1
Viking Recipes
Meat
1. Viking Lamb
2. Leg of Lamb with Mint and Garlic
Butter
3. Apple Bacon
4. Boiled Pork
5. Honey-Roasted Chicken
6. Meat Soups
7. Kale and Salt Pork
8. Boiled Chicken with Leeks and
Prunes
9. Tabahajah
10.Chicken Stew With Beer
fish
11. Fish Soup
12.Baked fish in bread
13. Trout with Herbs
14.Viking Fish Soup
15.Rökt Fisk (Smoked Fish)
16. Fresh Oysters
17.Honey-glazed Shrimps
vegetable
18. Turnip Soup
19.Green Soup
20. Leek & cheese pie with barley pastry
21.Baked Beets
22.Glazed Carrots
23.Carrot Casserole
24. Pea Chops
25.Stewed Peas
26.Rutabaga Cubes
27.Broad Beans
28. Pea Soup
29.Barley Pudding
30.Garlic Mushrooms
31.Nässelsoppa (Nettle Soup)
32.Kokt Svinmålla (Boiled
Lambsquarters)
33.Honey Glazed Root Vegetables
34.Salad Oxogarita
35. Fenkel in Soppes or Braised Fennel
with Ginger
deserts
36.Angels food
37.Cheese and saffron tart
38.Wheat and Hazelnut Pudding
39.Blackberry Patties
40. Fruit Pudding (Kissell)
41.Springtime Fritters
42. Pancake with Berries
43. Färskost (Skyr)
44.Honey Nut Cake
45.Honey Cream
46.Sweet Wine Cakes
47.Stuffed Dates
48. Emeles
49.Cream Bastarde
50. Lozenges or Curd Cheese Pastries
breads
51. Irish Wheat Soda Bread
52. Tavern Bread
53. Flatbread / Shardbread (Shortbread)
54.Rye Bread
55. Flatbread
56.Basic Oatcakes
57.Barley Bread
58.Viking Recipe – Bread
59.Osyrat Kornbröd (Barley Flatbread)
60.Viking Barley Bagels: Unleavened
Barley Buns
porridge
61.Kornmjölsgröt (Barley Porridge)
62. Porridge
beverages
63.A Delicious Apple Drink
64.Herbal Drink
65.Sandy’s simple Mead Recipe
66.Mead (Honey Wine)
Archaeological Finds of Ninth- and Tenth-
Century Viking Foodstuffs
sources
2
Viking Recipes
Meat
Viking Lamb
Ingredients and Preparation:
1 leg of lamb
Honey
Mustard
Cloves of garlic, sliced, inserted into pockets slit by a sharp knife (optional).
Sprigs of freshly picked rosemary
Salt and pepper (optional)
Use aluminum foil, instead of leaves
since it is now 2007 and not 700 AD.
First, insert sliced garlic into pockets.
Cover the leg of lamb with honey and mustard.
Salt and freshly ground pepper, I don't know if the Vikings used salt and pepper, but I do.
Put fresh, snipped rosemary all over the lamb.
Wrap the entire lamb well in leaves / foil
Get Willing helpers to dig the cooking pit about a half a meter (20 inches) deep
The hole was filled with rocks and wood, and lighted.
The fire heated the rocks until they were glowing red, hot.
The rocks were removed from the centre and the meat, in this case, a well leaves / foil-
wrapped leg of lamb, placed in the center of the hole and the hot rocks were placed around the
meat.
This cooking pit was large enough to accommodate more than one leg of lamb.
You can also other vegetables this way - place them further away from the rocks.
The pit was tightly re-filled with dirt..
About 1 hour and 15 minutes, of in-ground cooking, "bingo", the leg of lamb was baked to
perfection, moist, delicious and ready to be served to very impressed guests
Leg of Lamb with Mint and Garlic Butter
Ingredients and Preparation:
1 leg of lamb, 3-4 lbs
2 oz butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 wild garlic, or a couple of garlic cloves
half an onion, chopped finely
1 tsp dried mint, or 1 tbsp fresh
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Place leg of lamb in a roasting pan. Mix the other ingredients and spread over the meat.
Place in an oven, preheated to 175 C (360 F) and roast for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
Let rest for around 10 minutes, then serve
3
Apple Bacon
400 g (1 lb) bacon, fresh or cured
1 tbsp lard or butter, if needed
2 onions, sliced
2-3 apples, cored and sliced
pepper
a few whole cloves
Cut the bacon into slices and fry them in a large fryin pan at medium heat. Turn them over a
couple of times and fry until crisp. Remove from pan, add lard or butter if needed and fry onion
rings and apple slices with the spices at low heat until they are soft and beginning to color.
Return the bacon to the pan, stir and let warm through.
Serve with freshly baked bread.
Boiled Pork
6 to 8 pounds of fresh pork - legs, spareribs, or pork loin
6 chicken bullion cubes
1 teaspoon of dried garlic
Water or beer
Trim the fat from 6 to 8 pounds of fresh pork. Use legs, spareribs, or pork loin.
If the pieces are large, cut into 1 ½" thick slices.
Place in a LARGE pot (you will want plenty of room to spare if you are trying the recipe below)
with 6 chicken bullion cubes, 1 teaspoon of dried garlic and enough water to cover. You may
substitute beer for water. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Skim the top occasionally.
Simmer about 30 minutes per pound or until tender and cooked through.
Honey-Roasted Chicken
1 chicken, around 1,5 kg (3 lbs)
1 tsp salt
a good pinch of pepper
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tbps melted butter
1 tbsp honey
Rub the chicken with salt and pepper and place it in a roasting pan. Mix honey and butter and
brush the chicken with the mixture. Place in an oven preheated to 175 C (360 F) and roast
until the chicken is tender and juices run clear (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours).
Serve with broad beans.
4
Meat Soups
(4-6 servings)
Measurements are given in cups. One cup=1 ½ dl or about 90 g flour.
8-12 cups of water
½ kg meat (pork, beef, lamb, chicken, hen etc)
Salt
3-5 cups of herb such as the top shoots of stinging nettles, young dandelion leaves,
wild chervil, cress, wild marjorum, dill, plantain, angelica, wild onions, caraway greenery,
thyme, or whatever the season has to offer.
Remember: You must always be sure that the plants are edible!
Put the meat in the kettle. Pour water over the meat so it is covered and put the kettle on the
fire. In order that the heat is spread evenly the kettle must be turned about every 5-10
minutes. When the water boils it should cook for about one hour. It may be necessary to add
more water so the meat is always covered with water.
While the meat is cooking wash and chop the herbs. They will go in the soup when it is ready.
When the meat is tender take it out and slice it to a size fit for a spoon and return it to the
soup. Add salt as desired, then it is ready to be served. It can be served with flatbread.
If you want a more filling soup you can add soaked wheat kernels, thick flour... or the soup
can be smoothed out with pea flour (yellow peas grinded on a stone).
Kale and Salt Pork
two bunches of kale
4 ounces of salt pork finely minced
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
Wash and trim two bunches of kale and steam until tender or cook in a small amount of water.
I put mine in a large covered glass bowl and microwave it for 10 minutes on high. Meanwhile,
finely mince 4 ounces of salt pork and fry until brown. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the
accumulated fat. Toss the hot kale with the browned salt pork, fat and 2 tablespoons of cider
vinegar. Serve immediately.
Boiled Chicken with Leeks and Prunes
7 pounds of chicken legs and thighs - Skin and disjointed
2 tablespoons of bacon fat or other shortening
6 leeks - Clean and quartered
garlic to taste
20 prunes with pits or apples
8 bullion cubes
Skin and disjoint 7 pounds of chicken legs and thighs. Remove any excess fat. Brown lightly in
2 tablespoons of bacon fat or other shortening. Clean and quarter 6 leeks, making sure you get
all the sand out. Place chicken, leeks, garlic to taste, 20 prunes with pits and 8 bullion cubes in
a large pot. Add enough water to cover the meat and cook until the chicken is tender.
