taverns-msg – 9/17/12

SCA and period taverns. Serving food.

NOTE: See also the files: games-msg, games-cards-msg, beer-msg, cider-msg, wine-msg, Tavern-Feast-art, ale-msg.

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From: zkessin at shell1.tiac.net (Zach Kessin)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Running A Tavern
Date: 11 Apr 97 13:02:44 GMT

Andrea Benton <abenton at acesag.auburn.edu> writes:
>I have a question for those who have ever done such a thing. We are
>interested in running a Tavern, with an event we have planned for the
>fall.

>So anyone with any stories to tell, good or bad, I would be welcome to
>hear them.

>leona

Check out the web site for Le Poulet Gauche, 
http://world.std.com/~cti/lepg.html

More info that you probably wanted.

--William Atwood
 Carolingia


From: joylana at aol.com (Joylana)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Running A Tavern
Date: 16 Apr 1997 03:46:12 GMT

   I ran a small tavern at what was suppose to be a medium event that
turned into a Royal Progress.   It was fun (I think) but I definitely was
glad I did a lot of work beforehand.   I had a limited menu: stew,
biscuits,  drink (non alcoholic), and desserts.  

 I bought roasts which I cooked whole and then cut into cubes; had all the
veggies cut up (some were frozen..came in so handy); and also made a
vegetarian stew which was quite hardy. 

 Bisquits were easy with Bisquick or you could do a hearty wheat or rye
bread.  I made lemonade, ice tea (herbal and regular), and also had hot
tea and coffee.  We had some mulled cider at one point, also. 
 I would have loved having some help to take orders and carry the food,
but instead I just opened the dutch-door and had people come to me.  I
hope this helps.  With good planning you can do anything.  Oh, yes,  the
kitchen had a very old stove, a beaten up refridgerator, and one sink.  I
was very tired at the end.

 I kept the cost very low ($2 for stew, biscuit, and drink; dessert was
extra, ($1 to $2) as I was providing a service to my barony so I met
expenses with just $10 profit.

Jolanna


From: robin.hackett at wadsworth.org (Robin Hackett)
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 13:25:14 -0500
Subject: SC - Outdoor feasts

Sir Gunthar wrote:

>There's an early period outdoor feast that I've been thinking of where all the
>food is cooked either in the ashes (tubers, clay wrapped meat) and in a big
>kettle (meat and vegetables are boiled in the cauldron, the solids are
>lifted >out for one course and a pottage is made from the broth for
>another.

Outdoor feasts are alot of fun! :) Last year at the Gilded Pearl event in
Sterlynge Vale a few of us ran a tavern for lunch and for the experience of
doing so. We started early in the morning making bread and cutting up 25
lbs of onions for the sops. We spitted chickens and made a lombard beef
bruet plus a fried beans & onions recipe from "700 years of English
cooking". With premade pasties and fruit and cheese we were able to offer a
good variety of food. The tavern was open for roughly three hours and each
dish could serve ~50 people. When a dish ran out, it was taken "off the
board". I wasn't in charge of drinks so all I remember is ginger drink and
some sort of cider. It made me appreciate indoor kitchens when it started
to rain!

Leri
robin.hackett at wadsworth.org


Date: Mon, 17 Nov 97 13:38:29 -0500
From: Dottie Elliott <macdj at onr.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Russian Inns

When I run a luncheon tavern for food (which I have done twice now), I 
generally prepare enough for 50 people for a 150ish person May event. Not 
as many folks each lunch (many fighters do not, for instance) and I don't 
want to end up with lots of left overs. 

Clarissa


Subject: RE: ANST - Traveling INN
Date: Wed, 01 Apr 98 14:01:26 MST
From: "Weiszbrod, Barbara A" <Barbara.Weiszbrod at SW.Boeing.com>
To: "'ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG'" <ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG>

Tracy wrote:
> Maybe her foods aren't exactly "period", but I can remember being
> served roast turkey legs at an SCA feast once.

I can remmember being served turkey legs at an event too and I was very
dissapointed.  At a Feast I want to have foods that are period and not
(as Daniel pointed out) glaringly Ren-Fair.

My shire does Black Wolf Tavern at Steppes Warlord and we do not do
period foods there.  It is very difficult to do a tavern well, safely,
and at a profit.  We have made the decission that researching period
foods is just not going to happen.

However we do try to do foods that are not glaringly non-period or that
jar us out of the "feel" of a period fair.

But none of the answers so far have really addressed the lady's
question.  "What would you like to have available to you".

I want to be able to buy bottled water at a tavern.  I also like the foods
to not require I get my feast gear.  Other than that something other
than meat is also appreciated (can you tell that I wasn't born in
Ansteorra?  No meat?!).

Alys Deriveax
aka Aelfric of Alburn
aka Barbara Weiszbrod
aka Shire Bitch


Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 18:38:39 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - wanted: a marinade for spit roasting an autocrat

I would say you have just discovered why the cook does the buying for good
restaurants and why every SCA cook I know does their own buying.

I'm very leery of trying to do all meals for two days.  You are talking
about a tremendous amount of work, usually without professional help, with a
hefty price tag.  A quick estimate of the expenses is $10-12 per person to
do it right, which means charging $16-20 per person to recover the expenses
and turn a profit commensurate with the risk.

Running a tavern, you have no guarantee of recouping the expenses.  Were I
planning to feed this event, I would run breakfast and lunch out of a tavern
which I would understock so that I would sell out.  I would also check all
of the nearest groceries for stock and prices, in case I had to re-supply.
The tavern cook would run the tavern.

Saturday night's feast would be run as a feast.  This is usually the best
format for recouping the expenses.  This would be run by the feast cook.

Sunday night, I would get rid of the left-overs through the tavern.

Unless I am fronting the money and am willing to take the loss, the tavern
and the feast would be separately planned and budgeted with the group
agreeing to the funding and providing funds up front to do the purchasing (I
usually start with $200 to $300 a couple of months before the event which is
replenished as I turn in the receipts up to the amount budgeted).

Bear


Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 07:09:02 EDT
From: WOLFMOMSCA <WOLFMOMSCA at aol.com>
Subject: Re: SC - wanted: a marinade for spit roasting an autocrat

Marinade suggestion:  Lay on a heavy coating of tar, sprinkle liberally with
feathers of your choosing, impale on rail, singe completely.

