Cuisine of My Ancestors: Tudor English

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: German

My English ancestors dominate my genealogical timeline roughly between 1200 and 1500 A.D. Those dates span the Plantagenet and Tudor periods of England. For planning a meal, I chose the Tudor era (1485 - 1603) because there's quite a bit of information available on what they ate. The Tudor period began after Henry Tudor VII snatched the throne from Richard Plantagenet III, and then married Richard's fiance to appease public opinion. It ended with the death of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I (daughter of Henry VIII). 

Menu

Tarte Owte of Lente

Salad of Greens

Perys en Composte

Hippocras

Tarte Owte of Lente (Cheese Tart)

Crust

It's amazing how many recipes for "authentic" or "traditional" British tarts and pies call for store-bought crust. After a bit of research, I found a recipe from A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye published in 1545. (That link will take you to the Internet Archive, where you can download your own free public domain copy.)  Unlike modern shortcrust, Tudor crust used the hot water method. 

Here's the original recipe:

"Make youre coffin after this maner, take a lyttle fayre water and half a dyche of butter and a little saffron and settle all this upon a chafyngdyshe tyll it be hoate then temper your flower with this sayd licuor, and the whyte of two egges and also make your coffyn. . . Then putte (your filling) into your coffyn and laye halfe a dyshe of butter above them end so close your coffin, and so bake them."

(Note that the term "coffin" for pie crust was in continued use up to the 1700s, where it is found in Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery for various meat and fruit pies.) 

Rough translation:

"Make your crust after this manner. Take a little fair water and half a dish of butter and a little saffron and put it in a chaffing dish until it's hot enough to temper the flour. Add the liquid and white of two eggs. Mix, shape, add filling, and layer half a dish of butter on top. Close the crust and bake."

The amounts I used were adapted from Anne Boleyn's Tudor Apple Pie at Love British History. 

• 6 tbsp butter
• ½ cup water 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 for the dough
• 1, beaten, to glaze the tart before baking
• 1½ + cups all-purpose flour
• salt 

Put the butter and water into a small saucepan and heat gently until warm and melted together. In the meantime, sift flour and salt into a bowl then pour hot water/butter mixture into it, stirring to combine. Once it's just come together, crack in the egg and stir again. Cover and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Roll out and shape tart before filling.

Recipe Notes:

• The dough was way too soft and I ended up adding probably another half cup to get a workable consistency.
• To shape, I rolled it out after chilling, cut a 10" circle (using a bowl as a form) and folded up the sides to shape. 
• The texture after baking was flaky and tender.

Cheese filling

I sourced two original recipes for the filling (and quite a few modern ones). 

• A Book of Cookrye, by A. W., London, 1591. (Originally published 1584.)
• Gentyll Manly Cokere ( MS Pepys 1047, c. 1490) 

I used the second one. Here's the original recipe 

Take neshe chese and pare hit and grynd yn A morter and breke egges and do ther to and then put yn buttur and creme and mell all well to gethur put not to moche butter ther yn if the chese be fatte make A coffyn of dowe and close hit a bove with dowe and collor hit a bove with the yokes of eggs and bake hit well and serue hit furth.

Translation (courtesy of Godecookery.com)

Take soft (neshe) cheese and pare it and grind it in a morter and break eggs and do thereto and then put in butter and cream and mix all well together. Put not too much butter therein if the cheese be fatty. Make a coffin (pie shell) of dough and close it above with dough and color it above with the yolks of eggs and bake it well and serve it forth.

Modern interpretations based on the original recipe vary greatly because no ingredient amounts are given. For the cheese, they ranged anywhere from 100 to 225 grams for a 9-inch tart. Most suggested a hard cheese to obtain the thick paste-like consistency of the batter after mashing the cheese. Some added lots of eggs to make it more like quiche. I found a very helpful video from the Historic Royal Palaces YouTube channel, 16th Century 'Tarte Owte of Lente': Tudor cookalong. No ingredient amounts are given, but it gave me an idea of what the tart dough and cheese mixture should look like. 

Here's my recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups grated cheese*
• 2 egg yolks
• nob of softened butter
• salt and pepper
• 2- 3 tbsp cream to make a workable cheese paste 

Mixing

• Mash cheese and egg yolks into a thick paste, working in the butter, salt, and pepper
• Add a little cream as needed
• Should be the consistency of cookie dough (see video mentioned above)

Assembling and baking

• Spread the filling into the shaped bottom crust
• Add the pastry lid.
• Brush lightly with beaten egg
• Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 30 - 45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

Recipe notes

• *What's wanted here is a cheese that won't get gooey and melty but will hold its shape with cooking. Cheshire cheese was said to be a favorite of Elizabeth I, so that's what I first looked for although I didn't find it. 
• Other suggestions for a pre-1600s cheese would be Wensleydale (1000), Gorgonzola (879), Comté (1000), Emmenthal (1542), Gruyére (1100s), Grana (1200), , or Cheddar (1500).
• Of those I found very few, but did find what I hoped was a fairly traditional cheddar. 

