My First Kingdom Art/Sci Report!

This still needs to get run past a few friends of mine who have more experience than I do at such things...but here is my very first (and 95% completed) Art/Sci report! I'm still imputing the bibliography of all the sources used as some of my research is no with me, so that's missing, but otherwise I feel good about this :)

Kingdom of Trimaris
Journeyman Documentation Form
Static Entry

ID #: 092686CC                                                       Name: Christoffer Koch
Category: Food preparation                                      Division: 5; Domestic Arts and Sciences

Title of Entry (What is the item?): Mylates of Pork, a reproduction from Forme of Cury

Country or region item is from in period:  England

Time period of item (within 50 years): 1390

Intended setting of item (i.e., court, nobility, merchant class, peasant, farmer, sailor, etc):
All signs point to this being a royal household recipe. Powder fort and saffron were expensive spice and spice blends to keep in stock, spice blends especially were the sign of a wealthy household. The recipe itself is also found in a roll of vellum and was stored in the royal library, also pointing to this being a recipe of royalty.

Source of Inspiration (Describe source of inspiration here and attach a photocopy, photograph, computer printout or other appropriate format to this page.):
The source of the inspiration was the recipe entitled Mylates of Pork, from the medieval cookery roll Forme of Cury. This text is a recipe collection from the 14th century, the author is listed as the chief master cooks of King Richard II so it can be assumed this is a collaboration of efforts and not just one man writing.

List the materials or ingredients used by period artists/artisans in projects of this type:
Several ingredients would have been used by period artisans in regards to making this pork pie. Pork is an obvious answer, it doesn't say what type of pork from the recipe however. Flour, water, salt and lard would have been used to make the crust as this was the standard recipe from other comparison crusts provided by French texts from a similar time period. Pine nuts, eggs and cheese would all have been used as well and were all readily available to the royal kitchen. Powder fort was a common spice blend from this time period, the spices I used in my blend would have been difficult to procure for the average household but not too difficult for a royal kitchen. Saffron was incredibly expensive and rare, but commonplace within royal kitchens as it was considered a sign of wealth and power to serve.

List the materials or ingredients you used in the project:
The ingredients I used in this product are as follows: Flour, water, butter, sea salt, pork, eggs, pine nuts, cheddar cheese, Spanish saffron, powder fort (ground black pepper, ground ginger, ground mace, ground clove, ground cinnamon, ground cumin), egg whites.

Briefly explain why you chose any materials or ingredients that are different from those used in period:
As far as my research and exploration into the project has shown, I have stayed very close to what ingredients would have been used in period. Sea salt was a favorite of Richard the II's during his rather large and gaudy feasts, favoring the French  nef design  for many tables so sea salt seemed an obvious choice. My research does not say where the saffron would have been imported from, logic dictates that the Spanish saffron would have been used over distantly imported varieties, however it is possible with Richard the II's reputation for extravagant parties that he would have had it imported from other countries far and wide. There is also no real verifiable resource for a powder fort blend from the 14th century, it seemed to be a regional option and item over all which changed from which cook to which cook used such a spice blend. The one I am using is from the digital copy of Forme of Cury, they have a recipe listing and a blend of powder fort they suggest using which I have found most tasty! I also used pre-ground spices rather than grinding my own, I had trouble locating fresh mace and drying/preserving spices is the next skill I am hoping to learn from a talented teacher.

List the tools or equipment used by period artists/artisans in projects of this type:
The list of tools that a period chef would have used over a modern chef differs very little, I like to attribute this to "if it's not broke, don't fix it" way of thinking. A variety of sharp knives would have been used to chop and shred meat and cheese, cutting boards of various sizes used for the chopping and shredding. A mortar would have been used to grind spices together for spice blends, and a separate mortor would have been used to grind any other ingredients as they required it such as the pine nuts or saffron. A mixing bowl would have been used to mix the wet ingredients in, a smaller bowl for spices would have been used as well and there is a chance that large storage bowls to prepare the dish for a feast would have been used to hold mass quantities (such as the shredded cheese, pork, pine nuts, eggs, etc) because pre-portioning is a useful skill. A large pan would have been used to bake the pie in, possibly ceramic or metal in nature, and trays to store the meat as it is cooked in the kitchen. The recipe does not state, but it is possible due to the other cultural influences from France and Italy at the time that a testo oven would have been used to cook the pies in.


I used the following tools when cooking: Four separate knives (one to cut in the butter into the crust, one to cut the crust into a circular shape, one to shred the pork and one to shred the cheese), three separate cutting boards (one for the pork, one for the cheese and one for the crust), four mixing bowls (one to mix and store the egg and spice blend, one to store the shredded cheese, one to store the pine nuts and one to mix all the ingredients together to pour into the pie crust), a metal pie crust pan, measuring cups, spoon, wisk, stone mortar and sea salt grinder.