You could substitute apples for prunes, but the prunes are great!
5
Tabahajah
250g lamb
pinch salt
1 tsp rue*
0.25 cup murri** (Fish sauce)
0.25 tsp coriander
pinch peper
60ml olive oil
1.5 tbls fresh coriander leaves
1.5 tbls mustard greens (leaves)
30g honey
0.5 tsp cinnamon
Beat the murri and honey in a bowl. Add the spices and stir well. Cut the meat into thin strips
and marinade in this mixture for 1,5 hours. Chop herbs, removing stems. Heat oil in frying pan
over a high heat until a few bubbles come up. Add meat and marinade and salt. Cook stirring
for 15min until the saurce has reduced. Remove from heat and serve with fresh herbs on top.
Serves 4
* Rue is a herb that makes you throw up when eaten in quantity. Use with caution.
** You really don't want to know what this stuff is! (Fish sauce)
Chicken Stew With Beer
This recipe comes from Vikingars Gästabud (The Viking Feast), and is for four
servings.
Ingredients
1 chicken, about 2 to 2-1/2 lbs.
3-4 carrots
3 yellow onions
1 turnip, about 1 lb.
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash black pepper
Thyme
6-8 whole allspice
1 bottle (12 oz) dark beer
Chop the chicken into 8 pieces. Peel and cut the vegetables into pieces. Fry the chicken in
butter, about 5 minutes on each side. Season with salt and pepper and place in a pot. Add the
vegetables, thyme, allspice and beer. Let boil for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are
tender. Serve the dish with bread.
Note:The use of allspice in this recipe probably isn't a very good recreation. Allspice is the
dried, unripe berry of Pimenta dioica, an evergreen tree in the myrtle family. After drying, the
berries are small, dark brown balls just a little larger than peppercorns. Allspice comes from
Jamaica, Mexico, and Honduras, all in the New World in areas where the Vikings never visited.
Christopher Columbus discovered allspice in the Caribbean, mistaking it for black pepper,
which he had heard about but never seen himself, calling it "pimienta," which is Spanish for
pepper. Its Anglicized name, pimento, is occasionally used in the spice trade today.
6
fish
Fish Soup
(4 - 6 servings)
Measurements are given in cups. One cup=1 ½ dl or about 90 g flour.
½ kg of trout, salmon, cod or another fish.
10-12 cups of water
Salt
One cup of whipped cream
3-5 cups of herb such as the top shoots of stinging nettles, young dandelion leaves, ashweed,
wild chervil, cress, wild marjorum, dill, plantain, angelica, wild onions, caraway greenery,
parsley, thyme, or whatever the season has to offer.
Remember: You must always be sure that the plants are edible!
Clean the fish, wash and cut into small pieces. The slices of fish must be cooked until they are
tender. This takes 20-30 minutes. Put the cooked fish slices on a dish and bone them. Put the
fish back in the soup. Add the whipped cream and chopped herbs. The soup should now cook
for about 20-30 minutes adding salt as desired. Then it is ready to be served.
Fish soup can be served with flatbread. (A little dab of butter in the soup tastes good!)
Baked fish in bread
You need: a batch of bread dough and one or more large fillets of firm fish (this works
wonderfully with salmon, though you can use any kind of fish you like). You will also need to
pay careful attention to your fire well in advance of cooking. Build up a good deep bed of coals
while you get your fish ready to cook.
Press your dough out sufficiently to make a neat parcel around your fish. Dampen the edges
and seal your fish in the dough, making sure there are no gaps. When you have a good deep
bed of hot coals(not flame), rake them out so you have a bed large enough to take your fish.
Place the fish, carefully, directly on the coals. Leave it there for at least 10 minutes (resist the
temptation to prod), then, carefully, turn it over and repeat for a further 10 minutes. Lift the
fish off the fire and leave it to stand for another 10 minutes. To serve, break open the bread
crust. The fish will have cooked to perfection and be beautifully moist. You can discard the
dough, but a dog will ususally appreciate it!
Use Barley Bread recipe for Dough
Trout with Herbs
For each person you need: 1 small trout or other small fish;
also a few sprigs of lemon balm,
some flour;
and oil, butter, or dripping for frying.
Clean each fish and stuff a few herbs in the body cavity. Roll the fish in the flour, heat the fat
in your skillet, and fry the fish for about 5 minutes each side until cooked through. Serve hot,
with bread.
7
Viking Fish Soup
Ingredients
The head of a large fish
1 small haddock
2 teaspoons salt
pepper
2 tablespoons flour
cup of milk
1 litre of cold water
Method
Wash the fish and place in a pan with the water and salt.
Boil and skim the froth off the top.
Add pepper and leave to simmer for 40 minutes.
Strain the mixture to get rid of the bones and put the stock back in the pan.
Mix the flour and the milk and add to the stock.
Boil until thickened.
Add more salt or pepper to taste, serve with warm baps. Serves 6
Rökt Fisk (Smoked Fish)
This recipe is adapted from Över Öppen Eld Vikingatida Recept (Over an Open
Fire Viking Age Recipes).
Smoking is a common method for preserving foods, and is especially good for fish. Many types
of fish were preserved in this manner.
First you will need to build a smoker, or you can buy small smokers commercially these days
that resemble small barbecue grills with deep lids. Collect wood for the fire. The very best
wood is not the nice, dry seasoned wood, but rather a mixture of dry woods that will burn well
with a larger amount of wet wood which will smoke. Taking oak or hickory or fruitwood chips
and soaking them overnight in water, then adding them to the fire, or even to a charcoal fire,
will work well also.
Gut and scale the fish. Leave the backbone intact with the two sides still connected to it, but
remove as many of the remaining bones as is possible. On a large fish, cut a series of parallel
slices into the muscle to allow the smoke to completely penetrate the flesh. Place the fish
above the fire. In a smokehouse, the fish would be hung from lines. In a commercial smoker,
lay on the highest rack. Do not seal tightly, allow a little air in for ventilation for the fire.
How long you will need to smoke the fish depends on the size of the fish. A small fish may take
only ten minutes or so, while large fish can take much longer. The fish is done when the meat
will flake with a fork.
Scandinavanian specialty stores and some of the larger supermarkets will also have smoked
mackerel or herring available for purchase.
Fresh Oysters
3-4 oysters per person
pinch of pepper
pinch of ground lovage
2 egg yolks
1 tbls vinegar
1 tbls olive oil
1 tbls wine
1 tsp anchovy essence
1 tbls honey (optional)
Open the oysters as near as possible to the time of eating. They may be served raw, stewed,
or baked then covered with the following sauce. Mix the pepper and lovage with the egg yolks,
then add the vinegar, a drop at a time, to make a smooth mixture. Stir in the olive oil, wine,
and anchovy essence. Honey may be added if you like. Mix all ingredients together thoughly
and pour over oysters and serve.
8
Honey-glazed Shrimps
'Honey-glazed shrimps besides, my love', as quoted from a unique Greek or Sicilian document
of around 400 BC. The strange and sensuous Banquet of Philoxenus is a poetic celebration of
obsessive culinary pleasures. The author is likely to have been the once famous Philoxenus of
Cythere, who was court poet to the ruler of the Greek cities in Sicily, Dionysus I of Syracuse
(c.430-367 BC), and best known for his tale in Galatea in which the Cyclops falls in love with a
mountain nymph.
