3. Caraway pease soup
/I am excited about a new cooking resource I found on the Drachenwald A&S page. This specific recipe comes from Frantz de Rontzier’s cookbook of 1598 by way of Plain Fare: A Period Camp Cookbook by Magister Giano Balestriere (Volker Bach). Plain Fare is on the Drachenwald website under the link A Camp Cookery Book. Many of the recipes look tasty, and all are both documentable and lend themselves to cooking over the fire. I plan to practice these several times, playing with the flavors and getting closer to realistic time-appropriate technique.
The Venture
The recipe is on page 11 of Plain Fare. This cookbook gives original text, translation and redaction. The redactions give some suggested quantities, but not an exact recipe in modern terms.
I used roughly the following:
- 2/3 c yellow split peas
- 3 c water + 1 portion beef stock (fond)
- ¼ ts. dried sage
- 1 ml caraway (1 kryddermål)
- a sprinkle of ground saffron
- ca. 10 pepper corns
- ca. ½ ts salt
- one good lob of butter
Split peas boiled with sage in beef stock until falling apart, then sieved to remove lumps. Spices ground together, then added to peas. Additional water added to adjust consistency.
The Verdict
The soup is here served with the ubiquitous Norwegian flat bread with butter. I am used to caraway, especially in rye bread, but I would definitely cut the caraway by at least half. Quite nice, even if the seasoning was heavy-handed. But hey, this is a learning experience, so as long as it comes out edible, it’s acceptable.
I disagree with the redaction comments on one point: Here it is mentioned that the soup should only be served warm. I found that the cooled leftovers made a nice snack for dipping flat bread.
(originally posted to LiveJournal May 8, 2012)