Elizabethan banquet was SC - Kitchen steward.

[Balldrich BallBarian BoulderBain]

	Greetings all!	
	This dear lady has mentioned something called "Feudal Gourmet"  I have not
heard of this before please elaborate.
	Balldrich

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> From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
> To: sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG
> Subject: Re: Elizabethan banquet was SC - Kitchen steward.
> Date: July 30, 1998 8:46 PM
> 
> Hey all from Anne-Marie
> Bonne asks:
> > So, Anne-Marie, tell us about that Elizabethan banquet . . . 
> > 
> well, since you asked! :)
> 
> We spent a lot of time reading and studying up on the styles of
Elizabethan
> banquets and how food was served, in addition to meticulously researching
> the recipes. It was important for me and Eden (my co-conspirator) that
> EVERYTHING be as period as possible. We read and studied and asked
experts
> like Alys. It took us about 8 months of research.
> 
> The afternoon started with a production of a play by that newcomer
> Shakespere (cant remember which one. it was short, only 1 1/2 hrs). the
> audience was seated in front of the stage in chairs (ideally they would
> have been benches, but oh well), and there was a large area between the
> chairs and the stage for the lower class. We had severeal "vendors" going
> through the crowd "selling" oranges, nuts and bottled beer (ginger) (we
> have a citation that the opening of these bottles would disturb the
actors,
> who thought they were being hissed at).
> 
> after the play, the tables were set up for dinner. The meal consisted of
> three courses, each with a meager 6-8 dishes in them. We attempted to
> balance the food as prescribed by Markham and May and others. We had
taken
> the time to recruit and train a whole passell of servers, led by our very
> own steward, who with great ceremony attended to the washing of the hands
> of the notables and announcing the dishes to the head table as we found
> described in our research. Each server knew what the dishes were and
could
> answer questions and were rejoined to do so "in persona" if at all
> possible. Our steward made a great show of berating the servers where
> appropriate, etc. At the end, the baron paid the steward, who then
> distributed the coins to the servers. At one point I even came out as the
> cuisinier and did a bit where I had heard that certain notables were not
> happy with the meal (someone hadnt eaten their turnips!) and proceeded to
> wring my hands and pout until she at least tried them (she was a very
good
> sport).
> 
> After the meal, diners were invited to partake of dancing and songs and
the
> dainty treats of the banquetting tables, which groaned under the weight
of
> all kinds of wonderful things. Great pains were taken to decorate and
> garnish everything within an inch of its life.
> 
> We should have had more dishes per course, and the banquetting table
should
> have been ina cool gazebo out on the lawn, and we coulda had neat special
> banquetting plates that had poems and songs written on them, so you could
> see them if youate all the cookies but all in all, it was a lot of fun.
the
> food was outstanding, and I think a major part of the events success was
> that we took the time to present the food in a manner appropriate to the
> overall theme.
> 
> Before you ask, yes, a publication is in the works for the recipes and
our
> research. It may end up a CA, but will definately be available as a
Feudal
> Gourmet through our Guild. I'll let you all know when its ready!
> 
> --AM
>
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