[Sca-cooks] Roman Display, was Sugar Plate Again

[Kirsten Houseknecht]

pie.
bake a pastry shell and a pastry lid, and put things that are in no way
pastry or pie inside.....

pulling fresh, unbaked fruit that has been glazed or gold leafed out of a
pie shell looks neat.

another thing to make a "spectacle" would be if you can make a plaster mold
of  someones bst (or of a stone bst) and serve in that....... or smash it
like a pinata or something.
Kirsten Houseknecht
Fabric Dragon
kirsten at fabricdragon.com
www.fabricdragon.com
Philadelphia, PA     USA
Trims, Amber, Jet, Jewelry, and more...

I worry about you, wear a reflective sweater...
----- Original Message -----
From: <lilinah at earthlink.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 2:21 PM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Roman Display, was Sugar Plate Again


> Alys Katharine wrote:
> >Iago wrote:
> >  >For sugar plate dishes you will need to make them
> >  >a bit thicker, and make sure that they are kept very
> >  >dry or they will fall apart when you try and lift them up.
> >
> >Agreed.  And, sugar paste is in _no way_ Roman.  I don't know when
> >the first documented Italian recipe was printed, but the English was
> >in the middle of the 1500s.  I don't believe that sugar paste
> >existed (much? at all?) prior to 1500 or the late 1400s.  It's
> >primary time is the 1600s and 1700s.
>
> Indeed. We are aware that it isn't Roman. But i'm at a loss for what
> to do to make something rather special, other than serving good tasty
> food - and other than the sugar plate serving dishes and the "Peach
> Pits", the food will be "period".
>
> I read Petronius' Satyricon when i was in high school in the 1960s,
> and and i've seen Fellini's Satyricon about 20 times. Anyway, i
> refreshed my memory by re-reading the passages on the Feast of
> Trimalchio.
>
> I realize Trimalchio is nouveau riche and boorish, but the way the
> food is brought in and displayed is cool. However, i don't have
> life-size bronzes to use as serving dishes, nor can i roast a whole
> pig just so it can be sliced open in front of the guests and yards of
> sausages pulled out , and i doubt my ability to make a large scale
> Priapus of pastry also as a serving device.
>
> However, Gianetta and I can make sugar plate. So i though that making
> some sort of dishes for serving nuts or "Peach Pits" (another OOP for
> Roman food) would be a small step towards a bit of spectacle.
>
> We are also trying to think of a way to make a faux pig that we can
> slice open and pull out cooked sausages (an Apician recipe) and ham
> with figs (another Apician recipe). Sorry, i'm not ready to make and
> serve blood sausage at a feast yet.
>
> We will be making a subset of servings without fish sauce for the
> vegetarians. And because the Princess of the Mists is allergic to
> almonds and walnuts, we'll have many dishes with pine nuts. We will
> have some dishes with almonds - and we'll make sure that there is no
> cross-contamination, and everything is clearly marked. I'm fond of
> this Princess and i've no desire to make her sick.
>
> But if anyone has any food display ideas for a Roman feast, i'd love
> to hear it.
>
> Anahita
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