This is the first recipe in the Experimental Cooking program. It got chosen for no other reason than it was the most recent period recipe I'd cooked. Mary suggested it for dinner on one of the nights at Spring Potrero 2007.

Originally found at the Gode Cookery website.

Stwed Beeff

English, 15th Century, Harleian MS. 4016

Beef ribs baked in a sauce of wine currants and onions.

Original Recipe:

Stwed Beeff. ¶ Take faire Ribbes of ffresh beef, And (if thou wilt) roste hit til hit be nygh ynowe; theñ put hit in a faire possenet; caste þer-to parcely and oynons mynced, reysons of corauns, powder peper, canel, clowes, saundres, safferoñ, and salt; theñ caste there-to wyñ and a litull vynegre; sette a lyd oñ þe potte, and lete hit boile sokingly on a faire charcole til hit be ynogh; þeñ lay the fflessh, in disshes, and the sirippe there-vppoñ, And serve it forth.nbsp;

-Austen, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N Trubner & Co., 1888

Gode Cookery Translation:

Take fair ribs of beef, and if you will roast it until nearly done; then put it in a fair pot; add parsley and onions minced, raisins of Corinth, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, sandalwood, saffron and salt; then add to this wine and a little vinegar; set a lid on the pot and let it boil well on a fair charcoal until done; then lay the fleshe in disshes, and the syrup on to, and serve forth.

Modern recipe:

• 8 lbs beef
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1-2 large onions, minced
• 2 cups currants
• 1 Tbs. each pepper, cinnamon, & cloves (or use to taste)
• 1 Tbs. red food coloring
• few threads saffron
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 litres red wine
• 1 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  

Roast or grill the beef until done; place it in a large baking pan. In a separate pot, combine all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until currants are plump and soft and the onion is cooked. Pour this mixture over the beef; cover the baking pan with foil and place in a 400º F over for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Remove from oven. Place the beef on a serving platter and spoon on currants, onions, & syrup. Serve.

The preceding from the recipe title through the modern recipe is taken from the Gode Cookery website and a direct link to the recipe is provided above. Full credit is given to Master Hogge and his crew for their work on that site which is a wonderful resource to people interested in historical cookery.

What I did different, and why:

Since this was to be a meal at war where both Mary and I were going to be doing different things all day and we don't have a portable oven yet anyway we decided that I'd pre-cook it and put it in a Food Saver bag for reheating at the event. I also cut the quantities in half because there were only going to be four of us eating. I dropped the red food coloring since I didn't think extra red was really necessary.

I used a yellow onion, a bottle of 2002 Charles Shaw Merlot leftover from my wedding, zante currants, beef short ribs and saffron that a good friend brought back from Qatar.

Methods and Results:

I roasted the ribs as opposed to grilling them since I was packing other things for the event and didn't want to have to focus on them as much. I made the sauce to the recipe.

The sauce was quite tasty and I wouldn't change much if anything. I might mince the onions finer. A little more vinegar and or a lighter vinegar might brighten it up a bit but probably isn't necessary. The main thing I would do differently is roast the ribs longer and at a lower temperature than I did so the the connective tissue would melt more thoroughly. Or I might use another type of beef ribs.

June 5, 2007

Version 2

I used regular beef ribs that I salt and peppered then slow roasted at 250º for about 2 1/2 hours before adding the sauce. I used dried parsley since I didn't have fresh on hand. The other big change was instead of pouring the liquid over the ribs in the 9x13 roasting pan I cut the ribs into individual sections and put them in the pot I used to make the sauce. This turned it into more of a braise.

One major adjusment note for both versions one and two, I used 1/2 of the listed quantity for all ingredients except the wine where I used 1/4 instead of 1/2 of everything.

The texture of the meat came out much better this way. It could be the type of ribs, the extra cooking time or both. The taste was richer and fuller, which is probably because of the longer roasting and final cooking as a braise with better sauce to meat contact.

If I do another version I might try grilling the ribs to see what that does to the flavor. Also, because I'm using whole cloves I might switch to cinnamon sticks and tie both up in a cheesecloth bag for easy removal.

June 15, 2007

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Copyright 2007-Steve Montgomery

Gode Cookery translation and modern recipe Copyright 2000-James Matterer reproduced under Fair Use for research and teaching purposes.

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