SC - any suggestions ??

[Tom Brady]

At 02:27 AM 4/16/97 -0400, Aldyth at aol.com wrote:
><<  For the Investiture feast of Alaric and Nerissa as P&P of Lochac last
> September we served swan to the high table.  It's incredibly period and
> it's interesting to try and get it to look right.  The meat tastes
> interesting as well, sort of a mix of turkey and duck.
> Just my two cents worth>>
>
>Where did you come up with the swan?

Good question. This reminds me of the time (which at least one listmember
will remember, I'm sure) when the group I was in had an autocrat who really
wished to impress visiting royalty. Having researched period sotelties, he
became enamored of the idea of serving a peacock, which was cooked and
served in its own skin. Splendid, yes. Practical...maybe not.

The tale of how he obtained the peacock was rather amusing. He called
around and located a farm that bred peacocks within two hours' drive. They
explained that they made lovely pets, and what did he wish to do with them.
When he explained he wanted to kill it and cook it and eat it, they hung up
on him. He found another supplier.

A local Laurel was kind enough to assist in the skinning and tanning of the
hide, so that went fine at least. But when the time came to cook the thing,
two important facts were overlooked:
1. A peacock is a game bird, and cooks differently than a chicken.
2. It was a peaCOCK, not a peaHEN, and took longer to cook because of this.

When it was served to High Table, an attending knight politely suggested
that the king might wish to avoid the "salmonella salad." It was taken back
to the kitchen and given another hour to cook. I can't say how the meat
tasted, but I seem to recall that those eating it weren't impressed.

- -Duncan (...and don't even get me started on the eel stew...)
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Brady    tabrady at mindspring.com   SCA: Duncan MacKinnon of Tobermory
 See my web pages for links to the Society for Creative Anachronism and 
      gay and lesbian info: http://www.technomancer.com/~duncan/