With luck, this experience won't sour you completely on cooking for SCA
events.  You have my sympathy.  I thought the practice of having one person
front the money for a feast was eradicated long ago by changes to the
Exchequer system within the SCA.  I remember the days when it was the only way
to throw an event, but we at least passed the helm at meetings and such so the
burden could be eased somewhat.

While I agree that pre-selling feast is a good idea, when you're doing tavern-
style feedings, it's not always practical, nor does pre-selling guarantee no
leftovers.  Especially over a long, potentially hot, Memorial Day weekend.
Having done taverns for several years in Ansteorra, I know this to be true.

The unsolicited advice:

Never, ever allow an autocrat, especially one who has never been a feastcrat,
buy your supplies without your active participation.  We the unwilling, led by
the unknowing....

Breakfast should be easy on the cook, unless a separate individual has agreed
to take on the job.  When alone in the hot seat, I use pre-baked sweet breads
(fruit types with side dishes of preserved fruits), breakfast meats (sausage
and bacon are easily restocked when you keep an eye on the serving line),
bread and butter, and fresh fruits in season.  Oatmeal is a quick thing, so a
small pot of it is kept on the back burner for the few, the proud, the
Scottish <veg>.  I can always make more if necessary.  Anything which requires
more than fifteen minutes of stove time is pre-cooked the weekend before the
event and frozen.  Save your sanity and give thanks for modern technology.

Lunch can usually be dealt with handily by what we call traveler's feasts.  A
bowl of stew, a baguette of French bread, and thou.  Again, save your sanity
and make your stew the week before the event.  Everyone knows that a good stew
only gets better for having aged a bit.  If you cook it way in advance, freeze
it.  If done on Wednesday night, it will be heavenly by Saturday afternoon.

Supper is where a feastcrat should focus their efforts and their creativity.
Roasted flesh of some kind, be it fowl or hoofed, is a safe bet.  What doesn't
get sold on Saturday night becomes Sunday's lunch spread, with appropriate
additions of the cook's choice.  A nice salat of greens with a selection of
dressings (both period and modern <I know, ***gasp*** heresy, but... a
spoonful of Hidden Valley makes the salat go away).  Something hearty and
starchlike for the meat-and-taters crowd.  A wondermous dessert, with which
the cook can truly shine and be remembered.

It's a tavern/inn/caravanserai.  Sometimes we fail to remember that tavern
food has always been simple and hearty fare.  Even a king passing through
would eat what was available from the kitchen, albeit on better plate and with
as many flourishes as the keeper could manage.  Save the five-remove
fantasmagoric sit-down feast for another event where it is more appropriate.

Just my tuppence' worth.

Walk in peace,
Wolfmother


Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 06:53:34 -0500
From: maddie teller-kook <meadhbh at io.com>
Subject: Re: SC - wanted: a marinade for spit roasting an autocrat

LrdRas wrote:
>    4. Seperate cooks should be in charge of each meal. For example, the main
> feastocrat does feast, someone else is responsible for lunch and another for
> breakfast.
>    5. NEVER let anyone else buy your food for you.
>    6. IMO, planning the feast as an integral part of the event is much better
> than the inn concept.
>    7. NEVER let anyone else buy your food for you.

I think your advise is excellent. I would just add that the lunch and breakfast
coordinators should coordinate with the cook. This will help with food purchasing (everyone consolidates items so there is no redundancy). And, scheduling of time in the kitchen so everyone doesn't need to use the same equipment at the same time.

I agree on the concept of the feast vs. the 'Inn' concept. One idea that I have seen used has been the 'faire'.  We set up the different feast foods in booths and handed out coins for the populace to 'purchase' their dinner from the food booths. It was a lot of fun. The amount of 'coin' handed out was enough to purchase at least one of each item.

Meadhbh


Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 16:48:24 -0400
From: Ceridwen <ceridwen at commnections.com>
Subject: Re: SC -taverns/2 day feasts

For Trimaris' Tenth Year Anniversary event, I was asked to provide a
Tavern, as the feast hall only seats 150 and we were expecting about
1200 people. It started (in the planning) to be only a feast supplement
on Saturday and Sunday, and by the time we were done planning it was
from crew supper on Thursday until Breakfast Monday, 3 meals a day, open
from 6 am to midnight each day. I had a crew of 3 that I could count on,
as our Barony was involved with the event in many other capacities. The
"kitchen" was a small building (screen house) with a sink! I cooked with
a fire pit, a bbq smoker (8 X 3 feet) and a  two burner gas stove. we
brought along an upright freezer  (12 cu. ft.)and many, many coolers. We
set up a 20x20 pavilion for seating and a 10x15 for serving area. (took
a large U-Haul truck to get everything there and back)    The meat and
dry goods shopping was done ahead of time with price in mind and
pre-portioned if  necessary. (ever see a meat manager at a grocery store
cry?... they advertised whole bottom round cut to order for .99/lb, and
I needed 120 lbs... shaved!) The rest of the shopping was done day by
day at the local grocery.

  I got the barony to front the money for the supplies by promising them
the profit if there was any.  We sold advance tickets at $14.00 for the
weekend and also advertised the tavern in the advance flyers in
Talewinds and the Seneshals' mailings for 3 months. On site, meals could
be purchased separately at $1 breakfast, $2 lunch, and $3 dinner. Drinks
were free to all because of the extreme heat. (went through 100 gallons
each of lemonade and iced tea, plus 30 gallons of my Lord's mead -yes,
we carded!) Sold 104 advance tickets, which put us in the black before
we ever got on site. With extra shopping trips for charcoal and produce,
we made a $700 profit for the Barony.  Figured by the amount of food
served that we had about 300 customers a day.  Had the most fun I've
ever had at an event... took me three weeks to recover! Made a few
mistakes, but nothing serious, and was "the" hang-out spot for the
event. I would gladly do it again, with one caveat... the whole Barony
cannot be on the crat crew for the event!!!!!!!    I have done 3 of the
last 4 Trimaris Memorial Tourneys  (Spring Crown Lyst- Memorial Day
weekend each year) as feastcrat, cooking all meals with little
difficulty. Here for Kingdom events your budget is preset by the Kingdom
(currently at $5 per head per day). I serve Travelers feast Friday night
, breakfast, lunch and feast on Saturday and Sunday, and breakfast
Monday out of that with no probs. I am not exclusively a period cook,
although about 80- 90% of my recipes are redactions of period recipes.
To see this year's menu , visit :
http://commnections.com/rurik/tmtfeast.htm


Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 08:05:05 -0700
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - What's cooking at the Tabard?

howdy all from Anne-Marie

"Lainie asks:
>       A question came up the other day in my Chaucer seminar- and
>everyone looked at me because they know I'm into medieval food- but I
>really didn't have a decent answer- and the question was:
>
>       What did they serve at the Tabard Inn?
>
>       My best guess was sausage, cheese, bread, ale, wine, maybe pies.
>Does anyone else have ideas about tavern food?

