Dr Christopher Monk

Tart of Brie in Lent, a fishy alternative? In revisiting an old edited title of a medieval recipe, I end up exploring how a recipe for a fruit and fish pie might actually make good culinary sense.

Does fish and fruit pie make sense to you? Why might it have made very good culinary sense to a 14th-century master cook making a Lenton alternative to Tart de Bry, an egg yolk and cheese tart?

For those who like a little nerdiness served with food history. modernmedievalcuisine.com/2025/08/06/t...

You'll see that I'm re-reading the name. Previous editors guessed at the meaning. Once you realise there's scribal error in play it becomes obvious, i.e. this was the Lenten alternative to Tart de Bry.

Glad you've posted this. I'll leave you some thoughts on the blog itself, but re. the fish in this dish... The idea for *Tart de Bry in Lent* was to create a very processed, almost mousse/jelly-like alternative filling to the previous tart,Tart de Bry, mimicking it's egg yolk and cheese filling.

Yellow currants on the bush

A handful of yellow currants, with desiccated flower strings attached

Bagged yellow currants, ready for the freezer

Anyone a fan of yellow currants? After picking & processing a few hundred berries from the small bush on our #allotment, I have to confess that I probably won't bother harvesting them in future. Although I will still be growing them on our plot.

Here's why: orchardnotes.com/2025/08/03/a...

Orchard Notes - Fruit Tree Care, Management, History and More Orchard Notes by Darren Turpin, orchardist and horticulturist based in Manchester, UK. Exploring and investigating modern orchard management methods as well as orchard history, tradition and culture.

Orchard Notes Resources Info-Dump...

Main website: orchardnotes.com
#Pomolibrary book list: bit.ly/on-books
Full pomology bibliography: bit.ly/on-bibli
Historical fruit recipes archive: bit.ly/on-recip
My amateur research projects: bit.ly/on-respr
Norfolk Biffins & 'Beefing' apples: bit.ly/on-biffi

Those cards! Wonderful!

A sample of 5 old yellowed 21st birthday cards with good luck keys and horseshoes from my Nana’s 21st birthday in 1944

A sample of 5 old yellowed 21st birthday cards with boats and good luck keys from my Grandad’s 21st birthday in 1941

A large whittled wooden key with an old type-written tag

The key’s tag reads: The Symbol of Freedom: May it open the GATES of HEALTH, HAPPINESS, and WEALTH to YOU AT ALL TIMES. From WELL WISHERS

My wonderful Nana never threw away anything sentimental - so today I came across her stash of birthday cards from her and my Grandad’s 21st birthdays in 1941 and 1944, lovingly saved for 80 years.

And a massive hand-whittled wooden key from the Navy and Wrens chaps she worked with through WWII.

The psychology of dessert: Why sweetness moves us Dessert is rarely just about hunger.

We don’t just eat dessert - we feel it.
Craving. Guilt. Joy. Nostalgia.
Why are sweet things so tied to emotion?
Here’s what psychology says about dessert, memory, and the pleasure we try to control.
🔗 itsthecuriouspantry.substack.com/p/the-psycho...

#Food #Dessert #Sweet #Psychology

Thank you.

The Deep History of Women and Bread: Part 2: Bread Magic In the early Middle Ages, the preparation of bread was women’s domain. And as in other forms of cooking, the mere transformation of raw ingredients into food had a mysterious, quasi-magical element…

Buttocks and rolling in honey and wheat! Fascinating read. Good to see a new post from these excellent researchers. wp.me/p7ROF7-ga

I am looking for a new job, preferably in The Netherlands. Researcher, Teacher, Policy employee on a university, college, museum, archive, etc. Please let me know.

Superb Male Snowcap by Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social

Wow!

Strawberry & Elderflower Jam is a vibrant, summery strawberry jam flecked with elderflowers. Perfect for afternoon tea with scones and clotted cream! #elderflower #strawberryjam #jamrecipe #nopectin https://www.fabfood4all.co.uk/strawberry-elderflower-jam/ #elderflower

This sounds wonderful. Will have to do a gluten-free version.

Thank you for the repost.

Thank you 😊.

Fascinating

Thank you.

Thank you for the repost 🙂.

On the making of cheese Here’s my modern English translation of a Middle English translation of a Latin text on cheesemaking. Fascinating!

New today! My translation of Middle English verse translation of Palladius, all about making cheese. Fascinating text.

modernmedievalcuisine.com/2025/07/15/o...

You may need a desktop PC to view this. Here is sheet 1 of a detailed 1890 street map of the Westgate area of Wakefield, surveyed in 1888 combined with the names of individuals from the 1889 Kelly's Directory. /1

Pork shoulder chops, gently simmered in spices

Hebdon Cow, a young, squidgy cheese

Soft semi-dried figs

Boiled eggs, chopped

Great ingredients went into my first attempt at a Flampen, a pie from Richard II's cookery book, Fourme of Cury, c.1390. My recipe needs to be refined, but it was still really tasty.

Read more, and more pics, at: modernmedievalcuisine.com/2025/06/15/r...

whereas the 'flam' element of the medieval pie points to the decoration made from the excess pastry dough. The name shifts in the fifteenth century to variants of 'flame-point'. So we are meant to imagine flickering points of fire, I'd suggest.

That, too, looks and sounds delicious. The 'flamme' element is interesting, suggesting something baked in flames, I believe...

Pork shoulder chops, gently simmered in spices

Hebdon Cow, a young, squidgy cheese

Soft semi-dried figs

Boiled eggs, chopped

Great ingredients went into my first attempt at a Flampen, a pie from Richard II's cookery book, Fourme of Cury, c.1390. My recipe needs to be refined, but it was still really tasty.

Read more, and more pics, at: modernmedievalcuisine.com/2025/06/15/r...

*thinnings (Autocorrect be damned!)

Thomas Jenner's 1653 Recipe for 'Syrupe Gresta' | Orchard Notes If you've been wondering what to do with your thinned-out, unripe grapes then wonder no more: here's a C17th suggestion for you.

Here's something I'd not heard of before: a sweet syrup made from unripe grape things. Post by @orchardnotes.com

orchardnotes.com/2025/06/28/t...

I had a fantastic time at ‪the @srsrensoc.bsky.social‬ #RenSoc25! My talk included the exceptional concord the Grahams of Esk agreed in 1598, that a panel of twelve arbitrators would meet once a week so that "all quarells & debaites shalbe decided”--ending decades of inter-family feuding.

From the treasures of St Davids Cathedral Library #Pembrokeshire