I found this imported cheddar at Aldi and it worked really well. Dan and I have often commented how American cheeses like American cheddar have no flavor. Well, this one did. High end grocery stores sometimes carry specialty cheeses, so next time I'm near one I'll have to take a look. The recipe is definitely a keeper and I wouldn't mind trying other flavors.

While my tart wouldn't win any beauty contests, I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Especially considering I had no clue as to what I was doing.

Salad of Greens

This is an Elizabethan recipe from The Tudor Travel Guide website. It's based on a 1570 Italian cookbook entitled The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi. "Opera" here translates "works" which in this case are recipes because the author was chef to several popes of the period. (You can download a public domain copy here, although it's in Italian.)

Ingredients

• Assorted greens: beet leaves, sorrel, chard, parsley, lettuce, kale, spinach, etc.
• Assorted fresh herbs: sage, rosemary, thyme, mint, lemon balm, basil, cress, salad burnet, tarragon,etc.
• Leeks, sliced
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Salt 
• Pepper
• Fresh edible flowers if available: nasturtiums, violets, pansies, borage, calendula, French marigolds, honeysuckle, rose petals, clover, chickweed

Preparation

Wash, sort, and mix the greens and herbs. Dress with oil, vinegar and salt & pepper. Decorate with leek slices and fresh flowers.

Recipe notes

• It was winter when I made this so I was somewhat limited for fresh herbs and flowers.  
• Mine contained lettuce, kale, chard, chickweed, dandelion greens, parsley, oregano, sheep sorrel, spinach, and slices of leeks.  

Perys en Composte (Pear Compote)

The Tudor English apparently loved their desserts because there are quite a few recipes for them. I chose this one because it's very different from any of the other desserts we've tried so far.

The original recipe is from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books at the Internet Archive (page 12).

Click to enlarge

Here is a translation from A Boke of Gode Cookery website.

"Pears in Compote. Take wine and cinnamon, & a great deal of white sugar, and set it on the fire and heat it hot, but don't let boil, and strain; then take fair dates, and pick out the stones, and cut thin, & add; then take pears, and pare them and boil them, and cut them in thin slices, and place in the syrup; then take a little sandalwood, and add, and set it on the fire; and if you have quinces, add them, and look that it stand well with sugar, and well laid with cinnamon, and add salt, and let it boil; and put it in a wooden container, & let it cool, and serve."

I found several modern versions for this around the internet. Here's mine:

• 4 - 6 pears (may substitute a quince for one if available)
• 2 cups red wine
• white sugar to taste* (I used 2 tbsp)
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1/2 cups pitted, chopped dates
• pinch salt

Heat wine, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Meanwhile pare, core, and quarter pears. Add pears, dates, and salt to heated wine mixture, simmer until pears are cooked. Remove cinnamon stick. Cool and serve.

Recipe Notes

• Apparently sandalwood was used for coloring and several modern versions substituted red food coloring. I figured the red wine would color the pears well enough and as the picture shows, it did.
• *I find "to taste" frustrating in recipes. The original recipe called for "a great deal of white sugar" whereas modern recipes changed it to one tablespoon. I can think of two reasons for this.
• Older wines (drier or turning to vinegar. See introduction to Hippocras below) so these would likely be used for cooking, hence the need to sweeten.
• It's possibly a reflection on type of pears they had. For example, cooking pears aren't as sweet as table pears. Also riper pears would be sweeter, of course, but more likely to get mushy with cooking, so firmer pears were likely used. 
• Recommendation: taste the wine and the pears and add sugar (or not) for the sweetness you prefer. The dates help sweeten it too. My pears were fairly hard and bland, so I used 2 tablespoons of sugar.
• It smelled quite wonderful while the pears were cooking.

Hippocras (Spiced Wine)

The oldest recipe for Hippocras dates back to 1390, but there are many variations for it. It is a cold-steeped spiced beverage using red or white wine, spices, and usually sugar. Of all the recipes (there's a nice collection of hypocras recipes at Medieval Cookery, scroll to the bottom of the page), the foundation spices seem to be cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Variable ingredients include: spikenard root, galangal (a rhizome in the ginger family), pepper, marjoram, rosemary, cardamom, and grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta. a gingery flavored pepper from West Africa).

The spices are to be crushed, bruised, or powdered. 

I'm guessing the sugar is especially for older natural wines that are turning to vinegar. They wouldn't have had modern methods of stopping the fermentation process, so new wines would be sweetest, and they would get drier and more sour as they aged, eventually turning to wine vinegar (still a useful product for cooking and dressing salads as in the recipe above). 

I adapted my recipe (based on what I had) from Max Miller's (Tasting History) Making Hippocras at Home YouTube video. It's a no-added-sugar recipe. 