Serves two
225g/8oz cooked, peeled shrimps
15ml/1 tablespoon olive oil
30ml/2 tablespoons fish sauce
30ml/2 tablespoons clear honey
2 teaspoons chopped, fresh oregano
Black pepper
Place the oil, fish sauce and honey in a saucepan and add the shrimps. Saute them gently in
the cooking liquor for 2 or 3 minutes until they are tender, Remove them with a slotted spoon
and keep warm. Continue to cook out the liquor until it has reduced by half. Add the chopped
oregano and pour the sauce over the shrimps. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and
serve with a crusty loaf and a simple salad.
9
vegetable
Turnip Soup
2-3 dried Swiss brown or Portobello mushrooms
4 medium-large turnips
1 large onion
1 Tab olive oil
100 gr. butter
1 large bay leaf
pinch of cooking salt
2 Tabs mild honey
¾ cup whole milk
2 cups (500ml) boiling stock - mushroom liquid + added water to 500mls +
4tsp Massel vegetable stock powder
pat of butter for sautéing mushrooms
Put mushrooms in a small bowl with water to cover earlier in the day and
leave to rehydrate. Chop mushrooms finely, make your stock with the mushroom
liquid.
Peel the turnips and cut unto ¾"-1" chunks. Peel the onion, remove top and
quarter through root end. Slice the onion quarters and discard the root end.
Heat the butter and oil in a heavy dutch oven over medium heat. Add the
turnip, onion, bay leaf and salt and cook until the turnip becomes
transparent, approximately 5-10 minutes. Stir in the honey and cook for
another minute. Add the milk and stock, lower the heat and simmer until the
turnip is soft, approximately 20 minutes. The milk will coagulate & look
ucky, ignore this.
Melt the butter in a small pan and sauté your rehydrated, chopped mushrooms.
Remove the bay leaf from the turnip soup, discard and add mushrooms. Puree
the soup either with a stick blender or in a food processor. If it is too
thick add a bit more vege stock. Serve hot.
Green Soup
This recipe comes from Vikingars Gästabud (The Viking Feast), and is for four
servings.
Ingredients
3-1/2 to 5 oz. of fresh, parboiled spinach, or about 8 oz. of frozen whole spinach
10 cm of the white part of a leek
1 quart good bouillon (chopped finely cup 2)
Dash of pepper
Dash of ground ginger
2 to 3 egg yolks
1/2 cup cream
Grated nutmeg
Clean and rinse the fresh spinach or thaw the frozen. Rinse the leek and slice thinly. Bring the
bouillon to a boil and add the spinach and leek. Let boil for 5 minutes.
Add the parsley and boil together a few more minutes.
Season with salt, pepper, and ginger.
Whisk the yolks with the cream in the bottom of a soup tureen. Pour in the soup while
whisking briskly. Grate some nutmeg over the soup and serve it with a good bread.
10
Leek & cheese pie with barley pastry
Filling
1.3-1.5Kg leeks (3-5 depending on size)
1 medium-largeish onion
60gr butter
250gr ricotta cheese
1 ½ cups grated tasty cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5tsp. cooking salt or to taste
1tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/3-1/2 nutmeg freshly
Pastry
1Kg barley flour
1tsp cooking salt
300gr room temperature butter, chopped into small pieces
Cold water
Milk
Cut away the root ends of the leeks and most of the green part and discard
into your compost heap. Peel away loose layers of leaves, cut in half
lengthways then crosswise into thin slices. Soak the leeks in a sink of cold
water, swish around (removes sand) and remove to a colander to drain
thoroughly. Peel the onion, remove top and quarter through root end. Slice,
discard root end and add to drained leeks.
Warm butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add leeks and onions and
cook, stirring often, until the leeks are tender. All the liquid should have
evaporated when the leeks are ready. Drain and cool them in a colander. When
no longer hot transfer to a large bowl and add cheeses, eggs, salt, pepper
and nutmeg, mixing together thoroughly.
Make a pile of the flour in the centre on a clean counter top. Add the
butter and rub through until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add
water until you have a stiff dough. Knead a bit to mix thoroughly. Divide
into 4 balls and put 3 in a sealed plastic bag so they don't dry out.
Divide the remaining ball into 2 portions, one approximately 3/5, the other
2/5. Put the larger ball into a plastic bag until you're ready for it.
Put a sheet of baking paper on the counter top and roll the remaining pastry
on it into a circle as best you can. Remove protruding spurs and press them
into cracks as they show and roll some more until you have a circle-ish of
pastry 3-4mm thick. Transfer the baking paper to an oven tray and spoon ¼ of
your leek mixture into the centre of your circle. Put another sheet of
baking paper on the counter top and roll the larger portion of dough out
into a circle-ish like you did the lower one. Roll up onto your rolling pin
and transfer it to cover your pie. Press down lightly to flatten the filling
slightly. Lift the edges of the covering pastry and brush the lower pastry
with water around the edges of the filling. Press down the upper pastry all
the way around to seal and cut off excess so there is 1-1.5cm of pastry
around the filling. Make a decorative pattern around the edges with pinched
thumb and fore-finger. Brush pastry with milk.
Make the other 3 pies. Bake pies in a 180deg oven until the pastry is done
and the filling is hot through. Serve hot.
Microwaves with no loss of texture in the pastry as long as you drained the leeks well after
cooking them.
11
Baked Beets
10 to 12 beets
Wash each beet but DO NOT trim, cut or peel! Wrap each beet in foil and bake at 325 degrees
for 3 to 4 hours. Do not increase heat or the beets will dry and burn. The beets will be finished
when a knife can penetrate easily. Unwrap and peel before serving.
Glazed Carrots
2 lbs. of carrots
2 Tablespoons of honey
3 to 4 Tablespoons of butter
Scrub carrots then cut in half lengthwise and remove the core. Cut into 1 1/2 in lengths. Put
carrots in a single layer in a pan or skillet adding 3 tablespoons of butter, honey and water
halfway. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to very low and cover. Simmer until tender. Remove
lid and boil off the rest of the liquid. Remove from heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter and
shake to coat.

Carrot Casserole
1 Cup of Water
2/3 Cup of pearl barley
1 to 1 1/2 Cups of milk
1 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
2 Tablespoons of honey
1/4 Teaspoon of nutmeg
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Tablespoon of butter
2 to 3 Tablespoons of bread crumbs
Bring water to a boil and add barley. Partially cover and simmer until water is absorbed. Add 1
cup of milk and simmer until absorbed. If the barley is not done add more milk - done but firm
with some milk left , cool a little. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix carrots, salt, honey and
nutmeg into milk and barley then add eggs. Butter a 1 1/2 quart casserole with half the butter
and sprinkle in part of the bread crumbs and then pour in the mixture, topping with the rest of
the bread crumbs and dot with the butter. Bake 40 minutes or until top and sides are brown.
Pea Chops
2 Cups of split peas
1 1/2 Cups of water
2 Boiled turnips
2 Boiled carrots
1 Tablespoon of chopped onions
2 to 3 Tablespoons of oil
1/3 Cup of bread crumbs + 1/3 Cup left dry
2/3 Cup of milk
2 Eggs
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
Soak peas and cook in water until soft and mushy. Add water if needed. Grind or grate turnips
and carrots. Fry the onion in oil. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk. Combine all the
ingredients adding water if needed. Shape into round patties, about 6 total. Sprinkle with dry
breadcrumbs and fry in oil on both sides
12
Stewed Peas
1 1/2 Cup of dry green peas
5 to 6 Cups of water
1 Tablespoon of raw sugar or honey
1/2 Teaspoon of sea salt (to taste)
1 Tablespoon of butter
Soak peas overnight in water until plump and soft. Drain and discard the water used for
soaking. Put the peas in the top of a double boiler or heavy bottomed pan, or use a heat
diffuser with about 4 cups of water and Surtur or honey. Bring to a boil , lower the heat to a
minimum, cover and slowly simmer for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Check water hourly, adding if
necessary. The stew will be ready when all the peas have broken open. The consistency will be
thick like a porridge. Season with salt and butter.
