dayboards-msg – 6/27/09
Comments on SCA dayboards - meals generally served in a continuous fashion during the day. Usually much simpler fare and less formal than 'sit-down' feasts.
NOTE: See also the files: feasts-msg, breakfast-msg, feast-ideas-msg, feast-serving-msg, finger-fd-fst-art, finger-foods-msg, prim-sit-fsts-msg.
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Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 06:59:44 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Dayboard?
lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
> What sorts of events have dayboards - breakfasts and lunches? Are
> dayboards a function of weather? location? event type?
>
> Most of ours are outdoors, often camping. The only primarily indoor
> events i can think of are the various Collegia and 12th Night.
Speaking from an Eastern perspective, I'd say it has (or originally had)
a lot to do with event location and type. Dayboards seem primarily to
correspond to lunch, and in a case where there are a lot of morning
activities, and no place to go for lunch, with the nearest McPoopie's 20
miles away, a day board is a good idea from the convenience perspective.
We've also had situations where an evening "feast" is for some reason
impractical, due to site limitations and/or sheer numbers of gentles
arriving at a one-day event. So, for example, a fairly common scenario
is an EKU with 650 people on a site we have to vacate by 6 PM.
I would say a dayboard is also characterized (at least around here) as
being used to feed people with difficult scheduling situations, as with
the aforementioned EKU (regardless of any "lunch hour" built into the
event schedule). As a result, the day board has a tendency to go out
around 11:30 AM, to be actively replenished until around 3 PM, and not
actually removed until perhaps 4 or 4:30 PM.
I think perhaps with the increase we are all experiencing with site
fees, and the general reality that events overall are more expensive to
attend than they used to be, there is an increase in people's
expectations as to what they'll get for their event money. The growing
frequency of the day board is, I think, a part of this, and people seem
to be expecting it more as a matter of course than as a welcome
convenience. There also seems to be a distressingly growing attitude
which assumes that event staff are servants, but that's another topic.
Adamantius
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2000 18:58:34 EST
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Confession is good for the soul
jenne at mail.browser.net writes:
<< Suggestions, comments, criticism welcome. >>
A friend of mine was rhapsodizing about your dayboard later that day. She
said that, although it was not the largest or most elaborate she had ever
seen, it was by far the most logically and best laid-out dayboard she had
ever seen (and she does not use words like that lightly). She particularly
appreciated the clear labelling of the sauces and the handwashing bowls of
clove, sage and rosemary(?) water at the starting end of the table, so that
you could rinse your hands before picking up your food. She said she plans
to steal the idea for use in her own events.
Congratulations!
Brangwayna Morgan
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 21:35:19 -0500
From: "Mike Macchione" <drkael at home.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Day Boards
> You're from the NJ area of the East Kingdom, aren't you? Hartshorn-dale
> (Bucks County PA) does some interesting dayboards involving fruit, nuts
> and other nuncheon-type foods. Kyle McCue (sp?) did an excellent dayboard
> for the Southern Region Arts Exhibition two years ago in Rusted Woodlands.
> One of the outstanding features was Savory Toasted Cheese.
the spelling is close... its Kael (short for Mikael)
Having done a number of dayboards, and been told that some of my "dayboards
have been better than some of feasts", I have learned a number of things.
First off, people like variety. They want a varied spread of foods.
Likewise, they want different foods from one dayboard to the next.
One of the tricks I have used is to serve some broiled chicken legs, thighs,
and wings. I make them up in a variety of fashions, seasoning them with
different spices. They're cheap, easy and people think its cool that there
is "real meat' on the day board. Meat loafs also go over well.
Kael
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 23:32:23 -0800
From: "Bonne of Traquair" <oftraquair at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Dayboard for University
>I'm putting together the dayboard for a Kingdom University, and I'm a bit
>unsure as to quantities of food.
>
>If I was putting together a full feast, I'd be fine. But what about
>dayboard?
>I'm told to anticipate about 200 people. ... not sure
>how to calculate how much I can expect people to eat for the dayboard.
> - Rowen
I don't know really what procedure is implied by 'dayboard'. Is this pay in
advance and be allowed to serve yourself/be served from a buffet table? or
is it more like a cafeteria (choose items as you go down the table, pay by
the item after choosing).
When I organized a 'cafeteria style' lunch, I was advised to expect to sell
about 150 lunches. I brought about 100 of each item, except for bread. I
had 250 six-inch rolls as I figured to sell bread with every combination and
I thought that if I ran out of bread, I'd see sales of everything else drop
to nothing. And that's what happened, no matter what else people bought,
they wanted bread and even extra bread.
Bonne
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 08:40:13 -0500 (EST)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at mail.browser.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Dayboard for University
> I don't know really what procedure is implied by 'dayboard'. Is this pay in
> advance and be allowed to serve yourself/be served from a buffet table? or
> is it more like a cafeteria (choose items as you go down the table, pay by
> the item after choosing).
In my part of the world, an additional fee for dayboard is unusual. This
of course leads to fun and excitement in food estimation. ;)
- --
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 17:55:12 -0000
From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - What would you do? or 2 months to freak out
>Question: how many places have an 'included' dayboard as opposed to the
>'pay extra' model everyone is working on...
>--
>Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise jenne at mail.browser.net
Here in Bright Hills we usually include a light lunch which is usually soup
and bread and perhaps some cheese sometimes some fruit. At some of our
weekend events one of the Guilds may opt to do a breakfast for donations to
help raise a little money for that Guild. The childrens Guild does that a
lot. Sometimes the armours Guild. Then at some events if our Cooks Guild
is not cooking for the event we usually ask if we can have a bake sale which
is mostly sweets so as not to interfere with any lunch or feast plans of the
cooks.
Olwen
From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 09:15:44 -0400 (EDT)
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Dayboards
> I still can't imagine how everyone doing a dayboard can figure out the amout
> of food to make if you don't know how many will be there. Is a dayboard a
> meal or just things to knosh on? Dayboards and offboards are unfamilar in
> Trimaris. Guess it goes back to tradition.
Dayboards are usually something between a meal and a nosh. You figure that
you have to feed as many servings as you expect to get attending-- you
just make it a 'light lunch': bread, cheese, soup, nibblies, etc;
sometimes pies, meats and other protein sources.
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 19:25:58 -0400
From: Tara Sersen Boroson <tsersen at nni.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Dayboards
> << Is a dayboard a meal or just things to knosh on >>
>
> Think of dayboard as a buffet. Lots of carbohydrates to fill the stomach with
> protein and vegetables/fruits to round out the table.
Buffet, yes. But, the makeup of it really depends on the kind of event.
For fighting events, people often try to go a little heavier on
protein, salt and water content foods. For more genteel indoor events,
people may try for a very period spread with many neat things. If there
is no feast, people will often make the dayboard a little more
extravagent. Cold-weather events will often provide lots of hot soups
and things to keep people warm as well as fed.
As for, is it a meal or just munchies, I'd say it's usually meant as a
light meal served buffet style. It's more than munchies, but not quite
a fill-your-plate and sit down for a big meal kind of thing.
-Magdalena
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 06:24:19 -0500
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Imaginary list was Re: Irish Stew recipe
I confess I haven't the patience to do really spectacular dayboards.
