SC - period food/demo's & Pleyn Delit

[Darice Moore]

Hello Evfemia!

> As democrat of the Barony of Iron Mountain, I find this idea wonderful.
> Food has not been included in any of our demo's.

It hasn't been at ours, either.

> How does one go about it?  Do you usually have mundane people signed up
> ahead of time so you know how much to bring.  Does one typically charge
> by the plate or can the cost be low enough to not have to charge.

I was going to donate, actually, since we don't have mundane people
signing up ahead of time.  I planned on making a few "finger-food" cold
dishes (nothing TOO elaborate, because I'll also be weaving and dancing
and...) and having them available for "tastes."  Like the supermarket on
Saturday.  ;)

> It might be fun to approach it as a class for the mundanes, in say a
> library environment.

That's a neat idea - actually, it's a neat idea for a cooking class
within our group, as well.

And heck, my sister is a home ec teacher, maybe I'll invade her
classroom.  ;)

> Does anyone have any fairly simple, period recipes that children and
> adults would like, such as cookies, tarts or cakes?  I often arrange
> demo's at area schools and libraries.  It would be fun to have a little
> taste of the middle ages for them.

Hmmmm... one thing that we served that went over like gangbusters was a
sauce made from green grapes that we served with cold roast pork:

Pevre Gresse (from Two Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections, as published
in Pleyn Delit)

Take a bunch of grapes and put them in a mortar with a little salt;
crush the fruit well, then pour off the juice; put ginger and pepper and
a little bread in a mortar and grind well, then mix with juice.

· 2 cups white grapes
· 1/2 t salt
· 1/4 t ginger
· 1/4 t pepper
· 1/3 cup breadcrumbs

Crush grapes with salt (I used a potato masher...); strain and reserve
the juice, discarding the pulp.  Add breadcrumbs and spices to the juice
and mix well; when the crumbs have softened, blend the sauce in a
blender to make it smooth.  Serve with sliced cold meats.

The redaction in Pleyn Delit called for vinegar or lemon juice to make
the sauce sharp, but I followed the original.  It makes a spicy-sweet
sauce that goes very well with pork.  My husband begged me to make it
for home use.  :)

Speaking of which - anyone have the same problems with Pleyn Delit that
I have?  I tried using several recipes only to find that the authors
were rather too vinegar-happy for my taste.  And I *like* vinegar.

- - Clotild