Rutabaga Cubes
1 Medium rutabaga
2 Tablespoons of butter
1/2 Teaspoons of sea salt
2 Tablespoons of honey
1/4 Cup of beef broth
Peel rutabaga and cube (1/2 in) and brown in butter until all sides are brown. Add salt and
honey then lower heat. Coat all sides, add broth and cover and cook on very low heat until
soft. Add broth if needed.
Broad Beans
1 1/2 kg (3 lbs) fresh broad beans (fava beans)
2 carrots, sliced
water
1 tsp salt for each liter (quart) of water
2 1/2 tbsp flour
1 3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp butter
vegetable stock if needed
pepper, salt
Soak and skin the beans. Boil them in salted water until tender, around 30 minutes. Add
carrots after 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the flour and a little milk in a saucepan. Gradually
add rest of milk and the butter. Bring to boil and thin the sauce with vegetable stock if needed.
Season with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes. Drain beans and carrots, add to
sauce and cook for a few additional minutes.
13
Pea Soup
8 ounces of dried split peas
6 chicken bullion cubes or vegetable stock cubes
garlic to taste
2 tablespoons of bacon fat or butter
Soak 8 ounces of dried split peas in water overnight. Rinse and drain. Place in a pot with 8
cups of water, 6 chicken bullion cubes, garlic to taste, and 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. Cook
over medium heat until the peas are soft. They may be pressed through a strainer to make a
puree or served as is. You can garnish the soup with some crisp bacon bits or small cubes of
browned salt pork if you wish.
Barley Pudding
four cups of whole barley (try to get whole barley, not pearl)
8 cups of water
½ cup dried mushrooms
Cook four cups of whole barley (try to get whole barley, not pearl) in 8 cups of water until it
begins to become tender. Rinse and drain. Add ½ cup dried mushrooms*. Place the mixture in
the middle of a 4-ply cheesecloth square, bring the four corners together and tie tightly. Place
the bag in the pork cooking liquid while the pork cooks. To serve, remove it from the bag. The
pudding should be a semi-solid mass. Serve with any remaining cooking liquid.
*Dried mushrooms: You can buy these, but I make my own by slicing fresh mushrooms
and placing them in a single layer on a paper towel -covered cookie sheet. Turn them
from time to time. When completely dried, place in plastic bags and freeze.
Garlic Mushrooms
Serves 6 people as a starter, or 3 to 4 as a vegetarian main course.
You need about 1lb of open cup mushrooms,
6oz of butter,
3 or 4 garlic cloves (or more if you really like garlic!),
a good pinch of salt,
and a tablespoon or so of chopped parsley.
Wipe the mushrooms and trim the stalks. Chop the garlic finely in a wooden bowl, then add the
salt to it and crush it to a paste with the back of a wooden spoon. Combine the garlic with the
butter and parsley. Heat a small knob of butter in your skillet and place the mushrooms on the
pan gill side down. Cook for about 30 seconds. Turn them over and spoon some of the garlic
and herb butter into the cup of each mushroom. Cook until the butter has melted through the
mushrooms (1 to 5 minutes depending on the size). Serve right away with some bread to wipe
up the juices.
14
Nässelsoppa (Nettle Soup)
This recipe is adapted from Över Öppen Eld Vikingatida Recept (Over an Open
Fire Viking Age Recipes). Makes 4 servings.
Harvest nettles early in spring. To avoid the sting of the fine hairs of the nettle, wear gloves or
grab the stalk very firmly. Nettles are rich in vitamins and minerals, which the body craved
after a long Viking Age winter.
Ingredients
2 quarts fresh nettles
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons wheat flour
1 quart good bouillon
salt
1/2-1 teaspoon thyme
1/2-1 teaspoon marjoram
1/3 cup chopped chives
4 cooked egg yolks, chopped finely
Wash nettles well. Cover nettles with bouillon and boil for 5 minutes or until just tender. Drain
the liquid off the nettles and save it. Chop the nettles. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add a
little flour to the butter and stir until it starts to brown, then gradually add the bouillon. Add
the nettles back in, then cook at a simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt,
thyme, marjoram, and chives. Place into individual bowls and garnish with chopped egg yolk.
Kokt Svinmålla (Boiled Lambsquarters)
This recipe is adapted from Över Öppen Eld Vikingatida Recept (Over an Open
Fire Viking Age Recipes).
Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album, also called fat hen, goosefoot, or pigweed) are a
member of the same family as chard and beets. From the Viking Age until nearly the end of
the Middle Ages, lambsquarters has played the same role in cooking as spinach does now.
Lambsquarters are an ancient food that has been almost completely forgotten today. It is
uncertain whether lambsquarters were domesticated or gathered in the wild during the Viking
Age, but ample finds have been made of lambsquarters from the Bronze Age to suggest that it
was being deliberately cultivated. The leaves of lambsquarters are edible and contain more
iron, protein and Vitamin B12 than spinach. Lambsquarters were a valued vegetable crop
throughout early Europe until spinach was introduced from Asia in the 16th century.
Lambsquarters are found today as weeds at the edges of ditches and gardens. They have
several near-relatives, such as orache (Atriplex patula) and spear-leaved orache (Atriplex
prostrata), which are also good to eat. All these plants may be boiled just like spinach or used
in salads.
To make four servings:
1 lb. fresh, very young, tender lambsquarters
2/3 cup water
dash or two of salt
Rinse the lambsquarters. Add the salt to the water and bring to a boil. Add in the
lambsquarters and boil for about 5 minutes. Pour off the liquid and allow the lambsquarters to
drain. Serve with a little butter.
15
Honey Glazed Root Vegetables
This recipe comes from Vikingars Gästabud (The Viking Feast), and is for four
servings.
Ingredients
1 turnip
2-3 carrots
1 slice of white cabbage (use a quarter of a head of cabbage)
1 leek
butter
honey
salt and pepper
Peel the root vegetables and cut them into pieces. Boil together in slightly salted water about 5
minutes and drain. Sauté the root vegetables in butter until soft. Let the leek and cabbage
sauté with them at the end. Add some honey and stir the dish carefully. Season with salt and
pepper.
Salad Oxogarita
cos lettuce
chickory or endive
basil
cucumber
squill vinegar
garum (fish sauce)
Shred and mix lettuce, chickory and basil. Bathe cucumber in squill vinegar, then slice and add
to the salad. Lightly splash the salad in 2:1 mixture of vinegar and garum (well mixed).
'Fenkel in Soppes' or Braised Fennel with Ginger
Serves 6
The original version of this recipe comes from the "Forme of Cury," a
collection of 196 "receipts" copied by Richard II's scribes at his
cooks' directions.
750g (1 1/2 lb) trimmed, fresh fennel root; cleaned and cut in matchsticks
225g (8 oz) onions, thickly sliced
1 heaped teaspoon of ground ginger
1 level teapsoon of powdered saffron
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoon olive oil
150mL (5 fl oz, 2/3 cup) each dry white wine and water
6 thick slices of coarse wholewheat or wholemeal bread (optional)
Put the fennel in a wide, lidded pan with the onions. Sprinkle over the spices and salt, then the
oil and finally pour over the liquids. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or
till the fennel is cooked without being mushy. Stir once or twice during the cooking to make
sure the spices get well distributed. Serve it alone with a roast meat or griddled fish or place
one slice of bread on each warmed plate, cover it with the fennel and pour over the juices.
16
Deserts
Angels food
Ingredients
300g fresh ricotta
1-2 tbs honey or sugar
1 - 2 tbs rosewater
Method
Fluff the ricotta with a fork.
Whisk in the honey or sugar and the desired flavouring.
