What are some dessert recipes from the middle ages? Does Apple Tart count? If so any good apple tart recipes?

I need to make a middle age recipe for Mon. and I want it to be something that people will actually enjoy eating. It is for about 25 people. Some sites say apple tart is Middle Ages. I've never tried it. Any reccomendations for apple tart?What are some dessert recipes from the middle ages? Does Apple Tart count? If so any good apple tart recipes?
Most historians agree that the Middle Ages comprises a period of history from about 400 AD to 1400 AD. The earliest known apple pie recipes are from late in this period (1300s).





In the middle ages, most people didn't have at least three things that make a huge difference in modern cookery, and those things are ovens/stoves, sugar, and wheat flour. Food was boiled or cooked over an open fire (including in fireplaces/hearths). Sugar cost the equivalent of $50 or more a pound (I'm going to guess that it cost more). Poor people ate bread made mostly from rye, barley, oat or millet flour. Wheat flour was available, but expensive, and it was not nearly as refined as flour is today. It would have been whole-grain and a bit coarse by modern standards.





Some historians claim that sugar probably wasn't that rare or expensive because cookbook recipes have it. Well, in the middle ages, books were extremely rare and expensive because there were no printing presses--all books were produced by hand by scribes or block-print. Therefore, anybody who could afford a book, or even afford to look at one, had enough money to afford sugar.





So when I see so-called medieval recipes with sugar in them, I immediately think they are bogus, dressed-up versions. Historians do agree that the earliest apple pie recipes known do not mention sugar. Really, everything about a medieval pie, from it's extravagant spices and flavorings, to its poor effort-to-nutrition ratio--suggests it was something that only the wealthy enjoyed.





People sweetened desserts with fruit--fresh and dried--and fruit juice. Food tended to be overspiced for the rich, or unspiced for everybody else, because spices were also expensive. People's choices of spices were rather odd, compared to modern tastes, and in a pie, probably several spices were used at a time, such as cinnamon, black pepper, ginger, cloves and others (but not allspice).





There's an early version of an apple pie recipe from the late 1300s that describes a pie made from grated/pulverized apples, pears, figs, raisins; ';sweet spices';--which probably included cinnamon and ginger and cloves and fennel--cooked in a crust referred to as a ';coffin.'; This crust was more for the purposes of retaining moisture and flavor of the filling, than it was for being enjoyed on its own. Fat--lard and suet--were often added to pies during this period too. This pie was probably overcooked by modern standards.





When you think about it, this apple pie recipe is a lot like mincemeat pie. Fruit and meat combination pies were very common during the middle ages and renaissance. An apple pie that we would recognize as such is believed to have come about in the 1500s, which is sometime after the middle ages.





So I think you should make an apple pie that is more like what they usedta have. Let me suggest a recipe:





Pastry made with 3 cups whole-wheat or barley flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 lb of lard. Mix together, then add water and mix until a smooth but not sticky dough. I'll bet the middle-agers didn't worry about overworking the dough. Make a filling of 5 grated apples, a handful of raisins, a few well chopped dates or figs, a spoonful of vinegar, and a spice mixture of 1/2 tsp each of ginger, cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp cloves and maybe nutmeg. Add another tablespoon or two of lard to this filling.





Take half the dough, and roll or pat it out until it fits the bottom of a greased dutch oven or iron skillet, about 8';-10'; in diameter. Mound the filling on the bottom crust, then roll out and place it the 2nd half the dough on top of the filling. Fold the bottom crust up and over about 1'; all around, and crimp to seal.





Put this pie in a heated barbecue grill, covered, preferably not directly over the fire or coals. Poke 2 or 3 small knife holes in the top crust. Cook it uncovered about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Check the bottom crust and the temp of the grill to make sure it doesn't burn. If you don't have a grill, bake it at 375 for about 50-75 minutes.





I betcha though, that the quintessential middle ages dessert was what we know as the English steamed/boiled pudding. The American equivalent of this is Boston brown bread. As before, I would imagine it was made without added sugar, but it would have had plenty of heavy flours like barley and rye and oats, and dried fruits and beef and/or pork fat. Carrots and beets were used as sweetners in these puddings, so you could add a couple of them, grated.What are some dessert recipes from the middle ages? Does Apple Tart count? If so any good apple tart recipes?
The above answer makes some statements that simply are not correct.





Sugar was not prohibitively expensive - there paintings of medieval sugar sellers. Of 14 apple tart recipes from medieval sources, all but 2 call for sugar. Steamed puddings as dessert are not at all medieval. Report Abuse

Gingerbread- This sweet dates back to the Middle Ages, when fair ladies presented the rather hard, honey-spice bread as a favor to dashing knights going into tournament battle. In those days, gingerbread was intricately shaped and decorated, sometimes with gold leaf. Today, gingerbread generally refers to one of two desserts. It can be a dense, ginger-spiced cookie flavored with molasses or honey and cut into fanciful shapes (such as the popular gingerbread man). Or, particularly in the United States, it can describe a dark, moist cake flavored with molasses, ginger and other spices. This gingerbread ';cake'; is usually baked in a square pan and often topped with lemon sauce or whipped cream.
What about Yakamahoighey (Ya-ka-ma-HOGH-yay)


Its an ancient Blackfoot Indian recipe for lamb chops!Make it the way you would for regular lamb chops but just add a turkey glaze made with 1 cup of pomigranit juice and 1/4 cup of sugar and put it on the stove to simmer and if the glaze doesnt taste bitter and yet sweet at the same time something went wrong so just redo it and add 1 tblsp. of brown sugar.
http://www.medievalcookery.com/recipes.s鈥?/a>





That has a big list of all sorts of mideval recipies. Hopefully it helps.
no it dont count
Bread Pudding.


Flan (its kinda like custard)


Custard Tarts


Rice Puddings
I wonder if Indian pudding is that old. It goes back a long way, but I am not sure if it is middle ages. It is actually very good - it uses corn meal %26amp; molasses. You can find recipes on line.
apple tart is yummy with custard..... mmmm