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BB-Dragonship-art - 11/18/99

Baronial Birthday event for the Barony of Dragonship Haven in the East Kingdom on Dec. 5, 1998. The headcok was Jeffrey Gedney (Brandu).

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It was for the Baronial Birthday event for the Barony of Dragonship Haven in

the East Kingdom.

The event was Dec 5, 1998 and took place at the Golden Hill United Methodist

Church, In Bridgeport, Connecticut (Canton of DragonForge, Barony Dragonship

Haven).

We had 100 people attending on-board (according to the autocrat, but I don't

cook that way, so I cooked for 104 (we seat 8 to a table, around here), and

I adjusted the recipes I subsequently posted in cases where I had an

over-abundance of food, to correct for the serving sizes, so that persons

following the recipes do not also overbuy.

The hall was lovely and "medievaloid", and the kitchen was to die for

(huge!!!, A large Commercial Range, with three "double" ovens, a four bay

Pizza oven, and plenty enough space to work in!! and all the pots we need,

and a hobart mixer!)

Brandu

---------------

Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 13:30:51 -0500

From: "Gedney, Jeffrey" <gedje01 at mail.cai.com>

Subject: SC - My first feast is over. Here's what happened:

Setup

Bread,

Garlic butter and Butter

the first course

Souppes

Leche Lumbard

Butturd Wortys

Chickyn yn Gretney

Sauce camelyn

Soteltie = Hattes

the second course

Bread

Tartys of Flesche

Alosed beef

Sallet

Bastons

The third course

Bread

Garleky Beef

Douse Desire

Frumente

Joutys

Pears in syrip

"Dessert" soteltie

the recipes:

Souppes

Take marye; do hit yn a pot with hony, poudyr of pepyr, poudyr

of ginger & canell & ale & aleye hit. Take brede; cut hit in

gobettys. Tost hem, couch hem yn disches. Loke thy syrup be

salt; yyf hit a coulour of safron and serve hit forthe.

- ---------------------

This went off better than I expected. I made it four days before. Having

never cooked with Marrow before, I found out that it was almost entirely

comprised of fat. I had I lot of trouble removing it from the bones, and

grinding it, as it made everything slippery and stickey(although my hands

felt nice and smooth). I used:

(serves about one hundred and twenty)

6 large beef shank bones with the ends cut off (got a little over a pound &

a half of marrow)

A pound and a quarter of honey

A twelvepack of Sam Adams (I had trouble gettin a decent ale, and keeping it

in the amount budgeted, but this I had lying around from Thanksgiving).

Owo tablespoons of cinnamon,

One Tablespoons of Pepper

One tablespoons ginger pouder.

Eight long ( about two and a half feet) Four day old french bread loaves cut

into slices

Boil everything together, till the volume is reduced by about a fifth. cool,

skim off most of the fat, leaving as much of the scummy stuff as possible

(easier if refridgerated).

Heat, stir, and ladle into bowls with chunks of bread in them.

(This was the first of the glitches, I accidentally added about three times

the pepper, because I did not check that the lid of the pepper jar was on

correctly!. Luckily, after I refridgerated it, the pepper stayed mostly in

the plastic container, because it preciptiated out with some of solids, and

I had a good clear broth, and transfered only some of the solids. It came

off well, and was liked)

- ---------------------

Leche Lumbard

Boyle datys in swete wyne; grynd hem. Draw hem with the

same wyne as chargeaunt as ye may do em, yn a pott with sygure.

Boyle hit. Put therto poudur of gynger & canell, a grete dele;

stere hit well togedyr. Yf hit be nowghte styfe ynowght, put

thereto hard yolks of eyron or gratyd brede; or els thu may

boyle brawn and draw hit thorow a streynour withour eny lycour.

in the boylyng, do hit togedyr. Also thu may do with al maner

of leche lumbard that thu makyste, and yn lentyn tyme thu may

hav of sundez of stockfisch. when hit ys boyled, take out of the

pott; do hit on a bord. Presse hit togedyr. when hit is colde,

cut hit in brede leches & serve hit forth, a leche or ii in a dysch,

and power a little clarre aboven.

