Learn the true value of a peanut, and about the man who worked it out. Local larder: strawberry shortcake

Transcript available at pencilpaper.org

V&A Samplers: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70028/sampler-unknown/

Show you'd be a great wife by sewing bible verses on things I guess

A surprisingly useful plant with a bad reputation, and a delicious Easter treat

Why stick to grapes when you can ferment anything you have to hand. Also, Lancashire does not know what cake is

Transcript

Opening music LIZ Hello and welcome to bread and thread, a podcast about food and domestic history. I’m liz. HAZEL I’m hazel. We’re two people who studied archaeology together and love history. LIZ Today we are joined by our lovely producer and also my spouse Nick Blake. NICK Hello HAZEL I like this, podcast with Nick. LIZ If you listen to the other podcast i do you will have heard them as mod not paper on probablybad so hazel what have you been making and or baking HAZEL I probably have one of each - i made hot cross buns the other dad LIZ Oh nice HAZEL It was very fun i’ve been getting back into bread it’s so soothing kneading forcefully needing and punching the dough is great LIZ It is a spiritual experience isn’t it. HAZEL I found some very old raisins i hope they’re ok, i haven’t expired yet and mary berry’s recipe is very good. LIZ I think i’ve heard of mary berry, yeah. HAZEL Oh mary berry of bakeoff fame. so i’ve been doing that and i’ve been crocheting this giant lacy thing. LIZ You do lean towards the gigantic lacy thing. HAZEL I do i have a thing for massive projects which doesn’t go well with my tendency to not finish things but it’s fun it’s absorbing what about you LIZ So about a week ago from time of recordngi or asbout three weeks from when thids episode goes up it was our first anniversary so we made ... so for our wedding i made um with nick’s help but largely i made a three tier raspberry adn white chocolate cake which you probably remember HAZEL The same one that was your wedding cake LIZ So for our anniversary i made a two person raspberry and white chocolate cake. NICK Because marriage is a cake you bake together. HAZEL Aaw NICK I was hoping you’d cringe at that but.,.. LIZ You’re getting podcasts mixed up, this is the sincere one. NICK This is an irony free zone HAZEL This is a wholesome area nick LIZ I’m also very excited because ages ago i went to afflecks palace in manchester ad they have this little creation space and one of the things they had was a reversible crochet chameleon. HAZEL I think i’ve seen that LIZ I’ve obtained the book that pattern is from it’s Crocheted Animals by vanessa i’m excite, technically i haven’t done anything yet because it arrived an hour ago but i’m very excited HAZEL That is news of epic proportions LIZ I will be doing progress pics on my instagram and let you know when it’s complete. NICK Do you want to explain whats Afflecks Palace is. LIZ No. NICK Ok LIZ It’s basically this three storey no four floors independent shops of varying levels of weirdness in the hipster part of manchester. HAZEL It’s like an independent department store with very alternative booths. LIZ And also this one space that’s just for being creative in which is quite fun. And very northern quarter, which is where it is in Manchester. NICK It’s like the department store in Carol, but with more lesbians and fewer santa hats. LIZ Not inaccurate. Nick do you want to talk about why you’re here? NICK Ok because i make bad life decisions i have a masters in medieval and early modern studies and one of the things being discussed today is a medieval thing so that’s one half of what i’m qualified to talk about. LIZ The other half being punctuation but we’re not going to get into that. NICK No we’re not going to get into that. LIZ You may want to talk a little louder. NICK Because we’re going to be discussing the form of cury which may have come up in previous episodes in passing. HAZEL Is that how you pronounce it? LIZ Yep. It looks like curry but it’s pronounced cury. HAZEL I’ve ben saying curry for years. LIZ Does it contain anything curry related? NICK Not especially. It’s got some spices but nothing more potent than cinnamon and nutmeg. LIZ I don’t know it’s got peppercorns. NICK Yeah but that’s about it so if you think peppery or aromatic over spicy and you’re about there. LIZ I am sad to say i cannot find a recipe book called the form of curry. HAZEL I’m hungry now. NICK Like i said i’ve got a background looking at medieval things specifically medieval manuscripts and this is about cooking which i’m qualified to talk about due to having a mouth so i’m feeling confident about this. HAZEL this is great i’ve already learned how to pronounce it. I’m excited. LIZ I don’t know how frequent having nick will be but we’ll be doing an episode about a book or a person every five episodes. NICK I’ll be popping up if i have anything of note to say about things otherwise i just gestures in the background when things are recording. LIZ And you do the recording. And the editing. And most of the transcripts. NICK Yeah. And that. LIZ So aside from medieval which is a vague term that spans about 1000 years in western europe what is the forme of cury. NICK The forme of cury is a cookbook written by the chef of richard II. LIZ So 14th? NICK Yeah 14th century and it properly runs the gamut there’s basic dishes there’s fancier stuff basically everything you need to prepare that ...