Medieval tournaments are famous for their
jousting knights, bloodthirsty spectators, and over-the-top helmets. But after a day of well-ordered violence you're bound to get hungry and so you would have a feast and these feasts had some pretty wild foods like this 14th century recipe for a pie in the shape
of a castle, flags included. And a huge thank you to Paradox Interactive and their Tours and Tournaments expansion for Crusader Kings III for sponsoring this video. Medieval tournaments and their fancy pies this time on Tasting History. So you've decided to host a tournament, well before you go gussing up your most ostentatious helmet for the joust you need to figure out the menu because while mild bloodsport might be a good way to make friends the real schmoozing takes place at the post tournament feast. Lucky for us in the 14th century cookbook 'Le Viandier de Taillevent' there are several recipes meant specifically to impress your guests like this or tourtes Parmierienne, or Parma style pie. It's a long recipe so I'll just read the highlights. "Take meat of mutton or veal or pork
and chop it well. Then boil chicken...- and you must cook the other meat before chopping it up. Then take fine powder and spice the meat reasonably and fry the meat in grease. After take large pastry shells with higher sides than usual and decorate them with crenelations, and they must be strong enough to hold the meat. And whomever wishes may add ground pine nuts and raisins of corn in it, and some sugar is put on top, and in each paste put... chicken for to plant the banners of France and the lord's present... and you should have gold or silver or pewter foil to guild before the banners are added." I love that he specifies to include flags of the other lords that are present. Basically it's a way to suck up to your guests of honor, and Crusader Kings III you can do something similar when you host a feast in the game. Basically provided you have enough funds you can host a large feast and have a guest of honor, and can build stronger relationships within the game. By the way if you don't know Crusader Kings III, let me just say it is a videogame for history nerds like yours truly. The amount of historical detail that they put into these games is just- [Chef's kiss] Makes for a really fun video game experience, and you can actually play for free on Steam this weekend May 11th through 15th when you use my link in the description. If you love history and you enjoy video games you
will definitely be impressed, almost as impressed as the guests at the feast where our pie would have been served. Now first we must start with the most impressive and perhaps the most difficult part of the pie and that is the crust, what is going to actually make it look like a castle. And this crust probably wasn't meant to be eaten so it's probably a hot water crust pastry, and this was very common in Medieval pies. They would often call it a coffin and it was just meant for holding the food. So for that what you're going to need is: six cups or 720 grams of bread flour, one and a half teaspoons of salt, one and a half cups or 350 milliliters of water with a pinch of saffron added to color it yellow, a very common practice for all crusts of the Middle Ages. Then 3/4 of a cup or 170 grams of lard or shortening. So first strain the saffron water into a saucepan and then add the lard and set it on the stove and heat until it is boiling. As it heats whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl and create a little well in the center. Then carefully, oh so carefully pour the boiling water and fat into the flour, and stir with a wooden spoon until it becomes cool enough to handle. YOU DO NOT want to just put your hands into this dough unless you want to end up like Johnny Tremaine. Do kids still read that? He had a burnt hand. It is hot! You want to test it around 40 seconds of mixing you do still want it to be quite hot, not scalding, but very warm while you start kneading it and unlike most pie crusts this does need a bit of kneading just for a couple minutes until you get a nice smooth dough. Then tear off a large piece and begin to roll it out and you want to cover any dough that's left preferably like in a warm bowl because as soon as it starts to cool
it becomes brittle and you can't use it anymore. You want to roll it out to about a quarter of an
inch thick. It's got to be thicker than the crust that you'd use for most pies today because it's really about structural integrity. Castle walls were really thick and so these walls need to be as well. Now this recipe really calls for one pie but other recipes for this dish call for many pies, or sometimes tiered pies or MASSIVE pies so do whatever you want, I'm going to make kind of
a two-tiered pie because it is supposed to impress. So line a cheesecake pan with the dough and
then shape the top with crenellations. Those are these things on the walls of a castle, and how you make them is really up to you. You can kind of cut them out, it'll probably look cleaner but it's definitely more difficult. You can also make them separately and kind of hang them from the top on the inside, if they fall off you can re-hang them when you put in the filling. Then set the crust or crusts into the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit 205 Celsius for about 45 to 50 minutes or until
