So, I haven’t written much over the last few months. I haven’t felt like I have had the energy to do much else other than sleep and work. We’d been looking forward to the lack of Holiday plans this year, but I do find it difficult to turn down an opportunity to feed people. So, after an insanely crazy trip to the movie theater on Christmas day, we came home and had a nice meal of Turkey Soup, Levain sourdough bread and baked apples and pears.
Turkey & Fennel Soup
Ingredients
- 1lb left over vegetables (ends, stalks peels etc)
- 2lb left over roasted turkey meat and bones (legs and wings work well)
- 1 large bay leaf
- 2 medium white onions, dices
- 6 stalks of celery, diced
- 1 fennel bulb, diced
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 TBSP vegetable oil
- 4-6 carrots, chopped or sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
First, take the lb of vegetables. bay leaf and 2 lb of turkey and bones. cover with water and boil in a large pot for at least an hour or until vegetables and meat are soft and the water has turned a rich color. While stock is cooking, take the onions, celery and fennel and saute in a frying pay with olive oil until golden brown. Add garlic near the end of the browning process and set mixture aside when done. Chop up the carotts and set aside. When stock is done, drain and save as much liquid as possible in another pan or dish. Pick out all of the turkey meat and bay leaf and set aside to cool. Discard or compost the stock vegetables. Once meat has cooled, tear or chop into small pieces and put back into the broth with all of the sautéed vegetables, carrot and the bay leaf. Fill pot with a few more cups of water (I made nearly a gallon of soup) and cook until all items are soft, (at least another hour) add salt and pepper to taste and serve with slices of bread!
If you’ve never smelled the wonder that is sautéed fennel, you will be in for a very pleasant surprise! You can also add some fresh fennel leaves just before serving to add a bit of color and brightness to the flavor.















Renaissance Faire can be a lot of fun – and a bit silly with all the jousting, drinking, bodices and the oddly ubiquitous turkey leg.
Recently I had watched Episode 10: “The Good Ol’ Days” from Penn & Teller: Bullshit which reminded me of something I had read just a few days before about the changes that took place in European cuisine after the New World was encountered by Columbus. In “The Good Ol’ Days” Penn & Teller discuss the cultural nostalgia of the Renaissance Faire with James Given, professor of Medieval History at U.C. Irvine who states “If you go to Renaissance Fair and you see someone gnawing away om a turkey leg that certainly has no real baring on reality. There were no turkeys in the middle ages.” But wait, isn’t this the Renaissance Faire?
According to Brian Cowen in his chapter New Worlds, New Tastes (Food Fashions after the Renaissance) from the 2007 book The History of Taste: “Thus both the guinea fowl, introduced in the early sixteenth century from West Africa, and the American turkey were quickly and enthusiastically praised by Renaissance dietitians and banqueters alike.” Although likely available only to the upper classes, it appears as though turkey was indeed available in Europe as early as the 1500’s and was certainly written about at the time.
But was that during the middle ages or part of the Renaissance? According to wikipedia, the Renaissance spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, and the Middle Ages (or medieval period) began in the 5th century and ended with the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century. So.. both?
I don’t exactly think that Professor Given was incorrect as culinary history and the study of gastronomy hasn’t always gone hand in hand with standard historical curriculums. But what I found most interesting while watching this episode (aside from the fact that I actually knew something about turkeys in the middle ages) was the thought that the somewhat ridiculous practice of eating giant turkey legs at RenFaire may actually not be entirely ridiculous after all.
How strange and interesting!
Leave a Comment
Posted in Books, Commentary, Culture, Events, Food, Food History | Tags: gastronomy, history, history of taste, medieval, middle ages, ren faire, renaissance, turkey