On Table: The Comforts of Home

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On the table is a presentation of cool, simple fare to come in from the heat of the day to. Featured are crunchy seed bread, flavored fresh butters, refreshing quick pickles of native vegetables, and an assortment of smoked salmon. Most of these items are common foods throughout the early and middle Norse periods. Viking Age seed breads had many different recipes, and included ingredients from as far away as Africa and Persia. Norse peoples depended on dairy farming as a staple food source. Salt was a luxury, and so fish was preserved with smoking and other forms of preservation. Pickling is one of the rarest forms of preservation in Norse periods, as the vinegar was difficult to produce and salt came with a high cost of time or treasure. Please enjoy your luxury of pickles, featuring beets, radishes, and apples.

Flavored Butters

Homemade Butters
Ingredients: Heavy whipping cream, Herbs de Provence, Salt

Shardbread and Seed Bread

Gluten Free Norwegian Crispbread
Ingredients: Sunflower Seeds, Oat Flakes, Sesame Seeds, Flax Seeds, Rice Bran, Honey, Potato Fiber, Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Beet Sugar Fiber, Water. May contain traces of soy.
https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/gluten-free-norwegian-crispbread-059721

Flatbread/Shardbread
Ingredients: Wheat flour, Milk whey, Egg, Salt, Honey

Pickled Vegetables

Beets
Ingredients: Beets, Water, Apple cider vinegar, Salt, Granulated sugar, Whole mustard seeds, Black peppercorns

Radishes
Ingredients: Radishes, Apple cider vinegar, Granulated sugar, Salt, Water

Apples
Ingredients: Water, White wine vinegar, Maple syrup, McCormick pickling spice (Cinnamon, Allspice, Mustard Seed, Coriander, Bay Leaves, Ginger, Clove, Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Cardamom, Mace, and Sulfiting Agent), Salt, Pink Lady apples, Star anise pods

Smoked Fish

Foppen Norwegian Smoked Salmon Slices
Ingredients: Atlantic salmon, Salt, Distilled vinegar powder, Fish gelatin (Cod, pollock, and/or Haddock), Transglutaminase, Dill, Black pepper, Paprika, Parsley, Smoke, Color added.

https://www.costco.com/foppen-norwegian-smoked-salmon-slices%2C-12-oz.product.100450151.html

Cheeses left over from lunch

First Course: The Profits of Raid

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The salad for this course uses a wild mix of herbs and flowers, and is modeled on a recipe from The Form of Curye, a 14th century collection of recipes. These vegetables, herbs, and flowers were all eaten in the Norse periods, though more common in England and the lower continent of Europe. The “meatballs” are keftedes, a reconstructed (but not yet documented) lamb-and-barley preparation from the 5th and 6th century Byzantine Empire. (Modern vegetarian meatballs have also been provided by Warchief Ikea Swedensson.) The green soup is a Viking recipe, using spinach sourced from far away Persia. As this is a “raid” feast, our hosts have created a foreign-style meal course with a combination of continental and more northern ingredients.

Insalat

Salad
Ingredients: Parsley, Sage, Green garlic, Scallions, Lettuce, Leek, Spinach, Mint, Edible flowers, Green onions, Leeks, Fennel, Garden cress, Rosemary.

Soup

Green soup
Ingredients: Spinach, Leek, Vegetable bouillon (Carrots, Celery, Onions, Tomatoes, Potato, Garlic, Hydorlyzed soy protein, Salt, Yeast extract, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Soybean oil, Spice extractive), Pepper, Ginger, Egg yolks, Heavy cream, Nutmeg.

Meatballs

Keftedes
Ingredients: Lamb, Onion, Garlic, Egg, Water, Parsley, Mint, Cinnamon, Red wine, Salt, Olive oil, Gluten free bread crumbs (Rice Flour, Xanthan Gum, Evaporated Cane Sugar, Dried Yeast, Sea Salt, Ascorbic Acid (As A Dough Conditioner)).

Vegetarian Meatballs
Ingredients: Chickpeas, Green peas, Carrots, Red bell peppers, Corn, Kale, Pea protein, Onions, Rapeseed oil, Seasoning (Salt, Dried cane syrup, Yeast extract, Dried onion, Spices [Rubbed sage, Black pepper, Bay leaves], Dried carrot, Dried parsley, Natural extracts of black pepper, Turmeric, Pea starch.

Main Course: The Pride of Viking Cooking

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The main course presents classic Viking Age feast items, just like móðir used to make! The honey-roasted fowl shall exalt golden Baldur, accented with fava beans and garlic stewed wild mushrooms (grown lovingly by hand by Northern Illinois’ Official Mushroom Hag). Cubed, pan-fried rutabagas are the Viking Age’s version of modernity’s popular home fried potatoes for a well-rounded main course.

Honey-roasted chicken

Honey-roasted chicken
Ingredients: Chicken, Salt, Black pepper, Tarragon, Rosemary, Butter, Honey

Broad Beans with Mint and Apple

Fava beans and Apple
Ingredients: Broad beans, Butter, Salt, Mint, Apple

Stewed Garlic Mushrooms

Stewed Garlic Mushrooms
Ingredients: Black and golden oyster mushrooms, garlic, white mushrooms, butter, parsley.

Cubed Rutabagas

Cubed rutabagas
Ingredients: Rutabagas, Butter, Salt, Honey, Vegetable bouillon (Carrots, Celery, Onions, Tomatoes, Potato, Garlic, Hydrolyzed soy protein, Salt, Yeast extract, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Soybean oil, Spice extractive).

Dessert

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For dessert, this feast offers three wonderful dishes. Elderflower cheesecake is aromatic and fluffy, unlike modern cheesecake, and appears in a cookbook for Richard II, but cheesecake is a staple dessert from the times of Ancient Greece and Rome. This recipe takes inspiration from medieval recipes, but uses modern methods to bring older tastes to the table. Skyr is one of the most documented Nordic foods, and could be eaten for all meals in period. This course serves it with honey and berries for a sweet experience. Lastly, watermelon slices finish for a light refresher. Watermelon, from far away Africa, is the “Pharaonic fruit,” and truly a fine delicacy for us today.

Sambocade (Medieval Elderflower Cheesecake)

Sambocade
Ingredients: Skyr and Berries

Skyr
Ingredients: Milk, Buttermilk, Sour cream, Rennet, Salt

Berries
Ingredients: Raspberries, Blueberries, Lingonberries, and other assorted seasonal berries.

Watermelon Slices

Watermelon
Ingredients: Watermelon.