[Ansteorra] Guardian of the Tor Feast

[Harris Mark.S-rsve60]

Janie of Dragonsfire Tor commented:
> I am not sure how to address you since I am not familiar with
> you and do not
> know what your title is. So please be gentle with me.

I am not Count Gunthar. In fact, I'm not sure what the formal
address would be for a Count. "Your Excellancy", perhaps. I'm sure
someone will correct me if I'm wrong. However, most folks in this
Society will accept "My Lord (or My Lady)" as a general address, no
matter what their rank.

> The first time I read your post a few feathers were ruffled, however I
> quickly smoothed them down. (I get very defensive about our
> group if I think
> we are under attack. Which is not what you were doing) I did
> not think we
> had posted feast was period. So I search our Web site and I
> can see where
> there might be some confusion.

I happen to have some of the concerns that Gunthar has and my preferance
at SCA events is to have a period feast. However, I can quite understand
that sometimes in order to get a site, the owners require you to use
their cooks for any food served. Your meal sounds much better than what
I've often seen served at such sites. I can remember $6 a head for a
revel after a Kingdom Dance Symposium that featured cold cuts.

Sometimes the site owners or at least their food staffs will work with
you to provide a more reasonable medieval meal. They often will consider
it an interesting challenge. For some comments along this line, folks
might want to read what others have said in this file in the
SCA-EVENT-PLANNING section of the Florilegium:
hotel-events-msg  (17K)  2/14/02    Holding SCA events in hotels. Suggestions.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/SCA-EVENT-PLANNING/hotel-events-msg.html

> I'm glad I was able to clear it up for you. And I appreciate
> the suggestions
> on who to contact for period food. I always like to learn new things.

As I think Count Gunthar may have mentioned, you might want to take
a look at the various food sections of the Florilegium. There are a
variety of recipes there ranging from quite period to modern as well
as a fair amount of info about period cooking.

If you are thinking about getting some cookbooks with period recipes
or modern interpretations (redactions) of period recipes, you might
want to read some of the cookbook reviews in the FOOD-BOOKS section
such as:
cookbooks-bib     (40K)  6/ 9/01    Cookbook bib. by Mistress Jaelle of Armida.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BOOKS/cookbooks-bib.html
cb-novices-msg    (13K) 10/14/98    Cookbooks for those new to medieval cooking.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BOOKS/cb-novices-msg.html

There are some rather poorly done medieval cookbooks out there and they
can cost as much as the well done ones. So perhaps this info can help
you make an informed decision before buying some.

Best of luck with your upcoming event.

HL Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net

PS: There is a even a file in the Florilegium on period steaks.