SC - My First Feast as Head Cook

[david friedman]

At 6:29 PM -0700 10/3/00, lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
>I'm now planning the feast for The Boar's Hunt on December 9th, 
>which will be my first as chief cook.

I'm well behind on the list, so I hope this is still of some use to you.

>_Beaconsgate 15th Annual Boar Hunt and Feast, presented by the 
>Province of the Mists_
>
_First Course_
...

>Root vegetables (baked seasoned carrots and parsnips?)

If you are willing to do a soup, there are two recipes in the 
_Miscellany_: Platina's Potage with Turnips, and Rapes in Potage, 
which can also be done with carrots or parsnips, from Curye on 
Inglysch.

>Lumbard Custard (trad.) - please help, i don't have a recipe for 
>this - what cookbook is it in?

_Two 15th Century Cookery Books_ or Cindy Renfrew's _Take a Thousand 
Eggs_ (Harleian Ms. 4016, originally). We've never tried it, but here 
is the original:

  Custard lumbarde.  Take good creme, and yolkes And white of egges, 
and breke hem thereto, and streyne hem all thorgh a straynour till 
hit be so thik that it woll bere him self; And take faire Mary, And 
Dates, cutte in ij. or iij. and prunes, and put hem in faire coffyns 
of paast; And then put the coffyn in an oven, And lete hem bake till 
thei be hard, And then drawe hem oute, and putte the licoure into the 
Coffyns, and put hem into the oven ayen, And lete hem bake till they 
be ynogh, but cast sugur and salt in thi licour whan ye putte hit 
into the coffyns; And if hit be in lenton, take creme of Almondes, 
And leve the egges And the Mary. [thorns replaced by th]

>_Second Course_
>Roast Pork Loin (trad.) (1/2 lb. boned uncooked per person)

I think Bear already reccomended Cormarye, from Curye on Inglysch, 
which recommendation I second; Bourbelier of Wild Pig, from Menagier 
de Paris, is also good. Recipes for both in the Miscellany.
...

>Cooked Worts (trad.)

We have a whole bunch of recipes for this in the Miscellany under 
vegetables, including Lange Wortys de Chare (with meat) or Longe 
Wortes de Pesone (vegetarian) and various others.

>Grain dish, "cheap and filling"  - Last year's barley pottage was 
>horrible and nobody ate it. I'm thinking Frumenty with cracked 
>wheat. Any other suggestions?

Ryse of Fische Daye (rice, almond milk, a little sugar, garnished 
with fried almonds) or one of the pasta dishes. Or just go with bread.

>_Dessert_
>Boar's Head (trad.) - subtletie of gingerbread or fruit cake (will 
>be done by someone else)

If you want the real thing, Master Chiquart (Du Fait de Cuisine, 
1420) goes into great detail on how to prepare and serve it, 
breathing fire. My translation is on Cariadoc's webpage and Terrance 
Scully has a published version.

>Cooked Fruit - i'm thinking quinces, maybe, if they aren't too 
>expensive, or maybe something of dried fruit, or pears in red wine - 
>any suggestions?

A couple of people suggested pears cored and filled with sugar in 
pastry; the period recipes call for pears or quinces or in one case 
apples. We have Chiquart's version, as Quinces in Pastry, in the 
Miscellany; the quince-or-warden-pear version is in Two 15th Century 
Cookery Books and the apple version is in A Proper Newe Book of 
Cookery (I think). For a different sort of fruit pie, I'm very fond 
of A Flaune of Almayne (ground-up pears or apples and rasins, cream, 
butter, breadcrumbs, ginger, cinnamon, in pie crust).

Good luck; any more questions, just ask.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook
- -- 
David Friedman
Professor of Law
Santa Clara University
ddfr at best.com
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/