This was served as part of the banquet course at the Ymir 2023 feast.
Introduction
Medieval gingerbread is a confection, not a baked good: honey boiled with spices and thickened with breadcrumbs until stiff, then pressed into a slab and cut into pieces. It works more as a candy than anything resembling the soft gingerbread cake or crisp gingerbread cookies a modern diner might expect, and it fits naturally into the banqueting course alongside other suckets and confections. The recipe comes from the fifteenth-century Harleian MS 279; gingerbread is also mentioned in Plat’s Delightes for ladies (1602), confirming the dish was still current in the Elizabethan period.
Source
Harleian MS 279 (c. 1420)
Gyngerbrede. — Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & throw ther-on; take grayted Bred, & make it so chargeaunt that it wol be y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, & straw ther-on y-now; then make yt square, lyke as thou wolt leche yt; take when thou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leves a-bouyn, y-stykyd ther-on, on clowys. And if thou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now.
Discussion
- The method is straightforward: bring the honey to a boil, skim off any scum, add the spices over low heat, and begin beating in breadcrumbs until the mixture is thick and stiff enough to hold its shape when sliced. Press into a greased pan, turn out, and cut into squares or diamonds.
- The breadcrumbs must be made from actual bread — storebought dried breadcrumbs are far too dry and will not produce the right texture. Fresh bread, grated or processed into crumbs, absorbs the honey properly and gives the gingerbread its characteristic dense, slightly chewy consistency.
- I adjusted the spices to taste — the recipe specifies saffron, pepper, and cinnamon, with ginger implied by the name. The proportions are a matter of judgment, and the balance between the heat of the pepper and ginger and the warmth of the cinnamon is worth getting right before committing the breadcrumbs.
Gingerbread
A medieval confection from Harleian MS 279 (c. 1420) — honey boiled with spices and thickened with breadcrumbs into a dense, chewy slab, cut into small pieces. Closer to candy than modern baked gingerbread.
Ingredients
5 oz bread, processed into fresh crumbs
5 oz (about 1/2 c) honey
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pepper
Pinch saffron (optional, for color)
Directions
- Bring honey to a boil and skim off any scum.
- Keep pan over very low heat; add spices (and saffron if using), adjusting to taste.
- Slowly beat in fresh breadcrumbs (NOT storebought dried — they are too dry). Add enough to achieve a thick, stiff, well-blended mass.
- Remove from heat. Turn onto a lightly greased pan, 1/2″ to 1″ thick.
- Spread evenly with a rolling pin. Turn out onto parchment paper.
- Cut into small squares or diamonds to serve.
Sources
1302597
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Medieval Gingerbread. 8 Oct. 2020, http://www.godecookery.com/ginger/ginger.htm.
“‘To Make Ginger Breade’ : Transcribing a 17th-Century Gingerbread Recipe.” It Might Be Art, 21 Nov. 2022, https://itmightbeart.org/2022/11/21/to-make-ginger-breade-transcribing-a-17th-century-gingerbread-recipe/.
Plat, Hugh. Delightes for Ladies to Adorne Their Persons, Tables, Closets, and Distillatories with Beauties, Banquets, Perfumes and Waters. 1602. COinS, http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A09713.0001.001.
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