- ---------------------

This came off very well, and was well recieved.

Four Pounds of Pitted dates

Three cups sugar

Two to three cups well dried plain white bread crumbs

Three tablespoons of Cinnamon

One tablespoon of Ginger Powder

Ginger powder to garnish

More white bread crumbs

Red Wine (I used Almaden

Put dates in pot and add enough wine to cover them plus one inch. Boil it

for about twenty minutes (the skins should come off the dates.) Sieve out

the dates, reserving the wine.

Grind the dates in a processor until smooth, adding only enough reserved

wine to enable processing. The dates should be a thick smooth paste like

cooked oatmeal, and hold the shape of a spoon wen drawn through. It should

not be runny.

Put the paste into a pot, add sugar, spices, and, a scant cup of wine, (less

if the paste is thin or runny)

and heat, slowly, stirring until spices and sugar dissolves, and the mixture

is heated through. (careful , it will burn quickly!). Stir in the bread

crumbs, and take off heat, let it cool to a handling temperature.

Strew breadcrumbs on a sheet of plastic wrap, and plop a generous amount of

the mixture on the crumbs. Roll up into a thick (1 1/2 to 2 inches diameter)

log shape and wrap with the plastic, and refridgreate. repeat for as When

completely cooled, unwrap, cut into thick slices (about 3/4 inch) and

arrange in bowl, sprinkle with ginger, and serve.

makes enough for 120

- ---------------------

Butturd wortys

Take al maner of good herbes that thu mayste get. Peke hem,

weshe hem, hewe hem; boyle hem in fayre water. Put butter

therto, clarified, a grete dele, when they be boyled ynow.

Salte hem; let none otemele come theryn. Dyse bred to

smale gobbettys, and do in dishes, and powre wortys

theruppon, and serve hem forth.

- ---------------------

Two large bunches Turnip Greens

Two large bunches Mustard Greens

Two large bunches Collard Greens

One large bunch Italian parsely

3 lbs butter

About 16 cups plain untoasted white bread croutons

Stem and coarsely chop greens and parsely. Lightly Parboil them (until

wilted and bright green) and sieve out the water. Melt and clarify butter

and mix with the greens. Pour mixture over croutons in bowls, and serve

Makes enough for 96

- ---------------------

Chickyn yn gretney

Boyle chickens in good broth, and rese the thyys and the wyngys

& the brestys. Take mylke of almonds unblanched; draw up withe

the same brothe & poudyr of canell & a perty of wyne, sygure,

saffron, & salt. Do hit togedyr yn a pott; set on the fyre.

Stere hit when hit boyles. Sesyn hit up with poudyr of gyngyr

& verjus. Lay the chikenys hote yn disches. Have yolkes of

eyron soden hard, and fryed a lytyll; couch on aboute the

wyngez & the thyes.

- ---------------------

I blew it on the verjuice, I forgot to make it ahead of time, and so I left

it out. The sauce was served in bowls on the side, and the chickens were

roasted with lemon and rosmary and sage. It is not exactly to the original,

but it was damn good, and people were demolishing the chickens. They did not

come back at all! They were loudly praised, and people were making those

noises like Meg Ryan in the restaraunt orgasm scene from "Sleepless in

Seattle" as they ate them!

Some raved about the sauce, some did not. But I expected that.

what I did:

(serves 112)

Chickens:

14 broilers

14 small lemons

14 4 inch twigs of fresh rosemary

3 to 4 tbs of whole dried sage

Kosher salt

Almond milk:

Two cups whole almonds, finely ground

40 oz Can Chicken broth

1/4 cup White Zinfandell Wine

28 hard boiled eggs, sliced in half longwise

1 tbs cinnamon

!/2 tsp saffron threads crushed to 1/8

1/2 tbs Kosher salt

1/2 cup red wine

With the broth and the ground almonds, draw up a milk, adding the zinfandell

wine.

