SC - Seige Cookery

[david friedman]

Bogdan quotes the rules for a Midrealm Siege Cookery contest:
>Premise:
>
>You have been surrounded and cut off in a Siege for months, your supplies
>are at an all time low, THIS IS IT, the besieger have sent in negotiators,
>powerful Barons, to appraise the situation, the hall has been freshened,
>only the healthiest looking are allowed out and about, all the animals (who
>cares that the cow has just dried up) are put in places to be seen, and it
>is up to YOU (your Baron has made this abundantly clear) the humble cook to
>pull of the last bit of artful delusion, serve a Grand Feast, using
>practically no food.  .....
>
>Required Ingredients
>(you must use at least some of the below listed ingredients)
>
>1/4 loaf stale white bread
>1/2 cup rice
>1/4 cup lard (yes, real lard)
>1/2 cup chicken organ meat
>1in piece of ginger root, fresh
>1/2 C sugar (white)
>1 C flour (white)
>2 carrots, 1 stalk celery
>1 cup milk
>48 raisins
>1 mystery meat (this will be either pork, chicken, or beef,
>                          approx. the size of a small cutlet, #'s will
>                          be drawn for the mystery meat from the
>                           contestants, no whining allowed.)
>
>Optional Items - You do not have to use, but it might help.
>
>1 orange
>2 eggs
>4 tsp. bacon fat
>2 pieces bacon (uncooked)
>1/2 cup cream
>24 grapes
>
>Unlimited resources
>
>Water
>salt
>heat
>
>What you may bring from home
>
>Up to 1/4 C of any herb (fresh)
>Up to 2 TBS of any herb or seasoning (dry)
>
>
>What you will be judged on:
>Appearance
>Apparent quantity
># of different dishes
>Palaitability
>
My first reaction is that there is an odd combination of extraordinary
luxuries (_fresh_ ginger? sugar? orange?) with an absence of basics such as
flour in reasonable quantities, dried peas or beans, vinegar, and ale.

However, here goes...

Garbage, of course, with the chicken organ meats (don't laugh--it's a real
medieval recipe with that name--look in the Miscellany if you don't believe
me) seasoned with fresh parsley and sage, dried pepper and cinnamon and
cloves and a little of that ginger, thickened with some of my stale bread.
I'll have to leave out the verjuice.

Dariole--crust with all my flour and lard, filling of milk, cream, half my
sugar and raisins, 2 eggs.

Bruet of Savoy with almost all my meat, whatever it is, and bacon, seasoned
with the rest of my parsley, some sage and marjoram, dried pepper and
grains and some more of that ginger, thickened with the rest of my bread.
Again, have to leave out the wine and verjuice.

Potage of Carrots--use a tiny bit of my meat to flavor the broth; add
celery to replace the onions I'm leaving out.  Sprinkle over poudre douce
made from another teaspoon or so of that sugar and a little cinnamon and
ginger.

Rice--just cook that in water, since I used up my milk and have no almond
milk.  Sprinkle over a bit more of that sugar and garnish with remaining
raisins, since I have no almonds.

Slice orange and serve fresh with grapes.

Hope the visiting Barons do not look too closely at the contents of the
bowls everyone not at head table is eating out of (hot steaming water with
herbs and the chicken skin...)

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook


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