SC - Sauce for Sausage?

[Jenne Heise]

Hello everybody!

I actually staggered off to an event yesterday and had a wonderful time
(which was very nice- I haven't enjoyed myself at an event for some
time). It was a small Yule Feast in the Barony of Three Mountains
(Portland Oregon). They were expecting around 40 but my eyeball count
(not especially accurate but probably close in this case) said about 100
people showed up. A couple of old friends who I haven't seen in a year
or so showed up, saw lots of old friends from around here, and met some
new folks who have moved in from a Certain Barony in Ansteorra where a
Certain Florilegium Editor lives... they made a mighty impression by
presenting to the Baron and Baroness a pair of glasses with the Baronial
arms enamelled on them. Tres Spiff... Spent the evening laughing, got
lots of hugs, and ate some pretty good food, even tho' it was a potluck.
And the word for the evening was 'bum'. (Guess you hadda been there..)

ANYWAY- for my potluck contribution, I brought a boar's head- made of
pastry, filled with fruit, nuts, candy, and garnished with sage and
rosemary. He was pretty sad when he was unassembled, but once I put him
together, he looked pretty spiffy. My question is- has anyone else done
pastry work like this? Did you use plain flour and water, or pie dough,
or bread dough or ??? What worked best? What didn't work? I had problems
with parts like the ears, teeth, etc.- and large pieces not wanting to
stay in shape while baking, even with foil props. I ended up gluing
several pieces together with frosting (storebought- never do _that_
again) and propping fruit against it. 

I'm not sure if the hassles I had are just part of the territory, or if
a different paste would have been better. I used my usual pie dough
recipe (Gramma's- a boiling water pastry that she calls 'no-fail') with
a little sugar and an egg added, in hopes of getting a paste that would
set up but taste good too. The dough was VERY SOFT and sort of stretchy
feeling. I thought about using bread dough, but I wasn't sure how to
deal with the rise.

Anyone have any ideas? Just curious...

'Lainie