Clean and rinse the chickens, removing the giblets & garbage. Rub the birds

inside and out woth Kosher salt. Put a twig of rosemary and a lemon into

each bird. Rub and sprinkle the sage on the birds. cover with foil and bake

at 375 degrees. After a while remove the foil and rotate the pans in the

oven to brown the birds. when done remove the birds, and let them rest 10 to

15 minutes, no more. Set them on platters, setting the eggs around them.

While the birds are browning, heat the almond milk, adding the sugar,

spices, and wine and bring to a light boil. wwhen it has boiled for a while

and everything is dissolved, remove from heat.

When the birds are ready, serve the sauce in bowls alongside the birds.

- --The original recipe calls for adorning the birds with the sauce, and

piecing the chickens. I did not remove the wings and legs and thighs,

because the bird were falling apart all by themselves. I cooked them 4 to a

large foil roasting pan covered with foil, and they cooked in about 3 inches

of their own juices, like they were cooked in a clay pot, and just as tender

and juicy. I lucked out on these chickens. I plan on going back to that

butcher again!)

- ---------------------

Sauce camelyn

Take whyte bred & draw hit in the maner if sauce gynger,

with venyger; & put therto poudyr of canell, a grete dele,

& poudyr of gynger & poudyr lumbard, and draw hit ayen,

& yf thu wilt, draw a lytyll mustard therewith, & sesyn

it up with sygure that hit be doucete, Salt hit & color

hit with saffron.

- ---------------------

4 cups plain white bread crumbs

40 oz cider vinegar

4 tbs cinnamon

2 tbs Lumbard powder (3 parts nutmeg, 2 part cloves, 1part Grains of

Paradise, 1 part pepper)

2 tsp Mustard powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp saffron threads crushed to 1/8

Mix everything and boil it 10 minutes, stirring continuously.

Put it in bowls and serve it up with chicken

- ---------------------

Hattes

Make a past of paryd floure, knodyn with yolkes of eyron;

& make a stuf of vele & porke, sodyn & groundyn, with

yolkes of eyron; marydysed, & datys mynsyd; corauns;

sigure,safron & salt & poudyr; & medyll al togedyr. &

make youre paste on round foyles of the brede of a

saucer, as thyn as may be drawn. turne hem double, that

the brerdys may come to the medyll of the foyle; then

turne hem togedyr that the brerdys on the more side

mete al aboute, & the lasse brerde turne upward witoutyn

in the manner of a hat. & close well the egges that they

hold well. Fyll theron thy stuff. have a bature of yolks of eyon

& whete floure in the opyn syde that ys toward. Loke

theryn that the stuff be closyd, & set hit in hote grece

upryght. when the bature ys fryed, thu may ley hym

down & fry hym al overe.

- ---------------------

Ok, so I blew this one, I used preground meat, and ran out of marrow bones

making the souppes. so here is how I should have made it:

I wanted to cook the meat before cooking, because I was concerned about them

standing so long while the hattes are being stuffed. I had the same worry

with the Tartes of Flesche and the Douse Desire, because they all require a

lot of hand work to make.

15 lbs veal stew meat

20 lbs pork shoulder

18 eggs

2 lbs marrow (from about 5 large beef shanks bones) coarsely ground

2 lbs pitted dates, chopped

3 cups sugar

2 tbs salt

1 tbs pepper

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp saffron threads, crushed to 1/4 tsp

1/2 cup flour

150 round wonton wrappers

Oil for frying

Boil the meats, and run them through a grinder. Mix the ground meats with

the rest of the ingredients, except the flour , three eggs and wrappers. Mix

it all together until the fat begins to run from the marrow, and the mixture

is sticky and holds together.

