[SCA-Cooks] list lurkers

[Kristen Skold]

Greetings,

I've been here less than a day, so I haven't had any time to lurk<g> but
thought I'd join the current thread to introduce myself.

I'm coming from the Faire side of the world. (I've belonged to the SCA,
I've attended local meetings, and I've attended events. Never two at the
same time <shrug>)

For the last couple of years, I've run the kitchen for an Irish guild.
Since food is not part of the gig there, and since we have a large number
of small children, and since it's potluck, authenticity has not been high
on my list of priorities.

This year, I became co-cook at an English Inn (my first faire there was
Elizabethan and the current one is Victorian.) Still potluck, but since
food *is* part of the gig here, and since there are several other
interested cooks, the level of authenticity is higher. We don't serve the
general public, just friends and family - although anyone who wanders by
late on Sunday gets fed, whether they're hungry or not! Working from Elinor
Fettiplace's Receipt Book and the Martha Washington cookbook, I had
successes with a parsnip tart (the 6yo went back for seconds!) two
different small sugar cakes, jumbles, and strawberry cakes. Plus an
improvisation on a medieval recipe that created a cheese-and-onion pie that
has carried over, by demand, to the Victorian venue.

This coming season, I'll be running the kitchen for the ambassador from
Navarre. Which is how I found this list - wandering about looking for ideas
for Southern French cooking from the middle of the 16th century. Any
suggestions gratefully accepted - my focus has always been English.

I haven't experimented with any recipe that didn't already have some sort
of modern version written - but considering how freely I tinkered with them
(hmm, it seems to me the original recipe suggested...) I plan to experiment
more over the next few months.

So happy to have found you!
Neassa
(Kristen Skold)