Briefly explain why you used any tools or equipment that are different from those used in period:
Modern knives are obviously differently made than what they used to be, I haven't found any information yet on what would have been a more period knife to use so I used my fancy Cutco knife set. I used my fancy the pampered chef cutting boards, obviously not period but the best I could use at this time as I haven't found a proper wooden one yet. I used metal pie pans, I don't know where to find a good ceramic ones but I haven't seen any research to suggest metal pie pans would not have been used. I have not seen any info on what they would have used (or if they would have used them at all) as far as measuring cups, but I used sets of metal measuring cups to remain as close to what they would have used in period as possible. I do not yet have a ceramic testo oven or large kiln oven ( though I desperately want one!) so I used my electric oven to bake the pie. I do not yet have experience with grinding salt so I purchased a sea salt grinder from Target and filled my salt with it and ground it down fresh, it was plastic and metal and cheap and effective as I have yet to find any resources that said what they would have used to grind sea salt in mass quantities.

Describe how a period artist/artisan would have made this item:
My research has shown many different methods this dish would have been cooked, from the many sources I have gathered I will attempt to show a streamlined process that would have occurred to make this dish for the royal household. Your baking would happen in a separate location from the main cook site, baking requires a very specific style of oven as well as specialized training and many recipes even make mention that a baked item would first be cooked off-site, so the chef would first place the order with the baker for the crust.
The chef would then take the pork and pre-cook it, either salting the fresh pork for the cooking process or using salted and stored pork, by assigning his speciality cooking staff member to handle the cooking of the meat over an open flame within the kitchen. The cheese would be shredded fresh and the eggs scrambled fresh, most likely eggs collected that day to ensure maximum freshness for His Majesty, and again in a large kitchen this would be assigned to specific members of the kitchen staff trained in these tasks primarily. The pine nuts would have been ground fresh, stored whole, and the spices would have already been blended and stored in a dry and dark location.
The pie crust, when made and pre-baked, would have then been brought back to the main kitchen and the various items would have been mixed in and poured together and then baked, possibly in an Italian testo oven knowing Richard the II's extravagant lifestyle or possibly cooked in the embers. It would have been left to cool in a cooling rack away from heat and other food dust before being served.

Describe how you created this item:
I started with pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees to ensure the oven was ready when I was ready to actually bake. I set all of my ingredients in separate bowls, not yet shredding or grinding but just setting aside  I started by taking my pork and slicing it into smaller sections to cook better. I well-salted the pork before baking and then baked the pork in the oven until done on a cookie sheet to keep the juices from spilling over.
While the pork is baking, I mixed well and made my hot water pie crust following the recipe given to me from the online resource I found (copy of which is in my documentation section). I set the pie crust within my metal pan and set aside to set and cool, then blended my eggs and spices together in my mixing bowls. One blended I set aside the egg and spice blends, taking to the work of freshly dicing my cheese into small shredded slivers. I set my saffron stems into water to allow the coloration to flow out and enhance the flavor, this was done by simply placing the saffron into a small dish of water and keeping away from bright lights. Once the pork has fully cooked, I removed it from my oven and allowed to sit and cool. I took my pine nuts and crushed those into my mortar, once crushed and freshly ground I poured the nuts into my side bowl for storage.
 I then took my knife and got to the work of shredding the pork, first by slicing my pork into smaller more manageable chunks. Once the pork was in smaller and easier to move chunks, I began to slowly shred the pork by hand. I then evenly spread the shredded pork into the bottom of my now cooled pie crust. Once I was satisfied with the level of pork being uniform I blended together the eggs, spices, saffron, pine nuts and cheese into one dish. I then poured that mixture into the pie, filling the crust. I smoothed out the mixture and gave slow stirs with my spoon to ensure an even distribution, then leveled the pie mixture. I used egg whites to give the edge of the crush a gentle egg wash and then placed it in the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes.
Once it finished baking, I set it up high on a cooling rack to cool.

Briefly explain why you did not create this item the way a period artist/artisan would have:
Several thing made this difficult, if not impossible, to make as a period artisan would have. I did not need multiple specialty-trained individuals to take care of each step, this was not cooking for a Feast so I was able to handle each step by myself. I also do not yet have access to a period oven/cooking apparatus, the knowledge to build one is also out of my grasp but I would love any resources that could assist! I did not need to travel to a bakery to cook my crusts as well, so I was able to do everything in house. I did not dry and grind my own spices, herbalism (both the growing and later drying) of spices is my next project and my local herbalism Guild in Darkwater is teaching me those skills so i can more period-correctly cook in the future. As far as my research goes, I have otherwise correctly made this as a period artisan would have.

List all the sources you consulted in creating this project (including books, journal or magazine articles, class handouts, web sites, photographs, etc):

Do you have any questions about this project or future, similar, projects that you would like the panel of judges to answer for you?
I have several, I will list them you in number format for an easy read :)
1) Any information on drying fresh herbs would be ideal.
2) Any information on construction of period-style ovens or cooking apparatus's!
3) Any comments or criticism is ideal, can you please be detailed on your judging form so I may sure to use that to learn from my mistakes?
4) I will be starting my own herbal garden in the next week, are there any spices you recommend as go-to or important to have in bulk?
5) Did you have fun judging my entry?