[Sca-cooks] Imaginary list was Re: Irish Stew recipe

[Randy Goldberg MD]

> >>Roast Beef in almost any form, with or without sauces
> >
> >Ok, sooo, does that mean that roast beef should be out? :-)
>
> No, people like it, and it seems to have been eaten in period, so it
> needn't be "out", but its frequency at SCA feasts (at least in the
> East) seems to suggest period gentry ate very little else. "Eeeoww,
> the FIGHTERS will bi-atch if we don't give them hunk-o-beef!" Now, if
> it were boiled beef, on the other hand, or boiled pork, or mutton,
> that would seem more consistent with the omnipresence of beef broth
> in many, many, many pottage recipes, as well as in keeping with the
> "gross char" references in various menus.

I recently served as co-Head Cook for an MSR event (for those of you
unfamiliar, Medieval Scenarios and Recreations is a splinter group local to
NYC and environs). My co-chief decided we (a) HAD to serve roasted
hunks-o-beef and (b) HAD to make them onsite. No problem - except our site
is a (magnificent) old 19th century castle (one of those "I've got lots and
lots of money so I'm gonna live in a recreated castle" things) with NO
KITCHEN. She showed me a grill out back made from half an old oil drum, two
bags of charcoal (Match-Light, no less), a bottle of Lowry's Seasoned Salt,
and 40 lbs of top round of beef. Yes, I spent the entire day outside
grilling - in February in New York! Well, guess what - a liitle prayer, a
LOT of cussing and a whole lot of more-or-less-constant turning and
rearranging, and it was a smashing success. I managed to get almost every
piece off the fire at just about medium-rare, and 80%+ got eaten. Her
roasted chicken (she was smart and bought parts and cooked 'em at home, then
just reheated them on the grill) was appreciated too, but not as much as the
beef. Sadly, the rice in almond milk (20 quarts!) burned and had to be
tossed (it was inedible, the whole pot tasted of the burn).

Avraham