According to the travel journals of Alexander Neckham in Paris, taverns
would often cook whatever foodstuffs the travelers brought with them
(picked up in the market just around the corner, say), for a small fee. He
talks about buying a chicken, having the goodwife cook it, and after dining
on it, he stuffs the leftovers in his wallet to eat on the road.

Margery Kemp describes carefully how she had to provision herself for her
journeys to the holy land, even on shipboard.

I'm wondering how medieval the concept of a tavern where you can buy a full
meal is? Or even if there's a hunk of meat you can buy a slab off of, how
common was it to have more than one choice available? I know the
"restaurant" is a fairly modern concept...

- --AM


Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 12:27:40 +0100
From: "Oughton, Karin (GEIS, Tirlan)" <Karin.Oughton at geis.ge.com>
Subject: RE: SC - What's cooking at the Tabard?

I think it is in PA Hammonds "food and feast in medieval England", that  it
has extensive descriptions of what would now be described as 'greasy joe
cafes ', stalls which provided the ability to buy pies etc for food.
Although the restaurant idea - being able to order to a table from a wide
range is quite new, the buy a standard takeaway over the counter is quite
old!

k.


Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 21:25:09 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - What's cooking at the Tabard?

Karin.Oughton at geis.ge.com writes:
<< I think it is in PA Hammonds "food and feast in medieval England", that  it
 has extensive descriptions of what would now be described as 'greasy joe
 cafes ', stalls w >>

Correct but these were not  'Inns'. There is a description in Le Managier
which says  that if you find your self in an inn find yourself some meat
broth and add spices and then eggs for a soup. I suspect that from this
description inns, at least in the 14th century were not noted for an
abundance of food.

Ras


Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 22:33:32 -0400
From: snowfire at mail.snet.net
Subject: Re: SC - What's cooking at the Tabard?

Some more info on taverns.  Although again, I don't know how old these tavern
practices are (my mother remembers this from when she was a child).  There
was a tavern open early for the early morning workers in the port in the
nearest town to my home village in Wales (Swansea).  They'd have several
different meats available there for the workers, - a beef roast, a leg of
lamb, and some black sausage, as well as pies and crusty bread.  "Everything
was on the counter and covered with tea towels....  They'd slice off what you
wanted, and you'd eat it with a big thick chunk of the bread.  The pies were
pork pies, steak and kidney pies, and veal and ham pie".

BTW re: the Veal and Ham Pie.

Here's what I know about it.  The pie was made in a loaf tin. The pastry
crust was made with a hot vs cold water pastry method.  After rolling the
pastry out, a bottom/side crust was cut and placed into the tin.  Then a
layer of the chopped up veal and ham mixture was put in the bottom and
pressed down firmly. A row of hard boiled eggs was added, end to end, "like a
train" and more of the meat mixture was added around and covering the eggs,
and up to almost the top of the dish. the filling was pressed down firmly,
the top crust was added, sealed around the edges etc., brushed with beaten
egg and the pie was baked.  To serve, it was cooled, turned out upside down,
and sliced like a loaf of bread.

Does anyone have an actual recipe with a proper ingredient list etc. for this
type of pie I wonder?  It seems to be in the same family as a pork pie.

Elysant


Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 11:42:50 CEST
From: "Christina van Tets" <cjvt at hotmail.com>
Subject: SC - leeks, tavern food and galingale

<snip of leek info>

As to tavern food, I would look at one or two pictures - Brueghel for
preference (that lovely one which shows bowls served from a barn door
carried horizontally is my favourite - if you can't get hold of a copy of
the real picture, it's spoofed in Asterix in Belgium).  Didn't someone some
months back mention a practice of serving bowls of various items for a set
price to make things easier in taverns? Was that documented, or just a
guess?

Cairistiona


Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 21:50:44 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Cooking at Faire

chicagojo at rni.net writes:
<< Has anyone done a food booth? I must admit I wonder the logistics of it. Do
 any of the major wars have period or periodish  food booths?
 Estrella had one that had hand held tarts and stuffs, they seemed pretty
 periodish and was pretty good too.  What about Pennsic or Gulf Wars?
 Just curious,
 Zoe >>

Our shire had a food booth at the Lewisburg Arts Festival for several years.
We started out selling homemade soft pretzels and strawberry lemonade. After
a year , we added ginger bread and cardomon cookies. That launched us into a
food booth that was built by our own THL Gille and shiskabobs were added then
spinach pasties. We didn't need any special licence in PA to run it for a day
and we always did well monetarily with it, SFAIK. Perhaps Gille could fill in
on the details that I have overlooked or am unaware of.

So far as Pennsic is concerned, the food merchant business there is pretty
much tied into  just a few merchants. The logistics of feeding a potential
group of several thousand people everyday for a week or so are staggering so
those that are set up are mostly professionals. My favorite eatery is the
emergency squads food tent. Decent food at very reasonable prices. There is
an Italian ice booth, a steak hogie place, an Chinese booth, a Middle eastern
set-up and apizza place. Also on the list is a bread bowl booth, my favorite
place is The Battlefield Bakery which sells completely authentic period pies,
tarts, and other tasty morsels. It is a wee bit pricey but a definite 'gotta
eat there at least once a Pennsic' place. Wonderful food by wonderful and
knowledgeble cooks. :-)

Ras


Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 07:05:25 EDT
From: WOLFMOMSCA at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Cooking at Faire

<< Has anyone done a food booth? I must admit I wonder the logistics of it >>

I was the morning cook for the Triskele Tavern one year at Pennsic.  The
logistics weren't my job (thank ALL the gods), but we kept the problems to a
minimum in a couple of ways.  First off, the menu was limited.  We did
breakfast to order (for which we earned the odd appellation of St. Denny's).
Lunch was usually something they could carry around with them (like sausage
sandwiches with melted Swiss cheese and a dill pickle spear).  Dinner was
usually a pot meal of some sort, including spaghetti, boiled dinner (that's
ham & cabbage for y'all who don't live in New England), chili. etc.