Maybe if I only had to do a dayboard and didn't see them as a
distraction from the feast, it would be different. I generally
provide a meat pottage and a vegetable pottage, garnishes to dress
them up a bit, bread, and fruit. I've occasionally made large
herbolastes, not exactly to order, but large ones in 16",
oven-friendly saute pans, about every 15 minutes, so they don't sit
out and become slimy concrete.
Adamantius
From: "Randy Goldberg MD" <goldberg at bestweb.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Imaginary list was Re: Irish Stew recipe
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 07:22:28 -0500
> I confess I haven't the patience to do really spectacular dayboards.
> Maybe if I only had to do a dayboard and didn't see them as a
> distraction from the feast, it would be different. I generally
> provide a meat pottage and a vegetable pottage, garnishes to dress
> them up a bit, bread, and fruit. I've occasionally made large
> herbolastes, not exactly to order, but large ones in 16",
> oven-friendly saute pans, about every 15 minutes, so they don't sit
> out and become slimy concrete.
We did something similar for dayboard at our MSR Valentine's event... I
wouldn't call it "spectacular", but it was more than the average dayboard.
Homebaked bread, a beef-and-mushroom soup (the leftovers we turned into
gravy for the roast beef with more beef base and some thickeners), a
vegetable soup (the leftovers got turned into a vegetarian stew for dinner
with some additional different veggies and a torn-bread thickener),
red-colored hard-boiled eggs (it WAS a Valentines event), cheese cubes and
sausages, and sekanjabin. The rest of dinner was the aforementioned
hunks-o-roasted-beef... and I've gone brain-dead on the rest of the menu.
Dessert was baked apples, cherry bread pudding, sugared almonds, candied
orange peel, and some gorgeous heart-shaped molded anisette cookies.
Avraham
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 16:55:00 EDT
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Lady Brangwayna's Feast
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
kingstaste at mindspring.com writes:
> I'd like to hear more about the dayboard. We are planning one for our
> upcoming Baronial 30th Anniversary event, and the gentleman in charge is
> open for lots of ideas at this point.
The dayboard consisted of pickled hard-boiled eggs made with cider vinegar,
brown sugar, dill, and tarragon; Compost, from Forme of Cury; individual-size
Pie of Parys tarts made in little foil cupcake liners; small pasties of the
so-called Icelandic Chicken (made with diced chicken and bacon and ground
sage); dill pickles; plain hard-boiled eggs; fresh cherries and cantalope
slices; and a small amount of bread and honey-butter, served with Syrup of
Lemons. The tarts and pasties were served cold for the most part, although
there were some being made during the time the dayboard ran, so I'm sure some
got eaten warm as well.
If you do the pasties and tarts, set up a production line to do them; we had
a hard time getting enough done because we really only could manage one
person to cut/form the dough and one to fill them.
The Compost redaction we used was Ras', which should be in the Florilegium;
the Pie of Parys redaction was the one from Pleyn Delit; and we didn't really
do one for the Icelandic chicken - I'd guess we used about 1 pound of bacon
to 4 or 5 pounds of parboiled diced chicken, and added about a teaspoon or
two of rubbed sage and a little salt. The dough used for both pastries was a
basic pastry recipe using flour, a mixture of butter and Crisco, water, and a
little salt. We could probably have used wonton wrappers for the pasties, but
I didn't think of it until we were halfway done.
Brangwayna
From: "Kirsten Houseknecht" <kirsten at fabricdragon.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Dayboards?
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 10:24:05 -0400
Organization: Fabric Dragon
> I am in Meridies, and have never heard of a "dayboard". Can someone please
> explain what these are exactly, where they began, historical references,
> etc?
>
> Madhavi
around here, Dayboard ranges from just breads and butter spreads........ to
breads, pickles, butters, jams, cheeses, vegetables and dips, hardboiled
eggs, cheese bisquits and anything else that can be served cold......up to
and very occasionally including cold meats (rare, but i am happy when they
can manage it)
as a merchant, who doesnt get much time to go away from the event and look
for lunch, i naturally like events with good dayboards.
most of our events do NOT serve breakfast or lunch, just dinner.......
especially the one day only events... and the dayboard is what is available
for other food on site. This is for the Bakhail area, but also for a lot of
other events in East Kingdom and Atlantia, as a merchant i go to events in
both kingdoms routinely
Kirsten
From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 10:32:48 -0400 (EDT)
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Dayboards?
> I am in Meridies, and have never heard of a "dayboard". Can someone please
> explain what these are exactly, where they began, historical references,
> etc? What is the practical purpose? Are they easier or more difficult to
> plan for and prepare than the traditional 3 meals? Around here, the event
> rarely provides lunch, just Friday (traveler's Fare) and Saturday dinner
> (feast) and Saturday and Sunday breakfasts. I'm really interested in the
> dayboard idea.
Dayboard is usually a substitute for 'lunch'-- it can be a short dayboard
(only over lunch) or a day-long one... People like it if you concentrate
on stuff that they can carry away-- pies, lumps of meat, cheese, fruit,
veggies. Soup is also very popular.
There is an anecdotal tradition that complains that dayboards are always
bread, cheese and fruit but I really don't see that many dayboards done
that way-- I see a lot of pies. I'm going to start collecting dayboard
menus from the East kingdom and try to do a collection on the web to try
to give an idea of how broad this is.
Saturday breakfast isn't as common at events I've been to as Saturday
dayboard-- in fact, I love the idea of not having to haul a cooler full of
stuff around so much that I'll choose an event with a dayboard over an
event without a dayboard.
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 16:00:15 -0400 (EDT)
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Dayboards?
> I love this idea! Can you give me an idea of when dayboards start usually
> and how they are arranged? I love to do weird things around here... maybe
> I'll do a dayboard for Fighter's Collegium....
Rule of thumb: don't bother with anything but coffee (if you serve coffee)
before 11, 'cos at camping events most people won't be awake enough and at
day events most people won't be _there_. At least in the East.
Dayboards can be very simple, or very elaborate. Hrim Schola in the East
has a dayboard that includes lots of tiny pastries, pies, mini-hedgehogs,
etc. I did one for an embroidery schola that centered around cheese, beef,
chicken and bread with multicolored sauces
(http://www.lehigh.edu/~jahb/jadwiga/A&;S/thimble1.html if you want to see
the menu). I also do a big one-- the one for war camp-- that's just fruit,
pickles & pretzels, bread and stuff-to-go-on-bread, cheese and veggies
(Stefan has a file about that). The dayboard for Sword and Chrysanthemum,
a Japanese event,
(done by a talented local cook, Lady Rowan of Meikledale) is going to
have a noodle bar with soup and stuff to put in it:
http://www.geocities.com/anne_liese_w/Japanese/japfeast.htm
I keep meaning to write an article about dayboards. One of the most
important things-- if you have a big dayboard with a lot of people and
want it to last a couple of hours- is portion control. Don't put all the
food out at once. You can make 45 pounds of cheese last 5 hours at an
event with 750 people if you put it out in soup-sized bowls so people feel
guilty taking a double handful!
You can put stuff out either in a fancy way or just stick it in bowls on
the table-- but dayboards are a great chance to set up a buffet-style
table that looks really nice (as long as you aren't trying to feed the
hordes...)
