hypothetically this wouldn't be a bad way to spend a week after losing a job.

Little note, the pottage you made is still eaten in parts of Britain and Ireland. In Liverpool, it is known as scouse (or lobscouse, hence the nickname) and will be left on the range for...as long as it lasts. Every day, a little liquid is added and whatever vegetable or meat is available (even vegetable trimmings). One could certainly argue that the soup you eat on Friday has nothing to do with that on Monday. Very healthy and tasty - always something on the cooker to offer unexpected guests. Also, in Central Europe, where I now live, the diet is still very 'mediaeval peasant', and many of the dishes you mention are recognisable here; especially the bread (rye, wholegrain, with seeds, beans, etc added), lentils, dried peas (usually yellow but also green), LOTS of pork and beer. The annual pig-killing and sausage-making weekend is always fun and informative :) By the way, I often used to make the cheese, especially on camping holidays when the milk went off. Try adding chopped spring onion, wild garlic, wild mushrooms, or some other wild flavouring - even oats - a huge improvement. Also, you could have eaten hard cheese, or mixed it up with cider...or even water. Note to self: stop writing so much! Love your videos - keep it up - bye!

you probably have seen this, but there's a place in France where they're making an actual medieval castle using medieval tools, machines and other methods! They even have a place where they make food in medieval style. It's super fascinating.

That ”failed” bread looks a lot like a typical Finnish rye bread. 😁 The most popular bread in Finland, it’s sour and dense and definitely an acquired taste.

You're missing one key ingredient that was certainly on most of the cooked meals in the era. Fire and smoke. Cooking with fire adds some flavour to all meals. And you may add or reduce that flavour when needed (ie. closed pot or grilling over the flame).

Beer in the middle ages was definitely low alcohol but that doesn't meant that it was watered down. It just didn't have a sufficient amount of sugars to convert to alcohol or the lab grown yeast that we have today. A more accurate facsimile could be made today by using a zero alcohol beer to dilute the alcohol rather than water.

"Good plain food, as good as the Shire could show, and homelike enough to dispel the last of Sam's misgivings, already much relieved by the excellence of the beer." Yeah, I get that impression.

“It taste like food” was the most Dwight Schrute sentence I ever heard.

The thing about drinking and driving in medieval times is that the horse could usually find its own way home. Gonna have cars like that soon.

I had a great uncle who had an eternal pot of beans. He had a coal stove with a pot he would add beans to daily along with a piece of smoked meat (don't ask don't tell) and from my childhood recollections it never came out the stove in 8 years. We gobbled it up as kids and didn't die so there's that.

I think there'd be a big selection of edible, wild-growing, leafy greens that didn't get remembered in history books cause they'd be so specific to the location and local climate. Polk salad is still a thing in the American south and can be found growing up and down the Appalachian. In a rural part of China, my aunt still knows what to forage and makes dishes of a medley of wild greens just to keep the tradition alive. I know the world had a mini-ice age in the middle-ages but there's edible moss and definitely mushrooms. Tying into LotR, herb-lore would surely have been a major topic of discussion around the dinner table or in taverns. Rustic folks would have known where they'd likely find a particular plant growing in their area and could smell wild garlic, herbs, and weeds just walking by them.

German history buff here: I have some insight on beer in medieval times. You'd be suprised to learn that beer made with hop was only really documented with around the 13th century. but it didnt really get wide spread use until the 15th century, where in bavaria they invented the "german bid of pureness" (sounds horrible with todays context ...). From there hop went on a conquest over all of the rest of europe. before that there was root/spice beer made with ... roots and spices. Here in germany it was called "Grut-Bier". The "Grute" was a special mix of herbs, roots and spices only known to select few who were called the Grute-Masters in their community. It was a highly prestigious position. Typical herbs used were: Yarrow, Ivy, Wild Wheat and Grain, Gale, Juniper, caraway. (I hope google translated these well). The reason Hop outcompeted the Grute was that it was easier to cultivate and produced more consistant fermentation and the very characteristic taste we now know as beer and ale. Sadly there is only few makers of beer like back then because many of the dominant herbs, like Gale are almost extinct. You can get traditional Gale beer from Belgium called "Gageleer" but its expensive. The reason we now have almost entirely forgotten this non-hop dominance in beer culture is because of the pro-hop propaganda wich sprung during the renaissance when everything old and medieval was shunned as regressive and primitive.

