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The Montero is one of the few pieces of actually military 'fashion' from the period (the rest - coat and britches - are the same as worn by civilians, merely 'uniform' in colour). They're also fabulously practical in cold weather - the folded up part can be brought down to cover the face, rather like an early-modern balaclava! I started the day with the felt hat as the sun was shining in my eyes, but before we mustered did switch to the Montero, its a great military hat (and its normally far too warm to wear during our summers of today!).

Sometimes no additional flavour is required! In general for most people spices were too expensive to use (with the possible exception of salt), with herbs and the natural flavour of the ingredients adding to the overall flavour.

Very kind - I hope you enjoy what I'm able to add!

Most welcome, have you tried baking some?

It is one of my touchstones - whenever I am doing historical interpretation, no matter how strange to modern sensibilities, I like to stress that people may not have known as much but they were doing their best to understand and interpret their world and events.

Please note, this is just my opinion and I dont have anything against people who eat a modified dish. I just feel like potatoes already have a super common alternative in the modern era. Parsnips maintain the same bite as turnips. Potatoes. You do you. If you make this recipe with potatoes, I'm sure its good... because potatoes au gratin are good.

Absolutely - potatoes are the most common and popular root vegetable today, and historically they were a super-food in terms of being able to provide a lot of calories with relative ease. Personally I love parsnips, and adore turnips, but there are many people who aren't so keen!

A great question! Some are imported, especially for the very rare heavy cavalry (cuirassier such as 'Hasslerig's Lobsters'). In general though, horses were commonly used for transport and they were available in good number - that said, many people lost their horses - either because they were donated to (or bought by) one of the sides of the war, or were seized. Supplying horses was a real issue, and they were a significant military asset - control of an area known to have many horses (especially as the war became embedded and people realised it wasn't going to be a quick conflict) became a military necessity - just the same as areas where crops, ironworks, coal (etc) might be found.

Always nice to meet another enthusiast!

You found it bland because it was bland peasants didn’t have the luxury of spices as such so they had to live off the land and stick with herbs and vegetables and bread etc only the richer people had the luxury of spices like most of the traditional food in the uk its bland because they focused more on survival and lasting through the winter etc

Sorry for the late reply! Many times the historical palette is not the same as our modern one, and many things are either too heavily spiced (with an 'odd' flavour to our modern tastes) or more bland than we are expecting. Salt, along with herbs, is the most likely flavourings to be available to the common medieval person - but feel free to add pepper (or even a 'powder forte' - a strong spice mix of ginger, pepper, cinnamon, and other spices to your own taste) should you make it again!

A perfect reply! Modern tastes are not the same as historical ones, and we live in an age of massive wealth in terms of access to spices and luxuries - though a lot of the association with UK food and 'blandness' comes from both the changes to palette, and austerity/rationing through the 1930-50s. Many of the dishes (of the wealthy) through the medieval and early modern (Tudor/Stuart) periods are highly spiced and full of flavour - albeit not ones we generally associate with Britain today!

I am going to be doing a few shows where I'm cooking in the field - my plan is to try and make a new video over the fire

@@HistoricEchoes Cool!

Have you been following the building of Guedelon castle in France? Their experimental archaeology includes a lot of information on the lives (and diet) of castle builders! www.guedelon.fr/en

If you ever find yourself in Portsmouth, do pop and visit the Mary Rose - its a great museum, with a fine collection of linstocks! Suggestions are noted and appreciated :)

Aww, thank you - I've got some ideas for sure :)

Very much so - I've been really busy, but life is generally good!

Thanks so much! I have a couple of videos planned on medicine, but will see if I can't record something soon...possibly about teeth worms (since I've got some 'lovely' teeth and tools to show off!)

Not much for now...but more to come!

Thank you! It is nice to be missed! Is there anything you'd like to see?

Thanks so much! Any requests?

Oh thank you so much - I've been super busy, but have been meaning to get back recording (I have an assortment of thoughts I want to cover!) so this prompt has been really helpful!

I am, just filled with a very busy life! Thanks for the poke though, I've been meaning to get back to video-making, so much appreciated!

Once you've mastered the basics its amazing how flexible 'protein' and 'grains' with 'liquid' and 'vegetables' really is, and how delicious simple food done well really is. Generational recipes are fantastic too!

Hopefully that was useful to you then :)

Pottage certainly can be healthy (and tasty!), and I've certainly come across the argument that peasants ate healthier than the rich, but the most recent research suggests a fairly robust and vegetable heavy diet for elites as well as the majority. By the early-modern period (say the sixteenth century) and certainly by the industrial revolution it could be argued that the middle classes are starting to eat more healthily than the very wealthy.

Glad it was helpful! I hope tasty too!