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 06:29:31 -0400
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Dayboards?
Also sprach Avraham haRofeh:
> > Our "traditional" feast package is usually lunch and dinner the day of
>> the event, although the lunch is more commonly served if the event in
>> question's being held somewhere where folks can't easily go get a
>> hamburger, or pick up nibbles at a grocery store. I don't know that
>> I've ever seen a breakfast provided, outside of perhaps a basket of
>> rolls and fresh fruit for the Royal Room.
>
>Dayboard is basically lunch, except it's not a served, sit-down meal, it's
>usually just set up buffet style.
When I was a lad, back in A.S. Nuffink, we 'ad it towf. We 'ad to
'oont down oor own mastodons by diggin' pit ootside yon event site,
an' roost 'em oover fire built outta oor own legs. An' we were 'appy
to get it. Noone o' yer bloomin' dayboords.
But yes, I remember when dayboards were either nonexistent or a
rarity in the East; now they are pretty much the norm. They can range
from the minimalist bread-cheese-fruit thing to the more elaborate
ones with little pies and such. I imagine that with a relatively
large number of events taking place on a given weekend within 200
miles or so of most people, and massive competition from real life,
it's become very difficult to plan to attend an event too far in
advance, and when this occurs, a decent lunch (or at least the time
to prep one offsite) is one of the things that suffers.
Things learned from putting out dayboards (I'm sure Jadwiga and
others can help me out here): portion bread. It sounds ridiculous,
but there seems to be a tendency for people to tear a large loaf in
half, eat about a quarter of that, and throw the rest away.
I've never done a dayboard when I was not also cooking a feast at the
same time, so my approach has been rather minimalist -- see
bread-cheese-fruit above. When feeling elaborate, I'll add a meat
soup, a more-or-less vegan soup, and perhaps a frittata every half
hour or so. These last work rather well for small events; they don't
take long to cook once the bulk prep is done, you cook them for a
very few minutes on the rangetop, and then you can finish them in the
oven, and a decent-sized one serves maybe 20 people, depending on
what one considers "decent-sized". It may be the perfect combination
of industrial, bulk cookery and a la minute service.
Adamantius
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 13:25:34 -0500
From: Jim and Andi <icbhod at comcast.net>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] large dayboard feast: need advice from those who have
done this before
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
While I've never done a dayboard per se, I have done lunch spreads for
fighters on an extremely limited budget, and there are a few things that I
can suggest that are extremely filling and fit the "looks medieval" rule
rather than being 100% authentic.
Stuffed rolls- if you just put out sliced meat, it'll be eaten very
quickly... you can stretch it by baking things like stromboli or pepperoni
rolls. Just buy frozen white bread dough, roll out like a jelly roll, cover
with sliced ham and honey mustard, roll up, and bake, then serve sliced.
Variations I have made are spinach, herbs and ricotta cheese; shredded
smoked turkey with spicy horseradish and cream cheese; and pepperoni and
mozzarella with pesto. really makes the expensive ingredients stretch, but
doesn't require assembly like a sandwich would or utensils to eat.
You can also make quiches in large pans and cut them into squares to serve.
Quiche is CHEAP. Quartered oranges sit well and fighters love them, but
quartered apples get icky-looking quickly. Trays of cut-up vegetables look
so modern to me as to be unappealing, but veggies can be snuck into foods
everywhere to fill them out and make them cheaper and healthier. There is a
stuffed meatloaf recipe I got off an SCA site a long time ago and has become
a family favorite and a favorite for events... stuffed meatloaf. You make a
meatloaf mixture with ground meat (I use turkey & beef) then add a grated
zucchini, some minced fresh mushrooms and lots of dill and parsley. Spread
it out on some aluminum foil to about 9x13, then lay slices of swiss cheese
on top, then cover with a layer of shredded fresh spinach. Roll it up and
bake. It's really good cold. I think the original recipe called for a pastry
crust over the whole thing.
Madhavi
From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 14:27:40 -0400 (EDT)
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] large dayboard feast: need advice from those who
have done this before
> 2. the fighter bisquits i had at an event.. made with cheese. were very
> filling. and you can use cheap cheese, because you dont taste it much.
The doggie, I mean fighter, biskets, are either loved or hated. Besides
the fact that they are baking powder biscuits, they can come out dry and,
well, like doggie biskets, if you aren't lavish with the cheese.
Some stores that do baking do a cheese loaf or a cheesy bread and we've
had good luck with those.
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 14:34:46 -0400 (EDT)
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] large dayboard feast: need advice from those who
have done this before
> We are planning a clear soup (based on fighter
> needs), 2 varieties of pickles, vegetable stix/slices
> of carrots, cucumbers and celery, bread (in 29"
> French loaves), hard boiled eggs (30 dozen), cheddar
> and swiss cheeses (cubed), kielbasa sausage (diced),
> apples and/or pears, and sliced ham.
> Our budget is $500-$700 and we have been told to
> estimate for 500 people. We would like to have cold or
> room temperature foods to minimize the
> hot-food-not-hot-enough complaints.
With the soup, be sure to get some crock pots (and some place to plug them
in). That solves the 'not hot enough' problem.
> What quantities of meats/cheeses should we purchase
> to adequately feed the throngs?
Dayboard at EK War Camp in late july (750 attendees on site), used 45 lbs
of cheese and 10 lbs of ham and we could have used more.
The trick, as I've said, is to put the cheese and ham out in SMALL BOWLS
but replenish often. That way the piggies will not gorge their plates in
one swoop. Having Swiss and Cheddar, you could reduce the numbers-- swiss
and cheddar aren't as popular as the soft cheese like Farmer, Muenster,
etc. But since it's a winter event, keep those numbers relatively high.
>The veggies and eggs
> are cheap, but the sausage, ham, and cheese are the
> most expensive items at $1.79 per pound.
Buy more eggs. :) 45 dozen eggs were eaten up at the dayboard referred to
above. Buy the flats of 2.5 dozen. I know regular size eggs by the 15
dozen case look appealling at Sam's, but I find that I do much better
pricewise buying the flats, and small eggs are a better serving size.
Serve meat and cheese in small chunks or strips. Slices are for when
you've got $150 to do dayboard for 40 people.
Bread: buy a goodly quantity, and have someone slice it at the table, or
pre-slice it. People waste less but eat more that way.
Don't forget the butter and other things to go on bread.
> I have heard a person consumes about a pound of
> food to feel full. One of the strategies I am thinking
> of is making a vegetarian pea soup in addition to the
> clear soup to fill up tummies. Or should we buy
> smaller quantities of meat/cheese and be sure
> everything is eaten without leftovers (like 60 lbs of
> meat and cheese combined) and stay with clear soup
> only?
The Crown that we did, we had chicken soup (with meat in it -- Hen in
Broth) that went well. The Lentil soup just wasn't as popular. Are you
making your own broth or buying it? If you are making your own broth, just
cut up the chicken bits and dump them back in. If people want a clear
broth, you just dip out of the top! Remember hot cups to serve the soup
in, people-- fighters, fencers and such especially-- resist getting
their feastgear out.
Oh-- and having chicken in the feast doesn't preclude a chicken soup.