• 1 quart red wine
• 1/2 oz (14 gm) cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 oz (14 gm) fresh ginger
• 3 small sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Crush the spices and add to a jar of wine. Stir to mix and let sit for 1 to 2 days. Strain and serve warm or cold.

Recipe notes:

• I crushed the whole spices and bruised the rosemary with my kitchen hammer. This exposes more of the surface area of the spice and so imparts more flavor.
• If I had whole nutmegs and cardamoms I would have used those instead of powdered. 
• Mine steeped for 3 days
• It was excellent with the cheese tart. 

I'll close this very long post with a link to last year's Christmas series,

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: English

Next up, our Norman French meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Tudor English © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: German

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Irish

I mentioned in my series introduction that I only recently discovered a German ancestor. His youngest daughter married my Irish great-great-great-grandfather, but everything I have on her uses an Anglicized version of their original surname. So it had been a dead-end for quite awhile. Then I spent some time researching this on Ancestry.com during a library visit (library patrons can access the library's account for free). That's when I learned of the original surname spelling. 

My 4x-great grandfather was born in 1758 in Westernau, Nassau, Germany (modern day Westernohe in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in western Germany). When he was 23 years old he was mustered into the Waldeck Regiment of the German army. They arrived in North America in 1781 to fight for the British in the American Revolution. The British hired auxiliary troops from their foreign allies, in this case, one of the German states. Because Waldeck was a town in the state of Hesse, they were later known as Hessian "mercenaries," which technically isn't correct. Mercenaries are hired private armies, while those hired from other nations are considered auxiliary troops. So they should have been called Hessian auxiliaries. For his service, my ancestor received a 100-acre land grant in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The time period I looked at was 1400s to 1700s, although I couldn't find recipes that were time and region specific. So I settled for some old traditional German dishes. For the ones I chose, I found numerous variations, from which I worked out my own recipes. 

Menu

Königsberger Klopse

Boiled yellow potatoes

Rotkraut (also called Rotkohl)

Pfeffernuesse

Königsberger Klopse (German Meatballs)

Ingredients

For the meatballs 

• 1 pound mix of ground pork and beef
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 slices pumpernickel rye bread (soaked in a little milk)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 cups broth (I used beef broth)

For the sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups reserved meatball broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (I used our goat cream, of course)
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and white pepper, to taste

Instructions

Meatballs:

• In a large bowl mix mix all ingredients except broth
• Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes
• Shape into 12 meatballs
• Bring the broth to a simmer in a pan, and add the meatballs.
• Simmer 15–20 minutes, or until they’re cooked through and firm to the touch. Internal temperature should be 160°F (71°C). 
• Use a slotted spoon to remove the meatballs from the broth. Keep warm. Reserve 1.5 cups of strained broth for the sauce. 

Sauce:

• In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
• Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1–2 minutes
• Gradually add the reserved broth, whisking out the lumps. 
• Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently for 2–3 minutes until it begins to thicken.
• Stir in cream, capers, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard.
• Simmer and stir for another 2–3 minutes until it’s smooth and velvety. 
• Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper.
• Return meatballs to the pan with the sauce, gently spooning sauce over them
• Warm the meatballs in the sauce over low heat for 5 minutes

Serve over egg noodles or boiled yellow potatoes.

Recipe notes

• I served them with plain boiled yellow potatoes (not pictured).
• For the meatballs, the recipes I found called for white bread, but I substituted pumpernickel because rye bread was popular in Germany. It was a good flavor addition.
• Quite a few recipes for this called for anchovy paste, which I omitted. 

What did we think?

• Oh gosh, these were fantastic. This project is helping me realize how stuck-in-a-rut my cooking tends to be. I always grab the same ingredients and seasonings for everything. I'm seeing that I can expand our flavor repertoire with just a few ingredients I always have on hand anyway.
• For example, my current meatballs are always seasoned with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders, then sauteed in olive oil. Different spices and simmering in beef broth was a tasty change.
• The capers are considered a signature ingredient and were new for us. We thought they were okay, but I don't know that I'd buy them again just for this recipe.
• I heated the leftover meatballs and sauce several days later and served them over egg noodles. That was really good too.

Rotkraut or Rotkohl (Red Cabbage)

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, halved and sliced
• 1 medium apple, sliced
• 1 medium head red cabbage, shredded (about 8 cups)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp bacon grease
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Instructions

• Melt bacon grease in cast iron pan or Dutch oven. 
• Add the onion and apple and cook over medium heat until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. 
• Stir in remaining ingredients
• Covered and cook until cabbage is tender, about 1 hour. Stir occasionally. 
• Serve warm or cold.

Pfeffernuesse (Peppernut) Cookies

These are a traditional German Christmas cookie. The original recipe made 10 dozen, so I cut it in half.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon anise extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/21 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners sugar

Directions

• Heat in a small saucepan until melted: molasses, honey, and butter 
• Remove from heat; cool to room temperature. 
• Stir in eggs and extract.
• Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, cardamom,
• nutmeg, cloves, pepper and salt. Gradually add molasses mixture and mix well.
• Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325°F (165°C).
• Roll dough into 1-in. balls. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. 
• Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Roll in confectioners sugar when cool.

