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Original recipe

Wilt du ein fladen machen von fleische von wensten, so su^ede in wol von hacke in cleine vnd welische nu^ezze gevierteilt dor vnder. vnd wu^ertze genu^oc. vnd speckes tu^o dor in vnd eyer vnd leg ez vf ein wit blat von teyge gemaht, scho^ene bastel fu^enfe von hu^enren einz mitten in den fladen gesetz, die viere an daz ende reht als ein zinke vf einen wu^erfele. vnd back in vnd gib in als heiz hin.

Translation

If you want to make a flatbread with pork belly, cook it until tender and chop it finely. Add quartered walnuts and season generously. Add bacon and eggs, then spread the mixture onto a wide flatbread. Take five nice chicken pies. Place one in the center of the flatbread and arrange the other four around it like the (5) prongs of a die. Bake it and serve it hot.

Recreation

This meat flatbread dish takes some work, unless you happen to have five small chicken pies lying around. Of course, I didn’t have any, so I basically had to prepare two recipes at the same time. But it was worth it, since the result was appealing both in taste and appearance.

This meat flatbread is similar to the previous ones: a (pre-cooked) meat mixture is spread over dough (probably a type of bread dough) and baked. But there were also a few differences. For one thing, this flatbread is quite fatty in terms of the meat, since it uses both pork belly and bacon. Then there are the walnuts, which are simply quartered—meaning they’re baked into the meat as fairly large pieces. And, of course, the most important part: the five chicken pies, which are arranged on the flatbread like the five on a die. That’s why I’ve also called this meat flatbread No. 5.

For the dough this time, I chose a bread dough made from wheat, whole wheat, and whole barley. It had a rustic flavor and went well with the hearty walnuts.

However, when I pre-cooked the meat (which I cooked in a pressure cooker for half an hour—equivalent to about 2 hours of simmering), a relatively large amount of fat rendered out, so the final dish ended up being less fatty than expected. But of course, you could also use pork chops or pork neck to adjust the fat content further.

But back to the five pies: The recipe doesn’t specify whether they’re already cooked or not. That’s certainly possible, but it seemed more logical to me to press indentations into the meat mixture and then place the uncooked patties in them so they could bake along with the flatbread. For this, I did, however, pre-cook the chicken (just as the meat mixture is pre-cooked) and season it well. I then let it cool and wrapped it in “butter dough.” This method worked very well, and I’d do it this way again. The “butter dough” is simply kneaded frozen puff pastry, which therefore hardly rises at all. You could also just make it yourself, but that’s not necessary here.

But the most important thing: the result. When the flatbread comes out of the oven, it already looks intriguing because of the five patties. The meat mixture is somewhat reminiscent of bratwurst and was crispy on the surface, but the walnuts provide a very interesting contrast in texture. The pieces with the patties were definitely the most popular in the Middle Ages. These were the juiciest and essentially brought two different dishes to the plate at once. Overall, this was definitely the most labor-intensive meat pie, but also my personal favorite so far. I think, though, that next time I’d make the pies a little bigger (or even better: make nine pies).

Meat flatbread No 5

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Servings: 5

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: German, Medieval

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 600 g pork belly pork chops, pork neck, or pork roast
• 120 g all-purpose flour
• 80 g whole wheat flour
• 100 g whole barley flour or rye flour
• ½ teaspoon dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• About 160 ml water
• 100 g chicken breast or boneless thigh
• ½ onion
• Pepper
• Salt
• 1 teaspoon dried herbs e.g., thyme
• ½ teaspoon flour
• 40 ml broth e.g., from the prepared meat
• 100 g puff pastry alternatively: make your own shortcrust pastry
• 50 g bacon
• 100 g walnuts
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Additional spices optional, e.g., ground cloves, ground allspice, mustard

Method

 

1. Pre-cook the meat: If it’s in one piece, cut it into thick slices. Place it in a pot and cover it just barely with water. Add a little salt to the water, or use broth. Simmer for about 2 hours with the lid on. If you have a pressure cooker: 30 minutes plus 10 minutes to release the pressure. Then remove the meat from the broth and let it cool. The broth isn’t used further in this recipe, but it works well as a soup base.
2. Prepare the dough: Mix the three types of flour with the yeast and ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir in the oil. Gradually stir in water, using just enough until the dough comes together. Knead the dough for a few minutes, then cover it and let it rise in a warm place for 1–3 hours.
3. Prepare the pies: Cut the chicken into large cubes (1 cm – 1.5 cm on each side). Finely dice the onion. Heat a little oil in a skillet and lightly brown the onions over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown it lightly as well. Season with salt, pepper, and the dried herbs. Add half a teaspoon of flour and cook for one minute. Deglaze with the broth and let it reduce slightly. Remove from the skillet and let cool.
4. Let the puff pastry thaw, knead it thoroughly, and roll it out thinly. Cut out five circles about 6–7 cm in diameter and five more that are slightly larger. Top the smaller ones with equal amounts of the chicken mixture, then cover with the larger ones. Moisten the edges and seal them well. E.g. crimping them with a fork.
5. Prepare the meat mixture: If there are any, remove all bones from the pre-cooked meat thoroughly. Tear it into large pieces and add the bacon. You can now chop this thoroughly with a knife or process it in a food processor. The mixture shouldn’t be too fine—it should be about the consistency of coarse bratwurst. Quarter the walnuts and add them to the mixture. Add the eggs and spices (pepper, nutmeg, and optional spices) and mix thoroughly.
6. Assemble the pastries: Preheat the oven to 190 ℃ / 380 ℉ convection. Roll out the dough on a baking mat (or parchment paper) and shape it into a square with sides about 25 cm long and rounded corners. Press five indentations into the dough (about half its thickness deep), arranged like the faces of a die. Spread the meat mixture over the dough and press indentations into it in the same places as before. Lightly fold the edges under the pies and place them into the indentations. If desired, you can decorate them with the leftover puff pastry scraps. Place in the oven and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the pies are lightly browned. Serve hot.