[Sca-cooks] Atlantian Twentieth Year Celebration - Feast Notes

[Tom Bilodeau]

Fellow Cooks!

Here is the text of the "Atlantia 20 Year Feast Notes"

~Tirloch
-----------------------------------

Greetings All!

It hardly seems possible that this great Kingdom of Atlantia has seen 20 years
already.  It is with great fondness that we reflect upon the various cooks and
myriad kitchens that we have worked with in our respective journeys.

The concept of today’s feast for Atlantia’s 20 Year Celebration was to pay homage to
and to demonstrate the wide variety of Atlantian culinary traditions.  To this end
we have tried to incorporate as many cooks from all over Atlantia as well as
incorporate the skills of those who have resided in Atlantia for a great many years
and those who have resided here for a briefer period of time.

We wish to offer our sincerest thanks to all those cooks who have contributed to
this project.  We wish to offer spe-cial thanks to the autocrat staff, Mistress Anne
of Carthew, Baron Donald MacGregor, and Lord Muirghan Rhuadh who had faith in our
concept and presented us with the opportunity to realize it.

Please enjoy the efforts of this assembled cook staff.  Vivant to Atlantia and Her
excellent cooks!

~ Winifred and Tirloch


MENU
Another Crust of Tamed Creatures (Chicken and Cherry Pie) (Mistress Kiri - Dun
Carraig)
Losyns (Grafin Judith - Nottinghill Coill)
Bread (THL Felicia - Marinus)
Various Butters (Baron Tirloch - Ponte Alto)
Buttered Carrots (Lady Jane- Marinus)
Fried Broad Beans (Highland Foorde Cooks Guild - Highland Foorde)
Minted Cucumber Salad (Lady Genevieve - Roxbury Mill)
Roast Pork (Lord Robear - Caer Mear)
Various Sauces (Master John - Nottinghill Coill)
Creamy Sage Rice (Lady Jacquetta - St. George's Keep)
Savory Toasted Cheese (Master Phillip - Dun Carraig)
Mushroom and Brie Pie (Bright Hills Cooks Guild - Bright Hills)
Almond Applesauce (THL Jehan - Lochmere)
White Torta (Lady Gwynaeth & Lady Jenet - Stierbach)
Digby Cakes (Baron Tirloch - Ponte Alto)
Spiced Nuts (Duchess Melisande)


First Remove:
Another Crust of Tamed Creatures (Chicken and Cherry Pie) (Mistress Kiri - Dun
Carraig)
I am Mistress Minowara Kiritsubo, the second Baroness of Dun Carraig and a Founding
Fellow of the University of Atlantia. I think that one of the most wonderful and
rewarding things to do in the Society is to cook.  The kitchen is always the best
place to be at an event because there are so many fabulous people there.  And it has
given me great pleasure to be able to provide the gentlefolk of Atlantia with food
that they enjoy.

Several years ago, I discovered the writings of Bartolomeo Sacchi, known as
Platina.  He was a gourmand who enjoyed collecting the recipes of those cooks whose
work he knew to be the best. His work, De Honesta Volup-tate et Valetudine (On Right
Pleasure and Good Health), is a compilation of these recipes, about 40% of which
come from Libro de arte coquinaria, by Maestro Martino, the celebrated chef of
Cardinal Ludovico Trevisan.  Platina’s manuscript is the earliest published
collection of recipes, being published early in the 1460’s.  As his aim was to
collect the best works of the chefs he knew, choosing a recipe from his work fit in
well with the theme of this feast. I like this particular recipe as it is a
juxtaposition of unusual ingredients, i.e., cherries and chicken, and illustrates
very well the Renaissance idea of using opposing tastes together, the chicken being
sweet and the cherries somewhat sour.

Crusta ex Cicuribus
Crust for Tame Animals

1 ½ lbs. Chicken                                1 pint chicken stock
pastry for crust                                    1 cup dried cherries
(reconstitute in white wine)
6 eggs                                                  1 ¾ tsp. each marjoram, mint
and parsley
¾ tsp. Salt                                            ½ cup chicken stock
¾ cup verjuice (or ½ cup white wine and 6 tsp. white wine vinegar)

Boil the chicken pieces in chicken stock until almost cooked.  Bone the chicken and
brown in a little olive oil.  Line a deep-dish pie shell with pastry, then fill with
the chicken and cherries.  Pour the sauce over the pie and bake until browned on top
at 325°.

Sauce:
Blend eggs, verjuice (or wine/vinegar mixture) and ½ cup chicken stock together.
Add parsley, marjoram and mint and mix thoroughly.  Cook over a low heat, stirring
constantly until thickened so that it clings to the spoon.

Notes:  For ease of eating, I have boned the chicken rather than leaving it in
pieces as the recipe suggests.  I also have found that the pie is richer if the
chicken is cooked in stock.  I was quite lucky in being able to find verjuice to use
this time.  It is very exciting to be able to use the period ingredient rather than
a substitute.



Losyns (Grafin Judith - Nottinghill Coill)
I am Grafin Judith von Gruenwald who reigned with Duke Olaf. I've been in the SCA
for almost 16 years. I can usually be found in the kitchen at any event I attend;
that is one of the best places in the SCA world with some of the best people in the
world.