SC - Elizabethan buffet

[Michael F. Gunter]

A bright and glorious morning to you all!

In case you are wondering, it was actually cool and Autumny this morning.
I like the cool and a that's a rare thing when you live in Texas.

Now on to business:

Here's the report on the Laurel's Elizabethan Buffet sideboard for a friend's
vigil. I have to credit the wonderful Ann-Marie for a lot of research and
recipe help and Ly. Alys D. for the cooking assistance.

The final menu:

PastA en Pot du Mouton (couldn't get venison)
Cold sweet chicken mousse
Pate' du fois gras w/truffles (found a great deal on it at a local market)
Marinated vegetables (modern version)
Pickled Mushrooms
Orange Marmelade in candied orange peels
Cold Chicken Salat
Sugared Almonds
"Pear" Puddings (chicken meatballs that look like small pears)
French Biskit w/plum jam
Marjoram Cookies
French Bread slices
Turkish Delight

Although I used a couple of modern recipes the basic dishes would not be
too unfamiliar to an Elizabethan palate. I also cheated and just flat storebought
a couple of items. 

I don't know whether the Turkish Delight would be Elizabethan but they were a 
bit of an in-joke to the candidate. He's a total C.S. Lewis fan so I thought they
would be fun. They also proved to be very popular although I didn't care too much
for them.

The popular items were the Pear puddings, the Turkish Delight, lamb spread, French
Biskit, Almonds, mushrooms, and (surprising to me) the pate'.

I think I made a mistake in the fact that I didn't put out little saucers and forks
so that is why the Chicken Salat and Marinated Vegetables didn't do so well.

I put out the pate' as simply a fancy delicacy and didn't expect people to like it
very much but the whole lot was consumed. What I enjoyed most was the people who most
appreciated all of the fancy delicacies were a group of drummer/dancer/drinkers who
looked as if they would only like raw meat. I was quite impressed. Especially when
they kept bringing in their friends to try stuff and after awhile they gave as detailed
descriptions as I was.

The Pear puddings were very popular and tasty. I had hoped to use Ras' little trick
of making meatball "strawberries" but couldn't find sandlewood. Also we forgot to 
buy the meat and decided we had enough on the board. But the pears and strawberries
would have been fun.

I planned on a basis of 60 people and we spent a little over $200 on the buffet.

I'll try to find the recipes later, or Ann-Marie can help as well.

Yers,

Gunthar
Barony of the Steppes, Ansteorra
That's Dallas, Texas ma'am.
============================================================================

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".

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