SC - Re: New World Foods: Rant/ Counter Rant (Long) and Feast planning (new)

[Alderton, Philippa]

Much as I hate to, ;-) I find myself agreeing with Cariadoc here.

I live in SE Ohio, which is very much akin to the area you describe- we have
special rules here, where Doctors get percentages of their school loans paid
off for working here, and EMT is either volunteer or gets paid minimum wage,
we have the highest unemployment rate in the state, and folks just don't
have a lot of money. Yes, we have higher availability of somewhat more
exotic foods than you seem to have, Akim, but we pay through the nose for
them. We are referred to as "Little Appalachia". BTW- what is disposable
income? Is it that $14.00 a month I saved for three months to buy my latest
computer game? Or perhaps, the bills I don't pay in August, so I can go to
Pennsic?

I survive here on $800 per month, buying my own home and paying my bills,
mostly on time ;-P, and planning ahead. I still eat well, but I plan things
very carefully. We don't have the rule about having one's deer
professionally butchered, and most of us cut up and package our own deer -
that's how I started to learn to butcher, lo these 20 years ago.

Every year, I buy a lamb and a pig, and I have goats available, all for less
than $100 per head. I just plan accordingly, and one month of the year, I
buy a lamb, another month I buy a pig. The rest of the year, I look for
specials and buy a bunch of stuff and throw it in my freezer- I got 25 lbs
of bottom round roasts for 99 cents a pound one month, semiboneless hams for
the same price another month, I buy the bacon ends and pieces in the three
lb boxes, insist on real butter. and buy it from the Amish- $7.00 for 4 lbs
of the soured butter that Ras likes so well, fresh, free-range eggs for 75
cents a dozen, goat's milk for $1 a gallon and like that.

The thing is, Akim, various deals like that don't fall into your lap out of
the kindness of the local high dollar grocery store, you gotta look for
them.

I'm planning on a feast for the last half of June. (Yeah, looks like it's
finally happening, guys). I have figured out that I can feed 100 people for
about $300, 150- 200 for $400. As soon as everything is settled, I'm going
to put my bids in for the hog and/or the lamb I intend to serve.

My facilities will be luxurious- I am offered an open field, and anything my
own creativity will allow me to cook on. Most of the budget other than the 1
or two beasts, will be going on my creativity- I'm planning on either making
up a couple of the half-drum grills I was mentioning to Vika, or a couple
more like I made for Ras- thinking 2' by 3' size- roasting the meats on
site, commercial bread- one of our people works for the local chain, and I
can likely get a very good deal on their baked in store Italian loaves-
maybe 50 cents a loaf, a salad, haven't decided on a dessert, ( need
suggestions, folks, but the berries will be fruiting then, and we can do an
all-you-can-pick thing- maybe fruit and a simple dressing? Is it period?)
and two all day soup pots, one meated, one veggie, where I provide them
lunch, let them make off with all the solids, and refresh the broth a bit
for sops with the bread (I KNOW how people usually address a soup). My other
thought is to provide a selection of period sauces to serve with the roasted
meats- a very simple feast- I'm thinking of calling it the picnic feast- and
as things stand, the event flyer will state that if you want a table and
chairs, bring them. If it rains, we'll set them up in the indoor riding
arena- I already have plans for covering my kitchen area.

Oh yeah, the meat stew will be a hunter's stew, consisting of rabbit (from a
local hunter- donated, he likes to hunt more that he and his wife like to
eat rabbit) 29 cents/lb chicken legs and thighs, and donated wild duck and
goose and venison. Cariadoc, if the species are not 100% period(got no clue
as to what species the ducks and geese with be, and I don't think white-tail
deer are a European species), at least the manner of getting them and
putting them together will be.

Am looking for suggestions, though- anybody got suggestions for greens for
the salad? How about some of you vegetarian folks out there- any suggestions
for the veggie stew? Under the circumstances, I'm not going to try for a
specific time and place, like, say, 12th century Spain or something, but I
do want to keep things in the area of Full Medieval food in Europe, say
about pre 1500.

Oh, and I'll need a couple of volunteers......

Phlip

Nolo disputare, volo somniare et contendere, et iterum somniare.

phlip at morganco.net

Philippa Farrour
Caer Frig
Southeastern Ohio

"All things are poisons.  It is simply the dose that distinguishes between a
poison and a remedy." -Paracelsus

"Oats -- a grain which in England sustains the horses, and in
Scotland, the men." -- Johnson

"It was pleasant to me to find that 'oats,' the 'food of horses,' were
so much used as the food of the people in Johnson's own town." --
Boswell

"And where will you find such horses, and such men?" -- Anonymous