SC - Queen's Dinner

[Marisa Herzog]

Howdy All,

Here's another "feast" report. As you may recall I was asked to cook dinner
for the Queen and Her entourage for a local event last weekend. Well here's
the post mortem report.

At first I was just to prepare dinner for about 4 people. But I can never cook
small so I wound up cooking for the Queen, Her entourage, Her Champion and his
lady, the Event Stewards, and the Champions of the day and consorts.
It came to around 12 people. 

Since the event was to be outside in some hot, nasty weather I chose dishes
for their ability to be served cold and/or for thier refreshing properties.
I also (of course) wanted everything to be period or at the least perioid if
not documented.

After playing around with a couple of recipes and ideas, the Prince Biskit
dish was dropped, I came up with a nice sampler of times and areas of our
study.

The final menu:

Appetizer

Spicy broth w/sliced mushrooms and green onions
Potted lamb served on rye bread

Main Course

Cold roast pork
Mushroom Pasty
Ruzziage Bread
Greens w/Powdre Douce

Final

Peach Custard

Drink

Non-alcoholic Lemon Beer

The broth started out as a simple chicken/turkey broth made with celery, garlic,
carrots, onion, pepper, and parsley. The chicken wings and turkey necks (all I 
could get at the store) were roasted to make a dark broth. When we got to the
site the broth tasted flat even after I'd added salt and pepper. So I used some
of the powdre douce to deepen the flavor and even added a couple of lemon slices.
I also added thinly sliced mushrooms and green onion to keep it light but give
it some bulk. In trying to deepen the back taste it got a little more peppery
than I had wanted. But it seemed to work since a lot of it was consumed. The spice
seemed to go well with relieving the heat and the cool, rich lamb was a good
compliment. Changes: I would have added more garlic to the broth during the cooking
or tossed in some garlic powder on site to add depth.

I used a basic roast pork rub using salt, garlic, rosemary, and pepper. I was
going to serve it with a galengale or cameline sauce but it had such a good flavor
alone that I served it cold without the sauce. It was simple and elegant and
a good foil to the rich foods.

The mushroom pasty was from Cariadoc's Miscellany and was wonderful except that
I heated it in the microwave and the crust turned mushy. It would have been better
reheated in an oven (not available) or served at room temperature. Still it was
very popular.

The Ruzziage Bread was from Guter Spise.

The greens were turnip and collard greens with some fresh parsly thrown in.
These were cooked in some of the untreated stock and sprinkled with apple juice
and powdre douce. Surprisingly, they were very popular. They came out quite 
peppery but seemed to be welcome.

The custard was from Apicius. It was very tasty and cool but having to sit in
the ice chest in the heat didn't help it. By the time it was served it was
beginning to separate and I didn't care for the consistancy. Changes: I should
have made a different closer which could stand up to the temperature changes
better. 

The lemon beer was very simple. It was two thinly sliced lemons, two cups of sugar,
and a packet of yeast added to a gallon of warm water. Left covered overnight
and then served chilled with ice. It was the most popular part of the meal.
The result was a lemonade with an almost flowery/rose flavor. Very good on a
hot day and very easy to make.

The diners seemed appreciative and Her Majesty personally thanked me for the meal.
The menu was elegant, easy, and could have been heated had the weather turned
cold or rainy but still suited a light meal for the end of a hot day.

It was fun.

Yers,

Gunthar
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