SC - Re: Children's cooking classes [long]

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Sue Clemenger wrote:

> Hey, I've been thinking that might be fun to do, but I don't have a lot
> of experience teaching kids.  Would you mind sharing your format/ideas?
> --Maire
>
> DeeWolff at aol.com wrote:
> ><snippage>
>
> > As a matter of fact, I am teaching a Childrens cooking clas at our University
> > this Saturday, and I have been told that the sign up list is full already!
> > Cool!
> >
> ==

I just did one of these for Collegium Caidis about 3 weeks ago.  We did not have a
kitchen available, so all cooking was done in plug-in appliances.  Age range was
8-14, with a couple of busy 16-year-olds working as collegium errand-runners who
'just happened' to come by when we were doing fun stuff or eating.

Sausage rolls:

I made up honey-whole wheat bread dough ahead of time, and bought bratwurst, Hebrew
National franks and string cheese.  The kids got to pound on dough, shape it in an
oval, form it around the weenie and bake it in the toaster oven.  "I don't eat
meat" said one kid, so out came the string cheese, already pre-packaged in
weenie-size lunch servings.  Wound up distributing the most of the rest of the
string cheese to hungry kids.

Spiced Cider:

Motts apple juice in a hot-water pitcher.  Let the kids pound stick cinnamon and
cloves in a mortar  and grate whole nutmeg,  then decide how much to put in.  Of
course they put in a lot, but it wasn't simmering all that long so it was okay.

Renaissance Salad:

Taught the kids how to make a simple vinegarette, 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar and
shake it up in a =tightly= closed container.  Put out a bunch of likely
ingredients, spinach, grated carrots, etc. and let them have at.  It was mighty
good too, we put out the rest for the "Baronesses' Bistro" lunch counter and the
populus pronounced it very fine salad.

Subtletie:  A Castle Cake

A pre-made angel food cake, frosting, sugar cones and enough candy decorations to
satisfy the most ardent decorator.  This castle made Mad King Ludwig look
conservative.  I think I took a few candy dits home, but not many.

While the sausage rolls were cooking, we set the table for our feast with
co-ordinated table cloths, plates and cups and talked about feasts in general.
Everybody had to taste everything, and a few of the kids found out that they
actually liked salad.

A few tips:

Know their names and call each by name.  Talk to the students like you would any
SCA learner.  Kids love an adult who doesn't treat them like "just a kid."

Make the talkiest kid do the work, saying that this [whatever it is] is a very
important step and could he do it carefully please?  Logan was uncommonly quiet
whilst grinding the stick cinnamon to a fine powder.  Harness that energy!

Don't do anything that takes much waiting, or do the waiting parts ahead of time
[pre-made bread dough for instance].  Do make items with relatively immediate
gratification.  If you are planning a course on "how to make bread," have several
batches in various stages of rising already made and spaced out timewise, just like
on TV.

Here is the introductory part of my handout, which also contained [fully credited]
recipes from Cariadoc and others, which I thought might be of interest to the kids
and their parents.  I don't feel the need to repeat them here, but a list follows.
Permission is given to republish my work with the credit line included.  [That goes
for you too Stefan.]  Also included in the package were some of my favorite home
recipes, just as a little gift to the parents to whom I had sent their kids all
sugared up.

- -=-=-=-=-=-

Period Food for Kids [of all ages]

You’ll be happy to know some good news about food of the middle ages.  Firstly, a
lot of stuff we don’t like hasn’t been discovered yet.  No lima beans!  Yay!

The bad news is, some of the stuff we do like hasn’t been discovered yet, like
corn, potatoes and tomatoes.  Also, some stuff we do like, made of ingredients they
had in Europe, simply hadn’t been invented, like mayonnaise and sandwiches.  Boo.

Still, that leaves us with lots of stuff we like, and new treats to try which
aren’t really new, just centuries-old treats that we haven’t tried yet.

There is another fun thing about reading ‘period’ recipes.  There are no
measurements, so you had to have a lot of practice to know what was “enough.”
Also, they had not invented spelling yet, which means no spelling tests [yay again]
but also that we will really have to read aloud and sound things out.  Let’s try
this once and see:

Payn purdeuz.  [French Toast]

Two 15th Century Cookbooks, Harleian MS. 4016 80.
Payn purdeuz.  Take faire yolkes of eyren, and try hem fro the white, and drawe hem
thorgh a streynour; and then take salte, and caste thereto;
And then take manged brede or paynman, and kutte hit in leches;
and then take faire buttur, and clarefy hit, or elles take fressh grece and put
hit yn a faire pan, and make hit hote;
And then wete the brede well there in the yolkes of eyren, and then ley hit on the
batur in the pan, whan the buttur is al hote;
And then whan hit is fried eyowe, take sugur ynowe, and caste there-to whan hit is
in the disshe, And so serve hit forth.

IN MODERN ENGLISH:

Take fair yolks of eggs and separate them from the whites, and put them through a
strainer.  Then take salt and cast it in.  And then take manchet bread [whole
wheat] or paynman [white bread] and cut it in pieces.  And then take fair butter
and clarify it, or else take fresh grease and put it in a fair pan and make it
hot.  And then wet the bread well with the egg yolks, and then lay it on the pan
when the butter is all hot.  And then when it is fried enough, take sugar enough,
and sprinkle in on the french toast when it is in the dish.

[The rest of the handout included:

MACARONI [Mac & Cheese]  From the Elizabeth Bauermann Andrews translation of
Platina, originally in Latin.

FISH STICKS  [These are from a German cook book from Nürnberg,  “Ein schön
künstlich Kochbüchlein von vielen vnd manchen Richten.”  Platina has a recipe much
like it called “Fricadella of Fish” but this looks easier.  Many thanks to Prof.
Gloning at the University of Marburg for this translation.]

Losenges Fryes [sweet fried crunchies, like won ton or tortilla chips, with sugar]
period recipe from Two Fifteenth Century p. 97/74 plus Cariadoc's redaction.

Ryschewys Closed and Fried [a cross between Fig Newtons and Fried Pies] period
recipe from Two Fifteenth Century p. 45/97 plus Cariadoc's redaction

Recipe for the Barmakiyya [Cariadoc says his kids like this a lot] Andalusian p.
A-9 plus Cariadoc's redaction

To make Paste of Pippins, the Geneva fashion  [Fruit Roll!]
From: A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen or The Art of preserving, conserving
and candying, printed for Arthur Johnson, 1608.

    TO STEW APPLES  [Digbie.  Applesauce!]


Bon Appetit!
Dame Selene Colfox, O.P. etc.
aka Susan Fox-Davis
c. 2000
[Stefan, please advice as to the format of the copyright notice.]