SC - Thoughts on Black Turkey

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Recipes from Passage East III.  For the citations, "P" refers to the
Milham version of Platina and "CN" to the Cuoco Napoletano.  Feast was
for 136 (17 tables of 8).

I.      AQUA ODORIFERA ALE MANE
        {Fragrant Water for Washing Hands}

No recipe, but it appears at the beginning of all 5 feast menus in the
CN {and frequently there was a 2nd handwashing mid-way through the
feast}.  I used lavender because I had plenty already on hand and I
thought I had documentation of it being used for this purpose, but I
can't find anything now.  I steeped a couple of gallons of boiling water
with about 2 cups of dried lavender.  Each server was given a bowl with
about 3 cups of warm water and a towel to take around the table.

II.     MALIS UVAM IUGLANDE ET AMYGDALIS
        {Apples, Raisins, Walnuts, and Almonds}

Apples {P II 2}, Nuts {P III 1}, and Raisins {P II 4} were all cited by
Platina as appropriate foods for the first course.  For each table, we
sliced 1-1/2 apples {combination of red and green for color contrast,
don't remember specifically which varieties}, a cup of raisins, and a
cup of each of the nuts. The nuts and raisins were mixed in a bowl with
the apple slices arranged around them.  We had less than a quart sized
ziplock bag's worth of the raisin/nut mixture return to the kitchen.
 
         PANE ET BUTYRO
         {Bread and Butter}
 
I got bread from a small local bakery that uses no preservatives in
their goods.  Their loaves are incredibly dense and weigh 2 lbs each.  I
got 8 loaves of their wheat bread and 3 loaves of black bread.  They
were pre-sliced, then we sliced them again down the middle to get about
42 pieces the size of a deck of cards from each loaf.  They were put
into wicker bread baskets, making sure that each basket had a mixture of
the 2 breads.  That worked out to over 3 slices of bread per person,
which I thought was going to be sufficient.  Each table also got a stick
of butter. I could have bought more, because some people came to the
kitchen and then went scavenging other tables in search of leftovers,
but by the time the feast was over they were sufficiently stuffed.

I've got to get to work, will pick up with 3rd course tonight.

John

P.S.  Yes, Adamantius, I did try to convince the Commandant that smoking
and food preparation were mutually exclusive, but his response was to
the effect of "It's my site and I'll do what I want to do."  So, we just
had to work around him {I've subsequently found out that when he wasn't
underfoot in the kitchen he was bitching at the Autocrat, so an event
that was almost a year in planning became an ordeal for her to endure}.