The season for eating Oysters is coming for a close soon in Ireland . I learnt that Oysters are eaten durning the months with a R in it.

As I research Irish foods through the ages, there are many mentions of shell middens through the Irish ages. They begin with the Hunter/ forager. Shellfish and oysters including up to and including 19th century Ireland were consider the poor mans food, food eaten on fast or fish days, lent etc… There were a lot of fast days in medieval times in the Calendar year. It got me thinking that I needed to experiment. It is said that oysters were harvested at low tide.

I knew that cooking of oysters was done, but how to do so was another story. I went the simplest form, cooking the oysters in their shell on hot embers. Now from past experiences of making bread etc, I went with the theory when I smelt them cooking, they should nearly be cooked, and yes they were. Heat opened the oysters, so no mad antics trying the pry them opened, the smell of the sea was what struck me as I opened sprinkled with a little Spring onion and tasted, yes they were cooked, easy to eat and I saved the liquid for fish stock. So if eating oysters raw is not your thing, try this.

Separating the Oyster from the shell and harvesting some of the liquid later , I tasted my first Oyster, surprisingly good with a little kick from the mild onion, included the onion in case I found the oyster to my dislike. A plan some night for when Bardic circle is happening of cooking oysters and mussels on a balmy spring evening hopefully

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A few years ago or more I joined Drachenwald Herbalists. What I don’t know then was my small herb garden was going to play a huge part in how I cook in the SCA. I am a cook that like the food itself do the talking, less is more and I try to have no more than five to six ingredients in any given dish. You may argue that is very simplistic cooking, but I live in Ireland, the meat is grassed fed, the eggs are free ranged, Ireland is surrounded by water and my local fishmonger has delivery of fresh fish daily. I live in the country side in the midlands of Ireland, the air is good and the food tastes good. So how do I add flavour, that’s easy, I use herbs. Herbs have been cultivated by the monks and hermits of Ireland whether for medicinal or culinary purposes. The forager has gathered water cress with a peppery taste, wild garlic, wild mustard, nettle, dandelion leaves to add taste and substance to the food. Now I started planting the usual herbs of parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, mint. Then I got my hands on some seeds, manage to get six lovage plants to grow, plot of chives and I mean a plot of chives, borage, burnet, rue. I am aware of medical issues concerning herbs in my garden. My garden then took on a permaculture look, so if sowing a plant or flowers, the question is can I eat it, so nasturtiums, Viola,calendulas of all kinds, chamomile’s becomes the first choices. So sitting on my table tonight is a herb pack that I hope to sow a planter or two for some friend to get them started, and share a lovage plant or two, lovage is my absolute favourite along with wild garlic. I will share a secret

The secret is lovage is a fantastic herb in any vegetable or meat pottage, soups. A word of warning 2- 3 leaves is really enough, do not be tempted to add anymore than that.

You too can have a fresh compound salad as in anything I can find in my small but varied herb garden. My grandmother planted the cabbages, lettuces, spring onion among the flowers so my planters can be quiet interesting. In my part of the world it’s planting time, but I have herbs all year round to add flavour to the food I am making.Another time I will provide a list but my constant go to is parsley, chives, lovage for not so Irish dishes, wild garlic, nasturtium I love the peppery taste. Find the herbs you like and most of all have fun

This just happens to be a pack I found in my shed at the weekend.

In Ireland and around the world it is now lent. From an invitation to partake in the Lent experiment by Agnes. Now what is the lent experiment. Let me tell you, in Ireland for many centuries, durning lent it was forbidden to eat dairy, meat, eggs on fasts days or durning Lent. The criteria I set was to extend my knowledge and recipes for shellfish, fresh and salt water fish, using what I regard as Irish flavours to flavour the food. Food that is eligible for use in the SCA for different time periods. We may not have recipes, what we do have on myths and stories, archaeological evidence from shellfish middens, pits and middens from monastic settings, fish traps and weirs through the ages, the rules of different monastic orders, illustration of fish in the manuscripts and mentions in the laws and annals. This blog began with the Salmon of Knowledge, I am relearning to cook fish, develop new skills such cooking different shellfish, smoking fish on outside fire, broadening my repertoire of recipes. The week before lent was the Barony of Eplaheimr first investiture, an important event and celebration in my life. I was suppose to be cooking a Irish feast with Unegen for the investiture, alas due to the pandemic the ceremony had to go online. However We were to have a picnic feast, so I decided I go with trout on the morning of the investiture which was seasoned with coarse sea salt on a bed of kale, spinach, oil/ butter, wild garlic drizzle of flavour vinegar in a parcel of grease proof paper or wrapped in cabbage leaves.

Wrapped and sealed, cooked in hot oven for 10 minutes or over hot embers.

This is the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, everything is good simple clean food, herbs and foraged leaves with spinach makes for tasty salad. The story continues from cooking mussels, smoking mackerel, making various fish pies and cooking and eating lots of the colour green food. Tasting fish that I haven’t eaten in over a decade, interesting, exciting and mostly tasty, so far so good.