The biggest problem about running a booth on the Food Court is sanitation.
Cleanliness is absolutely necessary, and difficult to achieve in the
primitive conditions at Pennsic, so you cook food that doesn't require a
whole bunch of separate pots & pans.  Saves on the scullery needs.  One of
the things we discovered about our menu was that folks would wander in at
noon, one, even two o'clock, wanting breakfast.  I had a confab with the boss
about three days into War and we basically did away with lunch and served
breakfast until 3:00 in the afternoon.  This simplified our lives and made us
a very popular place.  The fighters loved us because they could get a hot
breakfast, made to order, AFTER they'd fought for a couple of hours and were
ready to actually put real food in their engines, and they didn't have to
walk all the way back to their camps.  Breakfast was basically two eggs, done
the way you wanted, some bacon or sausage, toast, coffee/tea, and my patented
hashbrowns for a crowd.  The night shift at the Tavern had the responsiblity
of cutting and pre-boiling about 50 pounds of potatoes per night.  When I
came in at 0600, the boss had the coofeemakers up and running, and all I had
to do was put together the hashbrowns and start grilling meats.  We had two
regular house-type stoves with ovens, but the tops had been converted to
griddles.  I did hashbrowns in one of those big cast iron deep dish baking
pans laid across two burners.   We opened at 0700, and the steady stream
began.

My only complaint about doing this particular job at Pennsic was the fact
that for two weeks, no matter how many showers I had or how many times I
washed my hair, I always smelled like breakfast.  It's not exactly my
favorite scent, y'know?  But the boss took care of me pretty well.  Lady
Jane, his lovely wife, made sure she got my laundry from me when she was
going off-site to do theirs, I never wanted for food, and I had something
constructive to do for the entire war.  And I did meet some of the most
marvelous personages as they staggered into the Tavern, coffee mugs in hand,
bleary-eyed.  All in all, it was a very good year.

Wolfmother


Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 16:00:25 -0400
From: Warren & Meredith Harmon <ravenleaf at juno.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Medieval Bombards - An Explanation

>Bombards ... are Medieval, leather pitchers or jugs. ...  Far superior to
>ceramic, as they don't break if you drop them.

Weeellll, depends on what you are looking for.  The bombards I've seen
are usually lined with wax, because leather alone has a tendency to leak.
 Sometimes that wax is a pain in the tookus, especially during cleaning.

>They also won't kill someone
>if you hit them upside the head with it in a tavern brawl.

Giggle!  Depends on what type of mug you use!  An English "brawler", a
mug of a particular shape, was intended for just that purpose: when
English taverns outlawed glasses because drunk patrons were using them as
"street knives", the patrons started bringing thicker pottery mugs that
could withstand the double duty.  If you ever see me at an event, my
regular mug just happens to be a brawler...no connection, though...  ;-)
I've had it for two years of really heavy abuse at events *and* Ren
faires, and there's only one chip in it.

-Caro


Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 08:57:54 -0800
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
Subject: SC - Back to the Cookhouse!

Remember a couple of months ago when we were discussing having a booth
at Pennsic, and how part of our wanders included the plaint 'but we
can't find info on period food booths!' Well, I found some last night!

_Norman London_ by William FitzStephen, trans. Frank Stenton (full cite
at the end of the post).

pg. 52-

"...Moreover there is in London upon the river's bank, amid the wine
that is sold from ships and wine-cellars, a public cookshop. There
daily, according to the season, you may find viands, dishes roast,
fried, and boiled, fish great and small, the coarser flesh for the poor,
the more delicate for the rich, such as venison and birds both big and
little. If friends, weary with travel, should of a sudden come to any of
the citizens, and it is not thier pleasure to wait fasting till fresh
food is bought and cooked and "till servants bring water for hands and
bread" they hasten to the river bank, and there all things desirable are
ready to their hand. However great the infinitude of knights or
foreigners that enter the city or about to leave it, at whatever hour of
night or day, that the former may not last too long nor the latter
depart without their dinner, they turn aside thither, if it so please
them, and refresh themselves, each after his own manner. Those who
dseire to fare delicately, need not search to find sturgeon or
"Guinea-fowl" or "Ionian francolin", since all the dainties that are
found there are set forth before their eyes. Now this is a public
cookshop, appropriate to a city and pertaining to the art of civic life.
Hence that saying which we read in the _Gorgias_ of Plato, to wit, that
the art of cookery is a counterfeit of medicine and a flattery of the
fourth part of the art of civic life."


Now I want to know what is 'Ionian francolin' and can we cook it in a
Coleman!

'Lainie

Citation:

*CALL #       DA680 .F58 1990.
TITLE        Descriptio nobilissimae civitatis Londoniae. English.
TITLE        Norman London / William Fitz Stephen. Norman London : an essay / 
               by Sir Frank Stenton ; introduction by F. Donald Logan.
AUTHOR       Fitzstephen, William, d. 1190?
PUBLISHER    New York : Italica Press, 1990.
DESCRIPTION  xv, 109 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
NOTES        Originally published in 1934 as Historical Association leaflets 
               nos. 93, 94.
NOTES        Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-96) and index.
ALT AUTHOR   Stenton, F. M. (Frank Merry), 1880-1967. Norman London.
SUBJECT      London (England) -- History -- To 1500 -- Sources.
SUBJECT      Great Britain -- History -- Norman period, 1066-1154.
SUBJECT      Normans -- England -- London -- History -- Sources.


Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 12:46:54 US/Eastern
From: harper at idt.net
Subject: Re: SC - Back to the Cookhouse!

