Edward the Confessor was the last Saxon King of England. He was a good man by all accounts and whilst opinions differ on the success of his reign, a cult around him grew up quickly, and solidly. He rebuilt Westminster Abbey and in the process was instrumental in founding the great church that exists today.
I have a great love of Westminster Abbey, it being the home of the pre-reformation Benedictine community which now resides at Ampleforth. It is thus also in a sense the root of the Benedictine community in St Louis, which is a daughter-house of Ampleforth.
Sadly, the Protestants stole it from us. However, it being a royal church, and the shrine of Edward
being the burial place of a King, it largely escaped the worst desecrations of the reformation. The shrine of Edward the Confessor behind the High Altar at Westminster Abbey gives us a beautifully preserved medieval shrine. It was originally rather bigger - three levels - but it's still pretty good. I had a memorable visit to the abbey a few years ago when my friend Fr Bede parlayed free entrance for us by (as an EBC Monk) point-blank refusing to pay. We also had a beautiful quiet moment at the shrine, which is quite difficult to visit privately (but they weren't going to argue with Fr Bede). The camera flashes lauding the secular saints in poet's corner were only barely audible in the background.
St Edward is also the patron of a beautiful little church close to my home in Guildford, in the grounds of what was the estate of a recusant family, so they've had continuous offerings of Mass there since before the reformation - v. rare in the south. One of their relics is the ruff St Thomas More wore to his execution.
It was pretty difficult to find something to cook for St Edward. I eventually decided to do something Saxon... because he was the last saxon king of England. This led me to a variety of recipes - mostly on the, at times frightening, websites of battle re-enaction folks. I read with interest that the rich often favoured stews with spices and fruit. After all trade routes were long-established (just think of the definitely historical-because-I-want-it-to-have-been visit our Lord made to Glastonbury with Joseph of Arimathea). There was a recipe for pan-roasted venison with dried cherries and line at the bottom declaring autheniticty, a link to a British Library historical cookbook, and a bold statement that both Saxons and Vikings liked fruity meat. It was good enough for me. I couldn't get any venison, because time limited me to shopping at a supermarket. So I got some stewing steak and made a hearty stew. It wasn't in the least bit difficult. But I did cook it for a very long time, and it was delicious.
3 lbs stewing steak in chunks
Flour seasoned with pepper and cinnamon (Phoenicians must have brought this, Romans, French?)
An onion - diced
About half a pint of red wine
A pint of beef stock
Two tablespoons of wine vinegar
Two teaspoons of flour
Dried parsely, thyme and marjoram
6 oz dried cherries
Fry the onion in a large Le Creuset casserole or similar, and then flour the beef (use a large polythene bag, pop the flour and the beef in and shake. Hope that the bag doesn't have a whole in it, like mine did). In a frying pan fry off the beef in batches, fry until it just browns... and add to the casserole. When all the beef is in de-glaze the frying pan with the wine. Add to the casserole together with all the other ingredients except the cherries. Bring to a light bubble and pop it in the oven on 160C for three hours, checking each hour. Stir minimally. Add extra water as needed. After three hours add the cherries, and turn the oven off, but leave the stew in the oven (for another hour). The cherries will puff up beautifully. When you are ready to eat turn the oven back on at 200C, take the lid off and cook the stew for another half hour until the sauce has reduced. Obviously, if you are a committed Saxon, you do this whole process over a fire and not in an oven - because you don't have one.
Serve with mashed potatoes, which also do not exist if you're a Saxon. The cherries really do go wonderfully with the slowly cooked beef. My only thought was that a slug of double cream at the end would have made the whole thing better. But I tend to think that about most things, and it probably wouldn't have been an appropriate addition for St E.
P.S. it (the stew, not the shrine) really did look and taste much nicer than the slightly dodgy iphone photo above suggests. Honest.
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