Thanks to all of you who braved the weather to attend our Autumn Talk and Dinner ‘From Monks to Monarchs: Dining in the Middle Ages’.

Special thanks must go to Sandra Gann who gave a great talk, whetting the appetite for the meal to come. Our diners enjoyed learning about our ancestors’ eating habits and then tasting some of the dishes themselves. There was plenty of delicious food, cooked in line with Slow Food principles of respect for quality ingredients, producers, tradition and the environment.

Traditional recipes and seasonings were researched and used throughout the meal. These included Poudre Douce (cinnamon, ginger, Indian bay leaves and cloves) and Poudre Fort (nutmeg, cloves, red long peppercorns and black pepper).

Honey, ginger, fennel and saffron blended well with white wine in the ‘compost’ an old term for mixed pickles of root vegetables, cabbage and pears, to make a light and refreshing side dish. The pottage, a broad beans and mushroom soup made good use of mace and Poudre Fort. The lamb and its sauce was flavoured just with salt and red long peppercorns, while the salmon and spinach tart used Poudre Douce. Final mention must go to the quince poached in honey and ginger, before the cheese course, Admiral Collingwood and Berwick Edge from Doddingtons.

Of course, there were no potatoes, but plenty of delicious bread, rye and five grain made by Bread and Roses in Alnwick and, like the Chain Bridge Honey, sourced from the Green Shop in Berwick. In mediaeval times, there was no need to worry that the honey was adulterated with sugar syrup, as sugar was too expensive for that, but times have changed!