
Building stopped abruptly in 1473, leaving her open to the elements. She stood mute and silent for another four centuries for building to begin again.
Finally completed in 1880, (according to the originalplan!) she gleamed like a beacon along the Rhine for a mere sixty years - a blink of an eye in her life - until the bombs began falling in World War 2. She sustained numerous massive hits, yet remained standing while the rest of the city was leveled.
Repairs were completed in the 1950’s, and now the Cologne cathedral stands proud as a Unesco World Heritage site.
Maybe my recent re-reading of The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End have wormed their way into my mind too much, but I can’t help but wonder … the person who dreamed this cathedral up and sketched it out in sand and on parchment? Do you think he dared to dream that his cathedral would still be standing in the twenty-first century?
Sources - Wikimedia Commons
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