[Sca-cooks] Feast Procedural Question

[david friedman]

Jared wrote:

>Gramercy.  Since the theme is the _Tres Riches Heures_ of Jean, le Duc
>du Berry, I'm looking for good redactions from Talliavent and Menagier,
>and any other good French dishes of the era.  The theme of the feast
>itself has been intended to be the Canonical hours, and I could've sworn
>I'd seen a period reference to such a feast, but it's eluding me at the
>moment.  Some menu from a period French epiphany feast to be set before
>a King and court would be nice to see.

Chiquart (_Du Fait de Cuisine_, 1420) is another such cookbook. It
might also be worth looking at the English cookbooks of the period--
there is a lot of overlap between English and French recipes at this
time. At least finding good recipes will be easy, even if dealing
with some of the conditions isn't.

Specific suggestions: (all recipes in the Miscellany, all French)
Bruet of Savoy (Chiquart): chicken and meat in bread-thickened herb sauce
Bourbelier of Wild Pig (Menagier): pork roast with wine and spices
Spinach Tart (Menagier): spinach, beet greens, other herbs, cheese, eggs
Mushroom Pastries (Menagier): mushrooms, cheese, spices
Le Menagier's Hippocras with dessert, if they will let you serve
something alcoholic--there are a bunch of menus at the beginning of
Menagier and most of them end, if I remember correctly, with
hippocras and wafers.

>Part of the issue is that A) A certain peer of the realm asked for
>permission to prepare a 12th Night bid in a Barony other than her own --
>to wit, the Barony in which I live.  B)  The Baron was particularly NOT
>encouraging, but saying he'd go along with it if we found an appropriate
>hall, C) Said hall was found, and it seems the Baron has now appointed
>himself to be the overseer of the 12th Night committee, with the
>self-designated responsibility to second guess everyone else's jobs.  He
>is now insisting that, as the Crown's representative, he is responsible
>for the success of the event, and thus is within his rights to claim the
>final say in all matters.

If you or the autocrat can't talk to him (which is obviously the
first thing to try), can you talk to the Crown, and get him or her to
explain to the Baron that they don't wish to be represented in that
fashion? This works best if you or the autocrat know the current king
and/or queen, and can rely on them to be a voice of moderation.

It might be wise to get things agreed-upon well in advance, to defend
against getting last-minute changes thrown at you.

Good luck.

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook