SC - Feasting: A request

[david friedman]

Corwyn announced he is doing a feast in the spring, and asked:

>This being said, I need a clue or two of where to look. Most, if not all of my
>sources are secondary, those that aren't are from the 14th through the 18th
>centuries. I have an Apicius too... The feast itself is in 12th century
>England. Aside from fiddling with some recipies from Apicius, any suggestions?
>
>From _De nominibus utenslium_ by Alexander Neckam (1157-1217), quoted (and
translated from the Latin) in _Daily Living in the Twelfth Century_ by
Urban Tigner Holmes, Jr., University of Wisconsin Press, 1952, p. 88:

"A roast of pork is prepared diligently on a grid, frequently basted, and
laid on the grid just as the hot coals cease to smoke.  Let condiments be
avoided other than pure salt or a simple garlic sauce.  It does not hurt to
sprinkle a cut-up capon with pepper.  A domestic fowl may be quite tender,
having been turned on a long spit, but it needs a strong garlic sauce,
diluted with wine or verjuice.  Flavor a hen which has been cleaned and cut
up into pieces, with cumin, if it is well boiled; but if it has been
roasted, let it be treated with frequent drippings of fat, nor does it
refuse garlic sauce; it will be most tasty with simple sauce.  Let fish
that have been cleaned be cooked in a mixture of wine and water; afterwards
they should be taken with green "savory" which is made from sage, parsley,
dittany, thyme, costus, garlic, and pepper; do not omit salt."

This quote is right from when and where you want, and the set of dishes
described sounds a lot like the cuisine you see in the 14th-15th c. English
and French cookbooks.  It doesn't particularly sound like Apicius, which is
several centuries earlier.  I would go with dishes from the 14th-15th c.
cuisine for this feast.

>I "know" that the feasts tend to be meat heavy.. I'd like to avoid this, as
>many of us are vegitarian, and I'd like everybody to enjoy themselves. Thanks
>for any help.

Look for Lenten dishes, which are either fish or vegetarian, to find things
for the vegetarians:  greens cooked in almond milk, broad beans,
fritters... For a start on sources, etc., try our on-line _Miscellany_.

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook (two or three weeks behind on the list)



============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================