SC - Cossacks, Mongols, and Huns..Oh My!

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Karen Lyons-McGann wrote:

>> They built a big bonfire, heating smooth riverbed rocks in it until they
>> glowed. The added the rocks, and rather minimally seasoned chunks of
>> freshly killed, skinned, and butchered lamb or kid, to a large milk can,
>> with a clamping lid, and sealed it shut. They then played a version of
>> soccer with the can for ten minutes or so. Maybe more like five.
>> Adamantius
> 
> Well!  The organizers were also looking for unique "fighting" events.
> How do you think knights would feel about  this?!

Depends on the extent of anal corncob penetration, if I might employ a
crude phrase to make my point. Hey, I once ran an event which featured
"Bob the Bruce's Bannockburn Open Miniature Golf Classic", which
featured fighters in pairs of a golfer and a caddy, both list-legal
fighters, suitably equipped. The fighters and their caddies were allowed
to attack the other golfers and caddies, the idea being to have the
caddy fend off the attack while the golfer sunk the shot (did I mention
the balls were small doll heads?) After that, I proved it wasn't a fluke
by holding a melee scenario based on the Irish epic poem, the Tain Bo
Cualnge, which featured a well-known Eastern Count (well, a Graf, in
fact) fighting in a really bad cow suit over his armor. I've come to the
conclusion fighters aren't a really stiff bunch.
> 
> How well do you think a lamb/kid stew would sell?  I've eaten both and
> liked it, but hardly anyone eats lamb, and I don't think you can even by
> kid around here.  Everyone would think it smelled and tasted odd and I
> couldn't sell any. This is one of the things that makes people say
> "period food is yucky" because they aren't familiar with it.  But, you
> said they ate it with flat bread? That's useful to know.

There's no reason lamb stew shouldn't sell, if properly prepared. The
trick is to make sure the lamb isn't too mature, trim off most of the
fat (but not all or it could be dry), and season it well. For a
Mongolianesque seasoning, I'd suggest ginger (fresh), lightly toasted or
fried garlic (fresh is best, but a nice cheat is to buy the little
dehydrated flakes or chips--NOT powder or "salt"--and either toast them
lightly in a low oven until they just begin to turn golden, or sauteed
in a lightly oiled saute pan, to a similar shade--make sure you don't
burn them) and a dash of cheap American or Canadian whiskey, like rye,
which is a reasonably close approximation of the kaoliang sorghum "wine"
you find in the North and West of China, which sometimes gets up to
around 180 proof. The wine, that is.

If you wanted to do something like this as a stew, rather than as a sort
of barbecue, which is really what the milk can method seems to produce,
I suggest you brown the lamb in a bit of oil, and just add more liquid,
like, for instance, beef stock. Small amounts of dark Chinese soy sauce
(thicker and less salty than the light kind) and a small pinch of
Chinese Five Spice Powder wouldn't hurt. Nor would a piece of dried
orange peel. If the lamb has enough gristly connective tissue on it, it
will cook until soft and the dissolved gelatin will thicken the broth
enough without adding any other thickener. You could eat this with wheat
flour cakes (bao bing in Mandarin, kinda like flat, thin, biscuits,
cooked in a frying pan or griddle, with or without a garnish of sesame
seeds), or the kind of wheat pancakes usually eaten with Mu Xi pork in
Chinese restaurants, rather like wheat flour tortillas. Or, in a pinch,
this could be eaten over thick, eggless, wheat-flour noodles, like the
Japanese udon.

> [Adamantius, are you from 'round here?  you got the complete name of the
> event right!)

Just a shot in the dark...I live in the East (but not that far East!)

Adamantius
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