Vintage Recipes

The city of Fagaras played host recently to an event occasioned by the discovery of a 17th century cookbook sponsored by a Hungarian noblewoman who ruled Transylvania between 1663 and 1688. The festival called Medieval Cuisine is dedicated to cooking old fashioned dishes. The book is one of several published in the 18th and 19th centuries, allowing us to have a glimpse of what was served at feasts held by noble families.

Ștefan Baciu, 01.10.2017, 16:08

The city of Fagaras played host recently to an event occasioned by the discovery of a 17th century cookbook sponsored by a Hungarian noblewoman who ruled Transylvania between 1663 and 1688. The festival called Medieval Cuisine is dedicated to cooking old fashioned dishes. The book is one of several published in the 18th and 19th centuries, allowing us to have a glimpse of what was served at feasts held by noble families.

One such book is structured in four sections, dedicated to the four seasons of the year. In this edition of the Cooking Show we present a menu for a party of ten, as presented in that book. We start with pork soup with egg yolk and sour cream. You need a kilogram of pork, a few onions and a few carrots, a few parsnips and a bunch of parsley, two eggs, sour cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cube the meat, boil it with the chopped vegetables, then add salt to taste. Mix well the egg yolks with the sour cream, then gradually mix in the broth to avoid curdling. Add the resulting mixture to the soup, then use lemon juice or vinegar as a souring agent.

The main dish is beef cooked venison style. Take about twenty boneless beef steaks, half a liter of vinegar and one liter of water, three or four onions, about 30 peppercorns and about 15 allspice berries, 5 bay leaves, a few tablespoons of sour cream, and a few tablespoons of flour. Bring to a boil the water and vinegar, with the sliced onion, and the spices. After cooling, use the liquid to cover the beef.

Leave for three days, turning the meat over once or twice a day. On the third day, fry the steaks in lard, then cover with beef broth. Simmer for about two hours. In the meantime, in a separate, smaller saucepan make a sauce out of melted lard and flour, to which you then add a few tablespoons of broth and a tablespoon of sugar. Put in a bit of sour cream, then pour over the steaks. Use plain boiled peas and carrots as a side dish.