sca-cooks Intro

[maddie teller-kook]

Greetings...

I can give you some insight on how  I set up my displays.  It was
tricky.  (I too live in Ansteorra...Bryn Gwlad now but Stargate in the
past).  Doing food is a nightmare.  First, I tried to pick a meal or
collection of dishes that would be educational on the food as well as
the customs surrounding how it was eaten.  I usually had my
documentation in a binder.....a 1 page discussion of what I did with the
recipes (original and redacted...whether I did the redaction or not).  I
would try and display the dishes in the manner they might have been set
on the table.  As for the types of food...that depended on the time of
year.  I would do middle eastern and roman during hotter months and then
do european dishes during the winter. I did NOT set up food at an
outdoor event in the summer without having a way to keep it cold or hot.
Try placing ice in a bowl and then placing the dish with the food on
top.  You can hide the ice a variety of ways. I'd use kale(decorative
green) or a cloth.  I also used candle warmers to keep hot food warm.
And then I rarely left my display....constantly heating up food for
people to taste.  I never wanted them to eat the food at the wrong
temperature....
I can give you more information....catch me at an event and I'll fill
you in on the details of some of my displays.

Meadhbh




Lenny Zimmermann wrote:
> 
> Greetings all,
> 
> By way of intro I am Lionardo Acquistapace (mka Lenny Zimmermann) from
> the Barony of Bjornsborg, Ansteorra (San Antonio, TX). I have always
> been an amateur cook, and since joining the SCA about a year and a
> half ago my interest in Renaissance and Medieval cooking has increased
> tremendously. I currently have a voracious appetite for recipes and
> menus from Renaissance Italy.
> 
> One of my great interests would be in presenting meals for A&S
> displays. What kinds of documentation work well for ya'll? What about
> presentation? (Any nice ways to hide an ever so mundane chafing dish?)
> Which recipes work well for sitting out in moderate heat for half of a
> day, especially considering that they would probably have been cooked
> a day or two earlier and are being reheated? How about Cold foods?
> What types of food should be avoided? I'll see about posting what
> thoughts I have had on this, but as you can tell, me SCA experience in
> this area is still in the early stages of discovery.
> 
> Honos Servio,
> Lionardo Acquistapace, Barony of Bjornsborg, Ansteorra
> (mka Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio, TX)
> zarlor at acm.org