I've looked at recipes for pfeffernuesse in the past but for some reason, wasn't inclined to try them. I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted these! The combination of the spices + anise + pepper was different but delicious. It felt like we were eating cookies for grown-ups. I plan to add them to our regular Christmas cookie list.

With that, I have to say that we really liked everything. I'll make it all again, for sure. It's been interesting to try familiar types of foods which are prepared with different seasonings. I always seem to grab the same spices for everything I cook. Trying different ingredients and new flavor combinations has been a fantastic exercise.

Next post - our Tudor English meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: German © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Irish

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Native American

My Irish ancestry first inserts itself into my family tree in the mid-1800s. At the time of last year's Irish Christmas Carol post, I knew very little about my 3rd great-grandfather. I knew his name, birth and death dates, and that he migrated from Ireland to Nova Scotia where he settled, married, and raised a family. Since then, I had a chance to spent an afternoon at the public library, where I could access Ancestry.com for free as a library patron. 

I learned a lot! I learned that he was born in 1801, and christened that same year in Magheralin, County Down, Northern Ireland. I know he shows up on a census 20 years later in County Offaly in central Ireland. I know he emigrated from Ireland around 1825. I know he married after he settled in Nova Scotia, Canada. His first son (my great-great grandfather) was born there in 1835.

The meal I made is traditional Irish fare. If you saw my St. Patrick's Day post, then these pictures and recipes will look familiar because this was one of my earliest meals for this project. 

Menu

Colcannon

Bangers

Irish Soda Bread

Guinness Stout

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

Irish Coffee

Colcannon

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish of creamy mashed potatoes with cabbage.

• 4 lbs russet potatoes
• 1 small head of green cabbage or kale
• 1 cup milk (or cream)
• 1/4 stick butter, divided into thirds
• salt and pepper to taste

Peel potatoes and put them in a pot to boil. 

Remove the cabbage core, slice the leaves thinly, and put into a large saucepan. Cover with boiling water and keep at a slow rolling boil until the cabbage is just wilted, not overcooked. Drain and return to the pan, melting in one of the parts of butter. Leave covered in a warm place. 

When the potatoes are soft, drain and return them to the saucepan. On low, let any excess moisture  evaporate. Heat the milk and another section of butter in a small saucepan until melted. Add to the potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Add the cabbage, stir to mix, and serve.

Recipe Notes:

• I halved the recipe and we still had leftovers.
• Next time, I'll try it with kale, which grows better for me than cabbage.

Bangers

Bangers are sausages. But since genuine Irish sausages are something I can't find here, I substituted Bratwurst for them. Not as authentic, but definitely delicious with the colcannon. Mine were raw, so I browned them on both sides for about 5 minutes, and then poured half-a-cup of water to the pan, covered, and simmered till done, about 15 minutes.

Irish Brown Bread

You've probably heard of Irish Soda Bread. Irish Brown Bread is a variation using whole wheat flour. There are tons of recipes for it out there, with tons of variations. I wanted one as close to traditional as possible, and finally settled on this one from Secret Ireland. I also found a lot of good information there, such as the traditional recipe of old uses only four ingredients. Oatmeal, seeds, raisins, sweetener, etc., are all modern additions.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread Recipe

• 4 cups flour (mix of wheat and white as desired)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1¾ cups buttermilk 

Mix until ingredients are combined (over kneading will toughen the dough). Shape into a round, score a cross on top, and bake at 375°F (190°C) for 35-40 minutes. For a soft crust, wrap the hot bread in a tea towel while it cools.

Recipe Notes:

• I was surprised at how much it rose. The texture was nice. Denser than biscuits, but good flavored.
• I used 50/50 whole wheat flour to white because that's the combination Dan likes.
• I didn't have buttermilk, so I used kefir instead.
• Next time I would increase the salt. For bread, I typically use 1/2 teaspoon salt per cup of flour. 
• The trick of covering the loaf with a towel worked, and helped keep the crust soft. 
• It's a quick but lovely rustic bread

I later experimented with this recipe to try some variations. You can read about those here.

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

I found quite a few versions of this online, so mine is a blend of the ones that had ingredient amounts I liked.

Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp of each ground ginger, nutmeg, & allspice
• 3/4 cup soft butter 
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 lbs baking apples 
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Peel, core, and slice apples. Toss with 1 tablespoon sugar and set aside. Cream butter and 1 cup sugar. Add eggs and blend. Mix dry ingredients and add to egg mixture along with milk and vanilla. Fold in apples and pour into greased and floured baking pan. Mix remaining tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over top. Bake at 350°F (180°C) in a 9-inch springform pan for 40 to 45 minutes. 

