SC - Help!!

[Lee-Gwen Booth]

Unto Brian does Gwynydd send the following:

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Songy
The event is expected to draw 250 to 300 people...I will be able to use ONLY
the steam tables in the kitchen area - the entire feast will have to be
un-cooked/pre-cooked/cooked over propane burners/cooked over charcoal grill!
No refrigeration is available....this event will host both a A&S conference
for the Kingdom and the College of the principality - likely every Laurel,
OVO and Meridian Cross ) will be there...we will have only two cooks (myself
and the head cook), one individual to arrange dishes & coordinate the
servers, and whatever volunteers we can scrounge up.  The Saturday night
feast is limited to approximately $7 per person, including non-food items
and rentals.  The other meals will either be sold as fundraisers or absorbed
by the event cost. The shire currently owns no cooking equipment.  The site
is (absolutely) dry.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
My initial reaction to this is "flee!  Run for you life!"  Failing that, I
think that you have got an amazing menu together - although the Friday night
one looks a bit sparse.  May I suggest a basic stew of some sort to bulk it
out?  I haven't tried this one from Pleyn Delit, but it should be fine.

     Lamb or Mutton Stew (Hericot du Mouton)

     3 pounds lamb or mutton stewing meat, cut into chunks
     4 onions, minced
     lard, butter, or other cooking fat for browning (about 1 tablespoon)
     2 c beef stock, bouillon, or other meat broth
    1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
    1 tsp salt (to taste)
    1/2 tsp each minced sage  and mint (we did not find dried hyssop at all
flavourful, and
    prefer to substitute mint, which is of the same family;  if you grow
hyssop, you may wish to try
    it)
    1/4 tsp ground mace

     Remove excess fat and bones from lamb.  Brown over medium heat in a
frying pan with fat, adding the minced onions after the meat begins to
brown.  When meat and onions are both sufficiently brown, put into a pot or
casserole with herbs, stock, mace, and salt; simmer for about an hour, or
cook covered in a medium oven.  If the sauce appears to be too thin, a
thickening may be used (for example, cornstarch [personal note, having seen
them used in other stews, I would be tempted to suggest breadcrumbs,
moistened in a little of the stock]), but it should boil down to a good
consistency.

There are some notes above the recipe, which might be useful, so here they
are:
     "Later English recipes invariably call for turnips in a stew called
Haricot.  They may also have been a common ingredient earlier: early recipes
are so few and far between that one cannot tell.  By all means add turnips,
if you like, to this recipe.  [the original recipe calls for boiling the
meat, but]  We skip the parboiling as unnecessary for fresh young lamb: if
you are using mutton, however, parboil it."

This recipe from Pleyn Delit is one which I have tried and found very good;
as well, it is served cold and as such should fit your criteria well.

     Rice Pudding with Honey and Almonds (Ryc)

     1/2c short grain rice [or medium works well too]
     1 1/2 c milk, water, or a combination
     4 oz (1/2c) ground almonds blanched
     1/4c sugar
     2 tbsp honey
     1c boiling water

     Cover the rice with the milk (or whatever combination you wish here)
and bring to a simmer; cook over low heat, very gently, for at least 30
minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water if it shows signs of
drying out.  It should be cooked until quite soft.  Then remove from heat
and put aside to cool, so that any remaining cooking liquid is absorbed.

     Meanwhile, put the almonds, sugar,  and honey in a pan and cover with
boiling water.  Stir and allow to steep.  When the rice has cooled, stir the
almond mixture into the rice and put back on the heat; cook, stirring
constantly, over medium low heat for about 5 minutes, or until pudding seems
quite thick.  Remove from heat and pour into serving dish; cool and chill.
The original recipe does not call for any spices. But on the assumption that
the medieval cook often reached for powder douce (or something) almost
automatically, as we do salt and pepper, it seems permissible to sprinkle
the top of the pudding with cinnamon and/or nutmeg.

Another good, cold dish is this one from Take a Thousand Eggs or More:

     Pynade
     Pynade is similar to Pokerounce, but it is thicker and may be sliced.
An interesting way to serve Pynade is to cut it into 1-inch thick slices,
pinch the ends closed to form rings, and then stuff the "napkin rings" with
cold sliced meats or fruits; (if you wish to do this, you must cook the
honey mixture to hard-ball stage and omit the chicken).
     Alternately, pour the mixture (without the pine nuts) into a dish and
decorate with pine nuts to form various designs; serve cold.

     Variation 1:
      1 cup honey
      2 teaspoons ginger powder
      1 teaspoon galingale powder
      1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
      1/4 teaspoon pepper powder
       1/2 teaspoon cardamon powder (or grains of paradise)
      1/4 c pine nuts
      1 c cold cooked chicken, chopped

     Place honey and spices in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Stir
until mixture thickens.  Add pine nuts and cook to soft-ball stage (or until
a drop of the hot mixture clings to a cold knife blade).  Cool the mixture
and add the cold chicken.  Stir.  Pour into a large buttered dish and cool
completely.  Slice when cold.  Serve cold.

     Variation 2:
      Omit chicken.  Increase pine nuts to 1 cup and proceed as above.

I have done this, and it was simply wonderful - mind you, I didn't get the
mixture to soft ball, but Cindy Renfrow (the author of the book) said that I
could serve it on little bits of toast, which worked very well.  Do not get
horrified by the quantity of honey - the dish tastes lovely!

Gwynydd