Green Knights was SC - 12th Night event ideas

[Melcnewton]

Kerri Canepa wrote:
> 
> Well, there's where we need some help. We'd like to do a feast of seasonably
> correct foods. Obviously fresh strawberries and asparagus are right out but what
> kinds of foods were available and commonly used in the middle of winter? Should
> I be putting up a batch of salted meats and other types of preserves?

Well, you certainly could do that, but you might consider that larger
quaduped domestic meat animals were often slaughtered in late November
or so, and might easily last, "refrigerated" in an outhouse or larder,
until 12th Night. Poultry, rabbits, etc., were more or less killed to
order year round, so there's pretty much no seasonal availability, or
lack thereof, to them.

Salt meats, I suspect, were probably most often eaten before the usual
slaughtering season began. I suspect, in a perfect world, a 12th Night
feast ought to include a lot of four-footed game, including things like
the ubiquitous boar's head, suitably garlanded.

You might rely heavily on foods that refrigerate (as in cold cellar
storage) well, things like apples, cabbages, turnips, etc. For
preserves, you might consider the various quince jam/paste/marmalade
thingies, of which cotignac, a quince "cheese" from Orleans is probably
the best known, and exceedingly period, too. There's also any of several
variants on the mixed fruit and/or veggie pickle in
mustard/honey/wine/vinegar sauce, found in Roman, English, French and
German sources.

Depending on where you are (or rather, where you say you are, and when)
you might smuggle in some kind of fresh herb dish like a small sallet or
an arbolaste, or a green pottage, figuring it might be possible to raise
some herbs with a short growing season in a sheltered garden. The
various climactic changes in medieval Europe might conceivably support
such a choice. It's your call. 

HTH,

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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