Custard sauce

• 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 cup whole milk
• 3⁄4 cup heavy cream
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla 

In a bowl, whisk together sugar and egg yolks. Set aside. In a saucepan, mix together the milk, cream, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until milk begins to steam. S-l-o-w-l-y dribble the heated milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking continually to prevent curdling. Pour back into saucepan and heat until thick, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Stir in vanilla. 

At this point, the recipes say to strain the sauce, but I ran it through my blender, poured into a jar and refrigerated. 

The cake can be eaten warm or cool, with custard sauce poured over.

Recipe notes

• For the baking powder, I used 2 teaspoons cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon baking soda.
• I didn't have a springform pan, so I used a 9-inch regular cake pan. The batter spilled over the sides of the pan while baking! The recipe is excellent, so a springform pan will be a must before I make it again.
• More apples would be nice.
• Next time I'll omit the sugar/cinnamon topping. It made it too much like coffee cake. 

Irish Coffee

• 4 oz freshly brewed coffee
• 1.5-2 oz Irish whiskey (1 ounce = 2 tbsp)
• 1-2 tsp sugar
• 2-3 tbsp thick cream

Brew strong dark roast coffee and lightly whip fresh cream until slightly thickened. Pour hot coffee into the glass, add sugar and whiskey, and stir to dissolve. Pour cream over the back of a spoon into the cup to create a floating layer. Don't stir. Sip through the layer of cream to enjoy.

Recipe notes

• I only added 1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) of the Irish whiskey per cup of coffee, which made it more like a flavoring.

To close, here's the Irish link from last year's holiday blog series:

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Irish 

Coming next, our German meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Irish © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Native American

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Early European American

My 9th-great-grandmother was Wampanoag, a Native American tribe of the northeastern woodlands, specifically the eastern Massachusetts area. 

My time frame here is the 1600s at the latest, and I thought I'd have trouble finding recipes for my Wampanoag ancestors. Actually, I found quite a few, including from:

• Plimoth Patuxet Museums
• Many Hoops
• Delishably

 

Regional foods at that time included:

• venison
• wild turkey
• clams
• mussels
• fish (Namâhsak)
• sunflower seeds
• Jerusalem artichokes
• flint corn (Weeâchumuneash)
• squash (Mônashk8tashqash): winter varieties and pumpkin
• pole beans (Tutupôhqâmash): true red cranberry, 
• wild onions
• wild garlic
• ground nuts
• cranberries
• maple sap / syrup

Like my early American cuisine, the cooking method is open fire, so this is slow food! Clay pots were used as cooking vessels. While I sourced authentic ingredients, I used a stove to cook everything.

Menu

Sobaheg 

Puttuckqunnege 

Sobaheg (Stew)

Sobaheg is the Wampanoag word for stew. To describe it simply, it's a Three Sisters stew with meat. Three sisters companion planting (corn, beans, and squash) was standard agricultural practice for the Wampanoag, so to find all three ingredients in a stew isn't a surprise. I added turkey, but Max Miller (Tasting History YouTube channel) has a video recipe using venison.

Like most stews, this one is easily adapted to seasonal ingredients. Corn and sunflower seed meals serve as thickeners, although ground nuts (hopniss) is mentioned as a thickener at the Plimoth Patuxet Museums website.

There are a number of recipes for this around the internet, and I suspect that originally, there was no set recipe for it. It was a matter of using what one had on hand. This one is something of a combination / adaptation.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry white beans (I used small red beans, soaked overnight)
• 1 cup coarse hominy grits
• 1 pound turkey meat, on the bone, with skin (I used 3 turkey wings)
• 12 cups Water
• 1 cup green beans, cut in 1" sections
• 1.5 cups winter squash, cut in 1" cubes (I used our sweet potato squash)
• 1/2 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds, ground to meal
• 1/4 cup chopped green or wild onion (I used a tablespoon dried onion flakes)
• fresh herbs as desired (I used sage)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 cup clam juice or salt to taste (used 3/4 cup clam juice + 1 tbsp salt)

Instructions

• Combine water, dried beans, grits, and turkey in a large pot and simmer until the beans are tender (about 2.5 hours). Stir occasionally to keep grits from sticking to the bottom of the pot. 
• Skin and bone turkey, returning bite sizes pieces to the pot. Add the squash, green beans, onion and herbs. Simmer until tender.
• Add sunflower seed meal and clam juice. The clam juice is salty, so add a quarter-cup at a time and taste test with each addition. Adjust with salt to taste. 

What did we think? 

• Dan declared it a keeper. I was curious about the texture, since the thickeners are corn grits and sunflower seed meal. That meant the texture was different from typical flour-thickened stews, but it was good. The flavor was excellent and I'll make it again.
• It's a one-pot meal, which is well suited to our lifestyle. Except for the clam juice, all the ingredients are locally available, so that's a huge plus. We got quite a few good meals from it, but for just the two of us, halving the recipe would work too.