I did solve the issue of how to fold the circles of dough and seal them up

to make a hat that lookes like a hat... The method is somewhat ambiguous as

described.

To make the hat:

(Stupid ascii art follows)

Take the circle of dough (wonton wrapper),

........

..........

........

and fold one side to the middle

--------

....--....

..........

........

and fold it in halves perpendicular to the first fold, with the first fold

inside.

----|----

....-|-....

.....|.....

....|....

.|.

Wet and press it to seal it along the fold. you should now have a shape that

looks like a right triangle, but the Hypoteneuse really is a broad curve.

----

.....|

....|

Now fold up the curved edges on both sides to turn up the brim

----

\*..|

\*.|

\*|

It should look like a "robin hood" hat.

......

...........

................

.....................

........******............

....********************.......

.********************************...

*****************************************

make 120 of them.

From the extra pieces of wrapper, cut decorative feathers, and spread them

to dry, or lay them in a hot oven with the fire turned off, to harden.

Stuff the inside (where the head would go) with the filling, and set aside.

When all 120 have been filled, make a batter from the remaining eggs and

flour.

Dredge the open bottoms of the dumplings and fry them battered side down, to

seal, then place on either side to brown. once lightly browned, remove, and

drain on brown paper. Adorn brims with teh feathers cut above, and serve.

DO NOT TAKE shortcuts, if you want this to work, you can substitute lard,

butter, or bacon for the marrow, if you wish, but do not omit it, the

filling does not hold well if additional fat is not included. (this I know!)

- ---------------------

Tartys of Flesche

Take porke sodyn; pyke hit clene fom the bonys, grynd

hit small. boyle figgys in the brothe of the flesche, or

yn wyn or in ale; hew it, & grynd it with eyron. Pare

tendyr chese; grynd hit togedyr that the most perte stond

by the flesche, and the lest by the chese. Take pynes &

reysons; fry hem in a quantite of fresh grece & do hit

in that othir with hole clowys, macys, & poudyr of pepyr

& canell, a grete dele, & poudyr of gynger & sygure

claryfyd or hony claryfyd, safon & salt. Toyl hit wel

togedyr tyl thy grece be hote. Then make brode cofinys

with low brerdys, as thyn as thu may make hem. Thu may

chese of clovys or mynsed datys, whethir thu wilte medyl

hem with the stuff or els strew hem above. & ley on the

ledys; close hem, & thu may put theryn lyght werke &

make endorying them with mylke of almondys, & saffron,

& endore hem, or thu bake hem.

- ---------------------

Since this is used as a pie filling in an enclosed pie, and there are plenty

of wet ingredients, you can use cooked ground meat for this, but the texture

is better if the meat is ground after boiling, as above.

I took the short cut, because I was out of time, otherwise, but it worked

out OK, I think. This recipe is more forgiving than the Hattes, or the Douse

Desire in the the third course, because the meat does not need to hold

together before cooking.

(serves 112)

20 lbs pork shoulder or loin

4 lbs Figs

1 40 oz can Chicken Broth

12 Eggs

5 lbs Fontina cheese

1 lb Pine nuts

1 lb raisins

2 tsp Ground Cloves

2 tsp Ground Mace

1 tbs Pepper

2 tbs Cinnamon

2 tsp GInger

2 cups Sugar

1 tsp Saffron, crushed to 1/8 tsp

2 tbs salt

14 prebaked pieshells

14 unbaked prepared topcrusts

oil for frying

Boil the pork until done. Grind the pork, removing from the bones, if

needed, and put in a large mixing bowl. Put the broth in a pot, and boil the

figs in it. (If you used a "bone in" cut of pork, you can reserve and use

the broth form the boiling, rather than the chicken broth.)

When they have benn in a rolling boil for about twenty minutes or so, grind

the figs, and put them into the bowl, along with the eggs, shred the cheese,

and add that too.

Fry the pine nuts til they are just brown. and remove them to the bowl, do

not over cook, they will continue to cook for a couple of minutes after they

are removed from the heat, so a light brown in the pan will result in a nice

golden brown in the pie. Return the pan to the stove, and in the same oil,

fry the raisins till they are all plumped. add them to the mixture. Add the

spices. Mix it well together.

Fill the pies, and strew the chopped dates on top and close the pies. Vent

the top crusts, stick some whole cloves in the top crusts for decoration,

Brush it with an egg wash and bake them. When they are nice and brown, serve

them up.

- ---------------------

Alosed beef

Take lyr of beef; cut hem in lechys. Lay hem abrode on a

bord. Take the fatte of motyn, or of beef, herbys & onions

hewyn togefyr, & strew hit on the leches of beef with poudyr

of pepyr & a lytyl salt, & roll hit up therynne. Put hem on a

broch; rost hem.

- ---------------------

My mistake was to use deli roast beef, cut thick. this was supposed to be a

time saver, it was a budget breaker. Next time I'll use a nice bottom round,

and slice it myself.

Regardless, even though I forgot to cover these when cooking, and so they

really dried out, these were the hit of the night. I got more compliments on

this than anything... "Man, I really liked that medieval Negimaki stuff,

wow!"

serves 112

112 good sized 1/8 to 3/16 thick slices of rare or raw beef

3 lbs Beef fat (I used the trimmings from the roast in the third course)

ground or processed fine

2 lbs butter cut small, or softened

5 tbs chopped garlic

2 tbs chopped parsely

5 large onions, medium dice (about 4 - 5 cups)

2 tsp whole dried sage, rubbed & crumbled

2 tsp pepper

1 tbs Kosher salt

Lay out all the pieces of beef on a board

Mix all the rest of the ingredients together until well incorporated. Spread

the filling mixture on the beef pieces, and roll them up tightly.

Lay them in a baking pan, cover the pan with foil, and cook at 350 degrees

for a half hour to 45 minutes.

remove the foil, and cook for 15 minutes more to brown, turning once.

Dish them up, and serve them.

I guarantee that these will be appreciated, although you may want to plan

two rolls per head, instead of one, as I have. In which case this recipe

should be doubled. This was actually a side dish, so I planned as above.

These can be made 2 or 3 days ahead of time and kept refridgerated. I think

they will do well frozen well ahead of time, but I did not try that.

(This was one of the recipes I meant to do ahead of time, but did not have

the resources to do so.)

- --------------------

Sallet

Take parsel, sawge, garlec,chibollas,onyons, leeks, borage,

myntes, porrectes, fenel, and ton tressis, rew, rosmarye,

and purslayne. Lave, and washe hym clene: pyke hem, pluck hem

small with thyne honde, and myng hem wel with rawe oyle. Lay

on vinegar and salt, and serve hit forth.

- ---------------------

The Common wisdom around my barony is that salads are not usually eaten,

that often almost as much salad is returned to the kitchen uneaten as is

sent out.

I hoped that that would not be the case, as I wanted to have a green in

every course. My philosophy was to have each course more or less complete,

with meat, at least one green, and at least one starch, and one sweet thing.

There are only so many servings of boiled green stuff that I would eat, so I

wanted a nice salad in the second course as a contrast. SInce there were no

sallet recipes in the source book that I was using (Heiatt and Butler's "an

Ordinance of Pottage" which is entirely taken form a single document in

Yale's Beineke Rare Book Library), I turned to the roughly contemporaneous

"Forme of Cury", and got a nice recipe there.

Here was another couple of glitches: I used up too much of the Vinegar in

the Cameline sauce in the frst course, and I forgot to put in the rosemary!!

After talking to some other cooks who I respect (and mumbling to myself a

lot), I went with substituting lemon juice for the vinegar. I was very lucky

with that one! The salad was very much enjoyed by all the carnivores as well

as the "eaters of plants" in attendance. I got very little of it back! Boy

was I surprised at that!

3 bunches of green leaf lettuce

3 large bags of spinach

3 bunches "Italian" flat parsely

4 or 5 large leeks

2 or 3 bunches scallions

2 handfuls fresh mint leaves

2 handfuls fresh sage leaves

2 handfuls fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup kosher salt

1 to 1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

Rinse and pick out the stems from the herbs and spinach. Rinse and cut (or

tear) the lettuce into smallish pieces. Clean the scallions and leeks,

removing the sand, and coarsely chop up the green parts and only a little of

the whites.

Mix everything and distribute into 14 large bowls. Splash on the oil, and

sprinkle with salt. Just before serving splash with the lemonjuice, toss and

serve.

- ---------------------

Bastons

Make a stiff batture of yolkes of eyron, and paryed flour,

& sigure, a grete dele, & a lytle yest of new ale. set hit

by the fyre, or els in a pot boylyng, that hit may take a

lytyl hete. When hit is rysyd, sweyng hit well togedyr that

hit fall doun ayene. Loke thy oven be hote, & clene swepyd;

poure hit on the floure of the oven & bake hit as french bred.

Than take hit out; cut awey the crustys obovyn the bred of a

nobyll & make a hole, & reys hit al abovyn the undyr the

crust endlyng and ovyrtuyarte as thyke as thu amy with a

knyf,& so do even to the boysome, bur safe the boysome hole,

& the crust al aboute; & fil hit full of clarifyed hony, &

set on the crust ayen & set hym on the ovyn. When they be

somdell dried, serve hit forth.

- ---------------------

Ok, I cheated on this. Because of the problems I had with precooking these,

I bought 120 eggtwist rolls from the bakery.

120 egg twist or Challa rolls

4 lbs honey

Cut off the top like cutting the top of a tiny jack-o-lantern. Pull out and

reserve some of the inside, making a cavity. Chop the reserved crumbs

small, and mix with the honey and spoon back into the rolls. Put into a hot

oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes.

This would have been a lot better if I had added 2 or 3 lbs butter to the

filling, IMHO.

Next time, that is what I'll do.

- ---------------------

The third course

Garlick Beef

NO Original source, This is a product of the cook's own

imagination.

- ---------------------

I wanted a strong finish to the meal, and planned on a Bruet of Spayne,

which is venison.

Unfortunately My source for venison wanted nearly $9.00 a pound!!!

So I turned to a recipe that makes a good roast, and is easy to make, and is

sufficiently strong in flavor to complement the Frumente.

I like this recipe when I make it for myself.

(serves 112)

35-40 lb Top Round of beef

1 cup chopped garlic

1/2 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup ground pepper

Trim and cut the beef into roasts ( the trimmed fat could be reserved for

the Alosed Beef in the second course-- that's what I did with it, after I

removed the viens and gristle).

Poke the roasts all over with the point of a sharp knife or pot fork.

Rub the roasts with the salt, garlic, and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Put the roasts into the hot oven. After twenty minutes turn the oven down to

200 degrees. let it cook four to six hours at 200 degrees. Remove from oven

and portion for service. Serve it up.

- ---------------------

Douse Desire

Take blanche almondez: grynd then, & draw hem up wyth swete

broth & swete wyn, do thereto a quantitie of white sugur;

do hit in a potte and salt ther do. Take porke, wel sodyn

tender, and grynde hit smalle and medyll hit with the

yolkes of eyron, poudyr, and salt, and make pellettes

therof the greteness of the yolke. Have a bature of

yolkes of eyron, and paryd flour; turne the pelletts

therinne. Take hem, frye hem, rolle hem up in a panne

that they nay be round. Lay hem hote yn dysches. Dresse

the sewe abovyn; loke hit be rennyng.

- ---------------------

Here I was in despair. All the attempts to make a filling that held together

with from the ground pork so far had failed. Then I had an inspiration. I

could at least approximate the texture of boiled and ground pork with the

cooked ground pork on hand by processing it, in essence, regrinding it. When

I did this I could make these into meatballs that held together reasonably

well. They were very brittle and tender meatballs, and fell apart in the

batter when I tried to dip them, so I tried cooking them a little first,

frying them to get them to hold together. All that processing meant that I

was hard pressed for time, by the time the rough meatballs were made, so I

skipped the batter stage altogether, and just put them out fried, with the

sauce poured over them. (I think that they were well recieved, but by this

time I was almost done, and didn't care that much!)

(serves 120)

Almond milk:

Two cups blanched almonds, finely ground

40 oz Can Chicken broth

1/4 cup White Zinfandell Wine

2 cups sugar

3 tbs kosher salt

20 lbs pork shoulder or loin

20 eggs

1 tbs ground pepper

2 cups sifted flour

Oil for frying

Prepare the Almond milk by boiling the ground almonds and the broth togther,

adding a splash of wine.

Boil the Pork and grind it fine. If the pork is very lean, poach a pound of

bacon, and grind that with the pork, and mix it all together in a bowl. Add

16 eggs, 2 tbs of the salt, and the pepper. Mix it well togther, and make

the mixture into meatballs about an inch in diameter. whip the remaining

eggs and the flour into a thick batter, and start batter-dipping and frying

the meatballs in hot oil at least a half an inch deep in the pan. (I tried

less, it wont cook evenly, just use more oil and drain it off later on brown

paper)

While the meat is frying, prepare the sauce by mixing the almond milk,

sugar, and the rest of the salt. and boiling it until all the sugar is

dissolved, and the mixture is reduced a little. You may optionally add more

sugar, up to two more cups if you want a really sweet sauce.

Distribute the meatballs into the serving bowls, and pour the hot sauce on

top, and serve.

An Ideal garnish would be a sprinkling of saunders, but I did not think of

this until after I had finished and served the dish.

- ---------------------

Frumente

Take clene pyked whete. Bray hit in a morter, and fanne

it clene, & sethe hit til hit be broken. Than grynd

blancchid almondys in a mortar; draw thereof a mylke.

Do hit togetdyr in a pot tyl hit be resonabull thykke; than

loke thy whete be tendyr. Colour hit up with safferyn.

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The first part of the recipe sounds like how you make Bulghur wheat, so I

just bought 15 lbs of bulghured wheat, and mixed that into boiling almond

milk and set aside off the heat.

Actually I needed a lot less wheat, it expanded a lot more than I had

planned for, almost crawling out of the pot!!

(serves a LOT)

Almond milk:

Two cups blanched almonds, finely ground

1/2 gal boiling water

Splash White Zinfandel Wine

12 lbs Bulghur Wheat

1 tsp Saffron, crushed to 1/8

Prepare the almond milk by grinding the almonds, and mixing it into the

boiling water, adding a splash of wine. Bring to a rolling boil and stir in

the wheat. Cook on medium for 5 minutes, stirring. Cover and remove from

heat. After all the fluid is absorbed, fluff with a big fork or spoon, and

serve.

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Joutys

Take Kawlys & Parcellye and othir good herbes. Perboyle

hem welle yn water. Presse out the watyr; hew hem right

smalle, or grynd hem. And yf thu wylte, thu may hew a

lytylle fat porke therwyth, and grynd hit therwuth; and

temper hit up with swete broth. Look hit be somdell

chargeaunt of the herbes. Do hit in a pot, Boyle &

alye hit up a lytylle therwith. And yf thu wylte, thu

may draw bredde with sum of the brothe. Then salt hem,

and serve hem forth with ribbys of bacon, or with fat

flesche, yf thu wylte.

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I liked the way these came out. I think that these will be a part of my

holiday table this year!

(serves about 112 as third course, 80 if primary side dish, or first course)

3 bunches kale

3 bunches broccoli rabe

2 bunches flat italian parsely

1 40 oz can chicken broth

Optional:

2 or 3 lbs of salt pork or "fatback", poached and finely diced.