> Now I want to know what is 'Ionian francolin' 

A francolin is a bird related to quails and partridges.  I don't know which 
species "Ionian" would be, but presumably one which is (or was) found in 
Greece.  Francolins are mentioned in "The Birds" by Aristophanes, and are 
listed by Enrique de Villena in his carving manual as a bird eaten in Spain.

> and can we cook it in a Coleman!

I'm sure you could.

> 'Lainie

Brighid


Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 12:14:11 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Back to the Cookhouse!

A francolin is any bird of the genus Francolinus.  They are related to and
look similar to partridges and quails.  Found in Eurasia and Africa.  I
would say "Ionian francolin" roughly translates to "Turkish partridge," as
Ionia is a Greek Province on the coast of Asia Minor.

Bear

> Now I want to know what is 'Ionian francolin' and can we cook it in a
> Coleman!
> 
> 'Lainie


Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 12:22:37 -0500
From: "Michael Gunter" <countgunthar at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Running an Inn???

>I will be running an Inn for lunch and dinner during a
>single day at the War of the Lilies this year.  I have
>only done feasts before - never any Inn's.  So, I have
>a bunch of questions.

I've run taverns before for long weekend events and it is
both a lot of work and a lot of fun.
We started a discussion similar to this after Pennsic from
a conversation I had with Cariadoc and Elizabeth at the
potluck. I think a further discussion is very warranted.

>I will have a large (commercial-sized) grill available to
>cook on.  It may be hot and humid, or it may be cool
>and rainy.  What is best served under these conditions?

Sausages are always a good bet. Also meat pies or pasties
(although I don't believe pasties are documentably period)
are good choices and can be made ahead. They are good at
ambient temps. If you get a Coleman oven that really helps
as well.

Are you going for period dishes or general perioid foods?

Grilled chicken, portabellas, pots of stew, vegetarian pasties,
fruit pies or tarts, stir-fry, flavored ices, shish-kebabs,
pickles, "plowman's lunches" (cheese, fruit, bread, maybe
a bit of meat in a napkin), wafers on a griddle, hanony,
lotsa stuff.

>I will be hauling the food in that morning.  What can
>be made ahead and easily stored?  What has to be
>made on site?

Many things can be made ahead. Shish-kebabs can be marinated
and frozen, pies and tarts can be made ahead, stew can be
frozen, pickle vegetables or eggs, cukskynoles can be frozen.

Hanony is as easy as scrambling eggs, wafers are like
pancakes. Plowman's lunches are cut and assembled quickly.

>What kind of prices would you pay for a lunch?

Have various dishes. Going from 50 cents for fruit or pickles
to up to $5 for shish-kebabs or larger dishes. It depends
on how much food you wish to provide. Basically if the dish
will fill a person $3 - $5 is reasonable.

>For an evening meal?

It could be identical to lunch or you could have dinner
specials with rice or additions for around $6 - $7. That's
the average cost for most food stands at the major Wars.
Basically figure out how much the dish costs to make and
then add around 10% - 20% profit margin. That is if you are
basically covering costs of food and other expenses like space,
napkins, dishes, time, etc...  For a profit making enterprise
you can up it to 25% or even higher if you feel the market
will bear the cost.

>Kateryn

Gunthar


Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 07:37:17 -0400
From: "Siegfried Heydrich" <baronsig at peganet.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Running an Inn???

    My household has been doing a tavern for the last couple of reigns, and
are doing quite well. I was approached by the KS last year, who asked that I
consider selling food & drink to the populace, as all the others who had
been doing this had gone away . . .
    We did so, and overachieved just a tad. We've done 3 coro/crowns, and
now have a 20" x 40' pavilion, a full set of prep / serving tables that are
stained, varnished, and painted with the House badge, tables & seating for
40+, tasteful & discreet lighting, lots of tiki torches that use LP cans and
also burn citronella cartridges, lots o' decorations, and a field kitchen
trailer.
    This is a 6' x 12' (in its current incarnation - this is a work truly in
progress) trailer with a 36"x30"x18" smoker / oven, a 3 burner gas stove w/
oven, fold down utility sink, plumbing, permanent gas lines, set up for
power, etc. It has all the pots, pans, knives, trays, etc, that I need. I
can serve 500 a day easily out of this puppy. And each time we use it, it
gets modified and improved. It's largely been built by my protÈgÈ, who is a
retired marine, VW mechanic and computer tech, who builds cars to order. You
should've seen the VW dump truck . . .
    We've been selling rats on a stick, kebabs, grilled sausages,
frankfurters, sekanjabin & sodas, but the salads and lighter foods just
didn't sell. People down here are unrepentant carnivores, and want fat &
protein. We're thinking about simplifying breakfast - last time we did eggs,
choice of meats, hash browns, toast and coffee, which was too hectic. Scotch
eggs, oat cakes with marmalade, and strong coffee with a pinch of salt - the
breakfast of champions! I figure we'll sell 'em in a brown paper bag and
open a drive thru for the fighters on the way to the field . . .

    Sieggy


Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 15:57:40 -0700
From: "Bonne of Traquair" <oftraquair at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Running an Inn???

>Sausages are always a good bet. Also meat pies or pasties
>(although I don't believe pasties are documentably period)
>are good choices and can be made ahead. They are good at
>ambient temps.

Better, place individual pies or pasties on the grill, out of the direct 
line of the flames, and they will warm nicely. On a wood fired grill, 
customers may appreciate the items having been wrapped in foil so as to 
avoid the smoky taste.  If the grill is large enough, have a dutch oven to 
one side to hold heated pies/pasties warm until needed. Thinking as I type, 
you could even heat them within the dutch oven, again, to avoid smoking 
them.

Bonne


From: "Siegfried Heydrich" <baronsig at peganet.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 11:33:19 -0400
Subject: [Sca-cooks] serving breakfasts

    Putting out leftovers is an excellent way for the feastcrat to simply
make sure that food doesn't go to waste. Throwing out food is a major
bugaboo for me . . . If the 'crats are serving all meals, then it's great
for stretching your budget, though sunday breakfast isn't a big mover
(unless it's a 4 day event), as most people usually don't stop throwing up
before 8 . . .

   Breakfast isn't a high profit item for us; it's very labor and equipment
intensive, and the potential for wastage / spoilage is high. But since we
set up the tavern as a service to the Kingdom (all the other food vendors
went away for a variety of reasons, and we were asked to pick up the slack),
we serve it simply because someone has to.

    We charge $4 for a basic 'murcan breakfast - scrambled eggs (though
we'll do them to order if circumstances allow), a choice of bacon, sausage,
or corned beef hash, home fries, toast with butter & jelly, and the nectar
of the sacred bean. We generally pile on the carbs, as most SCAdians have
mongo appetites. We make a profit, but not all that great.

    If you want to do a breakfast tavern, make sure the power you'll be
pulling won't trip the breakers (they're usually inaccessible), and that the
people who are supposed to be working it don't get too blasted the night
before. One real problem is getting your workers out of the sack . . .

    If the site kitchen is available, use it, but make sure you get out of
there before the feastcrat starts up. Make sure it's clean before you leave,
or you'll never hear the end of it. If you have to use your own equipment,
make really sure it all works ahead of time!! (whoo, boy . . .) The best
advice I can give is to plan well, and be prepared to wing it when something
goes wrong. And it will . . .

    Sieggy


From: Jamie Lennon <jlennon at ssl.umd.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Taverns
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 12:44:47 -0500
Organization: University of Maryland Space Systems Laboratory

David Friedman wrote:
> I was thinking specifically of a tavern, not a feast. I think taverns
> are more common in modern fantasy novels than in period accounts.

More common, true, although I've scrounged a few late period examples of taverns -
in an attempt to educate fans of aforesaid modern fantasy, in fact!

None were in the area under discussion (Scandanavia), though.

- The Tabard in Chepeside serves as a gathering place for an assortment of
characters, rude and refined, in Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" (late 14th cen) Just like in a bad fantasy RPG, they all meet in the tavern, have dinner, and sleep there.

- Don Quixote stays in a number of roadside taverns/inns in La Mancha in Cervantes' late 16th-cen work.  These seemed more like fortified stables than anything else, with guests being expected to supply their own beds.  Food, if served, was of dubious quality.  (How much these characteristics were exaggerated for comic effect is up for grabs).

-And there's plenty of Elizabethan literature about the hazards of taverns,
ordinaries, inns, and so on.  They were prime places for card sharks, dice cheats, and other unsavory types to hang out.

I'm quite interested in adding to the list, if anyone is aware of any other period references to taverns.

-Teleri


From: rwilley at isi.com (richard e. willey)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Taverns
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 22:52:18 GMT

>I'm quite interested in adding to the list, if anyone is aware of any other 
>period references to taverns.

Not quite the same as a tavern, but the Turkish "caravanserai" served
many of the same purposes.

Hrothgar


From: mittle at panix.com (Arval d'Espas Nord)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Taverns
Date: 13 Dec 2001 14:51:27 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC

> I'm quite interested in adding to the list, if anyone is aware of any other 
> period references to taverns.

Shakespeare's Henry IV, of course, where Prince Hal hangs out with Falstaff
and company in a tavern.

I believe at least one of the medieval Robin Hood stories involves a
tavern.  (Several of the modern stories do, but _most_ of the modern
stories were thoroughly re-written in the 17th-20th centuries.)
======================================================================
Arval d'Espas Nord                                         mittle at panix.com


From: clevin at ripco.com (Craig Levin)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Taverns
Date: 14 Dec 2001 17:20:15 GMT
Organization: Ripco Internet, Chicago

Chretien de Troyes' _Knight of the Cart_ has Sir Lancelot heading
incognito into a tavern as a poor knight who wants to participate
in a tournament. While doing so, he hangs out a shield. A herald,
who seems to have blown his tabard and pants on dice, happens by
afterwards, and, not recognizing the arms on the shield, heads
inside to see whose arms they are. He comes upon Sir Lancelot,
who lets him know that he's in disguise, the arms are also a
ruse, and not to tell anybody that Sir Lancelot will be in the
tournament. The herald agrees, heads out, and lets people know
that the odds have changed on who will possibly win the
tournament, but doesn't name names. 

Pedro (who avoids dice, in accordance with the promise he made
when he took up the post of Storvik Pursuivant)
--
http://pages.ripco.net/~clevin/index.html 
clevin at rci.ripco.com
Craig Levin                             Librarians Rule Oook!


Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 23:32:33 -0500
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] bread documentation
To: SCA-Cooks maillist SCA-Cooks <SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org>

Cadoc asked:
> Hey, I am looking for books specifically on medieval food artisans,
> mostly bread, but can be practically anything.  I'm looking more
> into documentation on the places food was made and the how.

A couple of books from my library which might be of interest:
>>>
Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World
Bennett, Judith M.
ISBN: 0-19-512650-5
Oxford University

Women brewed and sold most of the ale drunk in medieval England, but
after 1350, men slowly took over the trade. By 1600, most brewers in
London, as well as in many towns and villages, were male, not female.
Drawing on a wide variety of sources, such as literary and artistic
materials, court records, accounts, and administrative orders, this
book describes how brewsters (that is, female brewers) slowly left the
trade. She tells a story of commercial growth, gild formation, changing
technologies, innovative regulations, and finally, enduring ideas that
linked brewsters with drunkenness and disorder. Examining this instance
of seemingly dramatic change in women's status, Bennett argues that it
included significant elements of continuity. Women might not have
brewed in 1600 as often as they had in 1300, but they still worked
predominantly in low-status, low-skilled, and poorly remunerated tasks.
This book uses the experiences of brewsters to rewrite the history of
women's work during the rise of capitalism.
<<<

Inns, Ales and Drinking Customs of Old England
Hackwood, Frederick W.
ISBN: 1-85170-069-2
Texas Bookman

Restaurateurs and Innkeepers (Work Througout History Series)
Franck, Irene M.
ISBN: 0-8160-1451-5
Work throughout history series
Facts on File, Inc.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
     Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas


Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 19:38:14 -0400
From: Patrick Levesque <pleves1 at po-box.mcgill.ca>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Interesting link: 17th century Inns
To: "Cooks wthin the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>"
	<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>,	"EKCooksGuild at yahoogroups.com"
	<EKCooksGuild at yahoogroups.com>

http://www.ifrance.com/seuaj/auberges.htm

Text on the location, building disposition, market value, as well as
furniture and kitchen implement inventories of two 17th century French 
Inns

The text is in French, however.

Petru


Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:20:42 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] inns, taverns and food
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

I have to point out that this book was originally published in 1909
or 1910, so the information and research dates from that era.

Johnnae

Stefan li Rous wrote:

> I can't find my copy right now, but folks interested in this might try
> to find this book:
> Inns, Ales and Drinking Customs of Old England
> Hackwood, Frederick W.
> ISBN: 1-85170-069-2
> Texas Bookman
> 1996


Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 16:59:27 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] inns, taverns and food
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

What I meant by pointing out that Hackwood is old
is just that. It's almost a century old.

There's over 100 that turn up in a search on using
terms England tavern history. 1000 works turn up
under England and tavern. Inn(tavern) is most often seen
by the way in terms of LCSHeadings.

The English alehouse :a social history, 1200-1830 /
Peter Clark   1983
English Book Book xiv, 353 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
London ; New York : Longman, ; ISBN: 0582508355 (pbk.)

The English inn, past and present; a review of its history and social
life, A E Richardson, Sir;  Harold Donaldson Eberlein 1968, 1925
English Book Book xi, 307 p. illus., maps, plans. 26 cm.
New York, B. Blom, {this is another older title}

Taverns and tokens of Pepys' London /George Berry;  Samuel Pepys
1978 English Book Book 144 p. :ill. ; 25 cm.
London : Seaby, ; ISBN: 090065242X :

Inns and alehouses of Abingdon, 1550-1978 / Jacqueline Smith;  John B
Carter 1989 2nd ed.
English Book Book 128 p. : ill., maps ; 22 cm.
Abingdon [Oxfordshire, England] : J. Smith, J. Carter, ; ISBN: 
0950768014

The licensees of the inns, taverns and beerhouses of Banbury,
Oxfordshire : from the fifteenth century to today /
Author: Wood, Vera, 1931-
Publication: Oxford : Oxfordshire Family History Society, 1998

The Innholders :a history of the Worshipful Company of Innholders /
Stephen Coote 2002
English Book Book 277 p. : ill. (chiefly col.), maps, ports. (some col.)
; 24 cm. Cirencester : Collectors' Books, ; ISBN: 0946604223

This was a thesis done in 1942--
Inns and taverns and English literature, 1558-1642 / Vivian Sutton
1987, 1942. UMI offers it.

There are also numerous papers too. There's been a lot done on this
topic.

Johnnae


Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 10:32:52 -0500
From: Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A college class... on Coffee
To: Cooks within the CA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Someone said

>>> I think there may be a cultural tradition for hot drinks in period,
>>> but not associated with a caffeine ruh, so...

Someone replied

>> The alehouse replaced the tabernae later in period (more likely
>> was just another incurrence of the same style of business, not
>> a direct descendant) and
>> then the coffeehouse was a branch off of that same tree when
>> coffee arrived on the scene in the 1600's.

_Coffee and coffeehouses : the origins of a social beverage in the
Medieval Near East_ by Ralph S. Hattox

talks extensively about the whole coffeehouse thing in the Middle East
and how the Muslim theologians said it was alright to drink coffee if
you didn't drink it in the same fashion as one would drink wine-- that
is, if coffee was a beverage used to improve concentration for
meditation and prayer, it was all right, but drinking coffee socially,
especially in coffee houses, was like drinking wine and therefore wrong.

There's some interesting stuff about the development of Taverns in a
book I just ILL'd... here's a section I've already transcribed into my
blog:

From Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by Richard W. Unger
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2004):

     "In fourteenth-century Hamburg, the town formalized the connections
between brewery and tavern, ordering that beer could be served for the
public only in the house where it was brewed. Such extreme restrictions
were rare. Tavern keepers who were not brewers were often poor and had
to get credit from their supplier. Tied by debt to a certain brewer, they
also became tied as the seller of that brewer's beer. Since taverns were
contining institutions and often in convenient locations, next to
markets or on harbors, they became places to meet and to do business.
Tavern keepers were generally legally free businessmen and
businesswomen, often invested with certain public functions includng
the collection of tolls and of taxes, and not just on beer. In Poland,
law courts and even moneyers operated, on occasion, in taverns. Polish
tavern keepers enjoyed higher status as a result of the varied functions
of their institution. Tavern keepers usually operated on what amounted
to a license from a lord who let the tavern operate on payment of a fee.
Outside of Poland, taverns may not have played such a prominent role in
the local and regional economy, but taverns were, at least by the
thirteenth century, a common part of life in much of northern and
eastern Europe. By the thirteenth century, Polish taverns, as their
numbers increased and the economy developed, became more like taverns in
England and the Low Countries, existing less as centers of business and
administration and more as meeting places for the amusement of farmers
and peasants." p.51
-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 


Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 11:18:07 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Ale was A college class... on Coffee
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Actually there's a woman's history aspect here--
Check out Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a
Changing World by Judith Bennett.
Women brewed and sold most of the ale drunk in medieval England, but
after 1350, men slowly took over the trade. By 1600, most brewers in
London--as well as in many towns and villages--were male, not female.
Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England investigates this transition, asking
how, when, and why brewing ceased to be a women's trade and became a
trade of men.

Johnnae

Bill Fisher wrote:

> snipped
> In the case of the alehouse, it is probably a matter of economics.
>
> 1.  You make ale
> 2.  People like your ale.
> 3.  Ale is a pain to ship
> 4.  having a place where you can sell your ale and people can
> drink it there, mans you don't have to ship it
> 5.  having social meetings there as well means people drink more ale.
>
> The alehouses evolved into the public house later, or pub.
> Cadoc


Date: Thu, 04 May 2006 12:00:31 -0700
From: elisabetta at klotz.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Luncheon Question (Martha Oser)
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

> I know that many of you have done dayboards in a period style, but have
> actual lunch taverns ever been offered?  What dishes worked and  
> what didn't?
>
> -Helena Sibylla

When you ask for "tavern" foods, is this foods you eat with your hands, or
actual foods eaten in the taverns and by the lower classes?

We have a tavern event every year, I cooked it the years it had a Scottish theme
and a Persian/Syrian theme. (the place and time change, but it is always a
tavern with simple fare).

Scottish: I made small meat pies, soups, larger pies (steak and mushroom,
chicken, leek and cheese) and Scotch eggs (hard-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage
and deep fried).

Persian/Syrian: I forget the names, but there was a hard-boiled egg wrapped in
rice and beef (cooked in the oven), a lemon chicken with pasta (and spices)
(this was a kid favorite), a fish in garlic and bitter orange sauce, a hot
lentil dish, Turkish coffee and yummy nuts balls for dessert.

The dayboard this year at Mudthaw was all meatpies (the dayboard cooks only
wanted foods you could eat with your hands). There was a beef, a spinach and
cheese and an apple version; all were made with pizza dough and fit in your
hand. These were very well received and very tasty.

I have found that small pies work very well, as well as things like scotch eggs.
I did miss one event that had shish-ka-bobs and everyone was raving about them
(people like food on a stick).

Elisabetta


From: "Ghita Amati" <Ghita_Amati at peoplepc.com>
Date: April 15, 2008 10:23:17 AM CDT
To: <trimaris-temp at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [tri-temp] Re: The Salty Tusk Tavern Returns at TMT

Just some suggestions...

There are a few vegans in the SCA crowd.....

Some people are allergic to artifical sweetners, if you use them to make tea, lemonade, punch, or anything, PLEASE label it...

Ground cushions sound absolutly great to me, Id prefer it to a chair anyday...but not everyone thinks like me. (thank god)

ghita~


From: "Shannon Gately" <RandomMongol at gmail.com>
Date: April 16, 2008 7:12:02 AM CDT
To: trimaris-temp at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [tri-temp] The Salty Tusk Tavern Returns at TMT

There is nothing wrong with the suggestions that have come up. They
are just suggestions/opinions. I am sure Scott is wise enough to know
what he can and cannot do and still remain a cost effective option to
the populace.

Scott, I suggest unsweet tea all around and let others sweeten to
their own personal taste. Otherwise the tea will frequently be too
sweet or not sweet enough. There is no way to have everyone agree on
how sweet tea should be.

IF it is affordable, you might offer lemon wedges or lemon juice for
people to add to tea. Again, that is a "to taste" preference.

As for those requesting sweetners of one type but not the other,
consider bringing your own. A couple of packets of "Sweetner XYZ"
will take up very little space in your pouch. You don't carry a
pouch? Tuck them in a sock or bra. Now everyone has the sweetner
they prefer. Problem solved.

Trying to cater to your own preferences yourself guarantees your
personal satisfaction AND will allow Scott to concentrate on the
larger requests.

Scott, have you considered BBQ beef sandwiches? I have NO idea if
this could be done affordably...cooking is most definitely NOT my
arena. I know they sell some pre-made stuff. Or if labor is not a
problem (fork shredding once completely cooked) maybe you could get
roasts (or whatever type of beef is usually used) fairly inexpensive.
I just know that bbq sandwiches are usually crowd pleasers.

At TMT I would definitely suggest plenty of fresh fruit. That event
is historically remarkably hot.

Also as has been discussed here in the past, wherever possible you
might want to put your table legs in plastic cups of water. The ants
do not usually cross that type of border.

Just a few thoughts...


Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:51:36 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Myth of Spoiled Meat

For cook shops see the following
Start out with Carlin and Rosenthal's
Food and Eating in Medieval Europe.
Hambledon Press, 1998. The papers of interest in it
are the following:

Martha Carlin's "Fast Food and Urban Living Standards
in Medieval England."

Margaret Murphey's "Feeding Medieval Cities:
Some Historical Approaches."

Both have great bibliographies.

Also see:
Feeding A City: York which is the Leeds Conference
on foods in York. Published by Prospect Books in 2000
and edited by Eileen White.

Two others to look at:
London Eats Out. 500 Years of Capital Dining.
London: Museum of London and Philip Wilson Publishers, 1999.

and

Londoners' larder : English cuisine from Chaucer to the present /
Annette Hope. 1990

Of those two, Hope is the better book.

Johnnae llyn Lewis


From: Cisco Cividanes <engtrktwo at gmail.com>
Date: August 16, 2010 10:38:23 PM CDT
To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] General event question

I have never decided a on an event based on feast. However, the
Quality of a previous year's feast does affect my decision to order
feast the following year.

Taverns are nice, prices in advance are nice.  And if the prices look
good, I usually budget to eat there. An all-day, one-time  rate is
convenient, but at the same time I also appreciate the option of just
getting a bite here or there. In general, I will pay fair rates for
good food.

I can't speak for anyone else, but bottomless drink offers are always
a hit with me. (especially if they are climate appropriate: Iced in
the summer, and warm/hot in the winter). I haven't actually seen too
many of them, but those that I did I took part in.

As an aside, if you want to decent return investment, snag the site
herald in the morning, and offer to feed him (or her) if they will
advertise for your tavern. I can't tell you how many free meals that's
gotten me as a herald,  and most taverns that did that usually
commented about a noticeable increase in business as the word got out.

Ivo Blackhawk


Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2011 10:20:44 +0200
From: Ana Vald?s <agora158 at gmail.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] period tavern foods

Gruel was eaten in taverns, roasted meat in all forms, broth with turnips
and cabbage, ale of course, sausages, pies, onions in all forms, carrots,
fish, boiled or roasted, bread, eggs. Chaucer or Rabelais or Bocaccio are
good sources for it.

Ana


Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:15:56 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] period tavern foods

Of course there is this paper:

Carlin, Martha. "Fast food and Urban Living Standards
in Medieval England."

appears in the volume:
Food and Eating in Medieval England,
edited by Martha Carlin and Joel T. Rosenthal. London: The
Hambledon Press, 1998. ISBN: 1-85285-148-1.

Johnnae


Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:00:38 -0400
From: "Philip Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] period tavern foods

On Mon, 2011-09-05 at 23:52 -0500, Stefan li Rous wrote:
<<< Giano's air dried sausages look like they might be a good choice for a  
tavern foods.

Stefan >>>

Yes. The recipe Giano quoted referred to these sausages being good for a
salad, as I recall. High Plat's recipe for Polonian Sawsedge (which,
indications are, is an Englishman's take on Polska Kielbasa) states that
it is good for a sallet, or to make one relish a cup of wine.

NOTE: See the Florilegium sausages-msg file for Giano's air dried sausage recipe. - Stefan]

Adamantius

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