Cheese and saffron tart
History
The original recipe for this dish is as follows: "30 Auter Tartus. Take faire nessh chese that is
buttry, and par hit, grynde hit in a morter; cast therto faire creme and grinde hit togidre;
temper hit with goode mylke, that hit be no thikker (th)en rawe creme, and cast thereto a litul
salt if nede be; And thi chese be salte, caste thereto neuer a dele; colour hit with saffron; then
make a large coffyn of faire paste, & lete the brinkes be rered more (th)en an enche of hegh;
lete (th)e coffyn harden in (th)e oven; (th)en take it oute, put gobettes of butter in the
bothom thereof, And caste the stuffe there-to, and caste peces of buttur there- vppon, and
sette in (th)e oven with-oute lydde, and lete bake ynowe, and then cast sugur thereon, and
serue it forth. And if (th)ou wilt, lete him haue a lydde; but (th)en thi stuff most be as thikke
as Mortrewes."
Ingredients
1 9" pie crust
1lb Brie
1/2 pint cream
1/8 stick butter
1 TBSP salt
pinch saffron
Method
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Cut the crust off the brie, and chop into small bits.
Grind the saffron in the salt, and heat the cream in a little saucepan over low heat.
Add the saffron, and stir, until the cream gets just too hot to place a finger in, or you get
enough bright yellow color.
Place the pie crust on an edged cookie sheet, or something that can catch the drippings (if
any.)
Fill the pie crust with the brie, and pour much of the cream/saffron mixture in it.
Do not overfill the crust. Thinly slice about 4 pieces of butter, and cut them in half, and
place on the top of the pie.
Place in the oven, and bake 30 minutes, or until a really nice brown develops on the top of
the pie.
It will still be loose on top. Remove carefully from the oven, and let cool until it sets.
Wheat and Hazelnut Pudding
17
8 ounces of bulgur wheat
8 ounces of hazelnuts – shelled & crushed
3 eggs
½ cup sour cream
2 cups milk or one cup of milk with heavy cream.
1 cup of honey
3 ounces of butter
cinnamon and raisins can also be added
Cook 8 ounces of bulgur wheat according to package directions. Crush 8 ounces of shelled
hazelnuts by placing them in a tea towel and pounding with a hammer. Toast in a medium
oven until they start to brown. Beat three eggs with ½ cup sour cream and 2 cups milk. Add
the bulgur wheat, hazelnuts and 1 cup of honey. Place in a large baking dish. Slice 3 ounces of
butter and place on top of the mixture. Bake in a medium oven for about 1 hour. If it begins to
look dry at any time, add more milk. For a richer dish, replace one cup of milk with heavy
cream.
This makes a great breakfast the next day if reheated and served with more honey & butter.
cinnamon and raisins can also be added
Blackberry Patties
You need: some bread dough, some blackberries, and a little butter and honey.
Wash the blackberries in clean water before use. Flatten egg sized pieces of bread dough with
your hands (or flatten them on a floured board), making them as thin as you can. Place a
handful of blackberries on the dough, with a small knob of butter and a drizzle of honey.
Dampen the edges of the dough, fold it in half, and seal it firmly by pressing the edges
together. Place your patty on a medium hot griddle (as for the bread), and cook until golden,
turning occasionally. Serve hot or cold. Be careful to let them cool before you give them to
children, as the fruit filling can be scalding hot!
Fruit Pudding (Kissell)
This is a version of a traditional Scandinavian recipe. The original calls for raspberries, but you
can use any kind of soft fruit you can get. This will serve about 6-8 people.
2lb. or so of soft fruit,
1 pint. cider,
4-6 oz. honey,
a few sprigs and seed heads of Sweet Cicely, chopped.
buttermilk or yoghurt
Put the cider and honey in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer briskly for about 5-10 minutes,
until reduced by about a third. Move the pan to a cooler part of the fire and add the fruit and
Sweet Cicely. Cook gently until the fruit is tender. Allow the fruit to cool (covered, out of the
sun), then break it up with a wooden spoon. Serve warm or cold, with buttermilk or yoghurt.
18
Springtime Fritters
These are crispy treats for early in the year. A good way to make use of ingredients gathered
on site! Makes about 18.
You need 6oz flour,
a good pinch of salt,
an egg,
3/4 pint or so of beer (flat lager from last night will do),
a few handfuls of edible young leaves and flowers (elder and hawthorn flowers, beech leaves,
hop shoots, bistort, ground elder, etc.),
oil for frying,
and some honey.
Put the flour and salt in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and break the egg into it. Pour
in a little of the beer and start to mix from the middle, gradually incorporating the flour from
the centre as you pour in more beer. Mix thoroughly, beating well to avoid lumps. Once you
have a batter the thickness of cream, cover the bowl with a cloth and leave to stand for about
30 minutes. Meanwhile, trim your green stuff and rinse it in cold water, if necessary. Heat
some oil in a deep skillet until smoking. Mix in your greenery; small leaves and flowers can be
stirred into the batter as they are, while larger leaves can be dipped individually. Drop
spoonfuls of flowery batter into the hot oil (carefully!), and fry until golden, turning once. Lift
them out onto a plate, and drizzle with honey to serve.
Pancake with Berries
This recipe comes from Vikingars Gästabud (The Viking Feast), and is for four servings.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup lingonberries or bilberries
Turn on the oven to 425°F (225°C). Whisk the batter together without the butter and stir in
the berries. Melt the butter in a heat-resistant baking pan and pour it in the batter. Bake it in
the middle of the oven for about 20-25 minutes until the pancake has a nice color. Cut it into
pieces and serve with some jam.
19
Färskost (Skyr)
This recipe is adapted from Över Öppen Eld Vikingatida Recept (Over an Open
Fire Viking Age Recipes).
Skyr has a consistency and flavor that reminds many people of yoghurt. However, skyr is
made much like cottage cheese or cream cheese, using rennet to congeal the milk solids and
allow the whey to be separated -- thus the Swedish name, Färskost or "fresh cheese".
True skyr is made with unpasteurized buttermilk. The fresher the buttermilk is, the better the
results will be. In Iceland, skyr is properly made by adding a little skyr to the new mixture,
which innoculates the new batch with all the special cultures that make up the flavor of skyr. A
similar result may be obtained elsewhere by adding sour cream to the mixture.
Ingredients
6 cups skim milk
1 cup buttermilk
Rennet
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon milk
Candy thermometer to check milk temperatures
Check the rennet package for specific instructions on how much rennet to use. This will vary
depending on whether you are using vegetable rennet or not, and whether it is liquid, granular,
or tablets. If you are not using liquid rennet, you will need to dissolve the rennet beforehand in
a little tepid water. Ideally this should be done in a small measuring cup which has been pre-
warmed using hot water.
Heat the milk to 185-195°F (85-90°C) and hold it at that temperature for about 10 minutes.
Be careful not to boil or scorch the milk. Cool down to 100-102°F (38-39°C). It is important
that you allow the milk to cool properly, or else the rennet may not work. Check the rennet
package instructions for heat tolerance guidelines.
Stir the sour cream (or skyr, if you're lucky enough to have the Icelandic variety) into a
tablespoon of milk until well mixed. Pour into the warm milk and mix well. Add the rennet.
You now need to allow the rennet to work its magic. For best results, the skyr needs to cool
down gradually. I sometimes use a crockpot for making skyr, because the insulated cooker and
heavy stoneware vessel cool very slowly. Allow the skyr to cool about 6 hours. You will be
ready to proceed to the next step when you can make a cut in the skyr which will not close
immediately.
Line a sieve or colander with cheesecloth or a fine linen cloth and pour in the skyr. Tie the ends
of the cloth together over the top and hang over a bucket or other container so the whey can
drip off. Be sure to retain the whey -- it can be used to pickle foods, and adds lots of flavor to
recipes when substituted for part or all of the water. Allow the skyr to drain until it is fairly
firm. The consistency should be like ice cream.
