SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #329

[Ron and Laurene Wells]

My brain or my quoter is not working. I am not feeling well, so not sure
which one or both is at fault.

Someone asked for a feast menu.  I've never made this, but thought it
soundsed interesting:

                      Caer Galen Cooks Corner: The recipes

The recipes, conveniently located in one place

To make Leach: Hugh Plat's "Delightes for Ladies":
59. To make Leach
Seeth a pint of Creame, and in the seething put in some dissolved Isinglasse,
stirring it till it be very thicke, then take a handful of blanched Almonds,
beat them and put them in a dish with your Creame, seasoning them with sugar,
and after slice it and dish it.

A leach, after Hugh Plat:
Heat 3 cups of cream or milk. Mix 1/2 to 3/4 oz. gelatin with another cup of
milk according to directions on gelatin. Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar to the
heating milk. Mix in the gelatin.  Stir till well dissolved. Cool.

To make tender and delicate brawne:Hugh Plat's "Delightes for Ladies":
13. To make tender and delicate brawne.
Put collars of brawn in kettles of water, or other apt vessels into an oven
heated, as you would for household bread; cover the vessels, and so leave them
as long in the over as you would doe a batch of bread. A late experience
amongst Gentlewomen far excelling the old manner of boiling brawne in great and
huge kettles. Quare if putting your liquor hot into the vessels, and the brawn
a little boiled first, by this means you shall not give great expedition to
your work.

Brawne after Hugh Plat
Take a medium size pork shoulder and place it into a dish.  Cover it with
water.  Bake it at 400F for 90 minutes or so until done. If the roast is
thicker, it will take longer to cook, if small less time.  Slice thinly and
serve with mustard.

Mustard Meale:Hugh Plat's "Delightes for Ladies":
25. Mustard Meale
It is usual in Venice to sell the meal of Mustard in their markets as we doe
flower and meale in England: this meale, by the addition of vinegar, in two or
three daies becommeth exceeding good mustard; but it would be much stronger and
finer, if the huskes or huls were first divides by searce or boulter: which may
be easily done, if you dry your seeds against the fire before you grinde them.
The Dutch iron hand-mils, or an ordinary pepper-mill, may serve fro this
purpose.  I thought it very necessary to publish this manner of making your
sawce, because our mustard which we buy from the chandlers at this day, is many
times made up with vile and filthy vinegar, such as our stomacks would abhorre,
if we should see it before the mixing thereof with the seeds.

Mustard after Hugh Plat
Begin with as much vinegar as you wish to have mustard.  Add either dry mustard
or ground mustard seeds to taste.  Let is sit a couple of days to mellow.  A
rough ration is 3 tsp mustard to 1/4 cup vinegar. I used white wine, I would
suggest perhaps a cider or some other more strongly flavored vinegar.

To Make a Tarte of Spinage:"A New Booke of Cokerye":
TO MAKE A TARTE OF SPINAGE
Take Spynage and perboyle it tender, then take it up and wrynge oute the water
cleane, and chop it very small, and set it upon the fyre wyth swete butter in a
frying panne and season it, and set it in a platter to coole then fyll your
tarte and so bake it."

Tarte of Spinage after A new Booke
Thaw a pound or so of frozen spinach.  Fry it up with butter, salt, pepper and
garlic to taste.  When it is well and truly covered in the hot butter, transfer
it to a pie shell and bake it for 15 minutes or so at around 350.

Roast Capons in wine sauce over soppes
Chicken:  just roast the damn things.  Any cookbook will tell you how.
Soppes:   toast bread and arrange it on the tray.  Shepherds loaves, or a a
rough wheat would be good.

A Good Sauce: "Daz Buoch von Guoter Spise":
Take wine and honey.  Set that on the fire and let it boil.  And add thereto
pounded ginger more than pepper.  Pound garlic, but not, all too much, and make
it strong and give it impetus with eggwhites.  Let it boil until it becomes
brown.  One should eat this in cold weather and it is called Swallenberg sauce.

A good sauce after Daz Buoch von Guoter Spise
Take two to one wine to honey, and a hefty helping of ginger.  Add pepper and
garlic to taste. Some lightly beaten eggwhites, warmed before adding should
thicken it a bit.

