BC-Delftwood-art - 2/5/99
A small feast cooked for the Baronial Championship Tournament for the Barony of Delftwood, Aethelmearc on September 6, 1997 by Lady Caitlen Ruadh.
NOTE: See also the files: feasts-msg, feast-menus-msg, headcooks-msg, p-menus-msg, Run-a-Feast-art, feast-decor-msg.
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Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 10:10:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: rebecca tants <becca at servtech.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #335
> >(And for those who heard me talking about this feast and my plans to go
> >shopping mid-day and then cook dinner, it worked really well. It was one of
> >the positives of a small feast, as I wasn't juggling oven space and such.
> >It may sound crazy, but dinner was on time and perfectly cooked!)
>
> So, what did you serve, and can we get recipes?
OK: Warning - this message will be LONG!!!!! I've included RUADH'S COMMENTS
throughout with things that did and didn't work on this. Most recipes were
taken from the on-line Miscellany, one from someone elses page (I think it
was Terry's but I'm blanking now) and the rest out of my copy of Pleyn Delit.
Everything was served family style. I did 95% of the cooking myself,
as I planned the recipes not just to cook in the time allowed but to
let me do one thing at a time AND make court. Heck, I even got to sit
down and eat with my friends (although I didn't get much of the chicken
- - guess I'll just have to make it again).
This was a fighter event (Baronial Champions) and had the following goals:
No one goes away hungry (I always have that one)
Food must be period, in season, from basically one geographic area
Food must be ACCESSIBLE - nothing scary
I was trying to make the point that you can do the second item above and
still accomplish the first and third. I did it. There are a couple
of places where I either took a short cut (purchased almond milk, canned
pears) or went slightly non period (the side board soup), but there were
other area's where I bucked convention and did things right (no cheddar,
honey and butter were put out SEPERATELY) to make the point.
Everyone attending called it a success - I learned a few things and feel
good about the job I did. 7 Deadlies in February will be for many more
people and an even better job!
Ruadh
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Board:
Bread
Cheese
Apples
Grapes
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Butter
Honey
Soup - Grewel Enforced (Beef Barley)
First Course:
Chykens in Hocchee (Roast Chicken with Grape Stuffing)
Ryse of Flessh (Rice in Broth and Almond Milk)
Funges (Mushrooms)
Wardonys in Syrup (Pears in Wine Sauce)
Second Course:
Roast Pork with Cameline (Cinnamon Sauce)
Makerouns (Macaroni and Cheese)
Salat (Oil and Vinegar Dressing)
Cheesecake with Fresh Fruit
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recipes:
Grewel enforsed
From _An Ordinance of Pottage_ by Constance B. Hieatt, Prospect Books, 1988
(This is from a 15th century English manuscript: Yale Beinecke MS 163)
Take merybonys & fresch beef; make good gruell therof, than draw hem
throrow a streyner. Take fayre porke, tendur sodyn; peke out the bonys
& the senowys & do awey the skyn. Grynd hit smal yn a morter. Temper
hit up with the same gruell that ys drawyn; make hit smothe. Let hit
stond resonabely by the flesshe. Sesyn hit up with salt & saferyn, than
sette hym by the fyre. Lete hym boyle a lytyll, and serve hym forthe.
Hieatt's redaction and comments are:
"Gruel" usually meant oatmeal, but it was sometimes made with barley,
an alternative which produces a pleasing variant of modern barley broths.
In my adapted version, overleaf, I have included herbs as an optional
addition, since some other recipes suggest adding them.
Meat and Barley Soup
1 c. barley
1/2 lb. beef shin, 'cracked' by the butcher
2 c. cut-up cooked pork
generous pinch of saffron
1/2 tsp. salt
optional additions:
1 onion
2-3 TBS minced parsley
1/2 tsp. sage
Put the barley in a pan with the beef shin, onion (if used), saffron and
salt, cover with 6 cups of water and boil until the barley is very soft
(about an hour). Drain the barley, reserving the broth and the bone. Cut
any usable meat from the beef bone into pieces and put it into a processor
with the barley, pork chunks, and parsley and sage (if used). Add a little
of the broth and process into a fairly smooth, thick "porridge". Stir this
back into the rest of the broth. If necessary to achieve the right c
consistency, add a little more water. Check seasoning and serve hot.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: I didn't put this through a food processor mostly out of
a desire to have them actually EAT it - this was a fighting event and I was
trying very hard to make food that was both period AND accessible. Since I
already wasn't convinced about the barley, I thought I'd just leave this
alone.
