flipVictory Feast: Roasted Game and Millet Flatbreads
Victory Feast: Roasted Game and Millet Flatbreads
Why this dish? Priscus describes Attila's great banquet: long tables, cups constantly refilled, meats served in abundance to warriors and chiefs, in a splendor reserved for guests. The feast sealed alliances and celebrated the victories of the king of the Huns.
Large pieces of game roasted on the spit, glazed with honey, accompanied by millet flatbreads cooked on stone. The dish for great evenings, when the entire camp smells of smoke and celebration.
Tonight, we stop counting the meat! Let the spit turn over the embers until the fat sings, let us brush it with honey from hives stolen from the enemy. Drink, eat, raise your cup to my health while it is full — and let it be filled again. When Attila hosts, no one leaves with an empty belly; thus we hold men, by the sword by day and by the feast by night.
- •Haunch of venison or wild boar — one large piece (base)
- •Wild honey — to brush (glaze)
- •Salt — to taste (seasoning)
- •Millet flour — two handfuls per guest (flatbreads)
- •Water — as needed (dough)
Victory Feast: Roasted Game and Millet Flatbreads
Large pieces of game roasted on the spit, glazed with honey, accompanied by millet flatbreads cooked on stone. The dish for great evenings, when the entire camp smells of smoke and celebration.
Why this dish? Priscus describes Attila's great banquet: long tables, cups constantly refilled, meats served in abundance to warriors and chiefs, in a splendor reserved for guests. The feast sealed alliances and celebrated the victories of the king of the Huns.
Tonight, we stop counting the meat! Let the spit turn over the embers until the fat sings, let us brush it with honey from hives stolen from the enemy. Drink, eat, raise your cup to my health while it is full — and let it be filled again. When Attila hosts, no one leaves with an empty belly; thus we hold men, by the sword by day and by the feast by night.
Ingredients (period version)
- Haunch of venison or wild boar — one large piece (base)
- Wild honey — to brush (glaze)
- Salt — to taste (seasoning)
- Millet flour — two handfuls per guest (flatbreads)
- Water — as needed (dough)
Ingredients
- Haunch of venison (or pork roast) — 1.2 kg (base)
- Honey — 3 tbsp (glaze)
- Coarse salt — 2 tsp (seasoning)
- Millet flour — 250 g (flatbreads)
- Warm water — 150 ml (dough)
- Animal fat or oil — 1 tbsp (cooking flatbreads)
Method
- Generously salt the meat and roast it in the oven (or on a spit) at 180°C, about 25 min per 500 g.
- Halfway through cooking, brush regularly with honey to form a golden crust.
- For the flatbreads, mix millet flour, warm water, and a pinch of salt until a supple dough forms.
- Form small flatbreads and cook on a hot lightly greased griddle, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
- Let the meat rest 10 min, slice, and serve with the still-warm flatbreads.
How it was made : Honey was the only true sweetener available to the Huns and neighboring peoples (sugar does not exist in Europe at the time). Millet, a hardy cereal of the steppe and Danube plains, was cooked as porridge or flatbreads: it was the common accompaniment to meat for horsemen and their sedentary subjects.
The contemporary twist : Present the honey-glazed game slices on a large shared board, flatbreads piled in the center — a hand-to-hand sharing, as under Attila's tent.
Sources : Priscus of Panium, fragments (banquet of Attila, 449)
Attila · Charactorium