Changes?

• Add more vegetables. 
• I'm sure Dan would like it if I added more meat. 
• Use my own cornmeal instead of the grits.
• Try it with hopniss next time, since it's one of my perennial garden additions. It's a thickener that  lends itself to moist heat cooking methods. 
• Omit clam juice. It's a specialty item that I tried for authenticity, but didn't add anything as far as I could tell.

Puttuckqunnege (Boiled Corn Bread) 

Recipe adapted from Many Hoops

• 1 cup cornmeal (I used home grown, home ground)
• 1/2 cup dried berries (I used the cranberries I dried last year)
• 1/2 cup crushed nuts or seeds (I used sunflower seed meal)
• Maple syrup to taste (I used about 2 tablespoons)
• 1/2 tsp salt (not in original recipe)
• Slightly boiling water (this water can be a broth from boiled greens)

Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix thoroughly. After mixing, slowly add a spoonful at a time of slightly boiled water. When the mix is thick enough to be sticky, shape round patties (about 3 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick). Return water to slight rolling boil, shape patties about 1-inch thick and 3-inches round. Drop carefully into simmering water, making sure they do not stick to the bottom. Turn them when they float to the surface. Boil for a total of about 30 minutes. 

These can also be baked wrapped in fresh leaves and baked in coals and ashes.

Recipe notes:

• Suggestions for other dried berries included blueberries, currents, or raisins. 
• Other suggestions for sunflower seed meal are walnut or hazelnut meal. I have pecans and chestnuts, so I'll have to try those.

What did we think? 

• Initially, I thought, okay, these are just cornmeal dumplings with fruit. And of course, they are, but they are very different from the wheat flour dumplings I make with chicken stew. I was surprised that they were cooked all the way through. For some reason, I expected them to be doughy in the middle, but they weren't. I credit that to turning them after they rose to the top and simmering for the full 30 minutes. I'm thinking, though, that cooking these in coals would produce a much harder (dried out) bread. 
• The cranberries added a strong zing of tartness. Without them, maple syrup probably wouldn't be necessary. I produce neither cranberries or maple syrup, but I think these would be good without berries too. Dan would probably like them with raisins. 
• I plan to try Puttuckqunnege again, boiled in a pot of greens. I think they would be really tasty using lambs quarter, which is a mild green. If using a stronger flavored green, like turnip greens, raisins in the breads would balance their flavor nicely. 

Here's the link to my Native American holiday series post last year: 

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Native American

Next up, our Irish meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Native American © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Early European American

Continued from Holiday Series: The Cuisine of My Ancestors

My early American ancestors were English and migrated to Massachusetts in the 1600s. That gives me a time period spanning some 400 years for choosing recipes. That's a long time to cover! The time period I focused on is the 1700s, because there are many good sources for recipes. Many old cookbooks are now public domain and available free online. Plus, there are a number of websites keen on preserving early American history, skills, traditions, and recipes. 

Menu

Salt Pork and Pease

"French" Bread

Ginger-bread Cakes

Ale

Salt Pork and Pease

This recipe comes from AmericanRevolution.org. The asterisks by the ingredients indicate changes I made to the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs salt pork*, rinsed and cut into small chunks
• 4 cups water (or enough to cover the pork in the pot)
• 2 cups dried peas*, soaked overnight and drained
• 4 large potatoes, *peeled and quartered
• 1 large onion, chopped
• Salt* (if needed, depending on the saltiness of the pork)
• pepper to taste

Instructions

• Put the pork in a large pot and add water until covered. 
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 1 hour.
• Add the soaked and drained peas, potatoes, and onion. 
• Return to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender and the peas have broken down slightly (45 min to 1 hour).
• Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
• Serve hot.

Recipe Notes:

• I couldn't find salt pork so I used fresh pork. But I think using fresh instead of salt pork likely changed the texture of the stew, because salt pork is drier and saltier. So I'm not satisfied that our eating experience was truly "authentic." 
• I substituted split peas for whole dried peas
• I didn't peel the potatoes and chopped them to the same size as the meat chunks
• I added 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/8 tsp pepper.
• Next time I would use bone broth for the liquid instead of water. 

How did we like it? 

• It was what I'd call plain, hearty fare. Easy to make, very tasty, and very filling. Our kind of winter food.
• It's a recipe I'd like to experiment with. Maybe substitute lentils for the peas and ground pork for cut up chunks. If I can ever find salt pork, I'd like to try it with that.

"French" Bread 

I put "French" in quotes because this isn't like our modern French bread. Yet it's a very old recipe, dating back to 1665 and found in numerous 18th century cookbooks. This one comes Dr. William Salmon's 1710 The Family Dictionary: Or, Household Companion. (The link will take you to Internet Archive where you can download a free public domain PDF copy).

