SC - RE: spanish feast recipes

[E. Rain]

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I myself am still trying to learn the art of SCA/period cooking.  It is a
toughie as I want to serve food that is highly recognizable to our members
(as many are new players - less than 2 yrs old).  
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Because of your unfamiliarity with period cookery, you are seeing problems
where they don't exist.  Most Medieval and Renaissance cuisine is
recognizable and tastes no more unusual than ethnic cuisines.  With a proper
selection of recipes most people won't know they are eating period foods.

In my experience, the real problems with feasts have more to do with the
logisitics of cooking for and of serving to large groups.  The food is
either properly prepared or badly prepared.  If you can get the food ready
and out in a timely manner, people enjoy properly prepared food and detest
badly prepared food.  In my opinion, the aversion to period food is from bad
cooks hiding behind the excuse that "period food is yucky."

  
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But the situation is that those who normally have done the feasts in the
past have quit playing.  And we have heard many times over that people are
tired of the same old stuff (chicken, turkey, ect.) Myself and the other
highly involved cook have laid low this year as we have kind of burned out
on feastocrating after 2 yrs of 2 back to back events (4 events feastocrat
each time).
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Okay, maybe you need to take a real break and not be involved at all for a
year or so.  Or perhaps you need someone to work as feast steward and you
simple take on the chore of preparing the meal.  Almost certainly, your
group (most probably the few of you who are experienced) needs to train some
of the new members in how to cook and serve a feast, giving you a larger
pool of volunteers.

As for people being tired of the "same old stuff," that's why there are
cookbooks.  Try a Middle Eastern feast from Cariadoc's cookbook collection
or a feast from Platina.  Give the feast a theme and organize the
entertainment to match.  Change people's perception of what a feast is.


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This gave other new members a chance to become more involved.  The one who
chose to do the feast is well, shall we say meat & potatoes kind of girl.
She cooks what she knows & is not willing to try something new.  If she
doesn't know how, then she doesn't want to do it.  Her idea of a feast is
BBQ/potluck... I just cringe @ what she is planning.
***************

This should have been hashed out before your group accepted the cook.  Many
other groups require a menu and a budget for materials before awarding
someone the job of preparing a feast.  Once you have a feast steward/cook,
it is that person's responsibility to make the feast happen according to the
menu and budget they have proposed.  Your group may wish to learn from their
experiences and set up a feast bid system for next time.


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Although she has me & one other willing cook to help, our current feastocrat
is stubborn!! her way or the hiway..
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I can't say I disagree with her sentiment.  I demand absolute control when
I'm doing a feast.  On the other hand, I do take note of suggestions and
good ideas in case I can incorporate them into my work.  I am also totally
responsible for the success or failure of the feast, even if I had help.  I
wonder if your cook is truly prepared to accept that responsibility.


***************
She wants to serve smoked meat -- brisket & turkey.    --  This is good.
But as the side dishes she wants rice with the cream of mushroom soup mix
(not very period!) and squash. This is where I was thinking perhaps rice
with separate sauted mushrooms. and the mushrooms would be arranged on top
of the rice that way if someone did not like them or was allergic, they
could pick them off. And then she wants some assorted veggies stewed/cooked
with the meats (I suspect).  As appetizers probably some sort of breads &
cheeses. We suggested that some items for the vegitarians might be nice (as
we have a vegitarian in our shire).  Perhaps a nice quiche and some type of
lentel soup.  But the answer to that suggestion was, I don't know how to do
that so I will leave that up to you.  And for dessert we are going to have
chocolate cake that the kids are decorating.  Fine but another droll mundane
item... choc. cake...
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Okay, the feast is going to be perioid, essentially modern recipes prepared
and served in a psuedo-medieval manner with maybe a few truly period recipes
tossed in if you're lucky.

Smoked turkey and brisket are fine, although considering the limited side
dishes, make sure you have enough.

The suggestions about rice have all been good.  I particularly like the
risi-bisi, which is easy to make on site (with a modification of David's
preparation method) and my suggestion of rice pudding which can be prepared
in advance and served hot or cold.  The rice pudding contains milk and
sugar, so it may not be suitable for diabetics.

If you are after a soup, try a brodo of chickpeas.  You can find the recipe
in the Florilegium.  It is suitable for vegetarians, is unusual enough to be
interesting and tasty enough that people often find they like it. 


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We will serve the cake but we will also have some other more period dessert
like fresh fruit or bread pudding.  Plus the cake concerns me as we have
several diabetics in our shire, so I would like to have an alternate dessert
that will be appropriate for them to eat.
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Margali's suggestions about desserts make sense.  I would probably prefer
the pears in wine sauce, because it avoids dairy products, making the dish
edible to people with another common group of allergies.


***************
And I know that our current feastocrat doesn't think about everyones dietary
needs.  Basically she wants a minimal effort feast that she has very little,
to do, as she wants to participate in the rapier tournies during the day
also.  I told her she wouldn't be able to do both as the feast would need
her attention. She would not hear of it.
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In other words, your cook doesn't plan carefully and anticipate problems.
You believe she is placing her personal enjoyment above the job for which
she volunteered (if she can pull it off, that's fine.)  And you believe your
group's reputation will suffer because the cook is ignorant of the
requirements of the task, foolishly ignoring the advice and opinions of
others, and acting selfishly.  I've seen this a few times, and it was
usually the prelude to a disaster.

If this was occurring in my group and I was interested in saving the cook's
bacon, I'd put together a crew from the baronial service order with the
knowledge and the support of the baronage and take over the kitchen leaving
the cook nominaly in charge.  I've done this once in 20-odd years.  Most of
the time, I consider it an educational experience for all concerned and let
the show go on.


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As I stated before she is stubborn & we butt heads, the other co-helper....
well, lets just say they have a hate/hate relationship. They don't work well
together and rarely agree upon anything let alone respect each others
opinion.

The Tzimmis sounded like a good idea ... but I need some feed back from my
experienced cooks out here in the wide world of the SCA.  Any & all
suggestions will be greatly appreciated in how to make this a more workable
situation.  That is without stepping on too many of my own folks toes.  One
small tidbit that I left out is, that I won't be there to oversee the
on-site preping.  I will probably make it to the event site somewhere around
5 PM.  Just in time to get the serving preparations ready... making the
appetizers look nice & whatnot.

Thank you so much for your input.... Krysta
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Other than suggesting some alternate recipes, I think you are beyond the
point the situation can be altered without upsetting a lot of people.  Your
cook has made her decisions and arguing the point will only make her more
set on getting her way.  Since you will not be available to handle the
problems, you should not be the one to force the issue.

The odds are very good this feast will not be up to par.  I would suggest
opening up a discussion with the seneschal, treasurer, and, if you are in a
barony, the Baronage about establishing a budget and bid system to help
improve feast quality and keep expenses under control.

Bonne Chance

Bear