Everyone loves bread right? Well how about
blood bread. A favorite of Vikings everywhere.
So if you ever get invited to a Viking Age feast and it's done potluck style
and you have to bring something make some blood bread, this time on Tasting History.
So the Norse people of the Viking Age didn't leave us any recipes but they did leave us
archaeological evidence. And one such piece of evidence was some bread found at a Viking grave in Sweden
and an archaeologist named Sven Isaksson figured out what was probably in that bread and
it included blood likely as a way to preserve it because blood doesn't have much shelf life.
So this recipe is based off of those findings and can be found in "An Early Meal" by Daniel Serra and Hanna Tunberg.
I'll put a link in the description to where you can find that book.
Now for this recipe what you'll need is one and a half cups or 340 grams of well-fed sourdough.
I'm using a whole wheat sourdough but you can also just use a normal plain flour sourdough as well.
3/4 of a cup or 180 milliliters of lukewarm water, 4 tablespoons or 80 grams of honey,
6 cups or 840 grams of whole wheat flour, and 2 cups or a half liter of blood.
Any kind of blood will work, I am using pig blood for this. The cool thing is you don't
have to add any salt to this recipe because the blood has plenty in it.
Now this bread could be made in all sorts of ways and it really depended probably on who you were, when and where you were
so if you were out viking, the verb form of the word, and had just taken a pig from a monastery and slaughtered it
you might not have an oven to bake the bread so it would be done on a griddle
and possibly even be made unleavened. This would also be a really good way to dry out the bread
so you could make it into a sort of hard tack that you could take back aboard your ship and
you could make it with pretty much any kind of flour. They would have used barley or oat even
and they might have added some herbs or other flavorings that they had around.
Since we're going to be talking about eating feasts at a fancy feasting hall I'm going to be making it
how it might have been made on such an occasion.
So first strain the blood through a sieve just so you make sure that there are no coagulated bits.
If your blood has coagulated too much then you can put it in a blender and blend it up for just a few seconds and it will re-liquefy.
Then add the sourdough and the honey and mix.
Mix everything together as well as possible. Then in a large bowl add it to the flour
and mix.
Then add the water. Then work the dough until everything comes together.
Now at this point I would usually knead the dough by hand for 20 to 25 minutes but
I kind of ended up being so grossed out by the blood that I decided to use a stand mixer
and I don't regret it one bit.
Either way you want to do it go ahead and knead the bread until it comes together
to form a smooth but still rather sticky dough.
Then cover the bowl and let it rise for about 90 minutes to two hours or until it doubles in size.
Now if you have kind of a sluggish leavener, starter, then you might need to let it rise for a little bit longer,
and you might actually want to do a second rise as well.
Mine was very, very active so I just did one rise for 90 minutes.
When it's fully risen punch it down and turn it out onto a well-floured surface.
Then you can divide the dough pretty much however you want.
You can do two large loaves or I'm doing eight smaller loaves.
Whatever you choose shape the dough into a loaf,
then set it on a baking sheet and let it rise for another hour.
Now as I've often said I am just wild about etymology and since we are going to be talking about Viking Age feasts
which would be given by a lord I thought it only fitting that we made loaves of bread because it turns out
that was what a lord's job was early on.
To make sure that everybody had bread.
See the word lord comes from the old English word 'hlaefweard' or 'loaf ward'
and they were meant to make sure that everybody was fed and taken care of.
And lady well that came from the word 'hlaefdige' or 'loaf kneader'
So I guess she was originally making the bread. I thought it was kind of cool because in the "Lord's Prayer" lord's prayer
they say give us this day our daily bread. Just cut it's kind of fitting.
Anyway before we got into the history portion of this episode I wanted to pour myself a cup of mead because
you know Vikings and all but I am completely out of the mead that I made now a year ago.
Mead episode link up here in the description, so instead I found something called Viking Blood Mead.
Now I was going to pour it into my ale horn but then I realized that nobody would
be able to see that so I'm going to pour it into this glass instead. Let's give it a shot.
There's definitely a reddish hue to it. I wouldn't call it blood red necessarily but
I can see where they got the name. Yeah let's give it a shot.
Oh that's good. That is- that is honey and it's so thick it's almost syrupy. It's like a spiciness to it.
Honey and spice that's what I'm getting. It's good.
It's also 19% alcohol so this is strong.
You're not going to want too much. I'm going to be
plastered by the end of this video probably.
Also I got this from a site called Curiada who has a wonderful assortment of liquors
that you can't usually find in your typical liquor store and I'm partnering with them for Drinking History.
They're providing me with a lot of the drinks. Anyway so I will put a link in the description
to where you can get this if you want it.
This would be perfect for any good feast.
A feast given by Danes, Swedes, the Norse, Saxons. Really anyone who knew how to feast,
but do you know how to feast?
So you've been invited to a Viking feast eh? Well what can you expect? What should you do
to prepare? Well the first thing you should do is same thing that you do if you were going to
a party today make yourself look presentable.
Hello gorgeous.
Nobody likes a slob not even a Viking.
So when they weren't covered in the blood of their enemies after a raid they were known to
be quite fastidious actually.
In fact one 13th century English chronicler John of Wallingford
seemed annoyed at how clean they were.
"They were, according to their country's customs, in the habit of combing their hair every day, to bathe every Saturday,
to change their clothes frequently and to draw attention to themselves by means of many such frivolous whims.
In this way they besieged the virtue of married women and seduced the daughters of even noblemen to become their mistresses."
He says this wooing of English women was one of the reasons for the Saint Bryce's Day Massacre in 1002
when the English King Æthelred ordered the killing of Danes in the kingdom.
Though since that took place about 200 years before John of Wallingford was even born we have to take whatever he says
kind of with a grain of salt, but it does seem that the Danes were known to be quite hygienic.
And archaeological evidence backs that up because at Viking sites along with swords and shields
archaeologists have found toothpicks, combs, nail cleaners, and ear cleaners.
All the tools you might need to gussy yourself up before heading to the big feast, but before you spend too much time
getting ready you might want to take into account what kind of feast it is because if it is a blót,
or blood sacrifice, followed by a feast you might not want to put too much work into it because
you're going to get messy pretty early on in the evening.
See there were lots of reasons to hold a feast and one of them was to get in good with the gods
and that meant some sacrifice and usually at
least three of these blóts were held each year.
One in the fall asking for a good harvest,
one at the beginning of winter to ask that everybody gets to stay alive throughout the winter,
and then one in the spring thanking the gods for keeping everyone who survived alive throughout the winter,
and to bless the upcoming Viking or raiding season.
Now there are several descriptions of these blóts one being from the Icelandic chronicler Snorri Sturluson.
He describes all the lord's men arriving with ale to the blót and then watching as horses and cattle are sacrificed, but
the blood would not have been used to make blood bread in these instances.
Instead it would have been used to sprinkle on the walls inside and out of the hall and the temple, and then it would be
sprinkled all over the people as well.
Now I don't know if it was a Carrie situation but I wouldn't
spend too much time getting ready and I definitely wouldn't wear white.
Another description by Adam of Bremen around 1070 describes a specific blót that took place at the Temple of Uppsala in Sweden.
"Every ninth year there is a blood of nine days a common feast for everyone in Sweden.
Then they sacrifice nine males of each species, even men,
and the bodies are hung from the branches of a grove near the temple.
No one is exempt from this blót and everyone sends gifts to the shrine even the kings.
Those who are Christian have to pay a fee not to take part in the blót."
Now something to keep in mind was that Adam was a Christian and around this time it was kind of
the last vestiges of of infighting between the Christians and the old pagan religion
in and around that part of Sweden where this was taking place, so he's not unbiased but we
do know that most of the stuff that he says is demonstrably true but some things may not be.
Like the actual human sacrifice which at least by this point in history was probably symbolic.
Either way still a pretty cool description. Now once the opening ceremonies of these blóts are done
everything else in the feast seems pretty standard.
Snorri Sturluson describes the scene.
"The fire was in the middle of the floor of the hall, and over it hung the kettles,
and the full goblets were handed across the fire; and he who made the feast and was a chief
blessed the full goblets and all the meat of the sacrifice.
And first Odin's goblet was emptied for victory and power to his king;
thereafter Njörd and Freyja's goblets for peace and a good season.
Then it was the custom of many to empty the bragafull; and then the guests emptied a goblet to
the memory of departed friends called the minni."
Or as Tupac would have said pouring one out for the homies.
Now all of that last part the drinking, it was a very, very important part of the Germanic and
Scandinavian culture at the time and kind of still today, but definitely at the time
and most feasts began drinking from the bragafull or the ceremonial mead or ale horn.
"Write we runes around the horn, redden all the spell with blood; wise words choose I for the cup wrought from branching horn of beast."
Sadly no runes on my horn.
Now Julius Caesar and his writings describe these massive
drinking horns that probably came from aurochs but as aurochs began to die out in that part of Europe
they were probably replaced by smaller horns of regular old domesticated cattle,
but they were no less important.
In a description of an inheritance feast where a new heir would be made king or jarl
the bragafull takes center stage.
The heir "...should sit upon the footstool in front of the high seat,
until the bragafull was brought in. Then he should stand up, take the bragafull,
make solemn vows to be afterwards fulfilled, and thereupon empty the horn.
Then he should ascend the high seat which his father had occupied."
And Snorri Sturluson gives us an example of what that vow might be.
"King Ingjald stood up, grasped a large bull's horn, and made a solemn vow to enlarge his dominions by one half,
towards all the four corners of the world, or die."
Very serious stuff. Luckily the rest of the feast gets a lot looser.
So now you're here in the great hall, a massive rectangular building with a huge
fire going down the center, meat roasting over it.
You're probably sitting on a bench, maybe you have a table, maybe you don't.
Where you're sitting in the hall kind of depends on how important you are
the king or jarl is going to be at one end up on a raised dais, and if you're important you're
going to be down there too. And if you're less important or even worse a child then you'll be all the way at the other end,
but don't worry because everybody gets to drink.
Well that's good news.
And the first round of drinks usually came from the lady of the house,
and in Beowulf that would have been the Queen Wealtheow.