Roast Beef with pepper and vinegar sauce over soppes
Beef: see chicken above
Soppes:   see soppes above

Pepper and vinegar sauce, after a number of sources:
Mix two parts vinegar to one part wine, add pepper and ginger to taste. Simmer.
Thicken with breadcrumbs (or cheat and use a beurre manie). Correct the
seasoning with more wine or vinegar before serving.

Game hens with various sauces:
Hens:  those are trivial to cook and left as an exercise to the reader.
Sauces: serve both of the sauces from above.
Also,
Sorrel Sauce:"Booke of Cokerye":
"Take Sorell, grynde hem small and draw (strain) him through a streynoure, and
caste thereto salt and serve hit forth" attributed to Austin.  "Take sorel
sauce a good quantite and put in Cinomone and Suger, and let it boyle and powre
it upon the soppes and then laye on the chekins."

Sorrel Sauce after the Booke of Cokerye
Grind Sorrel finely, or food process it.   Add it to a mix of equal parts water
and wine.  Spice to taste with cinnamon, salt and sugar. Boil it a a while,
then either strain for a clear sauce, or leave the sorrelly bits in if they are
small enough.

Tarte:
Use your favorite quiche recipe.  For vegetables use onions and maybe green
peas.

Fritters:The Harleian MS
"Longe Fretoure.-Take Milke,an make fayre croddes ther-of, in the manner of a
chese al tendyr; then take owt the whey as clene as you may, & putte it on a
bolle; then take yolkes of Eyroun & Ale, & menge floure, & cast there-to, a
gode quantyte, & draw it thorw a straynoure in-to a fayre vesselle; then take a
panne withe fayre grece, & hete it on the fyre, but let it not boyle, & then
ley thin creme a-brode; then take a knyff, & kytte a quantyte ther-of the borde
in-to the panne, & efte a-nother, & let 8t frye; & when it is brownne, takeit
vpee in-to a fiayre dyssche, and caste Sugre y-now ther-on, & serue forth."

"Fretoure.-Take whete floure, ale yest, Safroun, & Salte, & bete all to-
gederys as thikke as you schuldyst make other bature in fleyssche tyme; & then
take fayre Apples, & kut hem in manerof Fretourys, & wete hem the bature up on
downne, & frye hem in fayre Oyle, & caste hem in a dyssche; and caste Sugre
ther-on, & serue forth."

Fritters after the Harleian MS
Mix 1/2 flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup flat beer of your choice (I'd recommend
something with a little kick to it - Guiness maybe.) Add flour to it until it
has the appropriate texture for batter. If you wish add a little milk as well.
Cut up apples, not Red Delicious, into slices, or for a change, core them and
slice into rounds.  Slather them well in the batter and fry in hot oil.
Sprinkle with sugar, and serve while warm.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexandre Lerot d'Avign‚, nexus at panix.com, 4/25/94

*****
...Or maybe this one...

                                 How to Pig Out

How to Pig Out

From: leighann at sybase.com (Leigh Ann Hussey)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca,rec.food.historic
Subject: Oculis Exciditis...
Summary: Medieval Feast with whole roast pig
Message-ID: <29187 at sybase.sybase.com>
Date: 8 Feb 93 19:49:45 GMT

Greetings to the Rialto from Siobhan!  And a hearty hey there to
rec.food.historic from Leigh Ann.

I'm posting this article here, because it may not be deemed acceptable for
TOURNAMENTS ILLUMINATED (to which I'm also sending it), and I'd really like
people to see it; also, people on r.f.h may not get TI, even if the article
does end up therein.  I worked pretty hard on this feast, and would like others
to reap the benefits of my experience (and errors!).  I haven't yet submitted
it to TI, so if you have any editorial comments, I'll receive them gratefully.
Without further ado:

Oculis Exciditis Porcus Dimidius Facti

or, How to Pig Out with 130 of Your Closest Friends

In the Fall of 1991 I was approached by the Seneschale of Mountain's Gate
(Placerville) with a proposal: since she liked my cooking so much, would I be
willing to cook the feast for the Investiture of the Prince of Cynagua at the
end of January.  Without hesitation (hah!) I warmly agreed.  After all, I
didn't have to raise the money, I didn't have to do the shopping (well, not
much anyway), all I had to do was dream up a menu, cook it, and feed it to
people!  Easy, yes?  Well...