You may want to do 2 soups, like a veggie one and an non-veggie one, but
don't worry about making too much veggie soup-- even with something like
lentil we didn't get a lot of takers.
> Bread runs $1 per loaf and will feed 8-10 people.
> Any and all advice and dire warnings will be
> welcomed and greatfully accepted.
The most important thing, if you are going to do a dayboard like this, is
to have someone who is in charge of the service and go with putting out
small quantities, constantly replenished.
It makes people happy if you plan to have it open longer than an hour (2
is good, 4 is really helpful, unless it's crown, because the bhoys that
can't eat until after they fight will be so busy watching after they get
eliminated that they won't eat anyway-- then they will come and bitch
nastily at you at 5 pm because they are hypoglycemic and you've Moved The
Cheese *sigh*).
What people have said when I asked about this on the EK list is that they
like stuff they can eat with their fingers and/or don't need feastgear
for.
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 14:03:59 -0500
From: Jim and Andi <icbhod at comcast.net>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] large dayboard feast: need advice from those who have
done this before
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Oh, another one I just thought of; that *is* medieval and fighters love, I
have served this at a cold dreary blustery event to great success. It's
called Miszkulancja or Bigos (I think pronounced Bee-gauche). It's from the
Maria Dembinska book "food and drink of medieval poland" and the original
recipe calls for all kinds of exotic roast meats (including pheasant and
boar) but I made it like this:
Bigos for 12
2 lbs shredded sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
1 lb cabbage, grated
1 package dried mixed wild mushrooms, snipped with scissors or broken up
into small pieces (don't skip this)
1 lb sliced onions
1 package of dried cherries and 1 of dried apples
1 lb of Polish kielbasa, sliced
1/4 lb bacon, browned and crumbled
1 ham steak, sliced into strips I think 1/2 lb
1 lb beef roast cut into stew chunks
3 cups of strong beef stock
1 cup dry red wine
1 tsp pepper (recipe calls for cubebs)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
This has to be the easiest recipe ever. You just dump all the ingredients in
an electric crockpot (I used 2 electric roasters) or you could bake it in
aluminum roasting pans, covered *tightly*. This must cook at a low temp (250
or 275) for as long as possible, at least 5 hours. It should come out like a
thick stew. I served this with thin buckwheat pancakes, sliced Italian bread
and LOTS of sour cream and chives. It smells incredible while cooking, too.
Madhavi
From: "Lynn Hunter" <rohanna1 at hotmail.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 15:04:19 -0400
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: large dayboard
Okay, sounding a bit like a one-noter, I can only recommend pasties in lieu
of diced cheese and sausage. You get more bang for the buck, you can make
them up ahead of time (Pre-cooks are not only your friend, in Bright Hills
they are an excuse for a party - as if we needed one!), freeze them, then
thaw and cook on site or cook and then freeze and nuke them in shifts as
needed. You can offer veggie pasties (Mushrooms of the First Night from
Menangier (and I bet I just butchered that)) and meat and cheese.
I also recommend a dedicated server for these. While most folks will feel
free to overload on diced cheese and sausage, they will only take one or 2
of the pasties. But it helps to have someone there to apportion them.
As far as soups, in Bright Hills, we generally offer 2 soups at lunch. One
veggie and one meat-bearing...
And more eggs. Use smalls, you get a lower price and they are easier to
handle.
just my tuppence,
Ro
SCullion, Bright Hills Cooks' Guild
From: Robyn.Hodgkin at affa.gov.au
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] large dayboard feast: need advice from those who
have done this before
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 12:24:28 +1000
At Valhalla one year (250 people) we served chicken legs, and sausages in bread for lunch. Pretty much nothing else, and boy did people love it. We documented the sausage recipes, found a local sausage making company and handed them a bag of spices; make X kilos of sausages please. It was great, and cheap.
Madhavi's suggestion of quiches is a great one. You can make them in advance, which is a plus, there are heaps of period recipes for them, and they are inexpensive especially if you either make your own pastry, or go to a food wholesaler and buy a 5kg roll of pastry.
Another very popular thing at any fighting event is frozen oranges; just cut them in 8ths and bung 'em in a bag in the freezer - they are wonderfully refreshing on a hot day.
Jadwiga is right that how you serve the food makes a big difference - small bowls etc. Put out the bulky filling stuff first, then after they have done the first swoop you can put out the expensive stuff. (depends on how you are planning to serve the food of course)
Something at another event I went to was a big pot of stewy stuff, with breadrolls. The breadrolls had the top dug out and were filled with the stew, making the stew feasting-gear free.
Basically chunks-o-meat and chunks-o-cheese are popular but the least cost effective way of feeding people; any way that you can put that cheese or meat with bread, pastry or vegetables will reduce your costs. So pies, pasties, and meatrolls are all good. The mushroom pastries in Viandier are just fabulous and use reasonably inexpensive cheese to make - we did ours for Coronation with a mixture of ricotta and feta.
On pastries:
- Triangular pastries tend to have more pastry proportionately to filling. They are an effective way to utilise sheet pastry.
- Rounds of pastry with filling folded over to make a kind of crescent shaped pastry have next smallest amount of filling compared to pastry. They aren't a very efficient way to use sheet pastry (although you can clump the leftovers together and roll out again), but are great for home-made pastry.
- Squares of pastry with a spoon full of stuffing, that you then fold the corners of the pastry up into the middle (so that the effect is a kind of cross of pinched pastry on the top) have, I think, the tastiest proportion of filling to pastry, as you don't end up having empty corners. They work well with sheet pastry but are not as good for home made pastry.
- open tarts minimise pastry and maximise filling, again best for home made pastry.
With pastries (except open tarts) you will use a great deal less filling than you might think. I recall that 1kg of peas will make about 100 peas pies for example. Now THEY are a cheap dish, and sooooo yummy.
Kiriel
Date: Sat, 05 Mar 2005 21:49:11 -0500
From: Micaylah <dy018 at freenet.carleton.ca>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sideboards....
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> What kinds of things do you put out on sideboards/dayboards?
>
> Ru
Last Saturdays Sideboard (Practicum, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere):
Wastel Bread & Butter
Kraftsman Dinner [1]
Sausages from Little Italian Beasties
Honey Mustard
Torta of Onions [2] (with and w/o Pancetta)
Strawberry Tarte [3]
Apple Cordial
[1] Makerouns, Forme of Cury, 1390
[2] Libro di Cucina del secolo XI, 14c, Ludovico Frati, editor
[3] The Good Huswifes Jewell, 1585, Thomas Dawson
Everything vegetarian friendly but the sausages and overall, not
particularly period. I usually do something a little more authentic,
but I was hurried on this one.
I actually hate the typical sideboard faire (i.e.: Ploughman's Lunch - been
done to death). Not that I hate the food, its just that I see this as a
another venue to "stretch" a challenge so why not take advantage of it.
Practicum is not a large event (130 attendees, 60 for lunch), and we
had a budget of $200.
Micaylah
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 10:25:38 -0500
From: "a5foil" <a5foil at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sideboards....
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
This is the Brunch Buffet I served at Marinus Investiture in 2003. It
was not meant to be a meal for anyone, more like a reception, and the
food was chosen to be attractive to the food-challenged, instead of
being strictly period dishes. Mostly it disappeared. We had paper
plates so people could deal with the messy stuff. I don't remember what
beverages were served, I think cider and coffee and hot water for
instant beverages.
