[Sca-cooks] Iron Chef Andalusiyya

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

>Huzzah and congratulations, from one Iron Chef to another
>
>Selene, CAid,
>Iron Chef Altavia

Thanks, but, well, it wasn't a *real* Iron Chef thing.

For the Fall Investiture we all planned our menus ahead of time, and
i cooked most of my food ahead of time as well. We didn't know the
"secret" ingredient (saffron) until we were at the site, but it was
obviously chosen because it is common in Medieval and Renaissance
cooking. For Spring Coronet, we were notified ahead of time what the
special ingredient would be (garlic) and we cooked our dishes
off-site.

But at least it encourages "period" cooking, which is actually fairly
well-accepted around here, although i do hear grumbly remarks
occasionally, since i generally cook "period" food at camping events,
and i get the impression that some folks (including some Laurels i
know) think i'm going a bit too far. For breakfast on Sunday i made
another 13th c. Andalusian dish, Khabisa with Pomegranate. It's meant
to be a sweet, but it worked for breakfast, since it is semolina
cooked in pomegranate juice, with sugar, rosewater, and almonds, sort
of Medieval Near Eastern cream-of-wheat.

And a local Shire with whom i sometimes camp has a "period" pot-luck
Saturday night at every Crown Tourney (we have *3* per year). I'm not
suggesting that pot-lucks are "period", and there's no focus on a
particular time period or country, but rather the diners are
encouraged to bring any sort of "period" food, which is certainly a
step forward from steaks and potatoes.

Anahita
not a real Iron Chef