Making 400 Year Old Buttered Beere

Most people know Butterbeer from the Harry Potter books, but did you know it's based off an actual drink from Elizabethan England?

In this episode, I show you how to make your own alcoholic (and non-alcoholic) Buttered Beere and we explore the importance of beer and ale in Medieval and Renaissance England.

Follow Tasting History with Max Miller here:

LINKS TO INGREDIENTS

BUTTERED BEERE
ORIGINAL RECIPE - "The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin" c.1594 (or 1588)
Take three pintes of Beere, put five yolkes of Egges to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one penniworth of Cloues beaten, and a halfepenniworth of Ginger beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them together, and set it to the fire againe, and when it is readie to boyle, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into an other.

INGREDIENTS
- 3 Pints (1500ml/48oz) of good quality British Ale
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 lb (225g) demerara or brown sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter

- Take 5 yolks and beat them with the demerara or brown sugar until light and frothy. Set aside.
- Poor the ale into a saucepan. Try to not create too much foam. Stir in the spices.
- Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down to low and simmer for 2 minutes. For a non-alcoholic drink, leave at medium heat and boil for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the egg and sugar mixture. Then return the pot to low heat until the liquid starts to thicken. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add in the diced butter and stir until melted. Then froth the buttered beer with a hand whisk and let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow buttered beer to cool to a warm but drinkable temperature. Then whisk again and serve warm.
*This can be served cold by chilling the beer, then mixing it with cold milk (1 part beer/1 part milk)

SOURCE:

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#butterbeer #butteredbeere #tastinghistory #beer

[TastingHistory]

EDIT: Clearly, I read my own script wrong. For non-alcoholic, you boil at 100°C/212°F. Sorry for trying to get you to boil something at a temperature which you'll never reach.

[GroundThing]

Finally a recipe which solves my main problem with beer: too few calories.

[lezardvaleth]

_One pennyworth of nutmegs, beaten_

Jon Townsend : *heavy breathing*

[ian_b]

Elizabethan recipe:

Take a pot and put various things in it. When cooked, serve.

[youngyoungmcgurn]

With "nog" being an old Anglo-Saxon word for ale, I would venture to guess that this recipe possibly formed the basis for what was later to become eggnog, switching ale for rum.

[rc]

400 year old buttered beer recipe:
- add butter
- add beer
- wait 400 years

[nickwalker]

“If you try to make it yourself, tell me how it went”

Instructions unclear. Got dunked in river by angry crowd.

[renaissanceredneck]

Watching this 2 years in the future, and can definitely see how the channel has gotten more refined. Love the channel Max, keep em coming.

[samuel_excels]

I would advise going for a beer with low hop content, the Tudors didn't use hops in brewing, hops were starting to be used in mainland Europe as a preservative in beer but the English resisted this as they hated the bitter flavour the hops imparted to the beer preferring spices. Go with a Mild or Stout if you can get it as they tend to have a low hop contents and avoid lager and IPA which have high hop contents.

[hubdeep]

I can confirm that in England if a pub sells dodgy beer we still put the landlord in the stocks and throw rotten tomatoes at them

[IPostSwords]

One of my favorite parts of beer in English history is how it was instrumental to the first formal epidemiological investigation - the Soho water pump incident. There was a well in Broad Street that was contaminated with cholera (and kept getting people sick, as they did not realise water could be getting them sick, germ theory was not yet a thing.

There were two water filtering servicing the area, one of which was more expensive (and had lower rates of infection), and one of which was cheaper and less effectively filtered, which was responsible for most of the infections. This less expensive water service owned the broad street pump.

There was one significant anomaly—none of the workers in the nearby Broad Street brewery contracted cholera. As they were given a daily allowance of beer, they did not consume water from the nearby well. This is part of what got John Snow thinking that the water might be the issue.

He solved the epidemic pretty simply: he removed the handle from the pump of the broad street water pump. People stopped getting infected, germ theory was validated, and the field of epidemiology was created.

[America_Yea]

Mine went quite well for the first batch. I really have nothing to say about this one, the tudors really knew their cooking and you've done quite well with this one.

[rickfordmorningstar]

I live with my best friend, and I've been raising my little sister a few years now. They both go absolutely APESHiT for every piece of food you and Townsend have inspired me to cook! I went from a mediocre-average level cook, to decently proficient with all the practice too! THANK YOU MAX!!!

[aku]

Instructions unclear : Poured ale down my leather britches and sat on butter by the fyre.

[markfergerson]

Now I understand something I heard as a small child many many years ago. When someone was getting a bit too demanding or was seen as trying to live beyond their "station in life" they were asked "What do you want, egg in your beer?"

[madhattermurasaki]

Beer at that time was very different from beer today. Brewing was one of the safest ways to deal with water, plus beers/ales had other nutritional benefits to them and were higher in calories which was important as most people at this point were doing hard manual jobs. Most beer consumed during the day at that time only had around 1% alcohol in it, hence why it was possible to drink it all day and give it to children.

[MrTrigun]

I don't know why this channel was suggested to me, but I've been binging it so way to go algorithm. I like this guy he seems fun to be around.

[Carty]

I made this a few years ago, and would describe the taste as a Tudor pumpkin spice latte plus hint of beer. I can see why they liked it, definitely a comfort drink.

[sarreqteryx]

if you go to any supermarket that carries "Sugar in the Raw" brand, that is Demerara sugar
also: don't cook in a pewter pot, since it melts over a stove

[ohiko]

I added rum, milk and cynnamon to the recipe and topped it with whipped cream.
It's crazy how filling and tasty this drink is, it's wonderful, warming and creamy and it's perfect for autumn and winter time