Assembling The Menu

First I needed a theme for the feast, so I inquired of the incipient Prince's
persona choice, which turned out to be Saxon.  I daydreamed about mead benches
and antler-crowned halls, the smoking blaze in the middle of the hall, the
rushes on the floor and the dogs begging for scraps, and said, "Well, first
thing, we have to have a whole roast pig."  Luckily for me, one of the local
Barons is a butcher by mundane trade, and was able to procure said porker for
me at a reasonable price.  LESSON ONE: Make friends with your butcher, share
your plans with him.  He may get as enthusiastic about it as you are.  He
advised me to get, not a suckling pig at 40 pounds, but a full-grown pig at
closer to 100 pounds; apparently, around here at least, the price break is
substantial.  When I later found out exactly how many people I was to feed, I
was heartily glad we got the big pig.  My "feastocrat" asked me, "Have you ever
cooked a whole pig before?"  "No," said I, "but I have books..."  I can hear
you wincing from here.  I only mention it for the purpose of explaining the
title of this article; in Mrs. Child's American Frugal Housewife, from 1833,
she explains how to cook a whole pig, giving the following memorable benchmark:
"When the eyes drop out, the pig is half done."  What with one bit of advice
and another, we decided that it would be best to start the pig the night
before, and give it 24 hours to cook.

For the rest of the feast, I wanted to stay as early as possible -- 1400 or
better, and was mostly successful.  Some of the recipes are from manuscripts
dated to around 1450, which I considered a reasonable margin.

I decided to be brash, bold and egotistical, and not rely on anybody else's
recipe interpretations.  In the end, I did have to use a couple, but the bulk
of the recipes are my own developments.  I raided Butler and Heiatt's Cury On
Inglyshe for most of the original recipes, and vol. 2 of Take A Thousand
Eggs... for the rest.  I thought about what would be available in England, in
the winter, in Alden's "time", and produced the menu that follows.

I include, where I had them, the period redactions (I've substituted "th" for
"thorn" -- my apologies to the purists), and my translations. The recipes
themselves, and the expanded ingredients to feed about 100 are at the very end
of the article.  One note for the adventurous folk who might want to derive
their own recipes from the period texts (and why shouldn't you?  I wanted
to...): I discovered that much of my "armchair cooking" -- brainstorming
recipes on paper -- worked out exactly right in the kitchen, with the exception
of some minimal changes to spicery.  I commented on this to a friend of mine
who's done a great deal of this sort of thing, and she said, "Well, that's not
surprising. When you're doing these things, it's more important to be fluent in
cooking than it is to be fluent in Middle English."

Feast for Cynagua's Winter Investiture, AS XXVII

First Remove

Caboches in potage.  Take caboches and quarter hem, and seeth hem in gode broth
with oynouns ymynced and the whyte of lekes yslyt and ycorue smale.  And do
therto safroun & salt, and force it with powdour douce. (Forme of Cury)

[Cabbages in soup.  Take cabbages and quarter them, and seethe them in good
broth with minced onions and the white of leeks slit and cut small.  Add
saffron and salt, and enforce it with sweet powder.]

Divers cheses, fruytes & noteys, ayren pickle

A soteltey

Second Remove

Chicones in mose.  Tak blaunched almaundes & grynde hem smale & tempere hem
with clene watere, & do hem in a pot & put therto floure of rys & sugre & salt
& safroun, & boyle hem togedere.  & ley the 3elkes of harde sothe eyren in
disches, & tak rosted chikenes & tak the lemes & the wynges & the braun, & cut
that other del on lengthe, & ley it in the disches with yolkes and take the
sauche and hilde hit into the disches & do aboue clowes & serue it forth.
(Utilis Coquinario)

[Chickens in mousse.  Take blanched almonds and grind them small and mix them
with clean water, and put them in a pot with rice flour and sugar and salt and
saffron and boil them together.  And lay the yolks of hardboiled egs in dishes,
and take roasted chicken legs and wings and breasts (cut lengthwise), and lay
it in the dishes with the yolks, and take the sauce and pour it into the
dishes, and sprinkle cloves over, and serve it forth.]