Baked Salmon with Green Sauce -- salmon baked in crust with fresh dill
Grilled Pork Sausages with Mustard
Bacon and Cheese Pies -- basically quiche lorraine
Cheese Tagine -- a crustless cottage cheese tart
Cinnamon Puffs
Panettone -- more popular with the kitchen staff than the populace
Fine White Bread
Butter
Sweet Cheese Spread
Compote of Fall Berries
Cynara
Date: Sun, 06 Mar 2005 12:25:37 -0500
From: Robin Carroll-Mann <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sideboards....
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Jonathan and Rebecca Barber wrote:
> What kinds of things do you put out on sideboards/dayboards?
Yesterday, I did a dayboard for Mudthaw, my barony's biggest annual
event. I was told to cook for 500, but there may have been fewer
attendees than that. I served:
bread -- Italian and a rye/wheat mix.
spreads -- butter and a soft cheese with chives. I made the latter with
cow's milk, cream, and rennet. (I've made goat's milk cheese in the
past, which is much tastier, but goat's milk purchased in stores is too
expensive for a dayboard budget.)
cheeses - cheddar and feta
fruit -- grapes, apples, tangerines (non-period substitute for small
sweet oranges), dried figs and dates
lentil-leek-barley pottage. I used the redaction from Henry Marks'
Byzantine cooking book. The pottage is seasoned with dill, and with a
little vinegar, which wakes up the lentils marvelously.
chickpea fritters (Counterfeit isfiriya of garbanzos) -- I started out
with the redaction in the Miscellany, and made changes. Primarily, I
reduced the amount of eggs, dropped the saffron and cinnamon, and
increased the quantities of the other spices -- salt, pepper, cumin,
coriander seed. I substituted parsley for the green coriander. Next
time, I may just drop the parsley. I don't see any mention of herbs in
the original recipes) It was extremely popular, and not just among the
vegetarians. I served it with a garlic sauce, which most people
avoided, and garlic-lovers rejoiced in.
roast beef, thinly sliced. (Lady Jadwiga kindly made some cinnamon
mustard to accompany the beef.)
roast chicken thighs.
beef summer sausage (Hillshire Farms brand, purchased at Costco)
olives (two kinds), tiny dill pickles, baby carrots
honey sesame candy -- I read in the Byzantine cooking book that they ate
sweets made of honey and sesame seeds. I found a basic modern recipe
(boil honey, stir in toasted sesame seeds, pour out in a thin layer and
slice into small pieces)
pomegranate drink -- pomegranate molasses, sugar and water. This is
always very popular at events. One woman called it "addictive".
Everyone seemed to enjoy the variety, especially the fighters and
fencers outside.
My budget was $800. I came in $20.96 under.
--
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
Date: Sun, 06 Mar 2005 15:43:18 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] anthimus
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Anthimus according to Mark Grant wasn't published and widely distributed until 1864.
There are apparently 9 surviving manuscripts or portions thereof. These include
one from the 9th century; one 17th century; another that differs written
after 849; another 11th century; a very bad 14th or 15th century one
that is judged to be useless;
a 10th century one that is partially useful and a partial (first chapter
and into only) one dating from
the 11th or 12th century.
Ok, so would they have known about him or not? Question would be of
course did anyone in the
Medieval period or Renaissance talk about him or his works? I don't know
off hand if any sort
of contemporary 13th or 14th century accounts mention him. My guess is
that he too vanishes except
as a curiousity of vulgate Latin literature. Grant does say that even
after he was published in the 19th century,
no one cared about the foods being talked about-- they used him as an
example of late vulgar Latin.
Johnnae
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
> Also sprach Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise:
>
>> question: I seem to remember from discussion on this list in the past
>> that people in our period might not have been familiar with Anthimus,
>> but I may have mixed that up with something else. Anyone got input on
>> this.
>
>
> I don't remember the conversation, but after all, Anthimus' treatise
> _is_ a letter, after all, so it's conceivable it wasn't something that
> became public knowledge for quite some time. I mean, it's not a book
> that was published, and while we have plenty of manuscripts that
> scribes thought worth copying and disseminating, this doesn't
> necessarily have to be one of them.
>
> On the other hand, if it represents a snapshot of contemporary eating
> habits, even an incomplete one or one which is not consistent with
> some as yet undiscovered snapshot/document, it doesn't mean people
> didn't follow similar foodways to those described by Anthimus.
>
> There's a great variance between extant Roman sources, too, for
> example, and as far as I know, no really compelling evidence that late
> Imperial Romans were especially familiar with Apicius. Mostly what we
> can surmise is that if he is indeed the author, we have a chance to
> narrow his identity down to two likely contenders, and maybe a long
> shot or two, which is much of what gives us a sense of when it was
> originally written.
>
> In short, I don't think the phenomenon you're describing, if I
> understand you correctly, is all that unusual. Or am I missing
> something in your question?
>
> Adamantius
>
Date: Sun, 06 Mar 2005 16:44:49 -0500
From: "Denise Wolff" <scadian at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sideboards....
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Here are two from my past sideboards:
#1
Kings Hens
Bacon and Cheese cakes ( Ein gut gebackenz)
Chard and Cheese tarts ( Genovese tart )
Apple Tart
Bolussen
Pickles
Herring
Almonds,Walnuts
Currants, Raisin,Dates,Figs
Apples,Pears
Cider
And Another
#2
Yrchouns
Tarte of Chese
Pyes of grene apples
Alows de Beef or de Motoun
Stuffed Eggs
Confiture de noiz
Lemon Water
Pomegranate Water
Almonds,Pistachios
Figs, Raisins
Andrea MacIntyre
The recipes
Ein buch von Guter Spise
28. Wilt du machen ein spise von hŸenren (How you want to make a food of hens)
Diz heizznt kŸneges hŸenre. Nim junge gebratene hŸenre. hau die an kleine
mursel. nim frische eyer und zu slahe die. menge daz zu gestozzen ingeber.
und ein wenic enys. giuz daz in einen vesten mšrser. der heiz si. mit dem
selben crute. daz tu zu den eyern. damit bewirf die hŸenre. und tu die
hŸenre in den mšrser. und tu dar zu saffran und saltz zu mazzen. und tu sie
zu dem viur. und lazze sie backen glich heiz mit ein wenic smaltzes. gib sie
gantz hin. daz heizzent kŸniges hŸenre.
This is called King's Hens. Take young roasted hens. Cut them in small
pieces. Take fresh eggs and beat them. Mix thereto pounded ginger and a
little anise. Pour that in a strong pot, which will be hot. With the same
herbs, which you add to the eggs, sprinkle therewith the hens and put the
hens in the pot. And do thereto saffron and salt to mass. And put them to
the fire and let them bake (at the) same heat with a little fat. Give them
out whole. That is called King's Hens.
44. Ein gut gebackenz ( A good pastry)
Rib kese. menge den mit eyern und scharbe gesoten spec dar zu. mache ein
schoenen derben teyc . und fŸlle den kese und die eyer dor in. und mache
krepfelin. und backe sie in butern oder in smaltze. noch der zit. und gib
sie warm hin.
