For the 2001 Coronet Tourney, we had a gingerbread competition. It was a bit of fun, there were quite a few entries, and Torlyon (SCA Yass) have repeated the idea since.

For the Coronet event, I brought three entries, each of which I’d served previously at feasts.

TRADITIONAL GINGERBREAD

The recipe is from Harleian MS 279:

Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & þrow ther-on; take gratyd Brede, & make it so chargeaunt þat it wol be y-leched; þen take pouder Canelle, & straw þer-on y-now; þen make yt square, lyke as þou wolt leche it; take when þou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leaves a-bouyn, y-stkyd þer-on, or clowys.

Which I render as:

Take a quart [~500mL] of honey, boil it and skim clean. Add saffron [likely tumeric] and powdered pepper. Add breadcrumbs, and mix well till it’s stiff. Then make into squares and strew powdered cinnamon over them. Stick box leaves or cloves on top.

Note there’s no ginger in that recipe; I presume an accidental omission. I use 4 cups of honey, and about a kg of breadcrumbs, four teaspoons of ground ginger, a teaspoon of tumeric and a teaspoon of white pepper. Keep stirring and adding breadcrumbs till your arm hurts. Dust the top with icing sugar, or add a clove as prescribed, or a dab of gold leaf.

ORMSKIRK GINGERBREAD

Said to date from 1732, so a bit past our period. I got it as a tourist in Ormskirk.

Original recipe is as follows:

Rub 4 oz butter into 8 ozs flour, add 4 ozs soft brown sugar, 1 tsp ground ginger and 1 oz candied peel. Mix well. Then add 1 tblsp black treacle, 1 tsp golden syrup and 1 tsp rum. Mix to a dough with the hands. Cover the bowl and leave to stand in a cool place for a few hours or, better still, overnight. Roll onto a lightly floured board and shape into rounds or use cutters. Bake in a moderate oven (180*C) for 10 minutes until brown.

Unless you want a chunky result, put the peel through the blender. I wasn’t very exact with the syrups: it’s very hard to measure precisely a tblsp of treacle. If you use the proportions as given, the mix is a bit too shortbready (yummy but won’t hold a shape) so reduce the butter and/or add more flour.

This recipe will stand being shaped with pastry cutters. For Coronet, I put a fancy pattern on the top by using a meat tenderising hammer.

GRASMERE GINGERBREAD

Mix 4 ozs fine oatmeal (ordinary oatmeal gives a muesli effect), 4 ozs brown wholemeal flour, 3 tsp ginger, ½ tsp cream of tartar. Melt 4 ozs butter, 4 ozs light brown sugar and 1 tblsp golden syrup and bind mixture together. Press into a flat tin, cut in long thin rows all the way through, bake at 160*C for 30-40 minutes. Leave in the tin until completely cold.

This one is no good for shapes, though it was delicious.