Elys in counfy.  Tak eles & fle hem & cut hem on thynne gobetes, & frye hem in
oyle dolif, & pynes therewith; & tak bothe togedere & couche hem in blaunche
poudere, & in ceucre, & couche aboue poudere of gygere as the quantite of thy
seruise nedeth, & than take blaunched almaundes & grynde hem smal & tempre hem
with whit wyne; & streyne hem, & cast hem in to a pot alle togeder. & tak
poudere of clowes & of maces & of quybibs & of peper, & cast therto & boyle hem
in alle in fere, & salt it, & when it is dressed florshe it aboue with myced
gyngere that is fayre pared & tryed.  (Utilis Coquinario)

[Eels in confit.  Take eels and flay them, and cut them in thin pieces and fry
them in olive oil with pine nuts.  Take both (eels and nuts) and roll them in
white powder and sugar, and sprinkle over it powdered ginger according to the
amount of eels, and then take blanched almonds ground small and mixed with
white wine -- strain them and throw all into a pot together.  Add powdered
cloves, mace, cubeb, and pepper, and bring to a boil, add salt, and then
sprinkle over it minced (fresh) ginger peeled and chopped.]

Gos farced.  Take Percely, & Swynys grece, or Sewet of a schepe, & parboyle hem
to-gederys til they ben tendyr; than take harde yolkys of Eyroun, & choppe
for-with; caste ther-to Pouder Pepir, Gyngere, Canel, Safroun, & Salt, & grapis
in tyme of yere, & clowys y-nowe; & for defawte of grapis, Oynons, fyrst wil
y-boylid, & afterward alle to-choppyd, & so stuffe hym & roste hym, & serue hym
forth.  (Leche Vyaundez)

[Stuffed goose.  Take parsley, and bacon grease or sheep suet, and parboil them
together until they are tender; then take chopped hardboiled egg yolks and add
powdered pepper, ginger, cinnamon, saffron and salt, and grapes in season, and
enough cloves (and for default of grapes, chopped parboiled onions), and so
stuff him and roast him and serve him forth.]

Samoun fresch endored & rostyd.

A soteltey

Third Remove

Pigge ffarced.  Take rawe egges, and draw hem yorgh a streynour, And then grate
faire brede; And take saffron, salt, pouder ginger, And suet of Shepe, And do
medle all togidre into a faire vessell, and put hit in the pigge wombe Whan he
is on the brocche, And then sowe the hole togidre; or take a prik, and prik him
togidur, And lete him roste. (Harleian ms 4016)

[Stuffed pig.  Take raw eggs and run them through a strainer, and then grate
nice bread, and take saffron, salt, powdered ginger, and sheep suet, and mix
all together in a bowl, and put it in the pig's cavity when he is on the spit,
and then sew the hole together, or take a spike and spike him together, and let
him roast.]

Benes yfryed.  Tak benes and seeth hem almost til they bursten.  Take and wryng
out the water clene.  Do therto oynouns ysode and ymynced, and garlec therwith;
frye hem in oile other in grece, & do therto powdour douce, & serue it forth.
(Forme of Cury)

[Fried beans.  Take beans and boil them almost until they burst, then drain.
Add minced parboiled onions, and garlic; fry them in oil or grease and add
sweet powder, and serve it forth.]

Pasternakes

To make gingerbrede.  Take goode honye & clarefie it on the fere, & take fayre
paynemayn or wastel brede & grate it, & caste it into the boylenge hony, &
stere it well togyder faste with a sklyse that it bren not to the vessell.  &
thanne take it doun and put therin ginger, longe pepere & saundres, & tempere
it vp with thin handes; & than put hem to a flatt boyste & strawe theron suger,
& pick therin clowes round about by the egge and in the mydes, yf it plece you,
&c.  (Sloan ms. 121)

[To make gingerbread.  Take good honey and clarify it on the fire, and take
good everyday bread or leftover bread and grate it, and cast it into the
boiling honey and stir it well together quickly with a spatula (?) so it
doesn't scorch.  Then take it off the heat and add ginger, long pepper and
sandlewood, and knead it; and then put it in a flat box and sprinkle sugar on
it, and stick cloves around the edge and in the middle, if it pleases you, etc.]

