Birds-n-a-Pie-art - 9/22/19
"Spectacle and Subtlety (Illusion) Foods" by Lady Marie Hélène of the New Forest.
NOTE: See also the files: illusion-fds-msg, Food-Coloring-art, Gyngerbrede-art, Chicken-Candy-art, fd-decoratng-msg, aspic-msg, gilded-food-msg.
************************************************************************
NOTICE -
This article was added to this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium, with the permission of the author.
These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author or translator.
While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous
stefan at florilegium.org
************************************************************************
Spectacle and Subtlety (Illusion) Foods
by Lady Marie Hélène of the New Forest
These are dishes that are either made to look like something else (illusion foods) or to make a memorable impression – One such example comes to mind in form of a nursery rhyme:
Sing a song of Sixpence,
A pocket full of rye,
Four an’ twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was open’d,
The birds began to sing.
Oh what a wondrous dish
To set before the King!
To say the least, if the birds were truly ‘baked’, they wouldn’t be singing. More likely they were put in a pre-baked coffin (pie crust with a lid) and presented to the high table to the titillation of the diners. There are several other examples, and recipes in Take a Thousand Eggs vol I&II by Renfrow.
One that is mentioned is the Spectacle of carefully removing the head, skin and feathers as a whole piece of a peacock, roasting the meat, and dressing the roast in the head, skin and feathers as if the peacock was alive and merely resting on the platter. Modern practices of this, are not recommended, but rather dressing the roast in papier mache and other safer decorations.
I have done something similar at one feast I cooked – The promised venison was never delivered, so at the last "minute" I substituted what I could get – chicken. Fortunately, I had already planned on presenting the dish on a large platter and a reclining, resplendent winged stag (the group’s device) made of papier-mache (and chicken wire) as the cover for the meat. Since I made the stag almost "life-sized", it was quite a spectacle.
Other ways to make a dish a spectacle is to make it look like it was breathing fire, making it move, playing music, or look like something else. Some recipes like Yrchons (Urchins), are meatballs studded with slivers of almonds to make them look like hedgehogs (called urchins in medieval times). Sometimes a fowl and a young pig were stitched and roasted together to make the appearance of a mythical beast – in this case a cockatrice. There is a conserve (dessert) that was made to look like entrails (oh, Yum!) called Trayne roste or Train roast. It consisted of a string of almonds and dried fruits which were fried in a beer batter and served warm. There is a recipe I found called Apprayere or "Mock Pitcher", which is a meatloaf (forcemeat), cooked in a fabric mould to shape it into a hollow vessel which could contain a gravy or broth that could be poured from it then the pitcher eaten as well. Most people have seen my various styles of roses – these too are "spectacle" or a subtlety (illusion foods). When creating such things, imagination and your culinary skills walk hand in hand. Have Fun!
Apple Roses (a subtlety):
3-4 firm, red or gold skinned apples
1 Tbsp rose water
2 Tbsp sugar or honey
1/4 cup apple cider
1 Tbsp spice mixture of clove, grains of paradise, cinnamon, and ginger, ground
Thin pie dough or crescent dough, cut into inch wide strips about 10" long each
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cut apples in half and remove the core. Slice thinly into half-moons, making certain to keep enough of the skin on for the color. Put in a pan on medium heat with the apple juice, rose water, spices and sugar. Simmer until tender, but still able to hold its shape. Remove from the cooking liquid and cool slightly. On a piece of dough, brush a little bit of the cooking liquid on it then place 5 pieces of apple on the dough, overlapping slightly with the skin side overlapping the top edge of the dough. Carefully roll the dough from one end to the other and place on a pan lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the apples and dough. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the dough is brown and the apples look glazed. Cool. You could "gild" the roses with a little edible gold leaf, or with a honey syrup colored with cinnamon or hibiscus powder.
------
Copyright 2019 by Sandi Rust. <feo2mouse at yahoo.com>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.
If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.
<the end>