The rest of the dayboard doesn't require recipes, but I will note that the
fruits were seasonal (apples, etc all grown locally) and there wasn't a speck
of cheddar on the cheese tray.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chykens in Hocchee
Curye on Inglysch p. 105 (Forme of Cury no. 36)
Take chykens and scald hem. Take persel and sawge, with o+ er erbes; take
garlec & grapes, and stoppe the chikenus ful, and see+hem in gode broth,
so + at + ey may esely be boyled + erinne. Messe hem & cast + erto powdour
dowce.
3 1/2 lb chicken
4 T parsley
1 1/2 t sage
1 t marjoram
1 3/4 t thyme
3/4 oz = ~10 cloves garlic
1/2 lb red grapes
2 10.5 oz cans conc. chicken broth + 2 cans water
powder douce: 1 t sugar, 1/4 t mace, 1/4 t cinnamon
Note that all herbs are fresh.
Clean the chicken, chop parsley and sage fine then mix with herbs in a bowl.
Herbs are fresh, measured chopped and packed down. Take leaves off the fresh
marjoram and thyme and throw out the stems, remove as much stem from parsley
as practical. Add garlic cloves whole, if very large halve. Add grapes, and
thoroughly but gently mix with the herbs. Stuff the chicken with the herbs,
garlic and grapes. Close the bird with a few toothpicks. Place chicken in pot
with broth and cook on stove top over moderate heat 1/2 hour, turn over,
another 1/4 hour (in covered pot). Serve on platter with powder douce
sprinkled over.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: this one is one of the many taken from the Miscellany and
my favorite of all the recipes I made that day. YUM YUM YUM. Be careful not
to overcook it though, as it will fall apart.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryse of Flessh
Forme of Cury.p: 11
Take ruse and waisshe hem clene, and do hem in an erthen pot with gode broth
and lat hem seep wwel. Aftirward take almaund milk and do thereto, and
colour it with safroun & salt &messe forth.
<c (1 oz) ground almonds
2 = cups meat broth
1c raw rice (short grained white)
pinch saffron
= tsp salt (less if broth is salty)
Heat = c broth and seep almonds in it. Strain out almonds so that the milk
is thick and smooth, not gritty. Put tice and saffron in a pot with a tight
lid and add remaining broth. Bring to a boil; cover and turn the heat down
very low. When rice has been cooking for 15 minutes, add the almond milk,
cover again and continue cooking with heat off for another 5 minutes or until
it has absorbed most of the moisture. Salt to taste.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: Did you know you can buy almond milk in some grocery stores?
This got rave reviews from a 10 year old who said it was the best rice she
had ever had!
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funges
Forme of Cury p. 14/A15
Take Funges and pare hem clene and dyce hem. take leke and shred hym small
and do hym to see+ in gode broth. color it with safron and do + 'inne powdo
fort.
1/2 lb mushrooms
1 leek
1 c beef broth
6 threads saffron
1/4 t powder fort (see introduction p.5)
1/4 t salt
Wash the vegetables; slice the leek finely and dice the mushrooms. Add
saffron to the broth and bring it to a boil. Add the leek, mushrooms,
and powder fort to the broth, simmer 3-4 minutes, remove from the heat,
and serve.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: I used a vegetable broth, so that there would be another
vegetarian dish. I think it would taste better with beef, but the stock
I used was homemade and very good, so it worked.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wardonys in Syrup
Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books
Take wardonys, an caste on a potte, and boyle hem till they ben tender; then
take hem up and paree hem, and kytte hem in to pecys;, take ynow of powder
of canel, a good quantyte, an caste it on red wyne, and draw it thorw a
straynour; caste sugre thereto an put it in an erthen pot, an let it boyle;
an thanne castte the perys therto an let boyle togederys, an whan they have
boyle a whyle take pouder of gyngere and caste therto an a lytil venegre,
an a lytle of safron; an loke that it be poynaunt an dowccet.
2lbs firm, ripe pears
1 tsp cinnamon
2c red wine
1/2c sugar
< tsp ginger
1 Tbsp vinegar
Optional: pinch of saffron, 6-8 whole cloves
Parboil pears in a large pot of water about 5 minutes. Remove and Peel.
Mix cinnamon, wine and sugar. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Add pears and
poach for 10 minutes. (Keep just below a simmer.) Add other spices for the
last few minutes. Serve cooled in their syrup.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: I experiment with spices and kinds of wine on this a lot.
I've also been known to use canned pears. Regardless it's always good. I
made these on friday night (one less thing to do).
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Makerouns
Forme of Cury:p. 95
Take and make a thynne foyle of dowh, and kerve it on peces, and cast hym
on boillyng water & seep it wele. Take chese and grate it, and butte imelte,
cast bynethen and aboven as lsyns; and serve forth.
