Middle Earth Ranger Forum

You know I've been flipping through a 15th century English cook book and was wondering what recipes would apply to the Dunudane. I was thinking along the lines of Native American but would like everybody's thoughts on it. Once I get an idea of what direction to head I'll start to experiment with different recipes and list the results right here. Obviously you wouldn't be taking meat pasties on the road with you, but there were some very interesting hunting party foods the indians used, such as Pemmican and Psindamoakan that show promise. Fry bread might work too but that was a later recipe from the reservation days. Anyway thoughts?

Most Native American foods have a comparable food in Europe. All manner of meats were eaten (dog was a popular treat at festivals), while the common Europeons would boil their meats (and only the wealthy would roast) NAs (Native Americans) would tend to roast more. In Europe porridges of boiled grain (oats, barley, peas or whatever was local) with water would be eaten for breakfast (flavored with whatever was left from the previous evenings supper. NAs would make a mush from cornmeal (and presumedly flavor it with salt, nuts, fruits or vegetables.

Pumpkins were a popular food in season and were used entirely, the pumpkin meat was used for soups as well as a "pudding". Seeds were dryed and eaten much like they are today. The pumpkin was the American version of the apple and consider corn the NAs equivilent of wheat and more. Corn would make breads, mush, snack (yes they had popcorn) boiled and roasted corn.

Smoking was used for fish, fowl and red meat and could then be taken with the native while traveling. Drying corn, berries, and even some barks would round out a meal very similar to Andy's dryed corn , peas and carrots that he takes with him on his treks.

All sorts of shellfish were eaten and cooked in a variety of ways, something the Europeons didn't think of as food until after they settled here and observed the NAs.

To prevent Vitamin C deficency during the winter, fir tree needles were boiled for and hour, the pot was drained and more water added, the fir needles were again boiled for an hour drained and again reboiled one final time. The fir needle broth would then be drunk and was rich with Vitamin C. The needles needed to be boiled to draw out the natural resin which was drained out with the water.

Hopes this helps

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Many types of sausages will last a good amount of time. Even when they start to go bad you simply cut off the observably bad parts and then cut and boil the rest. Grains, veges, or tubers can be added to produce a more filling and balanced meal in the form of a soup or stew.

Some of the old breads and bisquits are worth looking into. The difference between breads and bisquits is primarially that the bisquit contains little or no yeast and hence doesn't "rise" leaving yo a very dense hard or crispy cracker. ex: Saltines or Matza

Hardtack had it's begining some say as far back as the Roman Army. For those of you not familiar with Hardtack or Seabisbuits, its a bisquit made of flour, salt and water only. Tastes like compressed dried cardboard with all the pleasing texture of plywood. However broken up and dipped in salted porkfat or thrown into a soup, made this a staple of armies and navies for a millenium.

The good thing is that it lasts for a very long time, I still have some I purchased over 10 years ago and it still tastes just like it did when 1st purchased (that is to say, not very well). I keep mine in ziplock bags but even in a cloth sack or wrapped in a one of Bilbo's spare hankies they last a long time.

I found a different supplier for Hardtack on the net and they also offer a variety of slightly more palatable bisquits which I'm thinking of trying.

I 'm going to try some recipes for oatcakes, which are simply put a handful of oatmeal ( a staple of the Scottish Highlanders and Lowlanders alike) with a little water thrown on a hot skillet, similar to pancakes or corncakes or fritters. just like pancakes and fritters you can thrown in other things to improve taste. With oatcakes I'm thinking salt, cinnimmon, apples and raisens.

I tried the oatcakes the other day and while eatable, even with cinnimon and sugar, it's not a culinary delight. The only good thing about it is it can travel for a day or two. If you fry them up in the morning, you can save some and eat them on the trail without having to relight a fire.

Unfortunately they don't taste like oatmeal cookies. I think I'd stick with oatmeal if oats were what I had.

Smoked and dried salami type sausages, as well as jerky, billtong and similar, Rye and other dark breads work well as they are not risen and often contained nuts and berries as well, dried fruits etc.
It all depends ont he context of the trip, having to cook and light fires is not something to be doing when you are expecting viositors.

Looking at Medieval and North American 18th century widlerness foods is a good place to start.

Best

What about some of these recipes?

Middle-earth Recipes

Not sure I recall any referances to peanuts, coconut, chocolate or Bannas in any of Tolkiens work?!
jw

Just checked out that link, thanks. Now I know what I'll be doing this Saturday. I'll let you know how the Lembas turns out!

Peter Remling wrote:Some of the old breads and bisquits are worth looking into. The difference between breads and bisquits is primarially that the bisquit contains little or no yeast and hence doesn't "rise" leaving yo a very dense hard or crispy cracker. ex: Saltines or Matza

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Just a quick reply, something we use to do, and no they do not taste that great, make a sort of bisquit and put it very close to the fire or on the coals. the outside sort of gets errrrr, black, but you crack that and eat the inside. Its not good but it keeps you on your feet. remember most rangers dont ride and have to carry or hunt/gather dinner. heavy pots, pans and the like would be not on the packing list. Probably a light pot to use for everything, a cup fork and spoon. (dagger/knife is a given) you can cook and eat right out of the pot. rinse and have tea later, or eat off the inside of bark ect.

Something we did similar to that was to make the dough up and to spiral wrap around a stick angled over the fire. It is less likely to burn that way.

you can do that with bacon as well

sort of bacon or bread K-bobs

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Alright, just picked up some landjeager. I kind of remembered Andy saying something about making a stew with it but seeing as I forgot his recipe I improvised. I started by boiling some water and adding the meat, corn, peas, dill, parsley, some wild garlic, and a bay leaf from my yard. I added salt and pepper to taste and let after getting a nice rolling boil i let it cook and a medium heat, assuming that I couldn't get copper corn boiler to simmer, for 25 min. Came back to it and added some corn meal, a little more pepper, and a well cut potato. Let it cook till the potato was soft and served it up. It came out a little thicker then I wanted but that's what I get for adding corn meal and THEN deciding to add a potato. Taste wise this was very edible. The sausage adds a nice hardness to it. Next I'm going to try and replace my store bought ingredients with foraged ones I can find in the wildlife park that starts across the street from my house ( I live right across from the Ronkonkama water shed) Should be fun and will also serve to help me brush up on my plant identification. If I don't poison myself I'll let you all know how it turned out. If I don't get back to you all then it's been fun knowing you all and please remember me at your first get together. Pete, you and Chris get all my swords......LOL Next is to make some lembas or something close to it.