Why did they call it French bread? After watching the Townsend's video, Ancient Bread: 350 year old recipe, it seems it's because the ingredients and pricing of bread used to be legally set. Most of the cooking at the time was done in large fireplaces, so regular folk didn't often have ovens. Instead of baking bread, they bought it from a baker. Price controls kept the sale price of bread low, but meant the bakers had a difficult time making ends meet, so they also sold what they called French bread, to differentiate it from legal bread. As a specialty bread it wasn't subject to government pricing. 

Here's the original recipe I used, found on page 209.

And here's my adaptation of the above recipe.

Ingredients

• 4+ cups flour
• 2 teaspoons ale yeast
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• 3 eggs
• enough warm milk or water to make a soft dough

Instructions

• Make the sponge
• Stir warm water into about half the flour. The mixture should resemble pancake batter. 
• Cover with a cotton towel and set aside for 12 to 16 hours until the yeast is active and bubbly
• Dissolve the yeast in warm water and let proof.
• Add the beaten eggs and yeast to the sponge and mix well. 
• In another bowl, mix the remaining flour, butter, and salt together. 
• Add flour mixture to the sponge and mix into a soft dough. Knead minimally.
• Let rise in a covered bowl 1.5 to 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
• Shape into rolls. 
• Let rise about half an hour
• Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
• Bake the rolls for 30-35 minutes or until they sound hollow when tapped.

Recipe Notes:

• The Townsend's video uses a slightly different recipe, but gives a good idea of dough handling and texture. It's meant to be a soft dough with minimal kneading to not develop the gluten.
• Flour. My questions was, what type of flour? Almost all modern versions of this recipe call for all-purpose or unbleached flour. They did have unbleached white flour during this time period, so I ended up using that, even though it was mostly used by the wealthier class of people (which wouldn't have been us!)
• Yeast. Originally barm was used for baking leavened breads. Barm is the yeasty foam that forms on ale and beer as it's fermenting. Ale barm is preferred for bread because beer contains hops which imparts a bitter flavor to the bread. I don't brew so I substituted ale yeast. Bread yeast could be used, but ale yeast imparts a more traditional flavor to historical breads like this one.
• Because ale yeast isn't formulated to rise bread, the rolls were heavier than typical. But they rose well enough and were perfect with the stew. Ale yeast isn't something I usually buy, so next time I'd make them with baker's yeast.
• It could have used a little more salt.

Ginger-bread Cakes

This one is from The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy published in 1796 by Hannah Glasse, page 209. (The link will take you to Internet Archive where you can download a free public domain PDF copy).

A modern version can be found at ColonialWilliamsburg.org. They halved the original recipe and I halved theirs. 

Ingredients

• 3 cups unbleached flour
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup. butter, softened
• 1 tbsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tbsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 tbsp cream

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C)
• In a large mixing bowl, blend dry ingredients thoroughly.
• Warm the molasses and cream together in a small saucepan, stirring to blend. 
• Work the butter into the flour mixture with your hands until evenly mixed.
• Add the molasses and cream mixture and work it up into a stiff dough. If too dry, add a little more cream to it. The dough should be stiff but not dry.
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface about ¼ inch thick and cut into whatever shape you please. 
• Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. They should still be soft to the touch before they come from the oven, not hard.

To cut the dough into cookies, I used an old cookie cutter that was my great-grandmother's.

Yield: 35 three-inch cookies.

Recipe notes

• No leavening, not even eggs. So I was curious how the baked texture would turn out. I was pleasantly surprised. The cookies were soft and tasty.
• The ingredient amounts were perfect. The dough is very stiff. The warmed molasses made it pliable for the first batch, but I needed to add a spoonful of milk after that so the dough would be workable for rolling out.
• The flavor was just a bit different from the Ginger Cookies I usually make (recipe here). The texture was different because that recipe has eggs and baking soda. But it was also the spices. My ginger cookies contain cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. But this old-fashioned recipe used only ginger and nutmeg. Lots of nutmeg. So they were different but good!
• This would be the perfect recipe for gingerbread men. 

I have to say that it somehow seems significant that my first recipe post in this series is for early American cuisine and falls on our Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving first became an official holiday in 1863 and was set as the 4th Thursday in November in 1941. While my early American ancestors didn't have a set holiday or traditional meal as we think of it, they did know how to be thankful. So thankfulness is part of my heritage.

I'll close with a link to a related post from my genealogy series last year: 

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Early American

Next up, our Native American meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Early European American

 © 2025 by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Holiday Series: The Cuisine of My Ancestors

I had a lot of fun doing last year's Christmas series, Christmas Songs of My Ancestors. One of my hobbies is genealogy, and exploring my family tree from a cultural point of view is really interesting. Earlier this year, I found this book at the public library . . .

Uhtred's Feast: Inside the World of the Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell. If you haven't seen The Last Kingdom TV series but like historical adventure, I definitely recommend it. It was based on the book series, which I've also read and enjoyed. (If you like historical fiction, anything by Bernard Cornwell is highly recommended.) When I saw this book on the library shelf, I immediately picked it up. It contains short stories and recipes from the time period of The Last Kingdom, the Saxon era of England. It interested me because I have Saxon ancestors. The idea for a cultural cuisine research project grew from there. 