they're fully cooked, and if the crenellations start to darken a little bit too much you can put some foil on them to make sure everything else gets cooked. And while it's baking you can get started on the filling and that really has two main components. There is the meat you can use veal or mutton, or I'm using pork tenderloin about two pounds of it from my size of pie, and the chicken really I only needed a few little pieces of chicken for my size of pie but I had bought a lot of chicken so I cooked it all at once. And if you have a larger pie then you can use quartered chickens or if you have a MASSIVE pie you can use entire birds. One 15th century recipe for this pie says that it should be made with four entire pigs then "three hundred pigeons, two hundred very young chickens... six hundred small birds." Though he was making not only huge pies but many, many of them I just needed a little bit of chicken either way the recipe does say it should be boiled. When it comes to the pork or whatever meat you're using it doesn't give a specific way that it needs to be cooked I just roasted mine in the oven super simple and frankly it could probably be bland if we weren't about to add a bunch of spice during the second cooking process. Now he says to chop up all of the meat
very fine and then season it with fine powders, that is spices but he is not specific in what spices to use but a very common spice mixture at the time was called poudre forte, strong powders. And what exact spices were in the mixtures would vary from cook to cook but one medieval recipe calls for one part cinnamon, one part ginger, one part long pepper and 1/8 part clove. Mix it all up and you got your poudre forte. Then add that to the chopped pork and mix everything up and then add it to a pan with some hot oil and cook for just a few minutes to give the pork a little more color. Then take it off the heat but while it's still nice and hot you want to add in all of the other filling ingredients. Now the 14th century recipe just calls for pine nuts and raisins of Corinth or Zante currants but the 15th century recipe really ups the ante. This is the one that is using entire birds and he calls for finely chopped figs, prunes, and dates as well as sage, parsley, and marjoram. So I'm going to add all of those in with the pork before adding eight ounces of warm Brie cheese to
bind it all together, and he specifies it should be Brie cheese and it does help if it's warm so it's kind of melty and then he also says to add raw egg, I am allergic to raw egg and it doesn't get cooked
again so I'm just using the cheese. Then add all of that filling into the pie press pressing it down nice and firm but making sure not to break the walls of your castle, and then we will add the decoration literally the gilding but before we do that I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has bought a copy of the 'Tasting History' cookbook now a New York Times bestseller. It's surreal. I can't- I- The reception has been unbelievable, and the reception TO ME has been unbelievable when I've been going to signings. It's just- It's really one of the best experiences of my entire life and I cannot thank you all enough, and if you're going to be in New York City on Tuesday May 30th [2023] I'll be doing another signing at 5 PM at Kitchen Arts & Letters but for now before we finish the pie let us look at the events that would have preceded the great feast that is the Medieval tournament. So the nature of a Medieval tournament varies wildly over the approximately 500 years that they were popular but essentially they were a way to impress others by showing off your skills in battle as well as showing off your wealth. Like if you went and spent a million dollars on your wedding reception but just before the cake cutting you host an MMA fight, but early on in the history of tournaments the focus
was definitely more on the violence part, so much so that in 1130 Pope Innocent II described them as "...detestable markets and fairs, vulgarly called tournaments, at which knights are wont to assemble, in order to display their strength and their rash boldness." This pontifical wet blanket went so far as to decree that anyone who died in one of these tournaments should be denied a Christian burial. Seems a little harsh and it's not clear exactly how strictly that was adhered to but technically
it was in effect until 1316 almost 200 years but despite the Church's admonishment most people, at least the wealthy people who were actually invited to the events, loved them and thought of them as a way to hone their fighting skills even when there was no war going on. "[Count Charles the Good ofFlanders] frequented the tournaments in Normandy and France, and outside that Kingdom too, and so kept his Knights exercised in time of peace and extended thereby his fame and glory and that of
his country." But as Medieval knights could be rather unpredictable, sometimes these tournaments became
rather unpredictable, like one in Chalons in 1274. The Count rather cordially invited King Edward I to a tournament that would feature a melee, a rather common spectacle at tournaments that was
