[Sca-cooks] Bright Hills' Trial by Fire

[Olwen the Odd]

Vivat to the newest member and founding member of the Dun Carraig branch of
the Bright Hills Cooks Guild!  It was wonderful to have the chance to spend
some time with you Kiri.  And I must say, the aromas coming from your end of
the pavillion were so wonderful.  The lamb dish was terrific and the
eggplant was supurb.  I was very impressed with that version of the dates.
Your right, they were better that other versions I have tried.  It was fun.
Can't wait to see you again soon.
Olwen

>I had a wonderful experience this past weekend competing in the Trial by
>Fire competition sponsored by the Cooks' Guild of the Barony of Bright
>Hills.  The folks up there are truly wonderful, and it was great to get
>to "play" all day with a bunch of fine cooks.  The final spread that was
>put out was amazing!  Not only was the food delicious, but the
>presentations were something to behold.  There were four categories,
>meat, veggies, grains and desserts, with a grand champion to be chosen
>overall.  Master Chirhart, of this list, won the meat competition with a
>chicken and prune dish that was excellent...I'm sure that, if persuaded,
>he'll share the recipe with us!  One thing I did discover...I now have
>an idea as to what those guys on Iron Chef feel like as they head down
>to the wire....I really had to scramble to get everything done and
>plated during the last 15 minutes of the competition!
>
>To cap off a wonderful day, during a meeting of the Cooks' Guild, I was
>voted in as an honorary member of the Guild...which was later modified
>to "the founding member of the Dun Carraig branch of the Bright Hills
>Cooks' Guild"....thanks a bunch, guys!!!  It is a great honor.
>
>I did three dishes, all from Perry's "Medieval Arab Cookery" book, and
>all were well-received.  Probably the best of the three was the lamb
>stew dish which everyone really liked.  The almond-stuffed dates were an
>experiment as the recipe sounded very much like the Dates Alexandrine
>from Apicius.  The result was actually much better...the dates are
>actually cooked in a mixture of honey and rosewater with saffron, then,
>while they are cooling, sprinkled with a mixture of caster sugar and
>poppy seeds.  They were moister and more flavorful than the Roman
>version, we thought.  I am attaching a Word file with the recipes in it
>to this.  If anyone cannot read the file, let me know and I'll send the
>recipes in a mail message.  I'd love to know what you all think of my
>redactions....
>
>Thanks!
>
>Kiri

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