Rinse and chop the greens into 1/2 inch chunks, and put into a pot of

boiling water (along with the optional diced pork). Parboil the greens until

just tender, and still bright green (the rabe will still be a little

undercooked). Drain off the water, and add the broth, and stir, return to

heat, and stir constantly until the mixture is heated through. Distribute

between the serving dishes and serve it up.

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Pears in syrip

Boyle wardons that they be somdell tendyr; pare hem, cut

hem in pecys. Take Canell, a grete dele; draw hit thorow

a streynour iii or iiii tymes with good wyn in a pott. Do

thereto sugar, a grete dele; annys, cloves, & macys, and

yf thu wylte, datys mynsyd & raysons of courance. Set hit

on the fyre; when hit boyleth cast yn the perys; lete hem

boyle togedyr. When hit is boyled ynowghe, look hit be

brown of canell, & put therto poudyr of gynger, a grete

dele; loke hit be somedele doucet, & serve hit forth.

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Came out nice. I skipped the initial boiling stage as called for in the

recipe, since the Bartlettes were nice and ripe, and rather tender.

56 large ripe pears

1 gal Sweet red wine

4 cups Sugar

3 tbs Cinnamon

2 tsp anise seed, crushed

2 tsp mace

1 1/2 tbs cloves

1 cup currants

1 cup chopped dates

Pare the pears, and slice them vertically in half, removing the cores. Place

in water with lemon juice to keep them from browning until syrup is ready.

Put a cup or so of the wine in a bowl and add the spices and mix it until

well incorporated.

Put the rest of the wine into a large pot, and add the spiced wine back to

it through a strainer (to remove the lumps), and add the sugar bring it to a

boil, and boil the pears 20 or so pieces at a time, as the pot will hold,

until the pears are tender and can be peirced easily with a knife. remove

them to to store them in bowls (or ziplocks), and refrigerate them. After

all the pears are done, then reserve and refridgerate the wine syrup, as

well.

When ready to serve, place eight pear halves per bowl, and pour the wine

syrup with the dates and currants on the pears. Serve it up.

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What I learned:

1) There are good reasons for some of the steps that the recipes require,

and any shorcuts I take, such as using pregrounds meat, needs to be properly

justified befopre I use them.

2) My suppliers are not as interested in my timetables as I am, so I need

to have proper storage arranged ahead of time and try to get my ingredients

at least the night before.

3) I learned that four days of bulk shopping equals about 10 fully loaded

trips down three flights of stairs on the morning of a feast.

4) A Geo Prism LSI will not carry all food for a hundred person three

course feast in one trip, no matter how often I repack it

5) I was nuts to do this, but it was a good kind of nuts.

6) Properly presented food, made with an affection for flavors, is good

food, and people will enjoy it, regardless of whether it is period, or

vegetable based.

7) I need a large separate freezer, for prepared foods and bread dough.

8) Pizza ovens are a GOOD THING, especially for pies, and warming or

baking bread on site

9) Frozen bread dough take a hekuva long time to proof

What will I do differently next time (If I were making this exact meal):

1) I will try to hold the line on the menu with the autocrat, and need to

have a very firm attendance number and budget at least two weeks ahead.

2) I need to do more of the prep work ahead of time, so I need to arrange

refrigerator and freezer space from other kitchen crew. (and have them meet

me to help transport food to the site, or rent a bigger car)

3) I will not use deli meats ever.

4) I will try to find a cheaper source of produce than Stop and Shop (a

conscious choice for convenience's sake)

5) I will get the bread or bread dough from a bulk bakery (already lined

one up for next time), instead of a specialty baker, If I am not making it

myself, ahead of time.

I will be putting all this on my website, plus pictures, if I can get them.

(http://members.iconn.net/~gedney/Recipes/bdayfeas.htm)

Brandu