Humbles of a Deere

● Overview

The Humbles of a Deere dish is a combination of meat and sweet. This type of dish is uncommon in the western world but was seen as a higher class dish in England. Originally this dish was made to be a pie or a dessert but eventually evolved to have meat put inside of it to make it a dinner. This meal is full of sweets such as sugar, cinnamon, and a pie crust but also has ingredients like deer kidney. Deer kidney wasn’t the easiest ingredient to get or the most attractive to some people, so an alternative ingredient could be ground or diced venison. This dish had the perfect mix of sweet and savoury (Myers).

● History

During the Medieval time period of England, deer venison was often seen as one of the healthiest proteins a person can receive. However, The King’s of the time period established Forest Law which restricted the killing of deer by the lower class. The king considered the lands of the royal forest to be his, so any animals within the forest were considered his property. Only the rich had access to venison, so the ruling elite often gave deer venison as a gift of respect or an invite to hunt with royal officials. It is easy to see how much of the meals varied based on social status of the Late Medieval time period. Venison was not easy to obtain, for it was not sold in the marketplace, so people of the time period would be very lucky to receive such a dish as Humbles of Deere (Heffelfinger).

● Ingredients

For serving of 10 people:

- 5lb. of deer kidneys or ground venison

- 5/2 cup of dates

- 5/2 cup currants

- 5 Tbsp. sugar

- 5 tsp. cinnamon

- 5/2 tsp. ginger

- 5/8 tsp. cloves

- 5/8 tsp. cloves

- 10 Tbsp. butter

- 5 Tbsp. sugar

- 5/2 tsp. cinnamon

- 5/4 tsp. ginger

- 9” pie crust

● Instructions

1. Slice the deer kidneys or ground venison into small pieces

2. Boil the kidneys until they are well done or cooked through

3. After the kidneys are done, let them cool for several minutes until they can be worked with

4. Once they have cooled, mince the meat into a bowl

5. Add the dates, currants, sugar, and other spices into the bowl

6. Mix the ingredients well until they are uniform, and pour them in a 9” pie crust

7. Top the meal with slices of butter and cover it with the top crust

8. Make sure to make a hole about a half-inch in diameter in the middle of the pie crust so it bakes well

9. Bake at 350°F until the crust is golden brown

10. When finished, melt butter in a saucepan, and mix with sugar, cinnamon, and ginger

11. Pour the mixture into the center of the hole

12. Your warm meal is now served!!

Works Cited

Myers, Daniel. “Deer Kidneys.” Medieval Cookery, medievalcookery.com/recipes/humbles.html.

Wang, et al. “The Nasty Bits: Deviled Kidneys Recipe.” Serious Eats, www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/09/nasty-bits-offal-deviled-kidneys-recipe.html.

“Dates Fruit Images.” Shutterstock, www.shutterstock.com/search/dates fruit.

“Mace Spice.” 123RF, www.123rf.com/photo_5667264_mace-spice.html.

Heffelfinger, Jim. “The Gift of Venison.” Accessed April 8, 2020. https://www.ckwri.tamuk.edu/sites/default/files/pdf-attachment/2016-05/december_2014_pdf.pdf.

Makayla R, Brad C, Eric K, & Nathan K