SC - Feast of St. George, was accomodating vegetarians

[Bonne of Traquair]

>lilinah at grin.net wrote:
> >
> > How do people cope with feeding vegetarians?
>
Adamantius responds:
>Generally what I find easiest for an SCA-type feast is to have about
>half my dishes be completely meatless, and some of those dairy-free.

OK, finally I have the time to report on my feast from last month.  How to 
feed difficult eaters had been part of my personal challenge so I'm 
kidnapping this thread for my own purposes.

Feast of St. George, April 8, 1999

I had $350 to fead 72 (56 paying guests, 8 at high table and 8 
servers/kitchen staff in the back).  In this area, the cook does have to buy 
dish soap, paper towels and such.  I also chose to buy some fancy, though 
plastic, serving dishes.

Although it turns out that we had no special requests, I had 3 specific 
barony members in the back of my mind when planning my feast.  One is 
lactose intolerant, another allergic to alliums(? onions) the third a strict 
vegetarian.  I promised the first two specifically that they could eat 
enough of feast safely, and could eat more if I knew to seperate a serving 
of some other dishes.  As for the one vegetarian I knew of and other 
potential vegetarians, I chose a collection of recipes that allowed enough 
non-meat dishes in each course so that everyone could eat a full meal.  
Vegans would have been another matter as there were eggs here and there.  I 
don't know anyone in the barony with an allergy to nuts, but if it had come 
up, almonds were only in one dish.

#dairy free
*veggie friendly
@ onion-free

The First Course
Ciambelles #*@
Split pea soup (from The Medieval Kitchen) #*@
Boiled Beef with onions and mushrooms #(@ if requested in advance)
Skirrets, Rapes and Pasternakes (as posted here)# (*@ if requested)
Tartys in Applis (also posted here) #*@

(why are skirrets, rapes and pasternakes not vegetarian food?  Because they 
are cooked in good broth from the beef, unless otherwise requested.)

The Second Course
Roast Chicken #@
Sallet of Spring Greens and Fresh Herbs #*(@ if requested)
Asparagus and Green Onion (Medieval Kitchen)#*(@ if requested)
A French Custard (Fettiplace)*@
Bread #*@

The Final Course
Bisket Bread  (Fettiplace) #*@
Mato (Sweetened goat cheese) *@ (#?)
Garnish of violets #*@

(Whether or not goat cheese qualified as safe I left for Corwyn to decide 
himself)

False Hippocras to drink (a spiced "wine" punch for a dry site)#*@


All of each course was served up at once so that the diners could make their 
choices and eat from a filled plate.  To my mind, the same amount of food in 
dribs and drabs is not as satisfying.  Then I learned the baron's pet peeve 
is a trickled out feast and made not doing so an even more important part of 
my plan.  The only problems were:

- --not finding the ciambelles recipe far enough in advance. Didn't get to 
test it, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. But they were nice breadlike 
objects to go with the soup.

- --the soup thickened fine on it's own and so we had eggs and milk leftover 
from not using as thickener.

- --changing the beef from spiced (corned) to boiled beef.  I had a doubtful 
recipe involving mushrooms, red wine, currant jam, and was going to use 
italian currants in wine available at a local fancy foods store to really 
simplify it.  But, we arrived at the store a little too late, and then 
discovered my co-cook is allergic to alchohol.  So it was beef with onions 
and mushrooms.

- --changing the chicken from the ballotined (boned and restuffed) to just 
plain because of lack time and place in advance of the feast.  Then a 
kitchen so small we lacked the space to do the job without contaminating 
other foods.

- --parsnips and turnips had been tasting fine up to the week before, but 
those bought for the feast turned out to be bottom of the barrel, woody and 
not so good.  OH well, the feast was supposed to be 3 weeks earlier at one 
point.

- --two different people sent out to pick up different last minute items from 
different source BOTH got in their head that I needed LOTS of parsley. I 
only needed one bunch. At least it was cheap.

- --failing to get a menu and ingredient list to the reservationist early 
enough.  This was partly because the Park staff moved us from a 96 seat hall 
to a 56 seat hall two weeks before feast.  We went from barely sold any to 
all sold out overnight.

- --failing to get the gate copy of the menu and recipes to the gate, though 
we had multiple copies in the kitchen and no one asked to see them.

- --I wanted to have menus on the tables--but am just as glad I didn't 
considering the changes made on day of feast.

The canton seneschal and exchequer had problems last year with a cook who 
was way over budget and had massive amounts of leftovers.  I know their 
complaint was justified because I got enough leftovers to feed my family 
most of the next week--value of at least 3 times what I paid for us to 
attend and eat feast!

I scaled up  carefully (Excel is my friend) and resisted the urge to buy a 
little extra just in case.  Did my best to find prices that would keep me 
within my budget, and then hoped to get lucky with sales. A very few feasts 
here have breakfast the next morning, but many of you mention it.  I planned 
to put out for breakfast whatever leftovers were suitable.

After hearing reports here of people garnering donations, I tried that.  I 
had 13 loaves of honey wheat bread donated by a local bakery. A grocery 
donated $10 worth of goods, enough to buy the juices needed for the false 
hippocras as it turns out. I learned other stores would also donate goods 
with more specific request made sooner. The bulk goods manager at one of 
these other stores took it upon herself to donate 2 lbs of blanched almonds! 
  I found a sausage company that also supplies chicken and pigs at 
wholesale. I had to buy a full case of chicken, so my co-cook has half a 
case in her freezer for her feast. Idid get lucky with sales: sirloin roasts 
at 99-cent a pound the week before feast and apples and pears for 30-cents 
less than I'd figured on.  Eggs on post-easter markdown.

Leftover food was minimal: We had enough ciambelle dough and Tartys in 
Applis filling left to create apple dumplings for breakfast on Sunday along 
with some eggs, milk, a bag of apples, and loaf of bread. Co-cook and I each 
took home a bag of apples, loaf of bread, a cooked chicken and bunches of 
parsley! I also had a dozen eggs and enough beef and veggies for my family 
to have stew for dinner Sunday night.  Co-cook got any non-perishable foods 
and scullery and serving materials--her canton paid for the stuff and she is 
cooking for them soon.  I spent $334--$16 under budget!!!! As much as $50 
under budget if you deduct the extra chickens and the other items my co-cook 
will not have to buy for next feast.

Feast was due to start at 6 but my brain changed this to 5.  We spent most 
of the day like that. Late afternoon, the herald told me that my daughter 
would be receiving an award at court, he would plan to bring her out first 
thing, at 4, unless he didn't see me out there. In that case he'd call her 
up when he saw me, or last on the list, whichever came first.  This sent me 
to the back wall to re-read the schedule. Well!  So, it turned out we were 
able to start 10 minutes early.

Started early and under budget--it doesnt' get much better than that!

Bonne




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