If you want a better perspective on what the 'medieval peasant' beer would've tasted like in those days, you can try what is commonly referred to as "tafelbier". We have a good selection of these in Belgium and we often use them to make stews. It does indeed have that brown bread flavour going on and is ridiculously low in alcohol percentage, especially compared to some of the other beers we have. Edit: Another fun fact: It used to be that monasteries (again referencing Belgium here, guess where I'm from) each made their own beer (blonde and dark), their own cheese and even their own bread. That's why in many places you can buy these items and they'd all share the brand name. Prime examples here are Maredsous, Chimay and Grimbergen, but of course there are many more.

The Medieval Cookbook by Maggie Black might be a good resource for anyone wanting some authetic medieval recipes.

Townsends is another good channel for some period info. They are mostly the later times around colinization time but its still so informative. Tasting history does a super job of teaching you stuff too.

Very interesting. I have read the entire Diary of Samuel Pepys and he talks a lot about food and eating the diary. Many mentions of his "morning ale" or "morning cup". Eating plates of herrings or anchovies and oysters. If history really interests you try his diary. It covers 9 and a half years of his life. It is very candid, (it was written in a shorthand to keep it secret), and he encountered a huge amount of England in the 1660's. Try it you may like it.

Now you fully understand the nursery rhyme "Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot nine days old". Yeah, they ate a lot of the same thing. But it was better than starving.

I would say if this were done in the future you might consider pickled, salted, dried and smoked foods which would play a massive part in the diet of people before fridges were invented. Especially in winter when fresh food was harder to come by people would rely on what they had preserved. Dried fish was a huge industry in places like Scandinavia while salted pork was a huge industry through Europe well into the 19th century. Of course it would be difficult to do your own but it's worth considering.

I actually love barley I grew up eating it. My mom’s side of the family is Polish so we had a lot of barley but most people in America don’t eat it much I’ve noticed. I think it’s so good. Very unique, very hearty and the texture is very chewy in a good way. I think it almost tastes like tiny pasta in a weird way.

I’m Orthodox (so basically a thoroughly average mediaeval Christian) and I can confirm this is almost exactly how I eat at home. You nailed it. Thankfully, fasting usually only involves skipping breakfast on SUNDAY, and does involve only having beer or wine on non-fasting days. Which can mean every day except Wednesday and Friday, only on weekends, or only with Sunday dinner depending on time of year. Which comes out to a pretty normal amount of drinking, actually. :)

My culinary horizons also expanded when I learned the term “pottage” to describe me boiling the hell out of random things till reduced to a peasant mush. It’s a better term than “gruel” anyway.

As someone who researchs sewing in order to make clothing in styles from centuries ago, sometimes with techniques that were used when those clothes were fashionable, the connection and trying to understand the people of the past. Specially with the hygene side of things it's sometimes really angering how must people asume everything was filthy and people had no desire to clean themselves or their clothing, when in fact there was a lot of dedication in that aspect although they cleaned most things with different methods and didn't have access to what we have access to, those ways worked for them, and if you ever try a pre washing machine laundry day there is no way you think they payed even more attention and care to cleaning than we do today. Thanks for reading my little rant.

The beer that they drank is called "small" or "table" beer. It is often made from hops, yeast, etc... that have already been used once. Ironically, rather than your watered down beer you drank, small beer is almost the exact opposite; it is thick and has a lot of flavor. Basic recipes are super simple to make with only water, malted barley, yeast, sometimes rolled oats for extra flavor/nutrition, and, if you had access, molasses. Even without molasses it has a slightly sweet taste that does takes like liquid bread. As it isn't actually fermented only left overnight, you could have made it for your week. That might have cheered you up from your bread challenges.

The cold and feeling crappy was probably caffeine withdrawal, if you're used to having caffeine.

Am seriously impressed with your level of research, and well done on pointing out that the middle ages were approx 1000 years long, and that water was commonly drunk. Have been eating very similar meals to what you have presented (my speciality is the 11th to 12th centuries) for over 30 years now as a historical reenactor. If you are ever in the UK, go to one of the medieval reenactments that take place - I suspect your knowledge will impress

Rye and barley have about a third of the gluten content of wheat. That's why in modern days you'll usually do no less than half wheat flour for (edible) bread. That said your version is probably closer to what a medieval peasant ate. Which is also why bread was eaten very differently at the time! You'd either cook with it or dunk it in some kind of soup or drink

I loved how you ended the video about respecting and acknowledging those who came before us. Human knowledge has been passed down for ages and it’s nice to see where we came from and to connect with our past :)

The premise, along with the guidelines you set out, captured my curiosity immediately. Really enjoyed how the casual vlog/documentary style helped convey your experiences through the week, especially the less glamorous and labour intensive aspects. I have to imagine folks throughout history have found ways to make sweets and treats on a regular basis. I dunno how i'd make it through the week without a bit of honey or some jam. Baked fruits and sauces had to have been commonplace!

