ANST - feasts

Margo Lynn Hablutzel Hablutzel at compuserve.com
Tue Sep 29 05:48:57 PDT 1998


Meadbh and Gunther are correct -- there is quite a range of flavours in
medieval cooking (especially if one gets away from Europe, but that is not
the aim of this exercise).  I had just heard enough people complain about
flavours, and I went to so many feasts at one time that prominently
featured glazed carrots, that I knew there had to be something better out
there.

With regard to rosewater especially, it is a personal taste; enough that I
could taste it caused some people to exclaim "soap!"  So for some things, I
have learned to get a wide range of samplers to provide input before the
dish is added to a feast menu.  (Fighter practices have been very handry!)

I've also had fun designing feasts with a special theme, such as "lenten"
or "kosher" (for next year's Kris Kinder in Calontir, we're hoping). 
Meadbh is correct, in period people at a LOT less meat than they do now,
and not due to poverty.  Yet "fast days" and "lenten" did not mean entirely
meat-free, except once or twice per year.  And a white feast could be VERY
impressive.

As for cooking for the cantons, unfortunately I am around Steppes so little
that I am barely known to people here, much less the cantons.  (House is
here, living on airplanes and in hotels far too much, and class at night.) 
Hard to convince people you can cook when you're not around enough to do
it.  But I'll keep trying, thanks.  I'm one of those wierd people who
thinks hard work is fun and doesn't mind cooking a feast (lost count after
fourteen, but a couple were co-cooked and one half-cooked, half potluck as
part of the A&S competitions for the event (except the judges ate most of
the mushrooms)).

Gunthar, it's a little too early for venison, unless someone had leftover
in the freezer.  We did have one feast where someone was going to donate a
deer, but the autocrat or seneschal (I forget) refused to put "Bambi" on
the menu.  I argued that it was perfect for a fall feast, but the cook was
overborne (I was only autocratting that event).

The Laurel I mentioned is well-known as a cook, but sometimes a bit
narrowminded.  I have receipts for all the desserts I mentioned (and the
strawberry cheesecake has proven very popular over the years; a plain
version won a competition in Calontir a couple coronations ago) and more
besides.  Still trying to document poppyseed hamentashen, but hey, one
needs a goal.  There are so many receipts which have survived but not been
translated or dedacted, and I've loved exchanging with people in other
Kingdoms, especially Drachenwald.  Unfortunately, the drive with my potato
soup records crashed, but I think I managed to back them up someplace --
16th Century!

Gunther, I never joined SCA-cooks because (1) I get too many lists as it
is, and (2) I thought it was just Laurels.  As y'all can tell, Laurels and
I don't always get along, because I am one of those people who says, "why
not," and then hits the library to look into the matter.  Some Laurels like
to rest on theirs and hate to be questioned (and I'm not necessarily
talking about anyone on this list, actually thinking of one who is
currently in The West).  I'll look into it later this month if life calms
down (I work for Nortel).

And for those of you too bored by this subject now, I'll stop.  <g>  It has
been interesting reading about the service issue; I thought it was just a
quirk ofthe locale, and did not realize it's a Kingdom-wide problem.  IKA.


                                        ---= Morgan


           |\     THIS is the cutting edge of technology! 
 8+%%%%%%%%I=================================================---
           |/   Morgan Cely Cain * Hablutzel at compuserve.com
                     Barony of the Steppes * Ansteorra
                          daytime: margolh at nt.com

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