Before serving, whip the skyr with a whisk until smooth. Skyr should not be lumpy or grainy.
Skyr may be served with cream and honey, and goes very well with fruit such as bilberries or
lingonberries. Skyr may instead be flavored with garlic, chives or caraway seeds.
20
Honey Nut Cake
(Recipe from "Viking Cookbook" p 37)
2 cups hazelnuts
1 cup dried apple
1 1/2 cups ml honey
4 eggs
Preheat the oven to 175 C. Finely chop the hazelnuts and apple. Mix the nuts, apple and
honey in a bowl. Whisk in the eggs. Spread the mixture into a large circle on a greased baking
tray. Bake on the middle shelf for approx. 15 minutes
Nut and Honey Cake with Honey Cream ( modified Version)
When the recipe as stated in the Viking cookbook the mixture was too thin to spread on cookie
sheet. Modified recipe is as follows:
2 cup hazelnuts
1 cup walnuts
1 cup dried apple
1 1/2 cups ml honey
2 eggs
Finely chop the nuts and dried apple. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and then spread the mixture
on greased pan. Bake the cake for 10 - 15 minutes in an oven at 400 degrees.
followed the original recipe for the cream as indicated. Cranberries are a modern substitution
for the period lingunberry, which would have been found in 10th Century Denmark. Since
lingunberries and cranberries are closely related and cranberries have a similar taste to the
European lingunberry, You can chose to use the cranberries as a substitution.
The use a combination of nuts is for a better flavor. All ingredients used were obtainable
during the Viking period, except for the cranberries which are a substitution for lingunberries.
baked the cake and made the sauce using a modern stove and oven.
Honey Cream
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup cranberries or lingunberry
1 cup honey
Mix the cream and honey in a pan. Simmer the mixture while whisking until it thickens.
Spread the honey cream over the cake and serve with whipped cream.
Sweet Wine Cakes
450g self-raising flour
1 tbls sweet white wine
pinch aniseed
pinch cumin
50g lard
25g grated cheese
1 beaten egg
12 bay leaves
Moisten the flour with the wine and add the aniseed and cumin. Rub in the lard and grated
cheese and bind the mixture with egg. Shape into 12 small cakes and place each one on a bay
leaf. Bake in the oven at 200oC for 25-30min.
21
Stuffed Dates
dates
shelled almonds, hazelnuts or pine kernals (one per date)
pepper
salt
2 tbls honey
Stone the dates and stuff with the nuts and a little pepper. Roll the dates in salt and heat the
honey in a frying pan. Fry the dates briskly and then serve.
Recipe from The British Museum Cookbook
Emeles
Take sugar, salt, almonds, and white bread and grind them together; then add eggs; then
grease or oil or butter and take a spoon and brush them and then remove them and sprinkle
them with dry sugar. (Pleyn Delit #129)
Cream Bastarde
Take the white of eggs a great heap and put it in a pan full of milk. And let it boil; then season
it so with salt and honey a little, then let it cool. And draw it through a strainer and take fair
cow's milk and draw it withal, and season it with sugar and look that it be poignant and sweet:
serve it forth for a pottage, or for a good baked meat, whether that thou will.
(Take a Thousand Eggs of More p196)
Lozenges or Curd Cheese Pastries
Serves 6
225g (8oz) wholemeal or wholewheat shortcrust pastry
225g (8 oz) curd cheese
25g (1oz) very finely chopped stem or crystallized ginger or plump raisins
15g (1/2 oz) toasted and chopped pine nuts
sugar to taste
lemon juice to taste
Roll the pastry out very thin and cut it into small rectangles-- approximately 15x8 cm (6x3
inches). You should have at least 24. Bake them in a moderately hot oven (190C, 375F, Gas
Mark 5) for ten minutes or till they are crisp and brown. Remove them and cool on a rack.
Meanwhile mix the curd cheese with the ginger or raisins, the pine nutes and the sugar and
lemon to taste. Set aside. When you are ready to serve, sandwich together two pieces of
pastry with the cheese mixture. They can be used as a dessert or as a snack.
22
Breads
Irish Wheat Soda Bread
1 Cup of unbleached flour
2 Cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 Teaspoon of salt
2 Teaspoons of baking powder
1 to 2 Cups of buttermilk
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift the flours together with salt and baking powder in a mixing
bowl. Make a well in the flour and add buttermilk slowly while mixing. Making sure that the
dough is moist pat into a loaf and place into a oiled cast iron skillet. Bake for 10 minutes or
until the bread has risen then lower heat to 375 degrees and bake for another 25 minutes or
until done.
Tavern Bread
1 Cup of unbleached flour
2 Cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 Teaspoon of salt
2 Teaspoons of baking powder
1 to 2 Cups of buttermilk
1 Cup of cheddar cheese
1 Cup of summer sausage
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift the flours together with salt and baking powder in a mixing
bowl. Add the meat and cheese and mix togeather. Make a well in the flour and add buttermilk
slowly while mixing. Making sure that the dough is moist pat into a loaf and place into a oiled
cast iron skillet. Bake for 10 minutes or until the bread has risen then lower heat to 375
degrees and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes or until done.
Flatbread/Shardbread (Shortbread)
If you have butchered a hen you can use the yolks in the dough. The bread is called shard
bread because it is baked on a shard of pottery; but if one has a large household it can also be
baked on an iron skillet about 10-15 cm over the coals.
7 cups of gruttet flour or thick wheat flour
3 cups of liquid. Use whey or butter milk
1 Egg
A dash of salt (if desired)
May also add
Honey
Stinging nettles
Nuts & acrons
Flour, liquid, egg and salt must be kneaded long and thoroughly. If needed add more flour or
liquid so the dough is just right. The dough should be shaped into small balls and then pressed
flat and thin. The bread is baked over a glowing fire on shards of pottery or pans, about 2-3
minutes on each side. The bread should be light brown and sound hollow when you knock on it
lightly with a fingernail. For the pottery you can use the shards from an average red burned
herbal pot...
* Sweeter bread/cakes can be obtained by sweetening the dough with honey.
* Toasted stinging nettles give a good spicy taste.
* Chopped nuts and cooked acorns in the dough are also good.
23
Rye Bread
2 packages of dried yeast
½ cup of warm water
2 tablespoons of honey
1½ teaspoons of salt
2 cups of beer
3 cups of rye flour
2 tablespoons of melted butter
½ cup of all-purpose flour
a beaten egg
In a large bowl soften 2 packages of dried yeast in ½ cup of warm water. Add 2 tablespoons of
honey and 1½ teaspoons of salt. Add 2 cups of beer, 3 cups of rye flour and 2 tablespoons of
melted butter; mix to make a smooth batter. Add 3¾ cups of all-purpose flour and stir to
make a soft dough. Sprinkle ½ cup of all-purpose flour on a flat surface and knead the dough
on it until smooth (about 5 minutes). Cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled.
Punch down and knead lightly for 1 minute. Divide in half and shape into rounded loaves.
Cover and let rise again until doubled. Slash the top of each loaf with a razor blade / shape
knife and brush with a beaten egg.
Bake in a 350° oven for 50 minutes or until well-browned.
Flatbread
2¾ cups of flour (use at least ½ white flour & make up the rest with whole grain flours of your
choice)
¼ cup sugar (or honey)
½ tablespoon of soda
½ tablespoon of salt
½ cup of butter
1 cup of buttermilk
Mix 2¾ cups of flour (use at least ½ white flour & make up the rest with whole grain flours of
your choice) with ¼ cup sugar (or honey), ½ tablespoon each of soda and salt, ½ cup of butter
and 1 cup of buttermilk. Blend dry ingredients, cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly and
then add the buttermilk. Stir with a fork until the mixture holds together. Shape into a ball and
then pinch off small pieces to make balls 1" in diameter. Roll out each ball on a floured surface
until it is 4 to 5 inches in diameter. Place rounds on ungreased baking sheets and bake in a
400° oven for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
Makes about 6 dozen. Store in an airtight container.