Grate cheese. Mix it with eggs and boiled small pieces of fatty bacon
thereto. Make a fine dough (possibly freshly made as opposed to sourdough)
and fill therein with the cheese and the eggs. And make small cakes and bake
them in butter or in fat, near to the time (they are to be served), and give
them out warm.
Sabrina Welserin
30 To make Genovese tart
Take eighteen ounces of chard or spinach, three ounces of grated and one half ounces of olive oil and the fresh cheese from six ounces of curdled milk [2]. And blanch the herbs and chop them small and stir it all together and make a good covered tart with it.
75 Another
Peel the apples, slice them and roast them, cut the cores cleanly out. Chop
them small beforehand and put beef marrow thereon and grated bread crumbs.
Stir it together well, stir into it also cinnamon, sugar and raisins and let
it bake.
Bolussen- Dutch Brown Sugar Coils (Look like cinnamon buns) (I'll pass on
the recipe if you want.
To make a tarte of Chese.
A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye (mid-16th c.)
Take harde Chese and cutte it in slyces, and pare it, than laye it in fayre
water, or in swete mylke, the space of three houres, then take it up and
breake it in a morter tyll it be small, than drawe it up thorowe a strainer
with the yolkes of syxe egges, and season it wyth suger and swete butter,
and so bake it.
To make pyes of grene apples.
A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye (mid-16th c.)
Take your apples and pare them cleane and core them as ye wyll a Quince,
then make youre coffyn after this maner, take a lyttle fayre water and half
a dyche of butter and a little Saffron, and sette all this upon a
chafyngdyshe tyll it be hoate then temper your flower with this sayd licuor,
and the whyte of two egges and also make your coffyn and ceason your apples
with Sinemone, Gynger and Suger ynoughe. Then putte them into your coffin
and laye halfe a dyshe of butter above them and so close your coffin, and so
bake them.
Alows de Beef or de Motoun
Two Fifteenth Century p. 40
Take fayre Bef of the quyschons, and motoun of the bottes, and kytte in the
maner of Stekys; than take raw Percely, and Oynonys smal y-scredde, and
yolkys of Eyroun sothe hard, and Marow or swette, and hew alle thes to-geder
smal; than caste ther-on poudere of Gyngere and Saffroun, and tolle hem
to-gederys with thin hond, and lay hem on the Stekys al a-brode, and caste
Salt ther-to; then rolle to-gederys, and putte hem on a round spete, and
roste hem til they ben y-now; than lay hem in a dysshe, and pore ther-on
Vynegre and a lityl verious, and pouder Pepir ther-on y-now, and Gyngere,
and Canelle, and a fewe yolkys of hard Eyroun y-kremyd ther-on; and serue
forth.
The Making of Stuffed Eggs
from the Manuscrito Anonimo, my translation (Stephen Bloch (John Elys))
"Take as many eggs as thou wilt, and boil them whole in hot water; put them
in cold water and divide them in half with a thread. Take the yolks quickly
and crush cilantro, put in onion juice, pepper and coriander and beat all
this together with murri, oil and salt and mash the yolks with this until it
forms a paste. Then stuff the whites with this, insert a small stick into
each egg, and sprinkle them with pepper, God willing."
I used six eggs, one onion, a few tablespoons each of cilantro and murri,
and sprinkles of pepper, coriander, oil, and salt. I chopped the onion
finely, then crushed it in a mortar, discarding the pulp and pouring the
liquid in with the other ingredients. At various times I have used both
cilantro and parsley for this dish; either must be very finely chopped and
crushed, or the pieces will stick in the teeth and be unpleasant.
It is said that the people of each country fear different devils; and in
some lands the devils are apparently good cooks, for in those places this
dish is called "devilled eggs".
This article first appeared in Tournaments Illuminated number 96 (Fall
1990). The author, Stephen Bloch (John Elys), is on the net at
sbloch at .adelphi.edu. This version is dated February 12, 1996.
Confiture de noiz
(Menagier de Paris from Early French Cookery, Scully).
Prenez avant la saint Jehan noiz nouvelles et les pelez et perciez et mectez
en eaue freshce tremper par .ix. jour, et chacun jour renoivellez eaue, puis
les laisser secer et emplez les pertuiz de cloz de giroffle et de gingembre
et mectez boulir en miel et illec les laissiez en conserve. Yrchouns
(Harleian MS 279, c. 1420)
Take Piggis mayws and skalde them wel; take groundyn Pork and knede it with
Spicerye, with pouder Gyngere, and Salt and Sugre; do it on the mawe, but
fille it nowt to fulle, then sewe them with a fayre threde and putte them in
a Spete and men don piggys. Take blaunchid Almoundys and kerf them long,
smal and scharpe, and frye them in grece and sugre. Take a ltytle prycke and
pryckke the yrchons. An putte in the holes the Almoundys, every hole half,
and lech fro sometimes. Ley them then to the fryre; when they be rostid,
dore them, sum with Whete Flowre and mylke of Almoundys, sum grene, sume
blake with Blode, and lat them nowt browne to moche; and serve forth.
Date: Sun, 06 Mar 2005 23:07:40 -0500
From: "Denise Wolff" <scadian at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sideboads....
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>> I recall her doing one of these for an East Kingdom Twelfth Night
>> that had to be for more than 400.
>>
>> Adamantus (same group as Andrea)
>
> However, issues of Andrea's sanity aside, it's possible that these
> particular sideboards were for smaller, local events. Even crazy people
> can be limited in their excesses by kitchen resources and food budgets. So
> I'm curious about numbers of people being fed, partly for practical
> reasons. If she did make stuffed eggs or cheese tarts for 400, I'd
> like to know more about how she managed it.
> Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
> Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdm
> Robin Carroll-Mann *** rcmann4 at earthlink.net
Well, one of the things Adamantius said is true. I am a bit crazy....
but I love what I do.
The second menu was to feed 60. I had $75 to do it.
The first menu was for 150. I had $250 to do it, and I came in under-budget.
( I had two weeks notice, I would have done more if I had the time)
If you look, most of the things are relatively cheap in the ingredients
area. I make my own pie crusts and bread. I rely on fillers (carbs) to bulk
out the bellies an spend smaller amounts on the "interesting" things. I
buy large bulk in flour, I have never bought chicken for less than 79 cents
a pound (dark meat is cheap, but the whole bird is cheaper).
I debone my meats myself, I get the cheeses in large bulk cut and chop
myself.
I spend about 4-6 months hunting down the best buys and store in friends
freezers until I need it. I spend time about every night preparing something
and putting it away.
Stuffed eggs doesn't look so foreboding as it seems. I watch a couple of
good dvd's while I work.
The 12th night Adamantius is referring to was given to me with two weeks
notice and $250 to feed between 400-600 people. I had no kitchen crew as the
feast had taken the bulk of the volunteers and the kitchen was off limits as
well.
