Pickled Ox Tongue

Ingredients:

• 1 ox tongue

• 2 tsp peppercorn

• 3 tsp salt

• 2 carrots

• 2 turnips

• 2 sticks of celery

• 1 Onion

• 1 Leek

• Small bunch of wild Garlic

• 2 cups vinegar

Method:

Roughly chop the carrots, turnips, celery, onion, leek & garlic. Add to a large pot, along with the salt & pepper and Ox tongue.

Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for approximately 3 hours, until the meat is tender. Leave to cool until the tongue is handleable. Peel the skin from the tongue and discard.

Add the vinegar and 2 cups of the leftover broth from boiling the tongue to a pot or cauldron, Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.

Thinly slice the tongue and put into a kilner jar, or other suitable container. Pour the vinegar broth over the tongue and leave for a minimum of one week before eating.

Blackberry Whiskey

Considered by some to be superior to sloe gin, this is a must make for me every summer. Keep the blackberries to use in a pudding, or eat with Ice cream or use to make Jam.

Ingredients:

• 350g blackberries

• 175g granulated Sugar

• 700ml whiskey (Scotch or Bourbon - depending on your preference. I think Scotch is better)

Method:

Wash your fruit and pick out any leaves or twigs.

Put them into a kilner jar and cover with the sugar. Pour over the whiskey and put the lid on. Shake the jar to mix in the sugar. Shake once a day, for a few days, until the sugar remains dissolved.

After 3 months decant into bottles through a funnel lined with a muslin cloth.

Whilst you can drink this straight away, it does benefit from ageing for a year or more - if you can wait that long!

Hawthorn Sauce

Ingredients:

• 500g/5 cups hawthorn berries

• 350ml/1 cup cider apple vinegar

• 350ml/1 cup water

• 200g/1/2 cup honey

• 1⁄2 tsp salt

• 1⁄2 tsp pepper

Method:

Heat the berries with the vinegar and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain through a sieve, pushing the berries through with a spoon, discarding the seeds and skin. Return to the heat with the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the thickness of ketchup.

Strain through a sieve into clean, sterile bottles or jars. This should keep for around a year and makes a great accompaniment to dark meats, like venison or gamey birds like Pigeon.

Damson & Beef Stew

Ingredients:

• Butter

• 400g beef

• 2 small onions

• 2 sticks of celery

• 2 carrots (white or purple – not orange!)

• Small bunch of fermented wild Garlic

• 12 Damsons

• Splash of red wine

• 2 tsp freshly ground pepper

• 2 tsp Salt

• Water

Method:

Melt the butter in a pan or cauldron. Add the beef and fry for 5 – 10 minutes. 

Roughly chop the onions, celery, carrots and garlic and add to the pan. Fry for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stone and quarter the damsons and add to the pan, along with the red wine and salt & pepper. 

Add enough water to just about cover everything. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, until the meat is tender.

Damson jelly

Ingredients:

• 1 kg damsons (or plums)

• Up to 1kg granulated sugar

• Water

Method:

Put the fruit into a large pan and half cover with water. Simmer until the fruit starts to fall apart.

Strain through a muslin. Leave to drip for several hours or overnight, but whatever you do avoid squeezing or you’ll end up with cloudy jelly.

Measure the liquid and for every 600ml of juice, you’ll need 450 kg of sugar. Put the juice into a pan and bring to the boil.

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

Slowly bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly, without stirring, for about 10 minutes, or until setting point is reached. This can take 40 minutes or more.

Pour into warm, sterilised jars.

The marriage of Njord & Skadi

The Gods were celebrating. Idun had returned to the hall and the giant Thjazi had been slain. This called for a great feast and celebration. There was mead and meat, cake and balloons. Well…maybe not balloons, but you get the idea.

Thor was on his 11th horn of mead when the doors to the hall burst open, and in stormed a giantess, armed to the teeth with as many weapons as she could carry. It was Skadi, come to seek revenge for the death of her father, Thjazi.

Thor was up and ready, mjolnir in hand. But Loki stood between them.
‘Skadi. Beautiful, young Skadi. Come, have a drink with us. Join the party’ said Loki.