A soteltey

Fourth Remove

Tartys in applis.  Tak gode applys & gode spycis & figys & reysons & perys, &
wan they arn wel yrayd colour wyth safroun wel & do yt in a cofyn, & do yt
forth to bake wel. (Diuersa Servicia)

[Apple tarts.  Take good apples and good spices and figs and raisins and pears,
and when they are well arrayed, color well with saffron and put it in a pie
shell, and set it to bake well.]

Rysshews of fruyt.  Take fyges and raisouns; pyke hem and waisshe hem in wyne.
Grynde hem with apples and peers ypared and ypiked clene.  Do therto gode
powdours and hole spices; make balles therof, frye in oile, and serue hem
forth. (Forme of Cury)

[Rissoles of fruit.  Take figs and raisins, pick them over and wash them in
wine.  Grind them with apples and pears pared and picked clean.  Add good
powders and whole spices, make balls of the mixture, fry in oil, and serve them
forth.]

Daryols.  Take creme of cowe mylke, other of almaundes; do therto ayren with
sugur, safroun and salt.  Medle it yfere.  Do it in a coffyn of ii ynche depe;
bake it wel and serue it forth. (Forme of Cury)

[Darioles.  Take cream of cow milk or of almonds; add to it eggs with sugar,
safron and salt, and mix it.  Put it in a pie shell two inches deep, bake it
well and serve it forth.]

Cook Until Done

It was a marvelous pig roaster.  It had a bed for coals, and an automatic
spit-turner, and when we had spitted the pig and set it turning, it looked like
all would go stupendously.  But the wind blew a gale all night, and while it
didn't put the coals out, it did slow the cooking such that the next day at
2:30 pm, while the skin had cracked off the back, the spine of the pig had
separated in several spots, and grease continued to drip appetizingly into the
fire, the meat was still cool inside.  LESSON TWO: If you're not roasting in a
pit, or in a massive indoor fireplace, make sure your roaster has a cover.
LESSON THREE: When faced with the possibility of serving your guests uncooked
pig, act decisively.  I directed the men to hoist our half-roasted friend off
the stand, bring her inside and take the spit out.  I then took a cleaver, cut
her in three pieces (just behind the shoulders and just ahead of the hams), and
we stuffed the pieces in the oven.  We had chicken pieces still to roast, so
instead of roasting them, we grilled them over the coals in the pig roaster.
Ditto the salmon, wrapped in foil.

After three hours at 350 F, the meat thermometer rose with gratifying speed
when Ernie slid it into the haunch, and we knew we'd won.  Now we only had to
figure out how to present what the people had expected to be a whole roast pig.

And Serve It Forth

In the long run, it worked out perfectly.  I had fancied the idea of the
Princess's Champion carving the hero's portion -- there turned out to be two
co-Champions.  We were provided with a litter on which to bear the pig to the
hall: a 1/4" piece of plywood supplied with 1x1s to give it a "lip", supported
by a sort of St. Andrews cross (2x4s going diagonally across under the board,
with the ends carved for handles). We arranged the three parts of the pig,
covered the seams with greens and strewed greens and apples liberally around
her, and marched her into the hall to general acclaim.  The two champions,
having had a dramatic argument over who got to carve the pig, both drew swords
and gave hacks at the pig -- Miracle! it came right apart, they must be true
heroes!  Well, you get the point.  A little bit of "business" can go a long way
toward covering up potential embarassment.

Recipes

Caboches in potage

1 head cabbage, cored and quartered
2 qts chicken broth
2 onions, chopped
whites of 4 leeks, chopped
1/4 t each saffron or turmeric, cinnamon, sugar, cardamom, galangal
1 t salt

Heat a little oil in the soup pot and cook the onions until they're
translucent, then add the broth, bring to a boil, add the cabbage, leeks and
spices, and cook until the cabbage is as done as desired.

Expansion: 14 heads cabbage, 28 onions, 7 gallons broth, 28 leeks, 5 T salt,
3.5 t each of other spices.

Ayren pickle

Note: I got this recipe from The Craft Of The Country Cook

1 doz hardboiled eggs, shelled
1/2 lb whole pearl onions, peeled
2.5c cider vinegar
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1t salt
4T honey
1/4t each: cinnamon, cloves, allspice, mace, dill, tarragon, grains of
paradise; a shake of turmeric

Put eggs in hot, sterilized canning jars.  Boil all the other ingredients in a
saucepan, simmer 5 min.  Pour the hot liquid over the eggs in jars, covering
eggs completely.  Seal jars, cool, and store in a cool place.

