SC - Turkey Day post-mortem

[Marilyn Traber]

Richard Kappler II wrote:

> Well, the holiday at Puck's Glen was an absolute delight.

hubba-hubba! He leaves out the lovely fireplace with great music on the
stereo...with yellow dog flaked out on the floor and stoopid cat on my lap!

> The turkey slow
> roasted all night long, was ready early which was not a bad thing.  It gave
> us all incentive when cooking the rest of the feast ;-).  We talked well
> into the night, solved the problems of the red paint folk and I vaguely
> remember a discussion of tribes from the Great Northern Circle that preceded
> anything out of Africa, plus a potential future feast germinated as well.

well, the fact that the earliest dateable red paint person burial in north
america in 8k bc, the oldest red paint person burial old world is 6k bc, and
that they have now pushed the human presence in north america to 100k bc.

>  Menu comments:
> The Glazed Lamb with garlic and rosemary is to die for!  Highly recommended.
> Very subtle glazing/sauce that, if the recipe is followed as written,
> infuses very subtle flavors into the meat in the beginning of the roast and,
> as time goes on, you add the juices from the roast to the sauce which makes
> it more and more rich as you go adding stonger flavor components to the
> outer layers of the glaze and the  sauce covering at the end.  What you end
> up with is a complex flavor in the lamb itself with a very deep, rich lamb
> and herb sauce to pour over when serving.  Absolutely delightful!  Cooks
> note:  I think the key to succesful cooking of this dish lies not only in
> the preparation of the glaze, but in following His Grace's recommendation to
> let the roast rest in the oven after cooking.  Seems to allow for much
> better infusion of flavor.

what he said!

> The Salmon Roste in Sauce and the Dish of Cooked Lentils are both excellent,
> but I would not recommend serving them in the same meal.  Both use cinnamon
> as a major flavor component giving two dishes too close in taste for the
> type of menu I like to present.

agreed, but of the 2 I liked the lentils better. Getting the eggs cracked on top
to set up correctly was a pain, and I agree, it might have been better done in
period by holding a shovel of coals over the top until it was set.

> The mushroom pasties were nothing short of superb!  Well done Rob!

allergy, didnt try them.

> The Armored Turnips were okay, but I think I used too much cheese, which
> masked the flavor of the roots themselves.  Also, the turnips I bought were
> of different sizes and I did not account for that in boiling times so I
> ended up with different consistency from layer to layer.  Poor planning on
> my part, Next time I'll have to put more effort into this dish.  It was
> tasty, though I suspect not as good as it should have been.

I liked them, despite enough cheese to stop the bowels of a dozen people ;-)
[but then again, I love cheese and I thought it was pretty good!] I also
suggested a way I had had them before with a generous sprinkling of coarsly
crushed sugar and cinnamon on top.

> I'll let Margali comment on the Spinach tarte.  I thought it was delightful,
> but it was her dish and she had some interesting ideas for improving it.

Well, due to the only mortar and pestle being occupied with the sauce for the
lamb, the fennelseed didn't get ground, so I'd like to actually grind them next
time instead of coarsly chopping them. I'd also like to make it with fresh
fennel leaf as the recipe originally calls for...and also with beet greens, and
use that beet recipe we had been discussing a month or so ago to use the
rootball of the beet.

> cheerful regards, Puck
>

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