SC - Protectorate Feast 3 - Menu

[Decker, Terry D.]

> It seems a bit overly sweet without much savory or vinegar to 
> temper it.
> You have jumbles, marmelade, orange sauce, apple & wine 
> sauce, sweet tart,
> sweet potatoes, rice pudding and Shrewsbery cakes.
> 

The sweet is a definite problem.  Elizabethans liked their sugar and I'm a
little short on Elizabethan source material to produce a truly wide range of
dishes, so most of the recipes I have call for sugar and sweet spices.  I
think I can offset the sweet by adding the optional verjuice to the whiting
and chicken sauces, using a savory baste for the meat and not being too
heavy handed with the sugar in the other dishes.  I was planning to add a
mustard for the beef and I am considering a garlic sauce as well.  I'd
really like to get my hands on Seville oranges for there sourness, but I
haven't found any locally, so I'll probably settle for Valencias.


> Also everything there is fairly soft. There should be some crunch for
> each course to off-set the softness of the rest of the dishes.
> 
> Perhaps instead of the sweet spinach tart you make benes 
> y'fried or even just
> cooked greens. Or put a salat into the meal. Since I'm 
> unfamiliar with the
> taste of the orance sauce or apple&wine sauce I'm not sure 
> how sweet they
> are but I do feel that a texture difference should be added.
> 
> Gunthar

I'm stuck with the spinach tart.  The Baroness is fond of the stuff.  

The peas are sugar peas in the pod.  If they don't get overcooked, they
should provide a textural difference and not be overly sweet.

The jumbals, shrewsbery cakes and bread will provide a little crunch, but
not necessarily in the first course.  Budget and time permitting, I may add
another baked good and/or a compound salat with piquant dressing.  I'm in
the phase where budet meets reality and I don't know how much I will have
available for last minute goodies.

As the current Protector, you will be at the feast, so you can be the judge
of how successful the menu is.

Thanks for the input.

Bear