Christopher Monk

Medieval cookery glossary: caudle

Here’s the third of my excerpts from my forthcoming comprehensive glossary of ingredients, equipment and culinary terms in Richard II’s Fourme of Cury, c.1390: caudle caudel. A hot, thickened drink, sometimes incorporating wine or ale. Also, a type of sauce. ‘Caudel ferree’ (recipe 41, chapter 9) is a very sweet and, for the time, aContinue reading “Medieval cookery glossary: caudle”

Medieval cookery glossary: bullaces

Excerpt no.2 from my Fourme of Cury/ medieval cookery glossary: bullaces

Medieval Cookery Glossary

I’ve decided to start sharing excerpts from my glossary of medieval ingredients, kitchen equipment and cooking terminology.

Smoked chickpeas in a cheese, cumin & saffron broth

This delicious chickpea recipe is an adaptation of two medieval recipes, one English and one Italian. The smokiness of the chickpeas combines beautifully with the silky saffron, garlic and cheese broth. My addition of roasted cumin will simply make you want to sing!

It’s elderflower season, so…

If you missed it last year, here’s my elderflower cheesecake tart, adapted from Richard II’s recipe, Sambocade.

Sad news

I just wanted to let folk know that my dad died yesterday and I’m going to be behind with things, like my next video. My dad was 92 and had been in end of life care for a few weeks, and in fact the last couple of years were very difficult for him as heContinue reading “Sad news”

Monks & Meat

Early Benedictine monks abstained from meat except for when gravely ill, but by the later medieval period they were regularly consuming meat. In this post, I take a look at the example of the Benedictine community at St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, where even suckling pig was on the menu!

Author Archives: Christopher Monk