SC - Fw: [Mid] Feasts

[Philip & Susan Troy]

david friedman wrote:
> 
> At 7:02 PM -0400 11/13/97, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:
> >Yes, it is difficult to serve the number and variety of
> >dishes at a real medieval European feast, some of which had upwards of
> >five or six courses, each with perhaps fifteen dishes.
> 
> What is your basis for this? Chiquart comments that he can, if necessary,
> devise a third course, but doesn't think it necessary--and that is for an
> enormous feast. My impression of the English and French feasts we have
> menus for is that they have either two or three courses.

My statement was mostly a stab in the dark, I confess, but not totally
arbitrary. The English fourteenth and fifteenth century menus I have
seen usually seem to go to three courses, and Le Menagier frequently
goes as high as four. I do know I have seen accounts of feasts with
still more courses, but offhand, I don't recall where. I'll see if I can
find it.

My point was only that many SCA cooks, stewards, and diners would find
it difficult to fulfill their respective roles in a feast as described
in some of the surviving medieval menus, in an event setting, with the
meal beginning in the early evening. On the other hand, acknowledging
that difficulty is not the same as saying we shouldn't try to do the
best we can... .

I usually structure feast menus for events with three courses, loosely
based on the Roman or Dark Ages concept of the dinner party of nine
persons, and nine dishes. Alternately, I'll do something akin to the
Chiquart approach, with two courses, and one or two semi-fancy entremet
dishes in the middle. I usually end up with somewhere from nine to
twelve dishes using either of these approaches. I have gone as high as
around twenty-five dishes or so, but it was difficult, given the size
and facilities of the kitchen we were using, the size of my kitchen
crew, and my desire to keep the pre-cooking to a minimum.

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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