So great to see all the love for Max Miller and his channel! Probably the best thing to come out of the covid lockdown!

Shoutout to Belinda for holding down the fort.

“I DONT HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM IM DOING A HISTORICAL STUDY!”

"The bread tastes vaguely like an antique store" LOL

You could have watered down your beer even more if you weren't in the mood. Also, you could use the un-risen bread in the same way sailors used hardtack. By crushing it to bits and putting it in the potage or a stew. Subscribed.

Medieval recipes make for an excellent Christmas dinner…my wife and I break out the medieval recipes for the holidays every year.

Now it would be cool if you did a video eating like medieval royalty for a week. It would be interesting to see the contrast and sheer variety from peasant food

For a minute there I thought you were going to clack the two pieces of failed bread together. If you know, you know.

Might we expect to see more medieval content in the future? It was very interesting to see your week of medieval food making!

Ale then was MUCH different than modern ale, in that there was no hops. Instead, it was often flavoured with local herbs. Similarly, there was large beer (higher alcohol content), and small beer (much lower alcohol content, usually the second brewing of used grain). Modern “ales” (IPA, for instance) do include hops, and so are much more bitter than medieval times. However, as the period went on, especially in continental Europe, hops began to be added to become a proper beer similar to what might be recognised today.

This is my first video of yours and I am very excited to have found another wholesome you tube channel. Great video!

Pro tip! If you dont want to do the shake method for butter you can make it by using a mixer (hand, wisk, stand, any type as long as you watch it). You simply put heavy whipping cream into a bowl and mix. You'll see it go through multiple stages, remember to scrape the sides and get everything back down into the bowl. Eventually youll notice the butter solids forming and seperating from a creamy liquid. From here you need to wash the butter until the water is clear and you can put things like salt, thyme, garlic, anything you want really in it. You can also save the liquid, thats buttermilk and it works super well for things like biscuits or pancakes!

This is a fantastic journey. Thanks for taking us along. The “tastes like an antique store” broke me. As someone who’s tried to do homemade sourdough bread and been to too many antique store to count, this resonated with my soul.

Impressive, and I think you did an excellent job with both the "challenge" and the video. The "cold" you got is pretty common from changing your diet and detoxing from lack of sugar, caffeine, and other common modern things in foods. I enjoyed this video and subscribed because of it, even though I have enjoyed a couple of your other videos as well. Keep up the good work!

As someone who's a Medieval Fantasy writer I found this to be a great display. Your closing thought about us looking back at our ancestors spoke to me particularly, as I always try to look at it from a perspective of 'what can I learn from their wisdom' rather than cold rational academics. As much as I love the grand schemes and styles of war and conflict (also a HEMA enthusiast) it's incredibly important and fulfilling to me to have the background context of everything as well :D

The algorithm did me a solid bringing me here. Great stuff. Look forward to exploring more of your videos. Cheers.

don't feel bad about the bread, working with whole grains (especially if you're milling yourself or buying a similar equivalent to freshly milled) is a WHOLE different beast of bread making. I got my first grain mill a few years ago, and it has been a long journey learning how to work with it. The gluten content, absorbency, and the factor of the bran make working with it completely different than working with white flour. For a while I was determined to make 100% whole grain breads, but ultimately I decided that I'm okay with adding some white flour to improve the texture.

Garlic contains allicin (connected to the alliium family as all leeks are) which is indeed a prety solid antibiotic/antiviral, but it's dwarfed by modern antibiotics. Definitely good stuff.

Also on the topic of your failed loaf of bread that was still wet. It reminds me of when my banana breads fail to rise enough. It breaks my heart becasue, although its a simple recipe, its a labor of love making breads. You put so much time in to prepping, mixing, proofing and so on then you see if collapse and I always feel like I failed so miserably.

your thought-provoking conclusion was the cherry on-top of an exceptionally entertaining video. Thank you!

I sounds to me like you were having an allergic reaction. The symptoms are pretty classic. You might be sensitive to certain yeasts and/or over fermented foods (and since there is a threshold effect with allergies, the ale might have contributed a bit)

My grandfather was an avid hunter, and grandmother would always use the neck meat of the deer to make her mincemeat pies, as she said it was sweeter. Remember my grandparents were both born in the 1890's

The kitchen jess desk jess juxtaposition is hilarious

"At least I have my breakfast beer. Am I right, guys?" 😂😂😂

From a chicken owner’s perspective: chicken was probably a “special meal” because you couldn’t eat it every day. I raise about as many or more chickens than the average medieval family would and I even butcher the extra roosters for the table, but I find myself buying and eating more mass produced commercial chicken and eating my own fowl only a few times a year.

i loved this video so much i watched it in full while cozying up and now i want to try some of the recipes!!! criminally underrated

This was an amazing video, I learned and entertained while feeling so cozy.

