SC - A Winter food

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Victoria Wilson wrote:
> 
> They are definately "ring necked pheasant"...and contrary to the authors
> quote "they are very smart birds"...ha!!! the darn things get run over
> more than gophers do!!.
> 
> the reason I asked the question is a conflict between two persons....
> the one wants beef and feels that pheasant in Feb. is inappropriate.
> 
> the other wants to serve pheasant to the head table, and cornish game
> hens to the rest of us.

Well, it sounds to me like the major conflict, then,  is actually for
beef versus game hens. Or is the beef only for head table? FWIW,
hunk-o-beef seems to appear with only moderate frequency in medieval
menus and recipe collections, and then it is generally boiled. There are
exceptions, but overall the ubiquitous SCA roast beef is more a facet of
SCA culture than of medieval practice. Now roast mutton, roast pork, or
even roast venison seem to be more common overall. 

Cornish game hens, on the other hand, are a pretty recent development,
as I understand it, and aren't a game bird at all. As I understand it,
most of the chickens bred in the U.S.A. today are a mix of the Plymouth
Rock and Cornish breeds, so your basic white, rather characterless
chicken is technically a Rock Cornish hen. Or rooster, etc. Immature
specimens of this breed, just a couple of weeks old, and weighing in at
around 12 ounces, are sold as Rock Cornish Game Hens. The French would
call them poussins or coquelettes, and while Rock Cornish Game Hens, per
se, were not eaten in period, poussins definitely were. There are
recipes in Le Menagier and a couple of other sources.

Cornish game hens do pose certain logistical problems for the feast
cook, though. They're more expensive than regular chickens, and one per
person, or even half, takes up more room in an oven than the equivalent
amount of food in regular chickens, and pose certain difficulties in
browning in a crowded pan in the oven.

You might consider simply serving chicken (or boiled beef), because
chickens in period did not carry the various stigmas currently attached
to them, but rather were considered a lordly meat, equally as desirable
as pheasant.

February is a tough month to plan for. My medievalish inclination would
be to try to use up the fat pork before the onset of Lent, but there's
usually a significant drop in pork prices in the U.S. that doesn't
arrive until March. Ultimately you should probably look at what is
reasonably priced and available fresh.  
 
> I dont wish to ask the gentle as I dont want to ruffle feathers...I was
> just hoping someone would have something definate I could tell them that
> would end this "debate"....

Fair enough. I suspect (although I don't know these people) that asking
why the gentle feels this way about pheasant would not ruffle any more
feathers than would presenting evidence that he is wrong.  

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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