1 lb. Broad noodles
1/4c grated Cheese (Parmesan/Chedder)
2tbsp butter (or more)
Cook noodles in salted water. In serving disk, layer noodles, butter,
cheese, noodles, butter, chesse and then more noodles. Serve Hot.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: I used lasagna noodles and cut the final product into
diamonds to serve of about the size one would call a serving. This is
important with the big noodles. I also had to throw it into a cooling oven
to get the cheese to melt the way I wanted, but that wasn't a big deal.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Make Cheesecakes
Digby p. 214/174
Take 12 quarts of milk warm from the cow, turn it with a good spoonfull of
runnet. Break it well, and put it in a large strainer, in which rowl it up
and down, that all the whey may run out into a little tub; when all that
will is run out, wring out more. Then break the curds well; then wring it
again, and more whey will come. Thus break and wring till no more come.
Then work the curds exceedingly with your hand in a tray, till they become
a short uniform paste. Then put to it the yolks of 8 new laid eggs, and two
whites, and a pound of butter. Work all this long together. In the long
working (at the several times) consisteth the making them good. Then season
them to your taste with sugar finely beaten; and put in some cloves and mace
in subtle powder. Then lay them thick in coffins of fine paste and bake them.
(Cariadoc's comments: Judging by the cottage cheese recipe in Joy of Cooking,
12 quarts of milk would yield about 4.5 lbs of cottage cheese. It sounds as
though either creamed cottage cheese or farmer's cheese corresponds to what
Digby is making. The following quantities are for half of Digby's quantity,
with an adjustment for egg sizes.)
2 lbs of creamed cottage cheese or ricotta
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2 pie crusts (this made 2 9" cheese cakes)
1/2 lb of butter
1/2 c sugar
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t mace
Cook at 350deg. for 70 minutes. Let cool 1 hour before serving.
Note: the version with ricotta comes out noticeably drier than that with
cottage cheese.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: This was the closest thing to a problem I had - it tasted
fine but had to cook MUCH longer then I expected. I would do the following
things if/when I make it again - use ricotta (the long cooking time was due
to the excess liquid) and run it through a food processor instead of mixing
by hand. Still - after cooking it to set and laying fresh fruit over the top
it looked great and tasted good as well.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cameline
Note that at Tournay to make cameline they bray ginger, cinamon and saffron
and half a nutmeg moistened with wine, then take it out of the mortar; then
have white breadcrumbs, not toasted but moistened in cold water and brayed
in the mortar, moisten them with wine and strain them, then boil all together
and put in brown sugar last of all; and that is winter cameline. And in summer
they do the same, but it is not boiled.
And in truth, to my taste, the winter sort is good, but in [summer] that which
followeth is far better; bray a little ginger and a great deal of cinnamon,
then take it out and have toasted bread moistened, or plenty
of bread raspings in vinegar, brayed and strained.
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp + water
1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 slices bread
4 T vinegar
Trim crusts off bread. Put it all in the blender and let her rip.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: I believe I got this one off the web - Terry's pages maybe?
Anyway, next time I will actually remember the blender....
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salat
Forme of Cury.p:78
Take persel, sawge, grene garlec, chibolles, oynouns, leek, borage, myntes,
porrettes, fenel, and toun cressis, rew rosemarye, purslarye; lave and
waische hem clene. Pike hem. Pluck hem small with thyn honde, and myng
hem wel with rawe oil; lay on vyneger and salt, and serve it forth.
Salad greens: 2 handfuls each leaf lettuce and spinach
1 handful borage or radish leaves and cress
1 small bulb fennel, thinly sliced
1-2 tbsp each fresh parsley, garlic chives or chives, fennel green or dill,
sage, mint, savory, tarragon, etc.
(whatever is in season and available fresh!)
1-2 bunches green onions, scallions, sliced
1 sweet onion (videlia or red) diced, 2-3 small leeks, washed and sliced
= c olive oil
3 tbsp vinegar
1 = tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
Wash and tear greens, drain well and mix with other ingredients. Toss with
oil. Toss in vinegar and salt just before serving.
RUADH'S COMMENTS: This was fun - I had everyone playing "guess the herb" as
they found all SORTS of stuff in that salad. Tarragon proved to be the stumper
of the night. All in all it tasted very good too, as I was able to get a
good, wide variety.
- --
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
'Becca Tants, aka Roo, Lady Caitlen Ruadh, Delftwood, AEthelmearc
becca at servtech.com http://www.servtech.com/public/becca
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