SC-Estrela-09-msg - 8/20/09 The Siege Cooking Contest at the Estrella War in 2009. NOTE: See also the files: siege-cooking-msg, SC-Outlandish-msg, SC-Potrero-art, SC-Talonvale-msg, cookg-compet-msg, cookg-classes-msg, Mystry-AS-Cmp-art. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:58:05 -0700 From: "Kathleen A Roberts" Subject: [Sca-cooks] back from war - siege cooking To: SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org back home safe and sound, tho the vehicle had its problems coming home... (another mechanic's child gets to go to college!) anyhoo, siege cooking was great. very challenging. congratulations to the cooks of artemesia on their win. the outlands came in second, followed by atenveldt. caid did not mount a team. our team consisted of two experienced cooks (Gwen-Cat and myself), one intermediate (lady auria) and two wonderful novices (lord cedric and lord tyron). ya gotta learn some time! our diswasher and judge extraordinaire (countess claudia and mistress aldyth respectively) were fantastic. lord cedric had built his very own beehive oven in the camp of the college of st. golias, and it was used to full capacity. we got a few ingredients that stymied us (why, o why do we outlanders have such a problem with farm raised venison? perhaps our stalwart hunters have us spoiled with the wild stuff!) so here is a listing of ingredients and what we made for a Russian (!) theme... i think i have this right... if not, Gwen-Cat or Aldyth can correct me on the positioning. 8) we got more herbs than anyone could imagine, and several unusual ingredients (kefir, kasha). unfortunately, i can no longer remember which dish the spaetzle accompanied... cailte THE INGREDIENTS: Venison Loin Pork Tenderloin Carrots Turnips Onions Beets Radishes Cabbage Flour (unbleached wheat) Eggs Butter (1 pound!) Kefir (i thought it was buttermilk) Vinegar (apple cider) Mead Honey Prunes Fresh sage Fresh mint Fresh bay Fresh dill Black pepper (fine ground) White pepper (fine ground - had us stumped a bit) Caraway Fennel Anise Cumin Ground Clove Ground Cinnamon Thyme Rosemary Salt from the pantry not much to pick from... rye flour and YES! more prunes!!!! THE FOOD: First Course - Relish tray and Breads Venison tartare Pickled turnips (cloves) Pickled beets (bay) Pickled eggs (bay) Pickled carrots (caraway) Radishes (not pickled) 8) Kasha bread with seeds (fennel, caraway, etc) Prune filled kollach style bread Butter Salt Water flavored with mint, vinegar and honey Second Course - Pork Pork stuffed cabbage in a vegetable broth Roast honeyed sage pork stuffed with prunes Roast carrots Spaetzle (?) A bit of mead to clear the palate Third Course - Venison Venison/turnip roulades in a mead and honey glaze Candied beets and carrots Venison cubes marinated in kefir with kefir/dill sauce Kasha with onions sauted in butter ( I do believe this was the hit of the day) Dessert - Prun-iliciousness Blini (rye and wheat blend) Prunes (whole) stewed in mead, cinnamon, cloves and honey Warm spiced mead Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:40:45 -0700 From: "Kathleen A Roberts" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] back from war - siege cooking To: Cooks within the SCA Stefan li Rous wrote: <<< Cailte said: This was at the recent Estrella War, right? >>> yes. <<< Was each kingdom limited to a single team each? >>> yes, one team per kingdom, and if a kingdom does not mount a team, a wild card team can come in. <<< What do you mean you had a problem with the farm raised >>> it was so mild. we poked it, sniffed it, cut off an cooked a little piece, even tasted the blood. we thought it was beef tenderloin it was so mild. cailte Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:14:12 -0700 From: Deborah Hammons Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] back from war - siege cooking To: Cooks within the SCA My way more than 2 cents: I have been fortunate to be the Outlands judge for all 4 years. Each year has been a learning experience for the cooking teams, the judges, and the period encampment. I still cringe at the title of Siege cooking, rather than Combat cooking for the Estrella competition. I feel strongly in a siege situation you are intimately familiar with your larder and should not have to identify the ingredients you are given. In a combat cooking situation (Iron Chef) it is more important to do the identifying. The judging forms have changed every year. This year they used the one from the Southern Crusades. The obstacles: Documentation is not required, but the teams are graded lower if it is not provided. Heavy consideration is given to presentation, ambiance, and sanitation. Hand washing even if it was not demonstrated to be a practice in the time and place. Forks or no forks. I am going to try and send a better judging form for them to use next year. I think the teams would benefit from seeing those forms before the competition so they know just what they need to accomplish in each area. It has to be better than going from Wow to Edible. And they really do need to decide if they want a documentable re creation of food, or seat of the pants cooking. Aldyth And Cailte, if you have that bread recipe with the buckwheat groats in it. Pretty Please? On Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 3:24 PM, Susan Fox wrote: <<< Following more than one thread here. Congratulations to the victors of Siege Cookery! I have judged it before and hoo doggies, that is a LOT of work and discussion to decide amongst even two complete presentations. Three were nearly impossible, and I had to say I was relived that no other kingdoms entered. [We did come up with an Inter-Kingdom Stupid Peer Trick... but that's another story.] >>> Edited by Mark S. Harris SC-Estrela-09-msg Page 4 of 5