SC - Re: Mead notes

[DianaFiona]

Just a quick question, out of curiosity...
        Does anyone know of any period cooking sources from the Byzantine
empire?  There is Apicius & the Greek originals that it is supposed based
on, but is there anything later than that?
                Wishing everyone a Happy New Year full of flavorful cooking, 
                                                Antoine
Dan Gillespie
dangilsp at intrepid.net
Dan_Gillespie at usgs.gov
Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA 

Antoine and All,
Byzantium was more Persian than anything else. Another factoid about it is
that it was also primarily Christian or Zaroastrian (where the "Magi" (high
priest) or "Three Kings of Orient" came from---a seperate religeon tollerant
of christianity). So I can't really see it's cuisine being based entirely on
Apecius. Apecius lacks a lot in the dried-food department, which mid-east
cooking is fairly notable for. More accurate for Byzantium, I think, would
be middle-east stuff without the aversion to alcohol. You'd have to throw in
incluences from India, too. I am struggling with this right now, as we are
preparing a feast for our new Byzantine Baron, Tigranes. I have settled on a
feast half Persian-influenced, half "what the crusaders might have brought
to Byzantium".

Here's my proposed menu (so far, and subject to change) for the Jan 24th
Investiture. I left in the cooking attributes so you can see how we divide
the labor in the proto-Barony of Endless Hills (my menu, but they'll be
responsible for their own dishes....the head cook (me in this case) designs
the menu with advice from all, and assigns the dishes. We do have a set of
cooks who insist on carrying the load themselves when they are in charge,
but since they do a good job, we still come to be kitchen slaves and to
nibble ;^D):


Endless Hills First Baronial Investiture Menu:

& Val's Dishes  @ Murdock and Rioana's Dishes    ^Aoife's Dishes   % Ragnar
and Rowan's Dishes


1st remove---To Honor our New Baron's Heritage
*Bread (flat bread or pita), and Hummus served in Bread Swans %
*Phoenix tail salad (Salad vegetables arranged like a Phoenix's Tail),
Balsamic Dressing after a description by Mistress Sincgiefu (Cindy Renfrow) @
*Apricot Chicken^ (turkish influence)^
*Perfumed Jasmine Rice (thanks Gunther!)&
        the 2 above served in traditional arabic style---rice piled up
high on a platter, and ringed with the meat and vegetables. 
*Sekanjubin (persian mint drink, and possibly other syrops from the
Miscellany, etc.)^

*Break for Khasar's Liqeurs---a donation

2nd Remove---Festive dishes brought to the Holy Land by  Visiting Notaries
Wardens in Syrop (ruby poached pears) arranged fan-style, garnished with
Apple Peacocks (Pleyn Delit---peacocks designed by Aoife) @
*Allowes de Beef (beef rolls with gravy and herbed stuffing)---Cariadoc's
Miscellany^
*pel 'meni (Mongolian Dumplings) in vegetarian broth---a repeat back by
popular         demand &
*Mackerons or Lozenges (noodles and cheese)---Pleyn Delit or Cariadoc%
*Spruce (Gingered Lemonade)^

*Soteltie by Ragnar and Rowan

Third Remove: Desserts arranged on platters
*New Year Cakes (find a bean and be the King of Misrule for an hour. Find a
ring         and you're soon to be wed. Find a penny and you'll be rich the
next         year. Find a thimble, and you'll be a spinster/bachelor all
your         life).--Make Ahead^
*Cuskynoles (fruit raviolis) Make Ahead--all work on it on site
*Aoife's Rosette Baklava by popular demand^ (ahead---not period, but excellent)
*Preserved Oranges and kumquats with almond butter with flaky
pastry(Huswife's         Jewel except for the kumquats)
*Spruce (Gingered lemonade) (syrup made ahead)
*Hot Tea and Arabic Coffee

As you can see, we have departed from historical practice in a few areas. I
would like to do a better job of this sometime in the future, but since the
feast was to be based on the winner of the election, and the winners were
announced in mid-December (and the feast is in mid-January), and there were
5 candidates in all, with 5 removes to be planned for just in case any two
of them won, you can see we were reaching a little for material.
Additionally, we did not get a winner in the Baroness category, so we then
had a big hole to fill there.

Does anyone know----esp. His Grace Cariadoc---if any of the historical
Arabic volumes some of the Miscellany is based on are published in English
Translation, with simply the original text? Next time I would like to work
on my own redactions, just to see how I size up to other's interpretations.
Besides, the Baron-elect is my brother, and since he's getting married at
Pennsic with a big reception to follow, I'd like the food to be as accurate
as possible at that time, in addition to being camp-cookable.


So many questions....so little time!

Aoife

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