I did 3 soups. A chicken/Rice, a Beef/Barley, and a vegetable. I did four
types of tarts (mini) sausage and apple, beef and onions, chicken and
currants, and onion (all had cheese). I also had stuffed eggs then. I had
pears and apples, pistachios, raisins, almonds, and walnuts. I also had the
standard cubed-orange/white cheeses for the less adventurous. (My only
regret is that I didn't make it more period - I had little time and a whole
lot less knowledge back then)
I mundanely have a large selection of chafing racks (catering style), a good
quantity of oversize pots. and a good imagination. I took off three days
before the event and spent a good portion of those days, elbows deep in pie
crust and mini tartlet pans (I have mini tart forms - reuseable)
I thrive on emergencies and adrenalin (I'm a nurse) and don't sleep much
before an event anyway, so It's still fun. I PREFER small events, but I can
and still do large ones.
Did I answer your question, or does this look like rambling?? (just spent
the last 12 hours smoking sausage in my fireplace- I'm a bit "toasted")
Andrea MacIntyre
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 23:03:06 -0200
From: "Lady Ro" <ladyro at comcast.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Dayboard
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Can't tell you by weight, can suggest amounts (learning curve from
Atlantian Crown Tourney May 05).
Hard boiled Eggs: 4 dozen. They will either do or they won't, but what is
left over can be recycled into eggs salad after the event, or even used at
dinner, if enough.
Pasties - plausibly period, possibly even period. Get pierogie presses,
make your dough ahead of time, precook. I would suggest 150 (3 per person
on a 2 bite pastie). If you have a grill you can bring, these can be
reheated if the day is cold in an aluminium foil wrapped box. If the days
is warm, cold is good. I'd suggest 2/3 - 1/2 ratio of non-veggie to veggie.
We did Lady Cordelia fitzRobert of York's redaction of mushrooms of the
first night, and added ground beef with just a little sauce (tomato - not
trying at that point to produce a period food, and they were specially
requested after being sampled at a wedding reception.)
Cold fruit. Raw veggies didn't play well, jellied milk would have been a
nice touch (thought of it way to late.).
If you can have a grill there, then sausages on a skewer, figure 2 per
person.
Has this event been done before? IF so, get past Troll numbers and do a
down and dirty estimate of the number you are likely to get. Try to get 3-4
times that amount of bottled water. If you have it, it will go.....
Send your most persuasive speaker to stores to get the bottled water
donated. Make copious use of the phrases Tax deductible, 501(c)(3)
educational group., receipt for donation.
Ro, who will NEVER EVER do this again.
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 21:20:45 -0500
From: "RUTH EARLAND" <rtannahill at verizon.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Dayboard as warm-up for feast cooking
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sometimes it's a couple days between email readings, but I just had to
respond to this one.
The suggestion was made that cooking dayboard would be good
preparation for cooking a feast.
I respectfully disagree, on the grounds that the two are rather
different.
True, both require a lot of planning and organizational ability. Both
require research. But they really are different in a few significant
areas.
Why dayboard is easier:
-The dishes are usually less complicated.
-Less emphasis on presentation.
-Lower expectations about documentation.
-No one is going to complain about convenience foods (e.g. summer sausage)
-Once dayboard is cleared, your day is free.
Why dayboard is more difficult:
-Smaller budget (always harder with less money)
-Serving more people
-Time constraints (you have to have it out about lunchtime)
-Harder to get an authentic feel
-Staffing issues
-Sharing resources with feast prep can be quite challenging
-Everyone likes portable foods that don't dirty the feast gear
-If you think it's challenging planning a feast menu around various dietary
needs, think about how tough it must be for dayboard ("Hey, Cook, we've got
15 people on Atkins who want to know if there is any more meat.")
-People get bored with the usual bread, spread, pickles, eggs, and
apples
Your mileage may vary, but given a choice, I find feast easier.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of people who excell at planning and
executing dayboard. I hold them in awe.
Berelinde
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 22:17:36 -0500
From: "Denise Wolff" <scadian at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Dayboard as warm-up for feast cooking
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> Why dayboard is easier:
> -The dishes are usually less complicated.
> -Less emphasis on presentation.
> -Lower expectations about documentation.
> -No one is going to complain about convenience foods (e.g. summer sausage)
> -Once dayboard is cleared, your day is free.
My dayboards are always documented, presented especially nice, and people
expect my documentation. I don't use convenience foods at all.
In short, I spend way more time on presentation and documentation on my
dayboards...
But, I love to do luncheons. Keeps me nimble for the private caterings.
Andrea MacIntyre
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 12:28:26 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] It's over ... and what I would do differently
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
I have successfully cooked my first official "feast."
It was a relaxed event put on by my shire (Buckland Cross) called
"Persephone Goes to the Underworld." The autocrat's vision was to
have a fall-themed event with a bounteous dayboard with hot and cold
dishes. We had an A&S display with fall-themed works, plus medieval
board gaming and music. The autocrat left it up to me and my co-cook
what we were serving, and we had a budget of $150-$200 to work with,
which I realize is extremely generous considering there are folks who
put on full-fledged feasts with the same amount of money.
The first major challenge was we had no idea of how many people we
were cooking for. Although listed in the Pikestaff, there were few
pre-registrations. It was held on an offbeat day, a Sunday. We were
sure folks would show up, though!
The second major challenge was, of course, what to serve? And the
fact was, it was just me and Giuseppina preparing the food.
Being as the theme was Persephone's return to the underworld, and
being that my persona is Florentine and my co-cook, Giuseppina, is
Sicilian, I went with Italian dishes. Several folks helped inspire
me, primarily Mistress Helewyse and THL Johnnae. I wanted dishes
that were reasonably authentic, even though we were not having a
proper feast with many removes, and we had limited kitchen access at
the site.
The menu was:
cheeses
hardboiled eggs
homemade bread (Tuscan style, baked without salt)
herbed butter
raw vegetables with extra-virgin olive oil for dipping (but had
forgotten the fennel, darn it)
fruit (apples, oranges, grapes, pears)
chicken baked in bread (based on the Emir of Catania's chicken dish)
herbed roast pork (which I forgot the mustard sauce)
chickpeas stewed with onions, parsley, pepper, salt, a touch of
cinnamon, and olive oil
spinach and mint ravioli
spinach pie
rice pudding with pistachios, almonds, and rosewater (based on the
Turkish muhallebi)
fave dolce (shortbread cookies shaped like fava beans)
poached spiced pears
to drink, pomegranate punch and water
The ravioli were made two weeks ago, frozen, and boiled in vegetable
broth the day of the event and tossed with butter and parmesan. We
made the chicken baked in bread and roasted the pork the day before
the event. I baked cookies and bread after work all through the week.
The chickpeas were stewed overnight in a crockpot.
What I would do differently:
Make less chicken baked in bread. We made eight loaves, and had four left.
Smaller amount of stewed chickpeas, which had to be stuck on a table
away from the main dayboard, along with the poached pears (the folks
we were renting the place from prohibited liquids from being used on
the dayboard tables, for some reason)
Get lots of help in peeling chestnuts. My plan to have braised
chestnuts with the pork fell through spectacularly because as the
chestnuts cooled rapidly after blanching, the buggers became
impossible to peel.
Don't panic while making rice pudding and pour in more rice. The
pudding was tasty, but a bit dry.
But all in all, it was a success, and lots of compliments were rendered.
Gianotta
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:34:52 -0500
From: Adsiltia <Sely1149 at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] laying out of dayboards
To: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise wrote:
> Does anyone have good suggestions for setting up dayboard layouts for
> 250 or more to minimize traffic jams?
