SC - Tentative Boar Hunt Menu

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

hey all from Anne-Marie
Anahita sez:
>I will be cooking a couple dishes which recipes were sent to me by 
>members of this list. I thank all who have helped, Anne-Marie 
>especially, but others as well, whose names are lost in the mists of 
>time.

well shucks :)

the menu sounds good and balanced, I think. How does it look for colors? I
try and make sure that it balanced for taste as well as texture and
appearance, ie not all brown gloppy stuff. Edible flowers and a kickbutt
garnishing team help a lot on this. 

on the subject of hot non-alcoholic beverages, we've had some success with
making fake hipocras. Non-alcoholic wine is prohibitively expensive
oftentimes, so you can cheat and use grape juice if you have to. Make it
fairly dilute, and add a bit of lemon to try and sour it up a bit (grapes
for juice are WAY sweeter than grapes for most wines I find).

of course, we have no documentation that wine was SERVED hot except for
medicinal purposes, but I'm betting most of your guests arent wearing real
medieval clothes (ie furlined wool, three or four layers, covering their
heads, etc) so I'm thinking the hot beverage will be appreciated no matter
if its 100% authentic or not!

advice for first time kitchen steward:
1. plan everything within an inch of its life. Make sure theres AMPLE time
in the oven for stuff. Invariably the oven runs cool/not at all/shelves
dont fit/takes too long becuase you've overloaded it/etc. Here in Madrone
we tend to make up a big kitchen schedule spreadsheet and tape it on the wall
2.delegate or die! its not a good idea to have the kitchen head cook. They
wont have time toput out fires (real or figurative :)) if they have their
head in a pot. Bribe cajole and plead your helpful friends and be very nice
to them when they're in your kitchen so they dont walk off and find
something else that "has" to be done.
3. Its really neat if you can find a separate clean up crew. by the time
you're done, you'll be frazzled as will most of your staff. Having some
calvary come in to finish washing up, mop the floors, help schlep stuff to
the cars, etc is a godsend!
4. Wear comfy shoes and unrestricting garments. Remember to keep long hair
covered and/or tied back. Have a supply of rubberbands and headscarves for
helpful longhaired crew. Bring lots of handsoap and a non-alcoholic, non
caffeinated beverage for yourself. Send someone out at lunchtime to bring
you a sandwich. If you crash at the critical dishup time, you're hosed!
5. a good thing to delegate is the hall steward job. this is the person to
oversee the dishing up, the garnishing crew and the serving. This leaves
you free to stay in the kitchen and help keep things on track.

just a few ideas....good luck! cant wait to hear about your rousing
success! :)
- --AM