Lard Candles and Some Medieval Foods

 Remember a few years ago when I made tons of lard candles?  They came in handy this weekend:

We were without power for nearly 24 hours, so Nathaniel was working at keeping things going here.  He had the generator up and keeping the fridges cool, and he kept a blazing fire going downstairs to help heat the house.  Because of the extended time without power, I had to put off my medieval cooking, but I made three dishes yesterday.  

The first is sooty cakes:

This came out beautifully.  It has eggs, breadcrumbs, bacon, parsley, sage, and cheese.  It was delicious, and I will definitely make it again.

Next up was a recipe for broad beans. I used lima beans, and it, too, had bacon and breadcrumbs among the ingredients.  I really liked it:

Lastly, I made an agraz, which was mostly beets.  The kids say it tastes like grass.  I can't say they were wrong, exactly, but it was really pretty:

Nathaniel bought me a medieval cooking course/history course for Christmas.  It includes medieval recipes and clips from scholars, so naturally, I have been enjoying myself.  It was put on by a restaurant in Newcastle, UK, where Nathaniel has traveled so many times, so that was a fun connection.  I have more recipes to try in the future, but I think I should space them out a bit.  The kids were good sports in trying everything, at least.  Malachi and Lydia are particularly excited that I plan to source and cook a pig's head, but that will probably be in a month or two.  They enjoyed watching Victorian farm with me so long ago, and we all remember the pig's head that was cooked for that program, so when they saw it on the menu, they started asking for it.  I admit that it is weird, but I'm eager to give it a try.