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7 pigeons garlic root to taste wood mushrooms, chopped into beaker of ale loafen of bread to serve Warm the butyre, to brown the bacon, cobbenuts and garlic in heavy based stewing potte. Brown birds, plucked and gutted, till all sides are toasty. Drown the seofan bridds in the ale, mushroom and water, till meat is falling from the bones. Serve whole or in part on warm loafen. Note: Of all the
seasonal recipes, prepared and cooked, by our Anglo-Saxon forefathers,
it is the Winter varieties that prove to be most important. Unlike modern
times, Winter was not the end of the year in the calendar of the ancient
people, but rather the beginning. Many long months of hard frost, sunless
skies and chilling north winds dictated that nothing must grow, and all
should be barren before the coming of Spring. Seofan Bridd (Seven Birds)
and Hnut Breowan (nut brew, or stew) is known to have been a popular winter
dish in the academically named ‘Dark Ages’. Pigeons or doves
would have been kept, near the farmstead, as nourishment in Winter. The
use of seven birds may seem excessive, but the meal was prepared to be
shared, with fellow landsmen and their families. As you prepare and cook
this meal, think about your ancient cousins, for you walk in their footsteps
and share their understanding of the seasons and the natural world. Darkling Room 2007: http://www.darklingroom.co.uk |