SC - Illusion Foods Challenge (Was: Below the Salt)

[Michael P Newton]

On Sun, 12 Oct 1997 10:01:38 -0500 (CDT) alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise
Fleming ) writes:

>Might I suggest transposing this into something more medieval or 
>Renaissance?  From what I have seen, illusion foods recreated real 
>foods with a surprise.  You really _might_ stuff an egg shell with 
>custard and cook it to set.  You could take marzipan or sugar paste 
>and 
>make it look like a hard-boiled egg or even bacon.  But, I haven't 
>seen 
>any evidence that something mythological such as a roc's egg would 
>have 
>been mimicked.  Statues of gods and goddesses, yes; made of sugar, or 
>marzipan, or sugar paste, yes.  To me, roc's eggs would belong to our 
>modern version of what was done in the Middle Ages.  Now, if one 
>wanted 
>to do a roc's egg then one should look at what foodstuffs were 
>available to make it from.  I would think that cantaloupes, jellow, and 
>cream cheese would be "right out."  But... the concept is interesting. 
> 
>What illusion foods can you "invent" that would fit into the medieval 
>or Renaissance world and would avoid modern ingredients or forays into 
>our modern fantasy world?
>
>You already probably know of "apples" made from meatballs; hollow 
>walnuts made of sugar paste with trinkets inside; and the 
>above-mentioned bacon and hard-boiled eggs of marzipan or sugar paste.
>Can we invent something similar?
>
>Alys Katharine
>
>=============================================
Actually, no, I had not heard about the meatball/apples, although I knew
that the Renaissance was a popular time period for using marzipan to
illustrate everything from fruits to who-knows-what-else.[I would like
the recipe for the "apples" though]

My main interest in the Giant Egg Thingy is that every feast I have been
to here in Calontir has started off with hard boiled eggs, cheese
[cheddar or it's cousins]and bread. Now while hard boiled eggs are a
lifesaver when you have a toddler who doesn't want to wait for feast to
start, I personally like them sparingly, if at all.[deviled eggs are a
different matter all together] Call it revenge if you must, but I would
like to see some faces if instead of 8 small eggs on the table, there was
just one giant one.[which means I am seriously thinking of using
Adamantius' recipe at my first feast <snicker>]

Back to my original recipe -
I know that cream cheese is a modern cheese, but I didn't know that
cantaloupes were OOP. What melons, if any, are period?
As for jello, I know gelatin is period, although time consuming and
tasting of meat, but did they just use them in aspics? For that matter
has anyone used an aspic in a feast and how did it go over?
Lady Beatrix of Tanet
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