Basic Oatcakes
This is a good recipe for children to help with.
1lb. wholemeal flour, 8oz. oatmeal, a good pinch of salt, 1tbsp. melted dripping or vegetable
oil, water to mix.
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until you have a fairly wet dough. Cover with a
damp cloth and leave out of the sun for about 30 minutes, by which time the dough will have
stiffened. Flour your hands, break off walnut sized pieces of dough, and shape them into flat
cakes. Get your griddle good and hot, or they will cook slowly and turn into hockey pucks!
Cook the cakes quickly for about 30 seconds each side. Serve hot or cold, with just about
anything.
24
Barley Bread
You can buy barley flour from health-food shops. This bread has a sweetish, nutty flavour.
You can cheat by using dried yeast.
1lb. barley flour,
1lb. wheat flour,
good pinch of salt,
1 sachet of dried yeast,
1 tbsp. honey, water to mix.
Heat the honey and water by the edge of the fire until it reaches blood heat (you can stick your
finger in it and it feels warm). Mix together the other ingredients in a large bowl, make a well
in the centre, and pour in the warm water gradually, mixing with your hands until you have a
firm dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in the sun for an hour or so, until well risen.
Flour your hands and form the dough into several cakes. Place them on your warmed griddle
(over the embers near the edge of the fire is the best place), and flatten them down slightly.
Score a cross in the top with a knife. Cook the bread until it's fluffy all the way through,
turning it several times.
Viking Recipe - Bread
barley or rye
After grinding barley or rye you would have to make dough. No exact recipe has been found,
so you can make your favorite dough recipe using barley or rye. One bread loaf, found in
Sweden contained pine bark and dried peas.
The next step is to shape it into a loaf of bread, and cook it on a large stone tab (you may just
as well use an oven, cooking times and heat should be followed by the actual dough recipe).
At dinner time plop on your favorite toppings such as butter, meat of the Wild Boar, red deer,
elk, or bear. This may go well with some milk (or beer, if you can have beer legally) in a
drinking horn.
Based on: Margeson, Susan M. Viking. Alferd A. Knopf: New York, 1994
Osyrat Kornbröd (Barley Flatbread)
This recipe is from Över Öppen Eld Vikingatida Recept (Over an Open Fire
Viking Age Recipes). Makes approximately eight servings.
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups barley flour
1/2 cup water
Blend ingredients together until a stiff dough is formed. Warm a griddle over a fire (or you can
use a cooking sheet in the oven). Take a heavy rolling-pin and take a ball the size of a walnut
and roll the ball until flattened. Roll outward so that it is as thin as you can until you have a
flat, round disk. Lay it on the griddle and place it over the fire (or cook at high heat in the
oven) about 30 seconds on either side. One flat loaf at a time, roll out the dough and cook. It
is most efficient to have two people, one rolling dough and one cooking flat loaves.
The bread should be eaten immediately, but may be frozen and then reheated. They are good
with all Viking foods but also may be eaten with butter or Skyr.
25
Viking Barley Bagels: Unleavened Barley Buns
The contents and proportions of the grains are based on analyses of buns found in ninth- and
tenth-century graves at Birka, Sweden; the bagel shape is lifted directly from a Migration Era
grave find, also Swedish. The technique is adapted from an unleavened barley bread recipe
found in The Tassajara Bread Book, which happily uses flour proportions very like the Viking
ones.
The Recipe
2 cups barley flour
4 cups whole-wheat flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons oil (I used cold-pressed sesame)
3-1/2 cups boiling water
In a heavy pan over medium-low heat, roast the barley flour in 1 T. of the oil until it smells
good and turns several shades darker but is still off-white; flour should not turn brown. Mix
barley and wheat flours with salt and remaining oil in a big bowl, using fingers to rub in oil,
until it's of uniform consistency. Add the boiling water all at once and stir up quickly.
Being careful not to scald your hands, take out a small clump of dough and work it between
hands until it's uniform, glossy and translucent. Repeat with rest of dough, then work it all
together into one smooth lump.
Divide lump into into 24 smallish balls. Shape into bagels; poking a hole through the ball of
dough works well. Arrange on oiled sheets (they won't rise much).
Let sit overnight. (Still look just the same, don't they?) Bake in 450 oven 20 minutes, then
reduce to 400 and cook until "done," about another 45-60 minutes. They'll have hard, dark
brown undersides. There is a fine line between gummy-undercooked and done-but impossibly-
hard; good luck finding it. It is recommend testing one every five minutes after they've cooked
an hour.
Let cool; if they're "done," they'll soften up a bit and be easier to chew. Slightly sweet and
good with butter.
26
Porridge
Kornmjölsgröt (Barley Porridge)
This recipe is adapted from Trine Theut and from Över Öppen Eld Vikingatida
Recept (Over an Open Fire Viking Age Recipes), with modifications
Makes about 4 to 6 servings.
10-15 cups of water
salt
Two cups of chopped barley kernels, soaked overnight in cold water
A handful whole grain wheat flour
A handful crushed hazelnuts
3-4 tablespoons of honey
Put the ingredients in a large pot. Pour 10 cups of water in the kettle and heat to a rolling boil.
Stir regularly, reducing heat if needed to maintain a low boil. Add water if needed if the
mixture starts getting too thick. Cook until done. This takes me about an hour, but it can vary.
There are two ways to serve porridge.
"hot breakfast cereal" style. For this type of porridge, about 15 to 20 minutes before the
porridge is done, add a cup of chopped fruit, such as apples, pears, rose hips, etc., then serve
with fresh cream and some butter on top. Any left-overs may be pressed into a buttered mold
and chilled
for storage a day or two, then sliced, fried in butter, and served with either a hot fruit
compote, or with butter and jam.
Another way to serve porridge is to make it a savory dish. The Poetic Edda mentions the god
Þórr eating porridge with herring in it. I've had good results adding chopped chicken, veal, or
pork. The meat should be added to the porridge early enough in the cooking process so that it
is cooked thoroughly. For fish, this will be closer to the end than it will be for the various
meats. You can also add garlic, onion, and other herbs and spices. This makes a hearty, filling
dish.
Porridge
The basic recipe is, per person one cup of kernels and two cups of liquid (water and/or milk).
One must count on having to add more liquid because of evaporation when the porridge cooks
over an open fire without a cover. Any pressed and crushed kernels can be used, the most
coarse should soak overnight otherwise they will have to be cooked too long.
10-15 cups of water
Two cups of chopped wheat kernels. Let them soak over night so they won't be so hard to
chew.
Two cups pearl barley
A handful whole grain wheat flour
A handful crushed kernels of nuts
3-4 tablespoons of honey
A healthy portion of apple bits, hippells, pears or....
Put the chopped wheat kernels, wheat flour, pearl barley and crushed nuts in the kettle. Pour
10 cups of water in the kettle and place on the fire. Stir the porridge evenly and turn the
kettle to spread the heat. If the porridge starts to get too thick, pour more water in it. After
about ½ hour add the honey, nuts and fruit. The porridge should now cook until the fruit is wet
and the porridge has the desired consistency.
It should take 15-30 minutes.
It should be served warm, possibly with some cold cream.
27
Beverages
A Delicious Apple Drink
Water
Apple bits
Apple leaves
Honey
Fill a jar with water, small pieces of apple (with peel) and apple leaves. The drink should
simmer on the fire; when it reaches the boiling point sweeten it with honey. Serve hot.
The apples can be replaced with pears. Berries are also quite delicious in this drink - try
different mixes of fruits as desired.
