Medieval Tournament Castle Pie
Medieval castle-shaped pie with flags and gilded chicken
City/Region: France
Time Period: 14th Century | 15th Century
Tournaments were a key way to show off your wealth, display your skill in battle, and schmooze the aristocracy. They were wildly popular for 500 years, and the extravagant feasts that accompanied them eventually overshadowed the violence and spectacle of the joust and the melee. Recipes like this one for a castle-shaped pie blends the key elements of a tournament feast dish of edibility (delicious!), novelty (castle-shaped!), and flashiness (gilded chicken!).
“Take meat of mutton or veal or pork and chop it well. Then boil chicken…and you must cook the other meat before chopping it up. Then take fine powder and spice the meat reasonably and fry the meat in grease. After, take large pastry shells - with higher sides than usual…and decorate them with crenelations, and they must be strong enough to hold the meat.
And whomever wishes may add ground pine nuts and raisins of corinth in it, and some sugar is put on top, and in each paste put…chicken for to plant the banners of France and the lords present…And you should have gold or silver or pewter foil to gild before the banners are added.”
Ingredients:
Crust
- 6 cups (720 g) bread flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (8 g) salt
- 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) water
- A pinch of saffron
- 3/4 cup (170 g) lard or shortening
Filling
- 2 pounds (1 kg) pork tenderloin, roasted
- 1 chicken breast, boiled
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon long pepper*
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1 to 2 tablespoons oil
- 1/4 cup (34 g) pine nuts, ground
- 1/4 cup (36 g) currants
- 1/3 cup (50 g) chopped figs
- 1/3 cup (50 g) chopped prunes
- 1/3 cup (50 g) chopped dates
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh marjoram, chopped
8 oz (225 g) brie cheese
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- For the crust: Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C).
- Add the pinch of saffron to the water and let it steep for 10 minutes. Strain the saffron water into a medium saucepan and add the lard.
- Set over medium-high heat until it boils.
- While the water-lard mixture heats, whisk together the bread flour and salt in a large heat-safe bowl and create a well in the center.
- Very carefully pour the boiling water-lard mixture into the well in the center of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough is just cool enough to handle (it should still be hot, but not hot enough to burn your hands), about 40 seconds.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead for a couple of minutes until it is nice and smooth.
- Divide the dough in half. Cover the unused portion and keep it warm. Roll the dough out about ¼” thick, then transfer it to a springform pan and trim away the excess. I used two pans to make a two-tiered pie, a 6” pan and a 4” pan, but make whatever size pie you want, tiered or not. You may need to adjust the amount of dough you make depending on the size.
- After your pan(s) are lined with the dough, use the remaining dough to make the crenellations (the rectangular teeth-like part at the tops of castles that make them look castle-y). To do this, cut out rectangles and fold them into a hook shape, the end of the hook pressed to the top of the crust, the long part pressed into the inside of the crust. Make as many of these as you like, whatever size you like.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until they’re fully cooked. If the crenellations start to darken too much, cover them with foil. Let the crusts cool completely on a wire rack, then take them out of the pans.
- For the filling: Mix the spices together, then chop the roasted pork into small pieces and sprinkle the spice mixture (this is a version of medieval poudre forte) over it. Stir to combine.
- Heat oil in a pan over medium-high, then add the pork. Cook for a few minutes, this is just to give the pork a little more color.
- Take the pork off the heat, and while it is still hot, add the pine nuts, fruit, and herbs. Mix well.
- Warm the brie until it is nice and melty, then add it to the filling and stir to combine.
- Spoon the filling into the cooled pie crusts, pressing it down firmly, but taking care not to break the walls of your castle.
- Cut the chicken into pieces, the size is up to you. Cover them in gold leaf and arrange them on the pies, then stick the banners of the lords present in the chicken (mine are printed on paper and attached to toothpicks). Announce the feast, and serve it forth.
Notes
- Long pepper is hotter than black pepper and has a more aromatic, almost flowery quality to it that's wonderful.
- Link to long pepper: https://amzn.to/3ui5j5L
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