‘Why would I do that?’ Asked Skadi ‘You killed my father’

‘Yes, that was a..er, misunderstanding. We have a gift….GIFTS for you though’

‘Gifts? For me? No one ever gives Skadi gifts.

Odin stepped forward, holding out his hands, open palmed, revealing Thjazi’s eyes. He cast them into the sky, where they became two stars, forever shining in the night sky. ‘Your father will forever be looking down, and watching over you.’

Next up several attempts were made by a number of the gods to make Skadi laugh, but she looked much less than impressed. That was until Loki grabbed a rope, tied one end to a goat and the other end to his, erm… manhood. What followed was one of the most painful games of tug of war that anyone has ever witnessed. Loki screamed and howled as he pulled and pulled until finally, he landed in Skadi’s lap.
Skadi snorted, then sniggered, before falling onto the floor in fits of laughter.

‘Right’ said Odin. ‘One last gift. You can marry one God, of your choosing’.

‘I choose Baldur then’ said Skadi

‘Not so fast, Skadi. I wasn’t finished. A God of your choosing – but you must pick by his feet alone’.

This will be easy thought Skadi, I can easily choose Baldur and his beautiful feet. ‘Fine’ she said.

The Gods all hid behind a curtain, with just their feet visible along the bottom.

One set of legs stood out from the rest. Beautiful, manly, muscular legs. ‘It’s him, my beautiful Baldur’ cried Skadi.

But it wasn’t. It was the sea god Njord.

‘You tricked me!’ cried Skadi

‘Be wise with yours words Skadi. You wouldn’t want your marriage to get off on the wrong FOOT’ laughed Loki.
And so it was that Skadi the giantess married Njord, god of the sea. 

They lived for a while at Skadi’s home in the mountains. A place named Thrymhelm. But Njord could not stand the long, cold, dark nights. Most of all he loathed the sounds of the wolves howling in the night. And besides he missed his home beside the sea.

And so they moved to Noatun, Njords home beside the sea. But Skadi hated the cries of the seas birds, the warm, sunny weather and longed for her home in the mountains.

Eventually they agreed to disagree and went their separate ways.

Pig Blood Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 spoons dried blood

• 600ml cold water

• 1 tablespoon vinegar

• 400ml fish stock

• 300g Pork belly

• 1 onion

• A small bunch of Wild Garlic

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 tsp black pepper

• 1 tsp salt

Method:

Mix together the dried blood and water, until smooth. Stir in the vinegar (this will prevent coagulation when cooking).

Cut the pork belly into chunks and fry in a little butter or oil, for around 10 minutes, until browning on all sides. Peel & thinly slice the onion and add to the pan, frying for a few minutes to soften.

Roughly chop the garlic and add to the pan, along with the blood, fish stock, bay, salt & pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for around 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat and serve.

Pickled Ash Keys

Ash comes from the Old English ‘æsc’ which means spear.

The tree has often been believed to have healing power and carrying the keys would protect the user against witchcraft.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups/200g ash keys

• 2 cup vinegar

• Splash of water

• 2 tsp black pepper

• 3 bay leaves

• Tsp coriander seeds

• 1 tsp salt

• Tablespoon honey

Method:

Boil the keys for 10 minutes. Drain the water and boil again for a further 10 minutes.

Drain, Pack into warm, sterile jars or another suitable container and set aside.

Meanwhile simmer the rest of the ingredients together for 10 minutes.

Pour the vinegar mix over the keys, seal the jar or container immediately and store for a minimum of 2-3 months before eating.

Pickled Blackberries

Be sure to pick your berries before Michaelmas (Sept 29st), after this date it is said the devil pisses on them.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons honey

• 1/2 cup vinegar

• 500g/3 cups blackberries

Method:

Heat the honey and vinegar, until the honey is dissolved.

Add the blackberries and simmer for 10 minutes.

Strain the berries into warm, sterile jars or another suitable container. Continue to simmer the vinegar solution until it thickens a little. 

Pour the vinegar solution over the berries, seal the jar or container immediately and store for at least a few weeks before eating.

Great served with bread and cheese.

Elderberry Mead

To the Saxons and the Danes the elder tree was sacred, thought to contain a spirit or Goddess. To take a part of a tree would require gaining permission from the spirit or Goddess, lest she take revenge on the offending person.

It was thought that if you burned elder wood you would see the Devil, but if you planted elder by your house it would keep the Devil away. Elder trees were the sources of many coloured dyes; Blue and purple from the berries; yellow and green from the leaves; grey and black from the bark.

Most of the Elder tree is poisonous, containing high levels of cyanide.

Ingredients:

• 1500g elderberries 

• 4.5l/19 cups boiling water 

• 1.5 kg/4.5 cups honey 

• 5g/1 tsp pectic enzyme 

• 5g/1 tsp of red wine yeast 

• 5g/1 tsp yeast nutrient 

Method:

Put all the berries into a large bucket and crush with a rolling pin. Add the honey, and pectic enzyme and cover with the boiling water. Stir well.

Once cool, make a note of your gravity.

Add your yeast and nutrient and cover loosely for 1 week before straining into a demijohn with an airlock.

When fermentation ends (bubbles passing through the airlock at less than one a minute) check your final gravity.

Finally, syphon the wine into bottles and cork.

Age for a minimum of 6 months before drinking, but a year is better.

Fish Cakes

Ingredients:

• 250g cooked salmon

• 250g cooked cod

• 2 tsp mustard

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 egg

• 2 tablespoons flour

Method:

Flake the cooked fish into a bowl. Stir in the mustard, salt & flour, followed by the egg.

Heat a little butter in a skillet.

Take small handfuls of the mixture and form into balls. Place the balls into the hot pan and squash slightly into ‘cakes’.

Cook for about five minutes on each side, until cooked through and golden in colour.

Fennel & Beer Bread

Ingredients:

For the starter;

• 1 cup beer dregs

• 1 cup flour

For the bread;

• 800g/4 cups bread flour

• 2 tsp fennel seeds

• 2 tsp salt

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 550-600ml 1.5-2 cups beer

Method:

To make the starter, mix the beer dregs and flour in a bowl and cover loosely for 24 hours. After this time it should be quite bubbly.

Put the flour, fennel and salt, into a large bowl and mix together.

Add the honey and half a cup of the starter. Slowly add the beer a little at a time, and mix together to form a dough. It needs to be workable, so as not to stick to your hands too much, but too dry and it will fall apart. You can add more or less beer depending on how your dough feels. I find it varies slightly every time.

Tip out onto a work surface and knead for around 5-10 minutes.

Roll your dough into a ball, and dust with a little flour. Put it into a bowl and cover loosely with a damp cloth, to stop it drying out. Leave to prove for at least several hours, but overnight is ideal.

Sourdough takes longer to develop than bread made with shop bought yeast, but benefits from the extra time, as it develops a better flavour. The loaf should increase in size.

Tip your dough back out onto your work surface and carefully deflate it by poking it with your fingers.

Shape your dough into a loaf, and dust with a little flour. Place onto a lightly flour dusted oven tray and prove for another hour.

Heat your oven to 230 degrees Celsius. If you have a Dutch oven put this in your oven to heat as well.

Remove the Dutch oven (if using) and grease the inside with a little butter.

Place your loaf in the centre of the Dutch oven, pop the lid on and put back into the oven to cook for 30 minutes, remove the lid and cook for a further 15 minutes. If you are not using a Dutch oven, cook on an oven tray for 30 minutes and reduce the temperature to 170 degrees Celsius for the last 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, the loaf should sound hollow when you tap it on the bottom.

Leave to cool fully before cutting.

Chicken & Ginger Soup

Ingredients:
A knob of Butter
1 onion (roughly chopped)
600g Chicken breast (cut into chunks)
1L chicken stock
2 white or purple carrots (quartered and sliced)
2 sticks of celery (roughly chopped)
A small bunch of wild garlic leaves (Finely chopped)
1 thumb sized piece of ginger (Finely chopped)

Method:
Melt the butter in a large pan or cauldron. Add the onion and fry for a few minutes to soften.

Add the chicken and fry for a few minutes.

Pour over the chicken stock and add the carrots, celery, garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Serve with fresh sourdough bread

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon

Blood Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 200g/1 cup rye flour

• 2 tablespoons Viking blood (although dried pigs blood works well too)

• 1 egg

• 250ml/1 cup beer (or other liquid)

• Pinch of salt

• Butter

Method:

Whisk together the flour, blood, eggs, beer and salt until smooth.

Melt some butter in a pan and add a ladle full of batter to the pan.

Cook for a minute or 2 on each side, until cooked through.

Serve with berries & honey or bacon

Pan Fried Turnips

Ingredients:

• Butter

• 5 small turnips

• 2 teaspoons of mustard seeds

• 2 teaspoons of thyme

• 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs

Method:

Heat some butter in a pan.

Cut the turnips into 1cm squares and add to the pan. Fry for 5 to 10 minutes until browning.

Stir in the mustard and thyme and fry for a few minutes.

Stir in the breadcrumbs and cook until golden in colour.

Gammon Cooked In Mead

Ingredients:

• Gammon

• Teaspoon of mustard seeds

• Teaspoon of black pepper

• Bottle of mead (or 2)

Method:

Place the gammon in a pan with the mustard and pepper.

Cover with mead and bring to the boil and simmer for an hour and a half. Top up the liquid with More mead or water, if necessary, to keep the gammon fully covered.

Pour away the liquid (or use it as a base for making gravy) and let the gammon rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Sweetened & Infused cream

Similar to a posset these may have been drunk, rather than eaten. Though I have included some modern options for in the Kitchen as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup double cream

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 2 egg yolks

• A sprig of rosemary, sprig of savoury & a few thyme flowers

OR

• 1 cup double cream

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 2 egg yolks

• A head of elderflower and a tablespoon of meadowsweet

Method:

Mix the egg yolks into the cream. Gently heat the cream for a few minutes.

Stir in the honey, until dissolved.

Add the herbs or flowers and leave to steep for 30 minutes.

Strain through a sieve or cloth and pour into small bowls.

In a modern context these are great chilled for a couple of hours, or alternatively to make your very own ice cream, freeze for several hours, until set firm.

Rye bread

Ingredients:
300g rye flour
100g white bread flour
100g sourdough starter
1 tsp salt
300ml warm water (give or take)
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Method:
Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and mix together.

Add the starter and slowly add the water and mix together to form quite a sticky dough that is more like a cake mix than a bread dough. You can add more or less water depending on how your dough feels. I find it varies slightly every time.

Add the seeds and mix well. There is no point kneading this bread.

Place the dough in a lightly greased loaf tin. Cover loosely with a damp cloth and leave for a few hours, ideally overnight. It won’t rise very much due to the low gluten content of the rye flour.

Heat your oven to its highest temperature.

Put your loaf in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes before dropping the temperature to 200 degrees Celsius if the crust is looking pale, 180 degrees Celsius if the crust is noticeably browning, and 170 degrees Celsius if it seems to be browning quickly. Cook for a further 40 mins.

Remove from the tin. The loaf should sound hollow when you tap it on the bottom.

Leave to cool fully before cutting.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon

Elderflower Fritters

Ingredients:

• 200g/1 cup flour

• A pinch of salt

• 4 tablespoons of olive oil

• 150ml warm water

• 1 egg white

• Butter

• 2 heads of elderflower (stalks removed)

• Honey (to serve)

Method:

Mix together the flour and salt.

Stir in the oil and slowly add the water, whisking until it looks like think cream.

Whisk the egg white until light and bubbly, and fold into the batter, with the elderflower.

Heat some butter in a pan and, once hot, add the batter in large tablespoons, leaving space between each one. Once the underside is golden, flip and cook the other side.

Serve while still warm, drizzled with a little honey.

Rosemary flower omelette

Ingredients:

• ½ a small onion (finely chopped)

• 2 eggs

• Butter

• A handful of fresh rosemary flowers

• A small bunch of fresh garlic leaves (roughly chopped)

• Salt & Pepper

Method:

Melt some butter in a frying pan and add the onion. Fry for 5-10 minutes until caramelising. Remove from the pan and leave to one side.

Whisk the eggs until they’re combined.

Melt some butter in a frying pan and add the eggs, making sure to spread them around the pan.

Cook the eggs until they start to set. Add the onions, rosemary flowers and garlic, evenly, to the top of the omelette

Fold gently in half and slide onto a plate to serve. Season well.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon