COOKING IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Medieval (36) ______ was not, as is so easily assumed today, a (37) ______ practice that produced (38) ______ dishes filled with strange spices and dangerous ingredients. Medieval cooks used many of the same type of foodstuffs that are in use today, in addition to forms of food preparation that would be familar to any of us. The dishes and recipes they prepared were neither inedible nor dangerous, but extremely delicious and tasty products that employed the finest meats, grains, fruits, and vegetables.Then as now, (39) ______ knew what tasted good, and the sauces, stews, pies, roasts, and soups that satisfied the 14th century family are just (40) ______ wholesome and enjoyable today. Meat pies (41) ______ pork, beef, raisins and dates, (42) ______ with whole chicken (43) ______; soups flavored with wine and (44) ______ with almonds; vegetables and fruit marinated in wine, honey, and herbs; savory sauces and stews of all varieties; venison pies and rabbit in gravy; beef roasts, stuffed goose, fish marinated in ale; sweet pastries fried in oil, fruit confections, and sculptures of sugar; exotic creations such as the Cockentrice, half pig and half chicken, and the Helmeted Cock, (45) ______ rides a suckling steed - this is the food of the Middle Ages.