SC - Haversacks and nefts (??)

[James Prescott]

Beatrix addressed me with:
> Lord Stefan,
> Would you happen to have the recipe for this?
> It sounds like it would be a lot of fun to make.
> (I can see "chicken wings" at a Princess' Tea in the
> future...)
> YIS,
> Beatrix

Urrr. Ummm. well. Hey, anyone seen my paddle? :-)

I can't seem to find that particular recipe right now. I'll keep
looking. It is possible that was a referance I read in a secondary
source.

There are a number of messages in this file in the FOOD section about
'farced' chicken, where the bones of the chicken are removed and the
the chicken is cooked. And I think some where the skin and chicken are
cooked and the ground chicken is restuffed into the skin. 
illusion-fds-msg  (86K)  1/18/01    Medieval illusion foods. Diguised food.
 
There is also this portion of a message from Gunthar:
> (Digby p167)
> To Make Pear-Puddings. Take a cold Capon, or half roasted, which is much
> better; then take Suet, shred very small, the meat and Suet together; then
> half as much grated bread, two spoonsfuls of Flower, Nutmegs, Cloves and
> Mace; Sugar as much as you please; half a pound of Currans; the yolk of two
> eggs, and the white of one; and as much Cream as will make it up in a stiff
> Paste. Then make it up in the fashion of a Pear, a stick of Cinnamon for
> the stalk, and the head of a Clove.
> 
> Our version: (makes about 10 pears)
> 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
> 1/4 cup minced salt pork or suet
> 1 cup home made bread crumbs, grated finely
> 2 tsp nutmeg
> 1/2 tsp mace
> 1/8 tsp clove
> 4 tsp sugar
> 2 handfulls currants
> 3 eggs
> 1 egg white
> up to 1/4 cup flour as needed
> up to 1/4 cup cream as needed
> whole cinnamon stick and 6-10 cloves for decoration
> 
> Bake the chicken thighs at 350o for about 20 minutes or so till they're
> half baked.
> Mince well, or run through a meat grinder on the coarse setting (too fine
> makes a mealy meatball) with the salt pork or suet.
> Mix all the ingredients together, except the whole spices, with floured
> hands. Add cream if it's too dry, flour if its too wet.
> With floured hands, shape the meat mixture into 3" high pear shapes. Stick
> in the cinnamon stick for the stem and the clove for the blossom end. Bake
> at 350o for 35 minutes till brown. Take care they don't burn on the bottom.
> 
> (Note: I used chicken breasts with a little dark meat thrown in for moistness.
> I also used golden raisins instead of currents because the currents added dark
> spots. We made them about 3" high and used the stem of a clove for the stem.
> You could put the rest of the clove in the bottom for the bud but I found this
> unnecessary and dangerous because people would wind up eating the clove for an
> unpleasant surprise. These are wonderful tasting, cute and a major hit. Do
> this recipe!!!)
 
> Gunthar
 
I suspect that this would work with a well cleaned/boiled drumstick bone
instead of a cinnamon stick.

Here are a few ideas from Honour's article:
Warners-art       (32K)  6/29/98    An article on disguised food.
                                       by Alizaunde, Demoiselle de Bregeuf.

>          Chicken:
>      1:Bone them out from the inside- it takes about twenty tries 
> to  become  competent, so practice at home every  time  you  need 
> poultry for anything boneless. (Joy of Cooking, available at most 
> large libraries, has detailed instructions.) Then shape them with 
> stuffing so that they look like normal roast chickens. Great fun 
> if each table carves its own; they go NUTS...
>      2:Or  re-shape them so they DON'T look  like  chickens...heh 
> heh heh 
>      3:Drumsticks  cooked standing up and served in  some  battle 
> formation-  especially good for fighter-type Kings. By  the  way, 
> round  slices of very large turnips, parsnips, et al.  make  good 
> shields for these fellahs, though I would only bother with the 
> side and front ranks. A sufficiently deft pastrycook could make
> `helms ' to be added for the last twenty minutes of cooking...
>      4:Boneless breast sliced paper thin and simmered as "Chicken 
> noodles"-AWFUL pun when it's soup, takes them several minutes  to 
> get it. Good make-ahead dish. 

- -- 
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****