SC - The cooking of the swan as compared to the peacock.

[The Cheshire Cat]

Duncan Wrote:
>
>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.

   Don't get me started on the effort we went to to get it looking edible.
People were full of really nice suggestions, but some were just not
practical.  The meat has a grey, silvery sheen when cooked and the necks
were just too long to stand and cook.  Do you have any idea what it is like
trying to manipulate a *VERY* hot swan into some semblance of food?  Twas a
nice idea, but the people in the kitchen came staggering out muttering
things along the line of 'Never again.....never, never again..."

   At least it cooked alright, but most people didn't like the taste of the
meat that much so the kitchen satff were eating swan sandwiches the next
day.  If you put enough salt on them, they taste semi-okay (or maybe ive
been cooking too long...)  I know that swan sandwiches are not that period,
but we didn't want to throw it all away and the hungry people wandering in
to see if they sould grab something were far more interested in the fruit
things we had been making for lunch.
- -Sianan