Expansion: 9 doz eggs, 4.5 lb onions, 11 pints + .5 c vinegar, 1 head garlic, 3
T salt, 2.25 c honey, 2.25 t spices

Samoun fresch endored & rosted

Note: this dish is listed in one of the menus from Cosin ms V.III.11(c), from
the 14th century (as I found it in Curye On Inglysch), but no recipe is given,
so I made one up based in part on a similar glaze for chicken described in Take
A Thousand Eggs...  In the case of this feast, as I mentioned, we had to cook
the salmon in foil over coals, so when the oven was clear of pork, we set the
salmon in the oven for a little bit longer, glazing it then rather than before.

1 whole salmon
stuffing: 2 c ground hazelnuts in 1/4 c honey melted with 1/4 c butter
glaze: 4 egg yolks, beaten with 1T flour, 1t ginger, 1/2 t pepper, pinch
saffron, 1t salt

Stuff the salmon, then glaze and roast at 350deg F for 15 min per inch of width
(1/2 hour for a 2" thick salmon); baste occasionally with leftover glaze.

For the feast we made three such salmon, so the proportions should be easy to
figure out...

Gos farced

I used the recipe inRenfrow's Take A Thousand Eggs Or More, vol. 1.

For the feast, we only roasted one goose, for the high table.

Chicones in mose

16 chicken parts -- legs, thighs, half breasts
1 doz hardboiled eggs
2.5 c water
1/2 c rice flour
1 c blanched almonds
1T sugar, 1/2t salt, pinch saffron, ground cloves

Roast chicken parts at 425deg F for 15-20 min, or till the skins are golden
brown.  Remove egg yolks (discard whites), and chop coarsely, then put them in
the serving dish.  When the chicken is done, lay it on top of the egg yolks.

Chop up the almonds in a blender/food processor until they're pretty small, but
not yet powdery.  Add 1c of the water, and process again. Then add saffron,
sugar, salt, and flour and process, adding the remaining water gradually.  Pour
the mixture into a pot, bring to a low boil, stirring frequently.  Don't let
burn!  Let sit for at least 10 min, for the saffron to come to full flavor --
it will continue to strengthen (up to a point).  If need be, the sauce can be
reheated. Just before serving, pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle clove
over the top, and "serve it forth"!

Expansion: 100 pieces of chicken, 7 doz hardboiled eggs, 7 c blanched almonds,
4qts + 1.5 c water, 6.5 c rice flour, 1/2 c sugar, 1 T salt, saffron and cloves
to taste.

Elys in counfy

2 eels, skinned and sliced crosswise     1 T ginger mixed with 1 T sugar
1/2 c pine nuts                          1 c blanched almonds
1 T olive oil                            1 c white wine
1/2 t each: cloves, mace, pepper         a little fresh grated ginger
Heat olive oil in a pot and fry the eel slices with the pine nuts. Grind the
almonds together with the wine.  Put the ginger/sugar mixture in the pot and
stir around 'til each eel slice is coated.  Add the almond milk and other
spices, cook just until hot through, sprinkle with salt to taste and just
before serving top with grated fresh ginger.

If folks don't find this appetizing (no comments about Lord Randall, thanks),
feed them roast eels with the following white garlic sauce from Le Viandier de
Taillevent: 3 cloves crushed garlic mixed with 3 slices worth of bread crumbs,
moistened to whatever seems like the right consistency (about that of Mexican
salsa) with a mixture of 1/2 white grape juice and 1/2 vinegar.

For the feast, we went light on the eels, for fear of there being not much
enthusiasm for them, but to our astonishment, they were eaten all up.
Expansion: 6 eels, 1.5 c pine nuts, 3 T oil, 1.5 t cloves/mace/pepper,  3 T
sugar/ginger, 1 c almonds, 3 c wine...

Pasternakes

Note: this dish is also in one of the Cosin ms. menus, though no recipe is
provided...

1 lb chopped parsnips
1t cinnamon, 1/2t nutmeg
1 lb chopped carrots
2T butter

Boil the vegetables until soft, drain off the water.  Mash them together with
the spices and butter, serve hot.

Expansion: 7 lb parsnips, 7 lb carrots, 2 T + 1 t cinnamon, 3.5 t nutmeg, 1 and
2/3 cubes butter.

