[Sca-cooks] non-sweet Elizabethan dishes

[Kirrily Robert]

Serena wrote:
> I believe that you might have answered your own question on this one. You
> need to find an Elizabethean fish/seafood dish to replace one of your meat
> dishes so that the vegs are eating the same entree at one of the courses.

Uh, fish is not vegetarian.  One of the people I talked to (who has a
meat allergy, or something) can eat fish, but that is not the common
case.  Definitely a good choice for those who can eat it, and it
provides some very interesting variety, but it doesn't fit the
"vegetarian" criterion.

Just for reference, for anyone who's interested:

VEGANS eat only vegetable products.  No dairy, eggs, meat, poultry, or
fish, or honey.

VEGETARIANS (also known as lacto-ovo vegetarians) eat vegetables as well
as dairy and eggs (and honey).  They may avoid cheese if calf-stomach
rennet might have been used to make it.  They may only eat free-range
eggs.

Some vegetarians are even stricter than vegans, and will only eat fruit
(i.e. no leaf or root vegetables which would harm the plant to eat them)
or only eat raw vegetables.  These are pretty rare in the SCA though,
and would seldom try to attend a feast.

Anyone who eats fish, poultry or meat is not vegetarian, though they may
simplify their description of their food limitations by saying they're
vegetarian, since that's easier to communicate than a detailed list of
what they do and don't eat.  My friend is in this category.  I know some
Jewish people who do the same thing, since they're more likely to get
the food they want by saying they're vegetarian than by trying to
explain the rules of kosher food to someone who isn't used to them.

> I am uncertain what sources are "Elizabeathan" but I am always running
> across recipits for fish, lobster, crab, oysters, eel ...... The Robert May
> book (tho late 17th cen) is chock full of interesting things to do to
> crustaceans. I have served salmon at one feast, & I know that another gentle
> here on the list has done the same.
>
> If the main thrust of your event is the food & you are going to have a high
> feast budget, some of these "luxury" items could be fun.

Absolutely!  I already have one dish with oysters :)  (and a vegetarian
version of it as well)

Yours,

Katherine

--
Lady Katherine Rowberd (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert)
katherine at infotrope.net  http://infotrope.net/sca/
Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere
"The rose is red, the leaves are grene, God save Elizabeth our Queene"