SC-Talonvale-msg - 9/29/08 The siege cooking contest at the "Siege on Talonvale" event in the Pentamerean region of the Middle Kingdom in 2004. NOTE: See also the files: siege-cooking-msg, cookg-compet-msg, SC-Outlandish-msg, siege-engines-msg, warfare-msg, prim-sit-fsts-msg, p-menus-msg. ************************************************************************ 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: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 16:39:59 +0000 From: iasmin at comcast.net Subject: [Sca-cooks] Siege Cookery at Talonvale: Amounts of Ingredients To: mk-cooks at midrealm.org (MK Cooks), sca-cooks at ansteorra.org (SCA Cooks) Friends, A short while back I reported on the siege cookery competition that happened at the Siege on Talonvale event here in the Pentamerean region of the Middle Kingdom. For those of you who have been waiting for the ingredient amounts, I now have them. They were as follows according to the competition organizer: MEAT - For the entire competition, the competition organizers picked up rear quarter of a goat. That quarter was then cut off the bone and "eyeballed" into roughly equal portions of around 10-12 ounces of meat. The organizers were unsure of how much of the bone was given out in weight. The organizers also believe they won't be as generous with meat next year when they hold the competition again but because goat was a new meat for many cooks, they believed the generosity would help. I'm certain they wanted to ensure continued participation in future years of the competition, a wise choice in my opinion. DAIRY - The competition organizers said that they believed that at this point in the "siege" of their keep, the only cheese left would be the hard cheeses. This is why they chose the Asiago. They chose Asiago over a Parmesan because of cost. Competitors could also choose to use 1 pint of buttermilk as a dairy. The theory behind the amount and the type was that by this point in the siege, the milk would be far from fresh and hardly plentiful. The goose eggs, I'm told, were purchased in Detroit, Michigan at the Eastern Market (one of the nation's oldest continuously running farmer's markets). The goose's owner was surprised that the geese had started laying again in mid-summer. The eggs were fresh and each team got two eggs to use if they chose. GRAINS - Teams could choose 2 of 3 grain types for their entry. The choices were 6 ounces of rolled rye, 8 ounces of whole millet, or a 50/50 mix of buckwheat and rye flour. The organizers said this amounted to about 2 cups total of grains which were purchased at Whole Foods Market. LIQUIDS - Each team received a bit more than a cup of apple cider vinegar. They also could choose to use 8 ounces of solid beef fat that needed to be rendered into oil. They could use as much water as they wished, though this was not provided for them. FRUIT - The white currants were picked from the competition organizer's yard and amounted to approximately 1.5 cups for each team. The raspberries that could be used amounted to a little under a cup each. I have no amount available for the mulberries they were able to use, but I suspect a similar amount to the other berries. VEGETABLES & LEGUMES - Teams could choose up to 4 vegetables from the list. The amounts were small, compared to how the final dishes appeared to my eye. 3 small carrots (with greens) 2 medium-sized parsnips, 1/2 of a rutabaga, 2 ounces of enoki mushrooms, 8 ounces of dried lentils, 1 small white onion, 1/2 bulb of garlic, and half of a red or a green cabbage. SPICES - Each spice amounted to between 1-2 teaspoons. The nutmeg was 1 nut, the juniper berries were 6 whole dried berries. The salt was generous: a full tablespoon plus of rock salt. And teams could also choose 6 ounces of cone sugar. In all, they could choose 7 of the total spice choices available. And I received this blurb from the competition organizer which I thought I'd share with you: "I was surprised by how many people assumed that I would have gotten beef and called it goat, or that I would have gotten jumbo chicken eggs and called them goose eggs. It never even occurred to me. For me, the point was to use 'peasant' ingredients, as opposed to things like white flour and cream and so on which I figured would have been used up by now, and to give them out-of-the-ordinary things that they wouldn't have worked with before - all while staying period and in keeping with the season as much as possible. After all, what is the point of calling it goat if you don't have all the attendant difficulties of actually cooking with goat? In truth, I was pleased to have several of them tell me they had no idea what to do with millet, rutabaga, juniper berries, and so on. I figured I'd succeeded." I'd say the competition was most definitely a success. Kudos, Talonvale. I can't wait for next year. :) Iasmin Mistress Iasmin de Cordoba, Baroness Roaring Wastes, Middle Kingdom iasmin at comcast.net Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 14:08:56 -0400 From: Gaylin Walli Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Siege Cooker at Talonvale To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Ranvaig queried: >> -- Braised goat with onions and spices. Quite possibly my favorite >> dish of the entire judging. Of all the entries this one cooked the >> goat to perfection. If I hadn't known it was goat to begin with I >> wouldn't have known it when I tasted it. Filling. I went back to >> this one for 3rds after all the judging was done. And the cook sent >> me the recipe yesterday. WOoO! I win! > > Perhaps I missed it, but could you post this recipe, please? You did not miss it. I forgot to send it, so thank you for the reminder. Here is the recipe the cook sent me. Whether or not you end up with the same results is something I'd be *more* than willing to judge personally. :) -- iasmin ----- From: Chris. A. Dunham Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 22:04:42 -0400 Subject: Recipe for Goat Greetings Excellency, As requested I will attempt to recall the approx. recipe of the goat dish from Talonval. Ingredients: 1 Portion of Goat (Approx 1lb.) Small Handful of Enoki Mushrooms 2 Cloves of Garlic (Spanish Roja) 1 Tsp of Parsley 1/2 Tsp of White Sage 1 Slab o' Beef Fat (for rendering) 1 Medium hite Onion Salt Asiago Cheese Mince one garlic clove and mix with parsley and sage. Quarter 1 garlic clove. Chop 1/2 of the stems from the mushrooms; combine with quartered garlic in approx. 1/4 cup of water. Let sit for approx 1hr. in the sun. Cut mat into approx 1/2 inch thick pieces. Press mushroom stems and garlic by hand. Draw off the water via syringe or strain it. Now, what I did was inject the mix into the goat. You could, however, allow it to marinate for a short time in a warm area. Prss original mix onto one side of the meat slices. That takes care of preparation. Next, render enough oil from the beef fat to coat the bottom of the pan (less than 1/8 of an inch deep). I did this over an open fire that barely got hot enough to make te meat sizzle (wood didn't want to catch), so I'm not sure of the temperature. It was probably close to a medium heat. Pan fry for 5 min per side over direct heat. Then, either lower heat or remove from center of fire. Add onion (sliced to desired siz). Wait 10 min then flip meat again. Add Salt (to desired taste). Remove from heat. Place meat in dish, add onions, and crumble cheese over entire dish. Enjoy. With my compliments, Xavier William Terrant Chatelaine Incipient Canton of Westmere Edited by Mark S. Harris SC-Talonvale-msg 4 of 4