SC - Siege Cooking

[Terry Nutter]

Hi, Katerine here.  Murkial presents her response to the challenge.  My first
reaction: I've eaten many (many, many, many) SCA feasts by people who had 
been working at culinary cookery for a goodly number of years that were
not near so well thought out!

My knowledge in detail of culinary trends is heavily biased to the English.
I can't really say, with any authority, that *any* of this is out of line.
To make it more like what I've seen of *English* usage, here are a couple
of quick notes.

On the quiches: custard pies certainly occur.  Flaumpeyns, a meat-custard
pie that is fairly common, also contain dates, and have a top crust.  I'm
actually not that fond of the dates, but they add something.  The only
quiche-like pie I know that is veggie is Tart in Ember Day.  The primary
veg is onions; it also has parsley and herbs, and currants.  In that spirit,
I'd have tended to emphasize the onions.  (It also has cheese, be in the
challenge we didn't, and under circumstances like that, leaving it out is
an obvious expedient.)  I'm not offhand familiar with one with fish, but
I tend to pay less attention to fish dishes, since for years, I've lived
in places where decent fresh fish is only intermittently available.  It's
certainly plausible.

Roasting the chicken is perfectly reasonable.  The stuffings I'm most
familiar with are a little different.  An idea for future thought: my
favorite is sweet spices, chopped hard-boiled egg yolks, and grapes.  The
grapes come out *fantastic*.  I'd be inclined to serve a roast chicken,
stuffed or otherwise, with some sort of sauce.  The materials we were
given would easily support a cameline, or a sauce vert, both of which are
simple.

The egurdouce is, of course, what I did with the pork, so obviously, I
think it's a good idea.

I've seen far more boiled than fried veggies.  But that may be a regional
preference.

The custard is a good inclination.  I haven't seen one of exactly the 
kind described, but I find it plausible (read: I wouldn't be surprised to
find one next week).

In terms of division into courses: medieval meals tended to larger courses
than we do today.  I'd have tended to put this amount of food into fewer
courses, with more selections in each.

All in all: not only a praiseworthy attempt from someone who hasn't worked
extensively with medieval collections, but a completely reasonable one were 
it to come from a reasonably experienced medieval cook working without 
immediate references!  Well done indeed!

Cheers,

- -- Katerine/Terry

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