essentially a mock battle, keyword being mock. Now these could be just a few dozen knights running at each other on horseback with blunted weapons but the one at Chalons featured hundreds and hundreds of people on both sides, some being archers and even if it's a blunted arrow I'm thinking that a bunch of sticks coming down from the sky has to hurt. Now what exactly happened during the melee at
the tournament is unclear, different sides say different things but what is pretty
clear is that the Count grabbed the King, King Edward I around the neck and tried to pull
him from his horse, and after that the whole thing just descended into a very real battle killing a lot of people on both sides including a bunch of the spectators. And whether or not it was the Count's intention for this to happen the entire time some sources say that it was he probably regretted it because the English definitely won what ended up being called the Little Battle of Chalons, and even in the tamer jousts where only two knights went at it and were considered a lot safer they were still extremely dangerous. In 1285 a Parisian poet Jaques Bretel went to a large tournament at Chauvency, and wrote about everything that he saw in including the brutality which kind of shocked him of the joust. "Horses and lances crash, and all crumpled together in a heap. Cries of 'They are dead! They are dead!' 'Lord God this is a great disaster.' The crowd pressed forward as I stayed back. The knights were still not on their feet, but to my relief, people returned muttering 'If it pleased God, they'll be all right." But I mean there's not a lot of surprise there, you've got two grown men on horses going as fast as they can toward each other with pointy sticks so they have no one to blame but themselves, right? Well not if you were one of the heralds at the tournament who decided instead to blame the ladies in attendance. . "A herald came before the ladies, his eyes full
of tears. 'See, ladies! See what these brave knights have done? For your sake they risk their lives
and lands, they put themselves in the way of death. It is your fault so help me God- all for the
sake of winning your love!" Now that tournament at Chauvency was really the perfect kind of tournament to have a pie like the one that we're making today because there would have been so many flags to
stick into the gilded chicken. It was organized by Louis V Count of Chiny and he hosted nearly 500 knights. Just the type of tournament that demands a massive feast unfortunately there wasn't a lot written about that feast but there was a good description of a feast following a tournament at Le Hem in 1278. Someone who was there talks about right after the joust a herald declared "All who wish to eat, come to court! None who come shall leave until he's dined and drunk amid the finest display ever seen at the court of any queen. And the drawbridge won't be raised by rope nor chain! Horns sounded to summon the water. Everyone washed and sat down to dine, and from all sides wine and food were served to every table... There was dancing which lasted almost without a pause until dawn." And while we don't know the precise dishes that were served it's very likely that there were many dishes meant to impress some very much edible like the castle that we are making today and some less edible or at least if they are edible that is very secondary to the fact that they are meant to impress like the coqz heaumez or helmeted rooster. This was a rooster which was roasted and then set upon a fully cooked pig as if he was writing it into a joust. "And it needs a helmet of glued paper and lance couched at the breast of the bird, and these should be covered with gold - or silver-leaf for lords..." Edible? Yes, but definitely not the point of the dish, and then there were some that were absolutely inedible like huge pies that were filled with live birds so that when you sliced
it open "All the birds will fly out, which is to delight and pleasure show to the company." Or my favorite a peacock which after roasting is completely re-feathered. And "If you will have the peacock cast fire at the mouth." You would fill said mouth with brandy and some other things to make it so that the peacock is spitting fire from it's beak. Now probably safer though also just
as impressive were the mythical beasts that they would create using other non-mythical animals. Like the cockentrice that I made a couple years ago here on the channel. It's the the front half of a pig and the back half of a capon stuffed and sewn together before being roasted and painted
gold with saffron or if you had the funds you would actually wrap the entire thing in gold leaf which would have been incredibly expensive and I did not do that. Now it wasn't just the food that was meant to impress but the drink, and the entire ambiance of the feast perhaps the most famous of these were the tournament feasts of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. In January of 1430 he held a tournament on the occasion of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, and even though he had an entire palace at his disposal it wasn't big enough to host the banquet that he wanted to host so he had a new banqueting Hall built along with new kitchens and larders just to host this feast. He also had a huge fountain in the shape of a lion that instead of water would spit out wine and one
