SC - kitchen kits (long)

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

Hi all from Anne-Marie.
First off, let me salute you, Celestria! A period encampment is a step that
many SCA folks just dont want to bother with, for a lot of reasons. Good
for you! I'm attempting the same thing, and have made some observations by
looking mostly at non-SCA medieval recreation groups and lots of primary
source material.

To cook "medievally" you need:
1. fire source. Much depends on your kingdom, and where you live. The
oh-so-medieval ground fires are almost always verbotin here, so I'm
commissioning a fire box type gizmo from a local guy with a forge. It will
be the requisite foot off the ground, and fairly shallow. My reserach shows
that food was cooked on charcoal more than fires (I even have a picture of
cooks cooking on little black squares. Briquets! :)). But both wood and
charcoal wre used and are represented in the primary source material.
You'll need a way to start your fire, whether flint and steel (The Duke of
Burgundy's badge was a fire striker), or a couvre chef (a little domed
gizmo to cover the coals from the night before so you can start the next
days fire with them). I've seen SCA contraptions of braziers that fold
up...not very medieval, but slick. I've seen fireboxes made out of half
barrels (sliced longwize and set up on bricks so their off the ground), the
tops to a hot water heater, etc etc etc. The possibilities are endless,
even for the finanically constrained.

2. Fire toys. Pokers and prodders and pot lid lifters and hooks and chains
and a trammel to suspend pots over your fire. If you cover your fire area
with a canvas tarp you will be safe from sun and rain. I saw a neat gizmo
at GWW of a blow pipe...a small bit of metal pipe with a cap with ahole in
it. Blow on the fire to get it going. Neat! And just like the medieval
copper smelters.

3. Pots. Medieval pots were copper, tin, ceramic, etc. I am planning on
making do with the more readily accessible cast iron. 18th century
recreationists sutlery sells neat ones with feet that look just like the
medieval ones, not the flatter modern Lodge cast iron style, and for about
the same price. I also saw footed skillets and am attmepting to pin one of
those down. Most cool! You'll need stirring things as well...skimmers and
ladles and spoons and a fleshe forke if you want to get really authentic
about it.

4. A wooden bucket of water and/or sand right near by. Just in case, its
fire after all. You can get these through the sutlers, or Panther
Primitives, etc. I got mine at a hardware store...its supposed to be a
decorator item, and I lined it with clear epoxy to make it invisibly
watertight.

5. Lots of hotpad units. I'm planning on making mine out of wool scraps
(cheap up here), sewing lots of layers together, and leaving my modner ones
at home.

6. Recipies!!! Of course you'll only want to cook medieval food in your
medieval kitchen, right? :) Funny, most medieval recipeis lend themselves
well to cooking on an open fire, ie boil and serve, simmer and serve, fry
and serve. I am still attempting to figure out how to bake bread and pies
in my cast iron ware. I took a class and so just need to practice to get
the hang of it. at GWW we ate off the fire exclusively and ate like kings. 

7. most importantly, either do away, or hide everything that's not
documentably authentic for the period. Put the coolers in a tent and only
bring stuff out after transferring to a medieval container like a wooden
bowl, or plate. Better yet, do away with the coolers altogether if you can
(Cariadoc and Elizabeth did an article on this for the TI not too long
ago). Throwing a piece of fabric over a cooler does not make it medieval
magically. Neither does painting Celtic knotwork on a propane stove. Sorry!
:)

anyway, good luck! maybe we can compare notes when I find source for more
of the toys I need.
- --Anne-Marie
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