Benes yfryed

Note: I chose favas for this dish, because as far as I know they are among the
few shell beans native to the old world.  The dried ones soak up a phenomenal
amount of water, as we discovered (we used the small variety of dried favas --
about the size of a garbanzo/chickpea -- rather than the lima bean size), so
don't be surprised if there are leftovers.

3c fava beans (if dried, soak overnight first; if canned, rinse the salt away)
1 chopped onion, 2 chopped cloves garlic
1/2t each sugar, and powders of: cinnamon, cardamom, galangal

Boil favas until the skins curl up when blown upon (if they were dried); drain
them well.

Heat 2T oil in a pan, throw in onions and spices first, then the beans, stir
the mess around 'til hot through.

Expansion: 5 lb favas, 3 onions, 1.5 t spices, 6 T oil.

Pigge farced

100lb dressed pig
basting sauce: garlic, rosemary and sage in about 1c olive oil
stuffing: 1 loaf's worth of DRIED (this is important! we used fresh bread, and
the stuffing turned into an unappetizing brown mess which we had to throw away
and rinse from the cavity before I could chop up the pig and put the parts in
the oven) bread crumbs mixed with 6 beaten eggs, 1 big pinch saffron, 1 T
ginger, 2 t salt.

Wash the pig and dry it -- prop open the jaws with a block of wood or a rock.
Brush the sauce all over the skin, stuff with the stuffing and sew or skewer
the cavity closed.  Cook @ preheated (!) 350deg F for ~15 min/pound -- about 30
hours should do it, so start the night before. To be sure, stick a meat
thermometer in the thickest part of the haunch, and accept it as cooked if the
thermometer reads 160deg F.

Hot water pastry for "Coffyns"

Note: this is a classic recipe.  I derived mine from a variety of (admittedly
late) historic sources, among them Mrs. Beeton's household management book, and
Mrs. (not Julia) Child's American Frugal Housewife.

1 lb butter
1 c water
2 lb flour
2 T salt

Boil water & butter together; mix flour & salt; let the water cool a bit, then
pour and work it into the flour, until the dough is soft but not sticky.  Chill
at least 30 min.  Shape the dough into boxes (or whatever shape), and let sit
before filling.

Expansion: 30 lb flour, 15 lb butter, 2 qts water, 2 c less 2 T salt

Tartys in applis

2 apples, chopped                  2 pears, chopped
1/2 c figs, chopped                spices:  nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves
1 c raisins                        pinch of saffron
Chop and mix together the fruits and spices, and put them in small tart shells.
Bake @ preheated 350deg F for 30 min.

Expansion: 25 lb apples (we used 2 no.10 cans' worth), 25 lb pears, 5 lb figs,
10 lb raisins.

Rysshews of fruyt

1 c figs                           1 pear, pared & chopped
2 c raisins                        white wine
2 apples, pared & chopped          1/2c flour
Soak the figs & raisins in wine to cover for about 1/2 hour, then drain and
chop all the fruits fine -- mash the raisins first, they'll make a paste to
hold the stuff together.  Add allspice, nutmeg, sugar, cardamom and galangal to
taste, drop by spoonfuls into hot oil and fry they'll be crunchy and
caramelized on the outside, still soft on the inside.

Expansion: 5 lb figs, 20 lb raisins, 25 lb apples, 12.5 lb pears, 2 gal wine,
12.5 c flour.

Daryols

I used a mixture of cream and thick almond milk for my kitchen test; at the
actual feast, we ran low on almonds, so used less almond milk, and it worked
fine anyway.

1.5c cream                          1/2c sugar
3 eggs + 1 yolk                     1/8t saffron powder
1/2 c blanched almonds, blended fine with 1/2c water     1/4t salt
Bake in little coffyns 2" deep  bake the shells first at 425deg F until they
just begin to brown, then reduce the heat to 325deg F, fill the shells with the
custard and bake again for 30-35 min until the custard is set and the shells
are golden brown.

Expansion: 1 gal cream, 5 c sugar, 5 c almonds, 33 eggs (24 + 9 yolks), 4 c
water, 1 t saffron, 2 t salt

Cake-style Gingerbread for the Royal Arms Soteltie

Note: I chose to leave out the sandalwood (saundres) which, Leche Vyaundez
indicates, is only to make it red, since I want to use red in the decoration --
I found red sandalwood, incidentally, at my local occult bookshop...  LV also
suggested the cinnamon.)