of a stag that would do hypocras, and one of a unicorn that would do rose water. His feasts became so fantastic that they ended up overshadowing the tournament itself. Like in 1454 when the feast following a tournament became known as the Feast of the Pheasant other than a few passing mentions of a single joust involving Adolph of Cleves the Knight of the Swan. The chronicles barely mentioned
the tournament at all and even say that people got up and left early to go to the banquet hall just so they wouldn't miss any of the spectacle that was planned, things like mid-course plays of ancient tales such as Jason and the Golden Fleece though the ancient heroes like Jason, and Achilles,
and even Hercules were recast as Crusaders going to liberate Constantinople. At one point a lady in a white robe representing the Church entered the hall riding an elephant covered in silk, and then she proceeded to plead the Duke and the other Lords that were present to take up arms and go on crusade to Constantinople. After her pleading which was definitely staged he stood up, and said I will take up arms and go on Crusade. It was it was all a setup, just one big military
recruitment exercise but with the fantastic foods and entertainment it was decided that "Nothing so sublime and splendid has ever been done before." Food as politics. Feed your guests well and you
can get them to do some pretty crazy things, and the same goes for the tournaments and feasts that you can host in Crusader Kings III. You put on these events to woo the other nobles in the game. I just love the historical accuracy that they have. They even have the option to have one of these feasts but instead of impressing your guests you murder them all. A surprisingly common occurrence in Medieval Europe, and I really need to do an entire episode on some of those historic murder feasts soon but for now I'm not trying to kill anyone one or recruit anyone for a crusade. No, all I want to do is finish up this castle shaped pie, and first we must guild the chicken. Now the recipe says that you can guild it with saffron water but if you got the money you should use gold, or silver, or pewter so I'm going to be using gold leaf which is a pain to use but it really looks pretty spectacular when you get it right. Especially when the banners of France and other lords present are then stuck into the golden chicken. Now I just printed some out on paper from- that I got online. I believe that this one is the flag of Edward I, and then glued that to a toothpick but hey if you could embroider tiny little flags do that. How cool would that be. I have not that talent so
I went with paper. Still looks really good though, and here we are tourtes Parmierienne fit for a post-tournament feast. So I'm just gonna eat some of this the little pie that was on top, still has some gold on top. So again you would just eat out from it. Now you wouldn't use a fork, they didn't have forks,
or at least they weren't popular but I'm going to use a fork try to get some of the meat, some of the some of the fruit as well. Give it a go. Tastes like Christmas. Hm! That's wonderful. Those spices just are are so warm but then the
fruit adds this sweetness that they complement each other so, so well. I really think you do need all of the fruits that are in that 15th century recipe, otherwise it- I don't think it would be
boring but it would just be a little bit more one note. This is really complex. Honestly if you could just do all of these flavors like and put it on a piece of roast pork or something that would be- that would be wonderful to make some sort of sauce of it. Really fantastic. Also I'm eating this just above room temperature because that's probably how it would have been eaten. Most of the foods would have been coming from a long way away where they would have been making it in the kitchens and it would have been sitting out for a long time so you're not eating a piping hot pie in most instances but it actually really works at just kind of above room temperature. That's actually one of the most historically accurate things about a meal that I just had at the Excalibur in Las Vegas. They had corn at the medieval Feast but it was all at room temperature, so whether or not you actually want to go through the trouble of making such an ostentatious pie definitely make the filling. It really has kind of that medieval flavor of the sweet and savory complementing each other which I really, really like. Also a reminder that Crusader Kings IIIis free to play this weekend May 11th through 15th on Steam when you use my link in the description and I will be in New York City on May 30th so I hope I see you out there and if I don't then I will see you next time on Tasting History. I'm actually going to finish some more of this. It's really pretty addictive. It's good. [Chomp]
Eurovision is in in 3 hours. About to get out my flags, and all I can think is, "Should've done this pie" 😂 Maybe next year?
Glad to see Max getting that Swedish video game development money!
Hey, anyone know who the Pokémon is in this vid? I thought maybe Chingling…but, leaning towards no.
Does anyone play crusader kings 3? Game looks interesting. Can you play as an African nation? (Not Egypt)
http://mysteryofmead.com/2020/06/16/rosemary-in-historical-mead-recipes/ you should make another mead recipe