>
> -- Jadwiga
Hi Jadwiga,
Since I have used your dayboard ideas here is what I have done with 2 of
them. One for 100 was done outside so I had a hand washing station a
few feet away and then a single line board. I put like things together
thinking of how I would put things on my plate. I had bread, meat,
cheese, condiments, veggies both fresh and pickled, fruits both fresh
and dried, and drinks at the end. As it was out of doors there was no
"pile up" at the end. I provided plates at the beginning with utensils
and drink cups at the drink station.
The one for 250 was indoors and I had several long tables in a single
row and people started at one end and went to the other. The only thing
I would have done different would have been to have the drinks table in
a separate place. I placed the food in groupings as to how people may
want them on their plate. People went down both sides of the table.
Since the bread, which needed replenishing most often was at the start,
it was easy to get to. If the staff had to replenish something else, it
was easy to get to as every person in line was very polite and helpful,
even in helping each other. I did not provide any plates, cups, or
utensils. I did not find a traffic jam as much as I thought I might. The
line was long at first but it went quickly. I owe much of that to the
help I had watching to make sure the dayboard stayed replenished. Having
places where people could go and sit helped, at least I think it did
because no one hung out at the end of the line. Oh, and someone from
staff helped with drinks as that can become a bit of a juggle, thus the
idea of a separate drink table.
Not sure if this helped but it is what I have done and feel it was
successful.
Adsiltia
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 12:01:20 +1200
From: Adele de Maisieres <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Alternate Feast Settings
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Johnna Holloway wrote:
> Are you seeking to provide a full meal with meats, vegies, sweets,
> etc. or are you doing a sideboard of primarily sweets and nibbles?
An aside about nibbles: my experience is that if given more-or-less
free choice of snacks and nibbles, people will eat at _least_ twice as
many savoury things as sweet, and maybeeven three or four times as much.
> I would think the articles and postings on dayboards and revels
> might be of value. One of the facets of these is that you must keep
> the hot foods hot/cold foods cold and that requires equipment.
Not necessarily. If you serve during scheduled breaks in other
activities (rather than just putting everything on the sideboard and
leaving it there), the and the food is really tasty, people will eat up
pretty quickly. It also helps if you can put out more than one dish of
each thing and make the sideboard as long as possible-- it cuts down on
congestion.
--
Adele de Maisieres
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:47:44 -0500 (CDT)
From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] courtboard?
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
<<< Okay, we've discussed dayboards and sideboards before, but what is a
"courtboard" and how does it differ from a dayboard? I'm assuming
that a "courtboard" is different from a "court, bored". :-) >>>
I don't know if anyone else uses the terminology, really. In Eisental, we
have a long tradition that this particular event is the home of the Three
Hour Court (sing along with me...). So, before court, we set up an
additional light day-board type buffet near court so nobody passes out
from being late to dinner. Mistress Thorkatla, the original autocrat,
first thought of it, and had us bring the dayboard up there; now we just
plan for it. If we feel fancy, we put some little fancy stuff out -- like
Jordan almonds, or in this case pizelles and Food for Angels-- as an
addition to the board that we didn't have during the day.
--
-- Jenne Heise / Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:53:59 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] A little article I wrote on Le Menagier's
sausages...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Last weekend I put out a dayboard for a smallish event in the Barony
next to the one I live in. I don't often do dayboards, nor am I
normally a big fan of them, so I ordinarily farm them out to people
that like to do them. But on this occasion, the smaller numbers and
the timing allowed for a slightly different setup and format than the
one I normally encounter at events with dayboards, and the whole
experience was terrific fun. All we did was cook medieval dishes one
or two at a time, running it as an ongoing class, matching our pace to
the skills of whoever was present in the kitchen at the time, and
serving them when they were done. And then doing it again, and again,
all day. It took some advance planning and prepwork, but on the day,
prep work was minimal, stress zero, timing relaxed, attention to the
questions of students pretty luxuriant, cleanup a breeze, and quality
control very high.
In short, an all-day medieval hot-food buffet combined with a full day
of Medieval Food TV broadcasting. Dishes included hanoney and sawgeat,
beef ystywyd, coneys in papdele, grilled saucisson, cabbage porrey,
chewets filled with venison mincemeat, chyches, shortbread, and other
sweets. Around 7PM I was asked to stop cooking and serve only the
foods I had ready, so the creme yboyled became snow -- it required no
cooking, after all... the most perioid dish was the shortbread, which
I included because it was easy, quickly prepared in large quantities,
universally popular, on the outer edge of periodicity, and the perfect
tool to get someone who says they can't make period food to change
their mind.
I actually had intended to get some video taken to put up somewhere
where it could be accessed by people like you, and then left my
camera, which I wanted to pack last so it would not be crushed, home
on my desk while I went on a 90-mile train trip with the other stuff I
needed for the event. I do have a couple of snapshots of drying
sausages and candied fennel and coriander confits, but nothing like
what I had intended.
Next time. Now that we've got a format that seems to work really well,
there'll be more time to worry about other things.
I do, however, have a little article I knocked together for the local
newsletter on the sausages we served, which I include here:
<snip> [ This article has been edited and placed in the Florilegium as its own separate, stand-alone article. See:
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MEATS/LeMen-Sausags-art.html -Stefan]
Adamantius
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:51:18 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A little article I wrote on Le Menagier's
sausages...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On Mar 24, 2009, at 2:24 PM, Euriol of Lothian wrote:
<<< Rowan & I had discussed doing something similar here in AEthelmearc.
It sounds like a lot of fun.
Euriol >>>
Oh, it really was. High points included my mentioning to a gentleman I
know that, after cooking some of the sausages with eggs in the first
round of service, and there being a few more people on site than we
had originally planned for, I had only about 60 servings of sausage
left with 75 or 80 people on site, to which he responded, "Oh, really?
Well, the four I had were delicious!", and me stridently chiding the
costumer-type lady who was having a little trouble forming standing
pastry shells for the chewets, "C'Maaaaaan, if this were SILK you'd
have no problem putting twelve billion annoying little pleats in it!"
That one worked wonders, by the way... the pies turned out
beautifully. All of a sudden, like flipping a switch, her hands knew
exactly how to proceed... then her husband started doing it, too...
Adamantius
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:00:52 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A little article I wrote on Le Menagier's
sausages...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On Mar 24, 2009, at 2:41 PM, Johnna Holloway wrote:
<<< Before they disappear the event details are at:
Schola and Dance at the River's Head Inn
http://scaducks.org/schola.php
Tentative Schola Class Schedule
http://scaducks.org/schedule.php >>>
That was it...
<<< Can you tell us how many people attended and how many servings were
prepared? >>>
I had been told to expect at least 65 people, so I planned on about 75
servings for most things, figuring the numbers might increase as the
day approached, and if there were 80 people and we ran out of
something, there'd be more food coming within an hour or so (and there
was bread and butter and fruit out all day, not to mention a certain
brown intoxicating beverage much used by the Turks), so I felt fairly
unconstrained in that regard.
The two egg dishes (the hanoney and the sawgeat) I put out about 50
servings of each, at more or less the same time, since it was early in
the day and not everyone had arrived onsite as of that time...
Adamantius
<the end>