under cooked chicken (was Re: SC - alcohol revisited)

[Lee-Gwen]

- ----- Original Message -----
From:  Anahita

> However, under cooked whole chickens seem to be a recurrent SCA feast

Oh yes!  Under cooked whole chicken - mmmm!  I have had some experience with
this one *sigh*.

The only feast on which I have ever been "on-site cook" (normally, I will
help with pre-cook and with the cleanup) was an Anglo Saxon feast some years
ago.  I walked into the hall and the autocrat asked me to "do him a favour".
Like a fool, I said yes without finding out what he wanted of me ...
Luckily, most of the work was already done in pre cook, although I did have
some sticky moments trying to work out how to get "thus" much beef into a
fairly small oven - and without baking trays.  Lady Lorix (bless her!) came
to my rescue - she had brought her "medium" feast kit, having been told that
everything was under control when she asked if she could bring cooking
utensils - she likes to be prepared.

Anyway, one of the first dishes to go out was whole roasted chicken served
cold on a bed of greens and with a sausage of seasoning by the side.  While
I was doing something else, the message came back to the kitchen that some
of the chicken was still quite pink inside!  Ooops!  I raced out into the
hall and, in my best herald's voice made the appropriate announcement
(something to the effect of "stop eating that chicken, it is not properly
cooked and return all chickens to the kitchen pronto").  Oddly enough, I was
told by someone that I should have been less ... overt, shall we say ...
about the uncooked chicken *sigh*.

The wait for food had been so long that, in the short time between serving
and recalling the chicken a few tables had already consumed theirs - no food
poisoning, thank goodness.  Lady Lorix and I then tore the chickens apart
and made a stew of chicken and greens (some spinach, mostly, it had been
supposed to be steamed and used as a garnish for something else) the
seasoning sausages and some red wine purloined from the hall.  People seemed
to really like it, too - which was a major relief!

Gwynydd (who still shudders at the memory of that feast!  And who thinks
that Lorix should be canonised for her role in it - wonderful woman!)