The street of Bad Cookery
Yes, this was a real place.
And they fed me capons
and know that I had more than two,
and there were neither a cook nor kitchen-boys
but only we three;
and the bread was white, and the wine good, and the pepper abundant.1
The lyrics from William IX’s song Farai un vers. William was Richard’s great-grandfather, and, as we say these days, “a piece of work.” If you like your lyrics bawdy, check out the rest of the song.
Last week, as we were closing up our series on the Troubadours (episode 1 here), I promised (threatened?) a post on Crusader cannibals. There are some tasty incidents (sorry, couldn’t resist) to recount there, but I need to do a bit of research first. In the meantime, let me give you an appetizer: The Street of Bad Cookery.
So, it’s around 1152, and you’re a Crusader or Pilgrim wandering Jerusalem. It’s getting late in the day, the sun is setting, and you’re getting hungry. Where do you go? Why, the Rue de Malcuisinat, of course. The Street of Bad Cookery. Lest you think I make this up, behold #21:
Melisende is Queen of Jerusalem, and the Rue Malcuisinat is her creation. Melisende became Queen in 1131, and was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Her husband Fulk attempted to rule without her, but she fought back and gained an equal share of power, until her husband died in 1143, and she became sole ruler. Later, she and her son Baldwin III would tangle, and Baldwin would grasp shared power from her, leading to divided rule and much conflict. Baldwin eventually emerged triumphant. He would rule for a time, but died in 1163 and was succeeded by his brother Amalric. Amalric would have a son, Baldwin IV, the leper king made famous (again) by Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven.
But back to the bad cooking. Why was it called that? It must have been the medieval equivalent of “mall food.” The New York Times puts it more delicately.
The central bazaar, Suq el-Attarin, was known as Rue de Malcuisinat (the Street of Bad Cooking) for the quality of the roasted meats sold to pilgrims there. Not all foods were poor, however. Oranges, peaches and bananas were available, along with a variety of breads, and local wines kept chilled in snow from Lebanon. Game - partridges, cranes, wild boar - was consumed by the Crusaders, and poultry could be purchased on nearby David Street, in a huge vaulted hall with massive piers - today's vegetable market.2
In that era, without refrigeration, meat could get pretty questionable pretty quickly. In the Levant cooking involved heavy doses of spices, quite possibly to hide the awful state of the meat. The spices involved were often cumin, coriander, saffron, cinnamon, rosemary, parsley, oregano, and other of the “usual suspects”. Interestingly, the meat was sometimes soaked overnight in sour milk. Check out a recipe here, involving lemon, wine, cinnamon, sugar, and salt.
Bon Appétit!
http://trobar.org/troubadours/coms_de_peiteu/guilhen_de_peiteu_05.php
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/16/travel/in-the-footsteps-of-the-crusaders.html