As you can see we are in the midst of wild garlic season in March 2020. When you think of bread in Ireland , you think of wheaten bread, soda bread and even currant bread. You do not think of flatbreads. Due to the hearth style cooking of Ireland through the ages, flatbreads were the norm. Oven cooking was not the norm unless you lived in a monastery, castle or urban area. The hunter gather mixed its roughly ground cereal of oats with some liquid and allowed it to dry out/ cook on a hot stone just as those did in the earliest huts with an hearth for its cooking. Cereals mixed with was available locally, hazelnuts, wild garlic, maybe sea weed could be put through the mix. We have no cookbook or recipes to tell us what to do. As you can see from the salad foraged leaves of wild garlic and Dandelion leaves added extra nutrients to the diet. There is no right or wrong to making flatbreads, it is a cereal mixed with a liquid and dried out on a heat source. The cross on the flat breads aids even cooking. It’s a habit of a lifetime of baking and watching three generations in my childhood baking.

In March 2020 Ireland went into shut down, and life normally for me is at full tilt. So now what to do with my down time, after some thinking I got a lid of a barrel and built a fire pit of sorts, recently a lady informed me that she loved my pictures on Facebook and taken to calling me the fire lady. Now I also own another name, which is Meadhbh of the nine cauldrons that story will be told another time. I have cooked historical food for many friends for years, as life was still busy but my backyard hearth became the centre of my life, often lighting it as the light fades.

So now what to cook, I went with flat breads, a mix of barley and rye flour with a little honey, butter and warm water added, the flours I had picked up on mill visit while on holidays, I wanted to use what I call old style flours. Thankfully I am a flour fanatic and several flours to hand. And yes they were yum

Is there any plant that you recognise that the Winter is over and Spring is here.

Can you imagine going on holidays in the County of Waterford two years ago , my heart leapt as I spotted copious amount of wild garlic. The question you ask is why?, having developed an interest in ancient Irish food, it is a food and flavour that has been eaten in Ireland for two thousand years. Wild garlic has many names, ramson, in Irish as Creamh , crim , crem according to Fergus Kelly one of my go to books on Early Irish Farming. Within my 5 km journey at the moment my heart leapt yet again as I spotted the wild garlic peeping its head through the ivy and even a flower pod or ten, in another few weeks it will be the smell of garlic in the area that will alert me. I tenderly collected about dozen leaves and one pod to just chew on and feel the taste of Spring. Returning home I promptly washed and enjoyed the garlic sensation from the pod as I chopped the leaves adding some to butter, some to a small amount of vinegar that I was making a dressing out of. Wild garlic will be harvested and saved in oil, vinegar, modern day pesto, wrapped around fish and meat, added to foraged salads of dandelion leaves, chickweed, rocket, spinach, The garlic butter little as there was used in sweated spinach, the vinegar and oil dressing with the wild garlic was drizzled over brown bread, heaped with spinach and a morsel of cod. Simple clean good Irish food. I promise my stories will all jion together in time. Just know what you are picking as there are other plants similar that are poisonous, rubbing the leaves between the fingers and getting a very definite smell of garlic helps.

The hearth from ancient Ireland to now is still central to the home in Ireland . Times are changing, and we will no longer gleam information from the hearth as we did long ago finding evidence of hazelnuts, burnt bones, charred cereal and sea shells. However, cooking a meal on Sunday afternoon, I decided I wanted a smoky garlic taste, but how to do this,after some thought , I found long handled shovel and removed some embers from my turf and wood fire. Placing the garlic on the embers just as you would before to cook vegetables, tubers, make flatbreads etc … I sat the garlic bulb on the ember and placed outside and allowed the embers to work their magic, it reminded me of wet days spent on the bog and the smoky tea made from water boiled on gorse or heather fire, the smokiness was there in my garlic. There has been much discussion on this and laughter, but it worked, experimenting on an open fire as the odd Spring afternoon allows, not so unlike the foragers and hunters. The smokiness flavour from the turf is distinct. Their will be many opportunities to cook on the hearth.

Did you often wonder what the people of Ireland ate through the ages. Well I do a lot of the time, unfortunately there is not recipes to go on. There are other ways to know. We will start with the story the Salmon of knowledge, from the title alone we have one type of food we know people ate. It’s relevant this week as Lent for some people is coming. From the story we know that the Salmon was cooked over an fire, maybe on a spit over hot fire, there are other ways of cooking Salmon which could be cooking over hot stone, maybe an iron griddle. But the story of my childhood gives me a starting point. Ireland through the ages was one of storytelling, our knowledge of times gone by was carried by word of mouth through story until one day the monks of Ireland recorded our stories, myths, legends, the calligraphers hand that filled the manuscripts and or annals.

So let’s begin

Take a piece of Salmon rubbing honey and salt unto the skin side, cook on a griddle, hot stone or in the oven, cook unti the flesh is no longer translucent or how you like fish cooked. Always use good local honey from your friend or neighbour, there is no comparison in local honey, honey in Ireland is steeped in history and law. The Ancient Brehon laws of Ireland have a section devoted to Bees and honey, try not to burn your fingers when checking , but then you too maybe gain the Knowledge of ancient Ireland just as Fionn did.

As you can see the Salmon is part of a meal I prepared for a Special occasion.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton