Culinary traditions in Middle Earth

[Nogrod]

This thread seems to be gaining in sightings, but not in comments or other suggestions. Well. I'll nevertheless push on, and try to translate recipies as the time allows. Let's see how it turns out. But any help, comment, criticism etc. would be of help. And welcome anyway.

Not to mention the discussion of the prinicples...

[eowyntje]

Might I say I love this topic and can't wait to read more of your recipes. I've never really tried to make any middle earth recipes but after reading this topic I can't wait to make some. If I come up with something good I will post it.
There is one recipe I am really interested in. I know its a cliché, but I would really like to find a recipe for good lembas. Any suggestions?

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by eowyntje

There is one recipe I am really interested in. I know its a cliché, but I would really like to find a recipe for good lembas. Any suggestions?

I think there's not enough information on what it should taste like so people end up with doing waffles and calling them lembas...

[Alkanoonion]

I always associate hobbit meals with good old fashioned English food; my favorite is as follows…

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding cook 1-2hrs

Ingredients
Fore rib beef (about 4 kgs/9 lbs), French trimmed, boned and rolled
olive oil
salt
freshly cracked black pepper
For the Yorkshire pudding
3 eggs
115g/4oz flour
275ml/½ pint milk
beef dripping
salt

Method
1. Preheat the oven to its highest setting.
2. Rub the beef with the olive oil, salt and pepper all over.
3. Put a heavy-based roasting tray on the hob and when hot, add the beef.
4. Sear the beef quickly on all sides to colour and crisp the outside.
5. Transfer the beef immediately to the oven and leave the oven on its highest setting (about 240C/460F/Gas 8) for 20 minutes.
6. Reduce the heat to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and roast for half an hour per kilo for rare, adding another ten minutes per kilo for medium rare, 20 minutes per kilo for medium, and 30 minutes per kilo for well done.
7. Remove from the oven and place on a board or tray for resting.
8. Loosely cover with foil and rest the meat for a minimum of 40 minutes before carving, letting the precious juices that have bubbled up to the surface seep back into the flesh. Also, as the meat relaxes it becomes easier to carve.
9. For the Yorkshire pudding, mix together the eggs, flour and a pinch of salt.
10. Add the milk, stirring constantly, until you have a runny batter.
11. Leave this to rest, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.
12. Place 1cm/½in of beef dripping in the bottom of each pudding mould, or if you are using a rectangular roasting tray, place 1cm/½in of beef dripping across the bottom.
13. Heat the dripping in the oven (at 240C/460F/Gas 8) for about ten minutes, until it is piping hot.
14. Remove the roasting tray from the oven, pour in the batter, and immediately return to the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy, making sure not to open the oven door for the first 20 minutes.
15. Serve immediately with the carved roast beef

wish it was dinner time yum

[Anguirel]

I stole this Lembas recipe from this very site-alas I don't remember who posted it first. All credit to them.

LEMBAS:

What Tolkien says about Lembas:
-They contain honey
-they are light-colored on the inside and light brown crust
-they are thin and regular-shaped. This implies they were made on some kind of griddle iron. The closest modern equivalent is a Krumkake iron. I used a pizzelle iron.
Some other things we can guess:
-They contain the fruit and maybe the flower-water of the Mallorn tree. I substituted oranges, although kumquats or a hand of Buddha fruit might be better.
-They probably had some kind of finely ground light-coloured nut in them. I used almonds.
-They contained some kind of nourishing flour. I used semolina flour, which is a more primitive flour, and also more nourishing.
-Galadriel probably used some kind of grinder to refine the ingredients. I used a blender.

The recipe:
3 eggs
1 cup honey (preferably wild honey)
1 tablespoon grated orange peel or three kumquats or one large finger of a hand of Buddha.
2 teaspoons orange flower water (optional)
3 oz blanched almonds
1/4 cup melted butter
2-1/4 cups semolina flour
1/2 teaspoon salt Place eggs, honey, orange peel or other fruit, orange flower water, and almonds in blender.
Blend on high for 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of the flour. Blend for 1 minute. Scrape into a bowl and add remaining flour and salt.
Whisk or stir until well blended. Bake lembas on a pizzelle or krumkake iron 15 seconds each or until lightly brown.
You may substitute a waffle iron but add a teaspoon of baking powder. (The texture will not be quite accurate in a waffle iron.)

I haven't yet tried it, but I think you'll agree it sounds mouth-watering, and not too waffly...

[eowyntje]

I love the sound of that lembas recipe, its really based on things tolkien said and not just a wild guess. I can't wait to try it myself.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Nogrod, have you any recipes from the Beornings? Anguirel's post of lembas notwithstanding, all foods posted thus far have one failing: meat. Not that that's a real failing, mind you, but... vegetarians like cooking too.

I have a feeling I'd best like Beorning food anyhow... Shire-food is too heavy for me, and Bree-food likely is also, being so close. I can only ever think of Gondor relying heavily on war rations, thanks to a recent read of The Return of the King. Not so much my taste. Seafood has that nasty fishy smell to it (go figure) that turns my tastebuds right off. There goes all of that. The Indian food of Southern Gondor sounds promising... spices and all easiliy available through sea-trade... Any non-meat dishes you know of that they might have served up? Something fruity that the Elves might be fond of?

And I've tried that lembas recipe... I like it.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

The original intent of this thread was for discussion on food in Middle-earth. We already have a recipe thread here: Arda Recipe Book. Please post your recipes there to make finding them all easier.

Since this topic is more speculative than actual book discussion, I'm moving the thread to the Novices and Newcomers forum. Please continue to discuss there.

There is also a thread devoted to lembas recipes here: Lembas

[eowyntje]

I would expect some elves to eat something vegetarian now and then, so that might be a good place to look for recipes without meat. But I would find it less likely for dwarfs or hobbits to be eating vegetarian, unless they couldn't find any meat.

I think the Arda cookbook is a little less serious then this one, containing Mawe's muffins, Yavanna's Yam and orc Stew, where as this topic tries to think of recipes that could actually be made in middle earth (if it existed)

[Thinlómien]

Composing Elvish kitchen sounds a bit too ambitious for me, but if Nogrod or anyone is willing to try, I think it's a great idea.

All I know is that they ate white bread and fruits