[Sca-cooks] Meat and not potatoes feast

[Volker Bach]

Terri Spencer schrieb:
>
> Hello there,
>
> I recently found out that an event bid we had not expected to get for a
> Kingdom level fighter's collegium in November is now the leading
> contender.  I'm feast cook, and haven't really given it much thought
> because I didn't think it was going to happen.  There isn't really a
> theme, just fighting, strategy, fighting, tactics, more fighting, with
> a "fighters feast".  I'd like to keep it fairly simple, since the
> kitchen at the planned site is a bit limited.  So far the only dishes
> I've settled on are roast/grilled pork with a variety of sauces, and
> something with yams (not potatoes).  So I'm hitting the cookbooks, and
> thought I'd ask our world-wide cooks group for favorite sure-fire feast
> recipes to satisfy a horde of hungry fighters.  What do you suggest?

A (very substantial) dessert I had good success
with after the battles at Horseradish War was
'Nussmus' (nut pudding), from the 14th century
German 'buoch von gouter spis' ('book of good
food'). Basically, to serve four to six people you
take

- 150 grammes (1/3 lb) ground hazelnuts (or
shelled almonds, if you want it to look fancy)

- 1/2 liter (2 cups) milk

- 75 g (3 oz) sugar or honey (I go with brown cane
sugar for good taste and because it's period, but
I'm guessing people also used honey).

- 50 g wheat or rice starch (cornstarch will work,
of course, but...)

- 1 soft bun (milk bun, no raisins)

- 20 g butter (about 1 tblsp)

- 2-3 egg yolks

- 1 saffron thread

mix all the dry ingredients (except the saffron)
and soak the bun in the milk until it can be
pulled apart easily. Then you mix the milk and
soaked bun into the dry ingredients thoroughly,
add the saffron, and bring the whole mush to a
gentle boil while stirring (stirring,
stirring...). Take off the heat, stir in the egg
yolks and butter and briefly bring to the boil
again, then pour into a bowel and let cool. This
'pudding' will not keep its shape, but it is quite
delicious and very rich and filling, just the
thing for hungry fighters. The recipe can easily
be doubled and tripled, though I have not tried
any larger quantitiesthan that. I serve it either
with fresh tart cherries (these days you mostly
get Chateau Morel, which are fine, though strictly
speaking OOP) or, if I have the time, I prepare a
cherry sauce out of tart cherries (tinned or
fresh), honey, nutmeg and cvinnamon thickened with
fresh breadcrumbs (this one is acvtually supposed
to go with meat, but is quite delicious with nut
gruel).

Another thing I have become quite addicted to is
Taillevent's 'roti de porc farci' - pork roast
filled with a farce made from gruyere cheese, ham,
hard-boiled egg yolk, salt, pepper, and powdered
ginger. It's quick to prepare, too. I haven't
tried it on an open fire, though (a smaller,
non-period version with stuffed pork chops at a
barbecue worked fine, but that's soooo tacky)

Giano