My research goal this year has been to find and make authentic recipes from each of my genealogical culture groups, focusing on the time period in which they show up on my family tree. 

Here's the genealogical timeline I've been working with:

• American: from the early 1600s (New England) to present (Midwest, except me who's been  in the Southeast for decades.)
  
• Native American: 1600s
• Irish: 1800s
• German: 1400s to 1700s (I learned this year about this one)
• English: 1200s to 1500s
• Norman: 1000s to 1100s
• Viking: 700s to 900s
• Saxon: 400s to 1000s
• Celtic: Between 600 to 450 BC up through 400s AD

My research for this project focused on the regions of these peoples and the foods they ate. In planning the meals, I looked for traditional regional recipes. My goal was to use as many original ingredients and I could source, with an emphasis on ingredients that I can grow too. My cooking methods are modern slow-cooking ones.

Thanks to the internet, I've been able to find quite a few recipes from the time periods I'm looking at. When I couldn't, I had to settle for modern but regionally traditional recipes. 

I tried to choose recipes that focus on ingredients that can also be grown in my part of the world. But for the sake of authentic flavor, I was willing to buy additional ingredients as well. Even so, there were some things that I couldn't find at my local grocery stores. For these, I made reasonable substitutions. 

This project appealed to several of my interests: genealogy, cooking, cultural studies, and lifestyles that have a stronger relationship with nature than with technology. One happy lesson has been combining available foods in new-to-me ways, such as blueberries in stew and using cream in sauces and gravies. 

Anyway, my plan is to publish one "Cuisine of My Ancestors" post every 3 or 4 days or so until around Christmas. I hope you enjoy them.

Holiday Series: The Cuisine of My Ancestors

© 2025 by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Garden Notes: November 2025

I'm getting a jump on posting my November garden notes, because I want to clear my blogging calendar for my holiday series. It's 10 parts, which will take about a month, starting next week. I'll be updating this post as the weather and other garden events require. 

My early November view from the goat barn.

Rainfall

• 8th: 0.13"
• 21st: 0.01"
• 22nd: 0.62"
• 25th: 0.31"
• 30th: 0.25"
• Total: 1.32 inches

 Temperature 

• range of nighttime lows: 25 to 58°F (-4 to 14.4°C)
• range of daytime highs: 42 to 80°F (5.5 to 26.6°C)

 First freeze: Nov. 11

• Outside: 25°F (-4°C)
• Greenhouse: 32°F (0°C)

Weather Notes

• We skipped first frost this year and when right to first freeze. There had been scattered frost in the neighborhood, but somehow it missed our garden.
• We could use some rain, but with cooler temperatures at least the ground doesn't dry out as quickly as it does in summer.
• Nov. 19th we had what felt like Indian Summer. We don't really have this seasonal reprieve here in the South, but it was reminiscent of my childhood.

Harvested

• lettuce
• kale
• cherry tomatoes
• Jerusalem artichokes
• red raspberries
• parsley
• oregano
• sweet potatoes
• green beans
• turnips
• collards
• carrot
• sage
• thyme

Transplanted

• lettuce
• kale
• broccoli
• aloe vera
• horseradish
• parsley

Preserved

• bell peppers, sliced and frozen

Garden notes

• I got the last of everything harvested before the freeze
• Garden chores now consist of finishing bed cleanup and mulching each. 
• After I get the beds mulched, I'll start working on the aisles between the beds.

Raking and hauling leaves to the garden for mulch is an almost daily chore.

More Photos

Jerusalem artichokes

The sunchokes were from a volunteer plant in a greenhouse container. Somehow it survived the hot summer temps in the greenhouse and I think I only watered it once out of pity. When I emptied out the pot for winter planting, it was loaded with the chokes you see above.

Here's how the greenhouse looks at present - 

This year's greenhouse experiment is peas. These are the edible pod peas we like so well.

When I harvested the sweet potatoes, I decided to try digging up and potting my bell pepper plants. I tried this several years ago but those didn't make it. Maybe they'll do better in the greenhouse.

4 potted bell pepper plants

I also dug up one nicely sprouting sweet potato. So it went into a pot as well.

Struggling sweet potato. I may have to move it indoors when it gets really cold.

The other thing I did before the freeze was to cut off a bunch of cherry tomato vines. These were set on the table in the carport. The leaves are drying out but the tomatoes continue to ripen, so we're still eating fresh cherry tomatoes even though the rest of the garden is done. 

The weather has been lovely so I spend part of each afternoon working in the garden. With sunny mild days in the upcoming forecast, I should get a lot done.

How about you? Anyone growing a fall garden? Anyone got a greenhouse?

Garden Notes: November 2025 © Nov. 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com