Herbal Drink
Herbal drinks can be made with many different plants. The drink is prepared by putting the leaf
or flower in boiling water and letting it cook for a few minutes.
Good drinks can be gotten from the young leaves of:
 Stinging nettles
 Mint
 Hawthorn
 Raspberries
 Strawberries
... and the flowers of:
 Elder

Linden
 Yarrow
 Chamomile
Remember: Be sure that the plants you use are edible
28
Sandy’s simple Mead Recipe
30 to 35 litres of rainwater or a good quality spring water
5 Kg to 10Kg clover honey / bee keeper honey
1 sachet of Tandco bakers yeast
Milton mix
Optional – Elderberry cordial or fruit
Method
There is no big secret to it, it is very simple,
Get yourself around 30 to 35 litres of rainwater or a good quality spring water.
Fill a boiler or two with the water and bring it to the boil. turn the stove down
to a simmer and add your honey, I prefer a good local clover honey but most
bee keeper honey will do, try to avoid supermarket jars of honey (Too processed.)
Slowly stir the honey in and bring the mix to a good simmer. You will see a ring
of froth appear; skim this off into a container. A lot of what you skim will not be froth so it is
best to double skim and put back any good stuff you can reclaim.
Continue this process until the water is a nice golden brown and there is no more scum.
My second boiler is usually plain water which I boil for 10 minutes then allow to cool.
Scoop out 3 cups of mix and put in a cold clean container. When this small batch is down to
around 24C in Temp add 1 sachet of Tandco bakers yeast and allow to stand.
when the plain water is cool I put it in the brewing barrel. Stir it up a little with a clean whisk.
That is to aerate it a little to help the yeast.
When your honey mix is cooled a bit add it to the water in the barrel, when the barrel temp is
down to around 24C add the yeast mixture to the barrel and stir it in well. Screw the lid on the
barrel and insert your air trap so you can vent the CO2. I use a water and Milton mix in the
airlock but don't make it too strong. Just a weak solution is plenty.
Now depending on how much honey you have added you will get all sorts of strengths of
alcohol and brewing times.
Up to 5 Kg of honey to a final 25 litres of water will give a beer mead,
over 5 and up to 10 Kg will give a top shelf or liqueur mead but be warned it will be
18%+ alcohol and damned potent and should only be sipped from schnapps glasses and
then only a couple will stand a non drinker on his/her ear. Even seasoned drinkers will or
should stop at 3 or 4. It will put you way over the limit.
5KG will give a good strong mead, that is drinkable from the end of the brewing process.
Of course it is better with age. If you want to be quick and nasty add a cordial to flavour
during the brewing.
Fresh fruit can be added too but will make the brew either dry or bitter
I only use a coffee spoon of sugar in a brewers bottle.
There is no need to pay a fortune for the little tubes of brewing sugar, it is only castor
sugar and you can measure the dose yourself and save a fortune.
29
Mead (Honey Wine)
- 5 gallon recipe
8-10 lbs pure raw honey (for light, delicate Mead)
(or) 12-13 " " " " (for medium sweet Mead)
(or) 15-16 " " " " (for very sweet or alcoholic Mead)
4-5 gallons purified spring water (not distilled)
3 tsp. yeast nutrient (or 5 tablets)
1 tsp. acid blend (combination malic/citric acid)
5-7 oz. sliced fresh ginger root (1 finger's length)
1/4 tsp. fresh rosemary (optional, as desired)
5-6 whole cloves (optional, as desired)
1-2 vanilla beans (optional, as desired)
cinnamon/nutmeg (optional, as desired)
lime/orange peels (optional, as desired)
crushed fruit (peaches, strawberries, grapes, etc.)
1 tsp. Irish Moss (to clarify Mead)
1/2 tsp. clear gelatin (to clarify Mead)
1 spotted newt's tail (optional, as desired :)
1 packet yeast (champagne or ale yeast)
Heat spring water 10-15 minutes till boiling. Stir in honey, yeast nutrients, acid blend, and
spices (rosemary, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, lemon peel).
Boil for another 10- 15 minutes, (overcooking removes too much honey flavor), skimming off
foam as needed (2 to 3 times during last 15 minutes). After 15 minutes, add Irish Moss or
clear gelatin to clarify.
After last skimming, turn off heat, add crushed fruit, and let steep 15-30 minutes while
allowing mead to cool and clarify. After mead begins to clear, strain off fruit with hand
skimmer and pour mead through strainer funnel into 5 gallon glass carboy jug.
Let cool to room temperature about 24 hours.
After 24 hours, warm up 1 cup of mead in microwave, stir in 1 packet "Red Star" Champagne,
Montrechet, or Epernet yeast (or Ale yeast in order to make mead ale), and let sit for 5-15
minutes to allow yeast to begin to work.
Add this mead/yeast mixture to carboy jug and swirl around to aerate, thereby adding oxygen
to mead/yeast mixture.
Place run-off tube in stopper of bottle, with other end of tube in large bowl or bottle to capture
"blow-off" froth. Let mead sit undisturbed 7 days in cool, dark area. After initial violent
fermenting slows down and mead begins to settle, rack off (siphon off) good mead into clean
sterilized jug, leaving all sediment in bottom of first jug. Attach airlock to this secondary
carboy.
After 4-6 months, mead will clear. During this time, if more sediment forms on
bottom, good mead can be racked off again to another clean sterilized jug.
When bottling, in order to add carbonation, add either 1/4 tsp. white table sugar per 12 oz
bottle, or stir in 1/2 to 1 lb raw honey per 5 gallons mead (by first dissolving honey with a
small amount of mead or pure water in microwave).
30
Archaeological Finds of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Viking Foodstuffs
Jorvík [York], Danelaw [England]
Meat -- red deer, beef, mutton/lamb, goat, pork
Poultry -- chicken, geese, duck, golden plover, grey plover, black grouse, wood
pigeon, lapwing
Freshwater fish -- pike, roach, rudd, bream, perch
Saltwater fish -- herring, cod, haddock, flat-fish, ling, horse mackerel, smelt
Estuarine fish -- oysters, cockles, mussels, winkles, smelt, eels, salmon
Dairy products -- butter, milk, eggs
Grains -- Oats (Avena sativa L.), wheat, rye, barley
Legumes -- fava (Vicia faba L.)
Vegetables -- carrots, parsnips, turnips (?), celery, spinach, brassicas (cabbage?)
Fruits -- sloes, plums, apples, bilberries, blackberries, raspberries, elderberries
(Sambuca nigra)
Nuts -- hazelnuts, walnuts
Herbs/spices/medicinals -- dill, coriander, hops, henbane, agrimony
Cooking aids -- linseed oil, hempseed oil, honey
Beverages -- Rhine wine
Birka, Sweden
Ingredients found in breads -- rye, wheat, spelt, oats, barley, emmer wheat; linseed;
sprouted pea [?=Erbsenkeimblatt], unidentified Vicia legume (mix of barley plus one
of the wheats seems to have been most common)
Fruits -- sloe (Prunus spinosa); hawthorn (Crataegus calycina), plum (Prunus insititia)
Nuts -- hazelnut
Hedeby, Denmark
Meat -- pork, beef, mutton/goat
Poultry -- chicken, duck, goose
Fish -- herring
Fruits -- plum (Prunus domestica L. ssp institia C.K. Schneider), sloe (Prunus spinosa
L.), cherries, elderberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries
Oseberg, Norway
Meat -- beef
Grains -- oats, wheat
Fruit -- crabapple
Nuts -- hazelnuts, walnuts
Herbs -- watercress, cumin, mustard, horseradish
Jarlshof, Shetland Islands
Meat -- beef, lamb/mutton, pork, possibly venison and whale
Fish -- ling, saithe, cod
Dublin, Ireland
Mea