I think I just found a new favorite channel. I am nearing the end of my first reading of the Lord of the Rings, and am a massive fan of fantasy in general, as well as real medieval history, so this is right up my alley.

Oh my goodness. I live in South Wales, about 20 minutes away from Blaenavon (there's a mining museum attached to an old coal mine called Big Pit), I had completely forgotten they used to do Christmas events where you could meet Santa in the mines. I would highly recommend a visit to anyone who has even the slightest interest in history. First video from this channel I've seen and it earned an immediate sub

Love the Max Miller shoutout. This is the first video of yours that I’ve watched, and I’m hooked. Well done!

The kind words at the end about ancestor veneration were beautiful, a very important message

"I didn't really want to spend my 7 free days in a full-on alcoholic haze" - are you sure you're British?😂😂😂

Haha! I had a chuckle at your "horse traders of ill repute" comment. My family also straddled the English - Scottish border and had that exact same horse "trading" reputation. Perhaps we're related?

Pottage is different during every season. Medieval beer was much less alcoholic. I eat a lot of pottage. It is tasty. Bread is dependent on who you were. Peasant bread was healthier that rich peoples bread. Water was drank if clean.

Great to see the bottles of Smithwicks on the counter, an ale from my hometown, Ireland’s pre-eminent Medieval City Kilkenny, castle and all

New subscriber here. I cannot believe that I am watching a video about recipes for Aunt Belinda's Cow Spleen Stew from a known descendant of horse thieves, but here I am anyway, crushing it. Well played, Jess... well played, indeed...

From what I know about “traditional” bread making, the dough was worked and proofed for much longer periods of time, like a week or so. This helps to develop more gluten, increases fermentation, and encourages yeast development. This is a long video that I skimmed, so I may have missed some details, but it didn’t seem like she kept any sourdough starter.

3:45 good, brief description! Most of the beers that were drank were classified as 'small beers' that had an ABV of 1 or 2%, which is less than the ABV of a lot of commercially available kombucha today. Small beers were hydrating, had plenty of essential nutrients and probiotics from the live yeast, and had enough calories to give the working class enough energy to get through a hard day. It was mostly what was served with meals along with fresh milk. And you are very correct: most had access to clean water or knew where to get clean water. However, areas where water was known to be 'sour' (like cities and towns with contaminated wells or streams) did see increased beer consumption due to the beer making process sterilizing the water.

Jess: Welcome to my medieval breakfast. It's bread and cheese. Every notherrn Europeean: Yes... medieval...

omg this was the best youtube recommendation I've had in a while 😂I subscribed as soon as I saw your interactions with your video partner. I LOVE IT!!!

Something to consider as well, is that a peasant lifestyle is agrarian in nature. You would work up much more of an appetite due to the amount of labor involved. You may also have had to eat smaller portions as the amount of food available to you after the nobles took their share of the harvest and such. That being said, being hungry makes you less picky about the food from a biological standpoint.

"It tastes like colonial Williamsburg" is the best tasting note I may have ever heard!

She's adorable and this video is incredibly informative. You ma'am have gained a subscriber

The godly loaf of bread you ended up with down the line definitely gave me feelings that one should not feel due to.... bread... BUT GOD THAT CRACKING WHILE CUTTING IT

Looks like this video is gaining some traction, either that or my recent history binge (Max, Dylan, THG) has pushed it to me and I'm very glad it did. Thanks for a great week, hope your digestion didn't struggle too much. Loved the mild snark and sarcasm of Desk Hobbit.

That was both humorous and entertaining while being thoughtful and educational. Very well done.

great video, I loved watching it. Thanks for the time you put into making it!

I am new to your channel but have been sub’d to Max for years. This was suggested after watching a few of his videos that I was behind on. I’m glad to have come across your content and you’ve got yourself a new subscriber 🙂

Was just re-reading some stuff about the border-reivers. "Horse-traders of ill-repute" is certainly one way to describe them lol

The Hot water crust pie on day 5, i make this all the time, its very authetic british, but the not eating rust, thats for cornish pasties which is a bit different , meat and turnips and miners initials stamped on the, kneaded doigh to be stiffer, the curved crimped edge was the handle, but other crust eaten, cornish pasties very popular in UK,e specially with builders as its a meal in one often seen on worksites. i remembr as children beer would be mixed with water to get a similar 1% strength, i expect americans will think it odd that chidlren drank beer and cider at lunch with family

This was very entertaining. And I love the Max Miller shoutouts 💖👌

I don’t know why you showed up in my feed, but this was delightful

+1 for more content like this. Though I admit I'm a bit biased in that I love historical cooking and cuisine. Also, I was so happy to see you mention Tasting History. Max puts out some great videos, as do you.