The number of 'medieval' healthcare procedures which are still done is amazing - medical leeches are still very much a thing!

So glad you're finding the videos useful! Some of the original galenic material is still available, along with primary sources, but it sort of depends on what you need things for... There is some good material freely available online (I like this one currently - wellcomecollection.org/articles/W-MM-xUAAAinxgs3) but you could do far, far worse than looking at the Bibliography in wikipedia as a great starting point! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism#Bibliography

@@HistoricEchoes thanks so much for all these interesting links! I’ll for sure delve in them. Best wishes!

Yes, absolutely - beans and root veg make a great base for a pottage or hearty soup/stew. Beans were a staple of medieval life (though not particularly high status!) where potatoes would have been if they'd been known in Europe - with super-simple things I find the trick is to get good flavour and texture, so salt and pepper, herbs, spices, and a good stock are your friends!

Awww, thank you - I do need to get back to making videos!

@@HistoricEchoes Yes Please!

There are some really ...bold flags/colours in use during the civil wars. Almost a shame when a uniform set of how colours should be used are introduced in 1644/45 (for the New Modelled Army at least).

Why thank you - I grew it my own self!

I'm sure if they had meat leftover like that it would be thrown in. I'm doing pottage this Sunday with smoked bacon lardons and serving with rye bread. Be rude not too hey 🙂

Not at all. I'm vegetarian so avoid meat (though do sometimes use meat-replacement proteins, particularly if doing slightly higher status dishes). Left overs are a brilliant base - we roasted a lamb one day at a show and I made a fantastic pottage from the remains! Pottage is really flexible, and I hope your meal turned out delicious!

That sounds like it was tasty!

I was thinking that, lard in the shops is basically rendered pig fat ain't it?! Still we can't be purists as the supply chains have changed things. One of the main reasons we live typically until our 80s as opposed to 30s like in medieval times!

Olive oil is one of the fats available, but its higher status than the rest of the dish. Butter could be used, but lard would probably be most common (that or a pan which is just well=oiled - my cast iron skillet needs basically nothing to fry meat on).

Lard is animal fat, and normally (but not always) pork - you would certainly not want to waste any fat as if not for cooking it gets used in soap making, candle making, oiling a variety of things.

Interesting topic - we have some great visual sources and various indentures (contracts for professionals), plus things like the Statute of Westminster which tell us how an archer should be armed/armoured...the truth in the field is quite possibly different though! Great suggestion!

Glad I could help!

Oh absolutely the overall 'winners' (if there was such a thing!) was the French crown. The biggest losers were, as ever, the poor in areas where armies moved and people fought.

That sounds great - this is coming into the time of year when I like to make a soup or stew at least once a week (it will usually last a couple of days). A hearty, nourishing pottage makes a great autumn or winter meal - regardless of what you call it (and its no surprise that most cultures and societies across time and the globe have come up with similar meals!)

@@HistoricEchoes Absolutly ☺️👍 meals like these have been the cornerstone of cooking for millennia

Glad you enjoyed it! The Tudor monarchs were a lot of things, but none of them were dull!

You are correct there - generally eggs were prohibited, at least in part because its a period when hens are not laying (or not laying very much).

With the disclaimer that modern ingredients are just better than historical ones - because humans have spent the past millennia improving the size, quality, taste, and variety of plants and animals for food - people always like food which is nice, and a lot of historical food is really, really good...though sometimes seems a bit strange to us! Have you seen my pottage videos?

Let me know how you get on! I do need to try making a different batch...though am now wondering about making a cheesy dough version

I hesitate to draw too many parallels between events in different places, mostly because I'm aware of my lack of expertise, but as the industrial revolution (or the process of urbanisation and industrialisation) spread across Europe you see a lot of the same questions of political voices and reactions to inequality - particularly when linked with hardship and poverty. I don't think it's unfair to draw some parallels between events in Britain and those in France in the lead up to the French Revolution - or even to the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the lead up to the Peasant's Revolt/Wat Tyler's Rebellion in 1381. We humans are good at seeing parallels and patterns and similarities - I suspect it is a really useful tool for understanding complex events and situations - so how fair those comparisons are is probably debatable...and the same is true of looking at other resistances and questions of sovereignty and political voice, be that in Hong Kong today, or elsewhere at other times. Questions around cheaply made goods, be they clothes and shoes or electronics or whatever else, are very much worth asking - though I fear are outside of my expertise (many of mine are hand made by experts, which is why my wardrobe is filled with historical things, and only grows slowly)! Ethical consumption under capitalism is difficult, but asking the questions you pose is a good starting place.

China uncensored Chris chapel

It does sometimes seem that the more things change, the more they stay the same (though this is probably in part because humans are really good at spotting patterns or similarities!). Glad you enjoyed :)