4 c honey                       1 t white pepper
1 lb breadcrumbs (a loaf's worth - use cheap bread)
sugar to sprinkle on top       1 T ginger           whole cloves
2 t cinnamon
If you plan to draw with the sugar, mix it up with powdered spices/herbs: Gules
- - cinnamon or sandalwood; Vert - dried parsley or mint; Or - turmeric; etc.

Boil the honey, skimming any foam that forms.  Throw in the breadcrumbs and
stir constantly, until the bread has soaked up all the honey.  Stir in the
ginger, cinnamon and pepper.  Turn it out and knead it until it is smooth,
adding a little flour if necessary if the dough is too sticky.  Then put it in
a square pan.  Set whole cloves in the top in a pattern (in this case, we used
them to outline the armorial charges), then sprinkle the colored sugars where
desired -- think of sandpainting...

Stiff Gingerbread for the Heorot Soteltie

Note: this recipe comes from (this time) Julia Child.  I don't presume that the
idea of gingerbread houses is period, but I wanted all my sotelties to be
edible, and I was trying to keep to the Saxon theme. Alas, the gingerbread
Grendel didn't hold up in the oven, so we painted him on the side of the house
with royal icing.

2 sticks butter                            1 t ground cloves
1 c dark brown sugar                       1 t nutmeg
1 c white sugar                            2 t ginger
4 eggs                                     2 t cardamom
1/4 t salt     4-5 c all-purpose flour     2 t cinnamon
Cream butter and sugars together; beat in eggs and seasonings and beat for 2
minutes more.  Gradually beat in as much flour as possible, until the mixer
clogs (or your spoon threatens to break...).  Turn out onto a floured board,
vigorously knead in more flour until dough is VERY stiff, then wrap airtight
and refrigerate at least 12 hours.  To shape, roll chilled dough to 1/4 in.
and cut shapes as desired  keep the dough cold.  Preheat oven to 350deg F, bake
the pieces 12-18 min or until they feel dry and firm to the touch and the edges
are just browning.  Cool on a rack, and assemble.

Arielle's recipe for royal icing to hold the house together:

3 egg whites                   1/2 t cream of tartar
1 lb confectioner's sugar, sifted
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a small bowl until foamy; slowly beat in
sugar until frosting stands in firm peaks and is stiff enough to hold a sharp
line when cut through with a knife.  Keep bowl of icing covered with damp paper
towelling while working, to keep it from drying out and getting too stiff.
Store leftover frosting in a tightly covered jar in the fridge.

Arielle's Marzipan for the Black Swan Soteltie

2 c almonds (not blanched), ground
1-2/3 c sifted powdered sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 t lemon juice or orange flower water
Mix together & knead into a smooth dough.  Wrap and keep in a cool place until
ready to shape.  (You may need, as we did for the swan's neck, to use a dowel
or two to keep some of the shapes in place)

Bibliographical Notes: my source for the recipe texts is mainly Heiatt and
Butler's redaction Curye On Inglysch.  The stuffings for the goose and pig come
from Cindy Renfrow's Take A Thousand Eggs Or More.  The original manuscripts
date as follows:

Diuersa Servicia: c. 1381
Utilis Coquinario: c. 1425
The Forme of Cury: c. 1400
Leche Vyaundez: c. 1420
Harleian 4016: c. 1450
Sloan 121: c. 1450

Bibliography

Child, Lydia Marie.  The American Frugal Housewife, 12th ed. (1833). Facsimile
edition published by Applewood Books, Cambridge MA in cooperation with Old
Sturbridge Village (date not recorded, but ISBN 0-918222-98-2)

Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler.  Curye On Inglysch.  Oxford University
Press (English Text Society), 1985.

Katz, Pat.  The Craft Of The Country Cook.  Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks,
1988.

Prescott, James, trans.  Le Viandier de Taillevent.  Eugene, OR: Alfarhaugr
Publishing Society, 1989.

Renfrow, Cindy.  Take A Thousand Eggs Or More. (both volumes) Published by the
author, 1990. Now available from the SCA Stock Clerk.

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