Another reason for the popularity of almond milk was the simple fact that it made for a viable milk substitute, which came in useful during lent.

The look of sheer bliss while eating the white flour loaf was great :D

So wholesome and vivid. Thanks for Sharing such a experience.

Did you look at herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, mint etc to add a bit more flavour to the food? I got the impression that peasants would use those as they were often to hand, but I'm not entirely sure when they would have been available in the UK. I'm figuring you picked the country and era at least in part because they were somewhat akin to the type of cooking you'd maybe get in Rohan or Gondor, but if you feel like doing the food of different countries in this era I'd be curious about them too. Unless Italy turns out to be waves and waves of pasta which wouldn't be that interesting! I have to ask though - did you at any point torture Dylan about who Belinda is/was?...

Great stuff - certainly an interesting challenge to undertake! Neat to get a more practical look at the lifestyle of people back then. Would be neat to see more "...like a Medieval Peasant" videos maybe about travel/garb/jobs etc haha

Just been randomly recommended this video I almost didn't watch because of the length however glad I did it was both fascinating and entertaining. I've been a fan of tasting history for some time now so nice to see Max's channel getting mentioned. I had a quick look at your other video thumbnails and you have a new sub now, as a fantasy fan looks like most will appeal to me.

Uncertain in whose kitchen you filmed your food prep footage, but I love the 20th century furnishings. That cabinetry, those linoleum counters, the electric stovetop! It’s true to your hobbit/peasant aesthetic!

This was so cool!!! (I also enjoyed the banter bits in there too XD) I liked the points you made, too. I agree - I think we err sometimes in thinking too linearly of history. While I do like to hope we're generally making progress in a lot of areas, it doesn't mean that it's been a stark linear progression throughout time, and I think we do underestimate those who came before in many ways

very cool to see as my ancestors are southern scotts and was related to Robert the Bruce. Thank you for all the effort you put into this.

that bread wasn't so much a Frisbee as a discus, the major difference being that it isn't lethal to be hit by a Frisbee.

I wanted to watch 2 minutes of this video. 44 minutes later i'm like "WHAT?! Why is it ending so soon?". Great job. Wonderful personality.

If you watch Max Miller, I can highly recommend the Hypocras recipe he showed. I usually spice four bottles of wine at a go in a huge gallon Mason jar I have and strain it through a tea towel into another gallon jug and rebottle it. It's very tasty and that's especially true if you get a less expensive sweet red wine. I use Crane Lake sweet red myself as it's not a kool-aid with alcohol added, but it's not too complex so it takes the spices really well. It's a fantastic experience and the taste of a medieval spiced wine is so nice. I gave them out for presents all through the Holidays and everyone enjoys it.

his robert deniro impression sounding exactly like christopher walken is hilarious

Hey! My ancestors were horse theives from the other side of the border! Seriously. They stole the King of Scotland's own horses once! I'm here for the Tolkien, but this is also excellent. Love the shoutouts to Max Miller's work!

It’s amazing to me that while eating like that they still did full days of manual labour 😳 I wonder what they’d think of our food…

Your personality and reflections make the video very entertaining to watch! Plus the idea of immersion in a different universe through food is also very compelling

I think you have done a great job, and have abnormal courage. I very much look forward to watching your other videos. Please keep up the faith!

Thank you human for this experiment.

Actually, the bread is very similar to what happens when you work with coarsely ground grains like rye and barley. So funnily enough, the bread is pretty accurate for some parts of Europe. Also a note on the amount of time spent doing household chores hasn't really changed. We just use a lot more automation and economies of scale with premade items nowadays. Heck, I remember being a child and my mother cooking multiple times a day was the norm for us and that wasn't all that long ago (about 30 years ago). Yeah we had a fridge, but that was not really used for storing leftovers because it wasn't that big, and it wasn't that good at keeping food preserved. The freezer got a lot more use, and the fridge largely became a beer chiller. The thing that makes this childhood experience weird for me to think about, my friends who grew up in other parts of the islands or even in other states around the country have entirely different experiences that mirror the "conveniences of modern technology story" I didn't experience until becoming an adult and my parents finally being able to afford a new home AND new appliances about 15 years ago.