"Then Wealtheow went from warrior to warrior, pouring a portion from the jeweled cup for each,
till the bracelet-wearing queen had carried the mead-cup among them
and it was Beowulf's turn to be served."
Now I'm guessing with one cup she didn't get to everyone but that's okay because other cup-bearing ladies
"...stood by with a decorated pitcher, pouring bright helpings of mead.
And the minstrel sang filling Heorot with the head-clearing voice,
gladdening the great rally of Danes and Geats."
Yes, as people drank and food was carried around the room,
the minstrels would sing and these skalds would recite poetry and the hyle would do whatever that thyle did.
See nobody really knows or at least can agree on what this role did but we know that it was important.
Some scholars believe that it ended up devolving into the court jester,
but earlier on in the Viking period it was very important and kind of probably kept everything going sort of like a
maitre D or an emcee at a cabaret.
They were also probably the one to kick off the round of toasts
which is where everybody got drunk.
"Ale was then served to them to drink.
Many toasts went round and horn should be drunk to each toast."
And at your feast everyone gets their own horn. At least if if they're a man because
often the women would have to share a horn with a man,
and sometimes they didn't really even know that man all that well.
At the beginning of the feast lots would be drawn and people would just kind of be randomly paired up together.
Kind of like those key parties that were popular in the 60s and 70s and if you don't know what those were...
ask your mom and be scarred for life.
Now that everyone is sufficiently plastered it is time to break out the games.
Don't expect anyone to pull out a Twister mat because the games would usually be
either wrestling, boasting or flyting. Now the wrestling is pretty self-explanatory
but the boasting it was a ritualized boast called a bēot in Old English and essentially it was where
someone would make a boast as to a future great deed that was usually put in front of them by someone else.
I triple-dog dare ya!
Then the deed would often be just insane.
For example Beowulf uses the bēot to vow to fight the monster Grendel without any armor or weapons.
You can do these things when you're Beowulf but YOU should not do these things.
Now the other game flyting is a bit less dangerous and it consisted of insulting other people, usually in verse.
And while the tradition ended up becoming rather witty and clever in the later Middle Ages and early Renaissance,
what we have from the Viking Age is is less so.
One is chronicled in the Poetic Edda. During a feast given by the sea god Egyr, the god Loki busts in uninvited and demands ale
while insulting all of the other gods usually by saying that they're either promiscuous or cowards.
None of it's particularly clever or witty it's just all kind of mean-spirited,
and the other gods end up taking him and tying him to a rock using the entrails of his son,
and then dripping snake venom on him and whenever that would happen he would tremble and that's where earthquakes come from.
So maybe it's actually not less dangerous if you're doing it with the gods but
usually it was less dangerous than the other things.
Anyway the feast will go on for many many hours, even days in some instances but as it does wrap up you can hope for the best
but I would prepare for the worst because while sometimes they would end with everybody passing out and
going off to the you know dark corners of the hall with whoever they were sharing their horn with,
a lot of times it ended up in fighting.
And honestly that may have been a bit by design
because it was often used especially in those inheritance feasts to test how good of a leader the new king or
jarl would be and if you can control us all when we're completely plastered then you know
you should be able to keep your wits about you on the battlefield.
And many of these feasts took place either right after or right before a big battle.
"A viking-feast Earl hakon kept, the land with Viking fury swept harrying the land far from the shore where foreign air was known before."
So as long as you don't get beat up or worse have the monster Grendel show up and kill everyone at your feast,
you should be good to go. Now sadly I have not been invited to a Viking feast of late so
I'm going to have to make do with my blood mead and my blood bread which
should be nice and risen and ready to bake.
So once the bread has risen for about an hour
pop it into an oven set at 425 degrees Fahrenheit or 220 Celsius and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Now because of the dark color of this dough it's actually really hard to tell when it's done just by looking at it
so you'll probably want to tap on the bottom. If it sounds hollow that means it's done
or you can use an instant read thermometer to check the bread.
You're looking for a temperature of 190 Fahrenheit. Then let the bread cool completely and it's ready to eat.
And here we are Viking Age blood bread.
So it's well risen. I definitely- I think
I overproved it a little bit but that's- that's okay. I'm just going to rip off a hunk here,
and give it a try. The crust is- it's well crusted.
Let's give it a shot.
Augh, ogh!
I'm kidding, mwahaha.
The flavor is lovely. I mean it tastes like-
tastes like normal bread.
I mean- it has this really dark color from the amount of blood that's in there. There is a lot of blood in this bread,
but the flavor- there's no blood flavor and there's no-
there's no blood scent. You know how sometimes blood has that kind of very metallic- well my kitchen smelled like it.
Doesn't have that at all. In fact with like a little bit of butter or some honey on this,
it'd be hard to tell this from a normal like whole wheat bread.
So the blood bread doesn't taste like blood and the blood mead doesn't taste like blood, but
both of them have blood in the name.
Only one has blood as an ingredient but either way it actually makes for a pretty good meal.
So go ahead and make this blood bread or at least
get yourself some of this Viking blood mead. It's really, really good.
Again I'll put a link in the description,
and I will see you next time on Tasting History.