[Sca-cooks] Re: Presentation of food at feasts (was Of pickyness...)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Sue Clemenger wrote:

 > I might venture to remark, that a _lot_ of us who do feasts have
 > never had benefit of formal training and/or work-related experience
 >  in the cooking fields.  I know I've gotten better about timing
 > things over the years, but I also know there's still a lot I'm
 > missing, and a lot of at-the-last-minute-disaster-fixes I'm just
 > not aware of. Ditto food presentation...I'd like to be creative
 > with little last-minute touches, but don't know what to do, beyond
 > sticking a sprig of parsley on a plate....Has anyone ever done any
 > investigating re: period food flourishes? That'd be _really_
 > interesting and helpful to know, as well as any period-compatible
 > modern stuff.


A lot of recipes specify the presentation. Some call for foods to be
made in two colors, served side by side on the same dish. Some call for
a simple dusting of powdered sugar or a spice mix, some suggest fried
almonds, fried onions, bits of candied spice or a saffron-laced egg
wash. Some call for flowers or to be stuck with cloves. In some cases
there may have been additional garniture used, but I suspect often what
the recipe specified was what was used.


While I do believe on an attractive presentation, I mostly prefer food
that looks good, and looks like food, rather than putting a
representation of the Battle of Gettysburg cut out of radishes on top of
perfectly good food. Some people scorn this concept a bit and yammer
about presentation and eating with the eyes, but FWIW, in professional
circles I've always had a reputation for attractive plating in spite of
a very minimalistic approach. Probably this is a throwback to the KISS
rule taught in culinary schools. It stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Let's see... Dishes for 12th Night...

The cotignac is will likely get silver sugar bee-bees and candied rose
petals...

Caboches in pottage will get powder douce and chopped fresh herbs...

Makke gets fried onions sprinkled on top... I may do something silly
like putting a fried Blooming Onion flower in the middle. It'll be a
private joke between the local Baroness and myself...

Compost is pretty festive (quiet, you!) on its own...

The venison will be in little cutlets fanned out and partially napped
with black pepper sauce. I may create some contrast with something like
endive leaves; it'll depend on budget.

The roast chickens will have a saffron-colored garlic sauce. Not sure
yet how we'll do with that.


The tourtes parmerienne recipe calls for planting little heraldic
banners in the middle, and for gilding or silvering the pies. I've got
some food-grade gold dust, which I'll probably sprinkle on top of the
poultry glaze, which is egg yolk, saffron and sugar.


The blomanger _may_ get a lobster head and tail shell protruding from
the edges of the plates, depending on the platters used. Fried, shredded
almonds at the very least.


Still thinking about the second course, but this is the general idea...


Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98