[Sca-cooks] Feast Food for Picky Royalty

[Barbara Benson]

Lady Lavender>I hope maybe the cooks on the board can help me with a major
feast problem.  I finally got a list of what the Royalty will eat/not eat
and am totally befuddled as to what to do. His majesty is a very picky
eater. His feast fav's include hot dogs, mashed potatoes, Ho Ho's, string
cheese and grilled cheese. He doesn't like rice, meat (I think he means
beef), vegetables, eggs. It now looks like I have to make a seperate feast
for him. Do you think this is too accommodating? Or should I change my menu
slightly (omit the beef, add more cheese kinda thing).
Greetings,

There is a Crostini recipie in the Neopolatian that is very tasty and
inovolves bread and cheese toasted. I do not have a copy of the book (very
expensive) but I believe it is recipie #94. Maestro Niccolo served it at a
feast I helped at:
http://franiccolo.home.mindspring.com/crostata_de_caso_pane.html

In that same vein the Oven Cheese Pie, called Toledean from the Miscellany
is a cheesy, bready type thing. It is on page 103 in the PDF.

I have found several period recipies that can appeal to the non-adventurous:

This comes out similar to an "Awsome Blossom" style fried onion. I served it
with a walnut/garlic sauce.
To Make Whole Onions in Casserole on a Lenten Day
>From Libro del Arte de Cozina by Diego Granado.Translated by Lady Brighid ni
Chiarain.
PARA HAZER CEBOLLAS ENTERAS EN CAZUELA EN DIA DE QUARESMA Take the white
onions, and sweet ones, and the bigger they are, the better, and make them
cook in water and salt, in such a manner that they are well cooked, and take
them out and let them cool and drain, and puncture them with the knife, so
that the water will come out better, and being drained moisten them with a
bit of cold water, and flour them, and put them in a tart pan with enough
hot olive oil that they will be more than half covered, and give them fire
below and above, turning them several times, and being cooked serve them
with oil and cinnamon on top. You can also cover with garlic sauce and green
sauce. But if someone wants to stuff them, first before cooking them make a
hole in the middle that does not extend to the bottom, and stuff them with
the composition for the eggplants, and sustain them [sotestense?] without
flouring them, as we have said, with oil, and a little verjuice, and water
tinted with saffron, and salt, and pepper, cinnamon, and a little handful of
chopped herbs, and serve them with that broth. You can put cheese in the
stuffing, and eggs, and in place of oil, butter, and it will always be
better, before stuffing them, to give them a boil in the water.
Onions
Salt
Flour
Olive oil
Take your onions and peel them and then boil them until they are soft enough
to pierce with a bamboo skewer to the center with little resistance. Remove
from water and pierce all about with a knife and then place on a rack to
allow to drain. Fill a deep baking pan with olive oil until it is deep
enough to come half way up the side of your onions. Put the baking pan in
the oven and heat until just below the smoking point. Test with a candy
thermometer and do not use until the right temperature. Take your onions and
dampen them and then roll them in a mixture of flour and salt. If you are
doing several you can set the onions back on the racks and then re-roll them
in flour until well coated. Place the onions in the very hot oil gently and
then close in the oven. Cook until they are golden brown and then flip over
to brown the other side. When they are completely golden browh, serve
immediately.

and from the same source something that comes out similar to Mac and Cheese
and is cheap and easy to make on small scale:
59. POTTAGE OF NOODLES POTAJE DE FIDEOS Clean the fideos of their filth, and
when they are well-cleaned put a very clean pot on the fire with good fatty
hen's broth or mutton broth that is well-salted; and when the broth begins
to boil, cast the fideos into the pot with a piece of sugar; and when they
are more than half cooked, cast goat or sheep milk into the pot with the
hen's broth or mutton broth; or instead of that, almond milk, for that can
never be lacking; and cook everything well together, and when the fideos are
cooked, remove the pot from the fire and let it rest a little while; and
prepare dishes, casting sugar and cinnamon upon them; but as I have said in
the chapter on rice, many say that with pottages of this kind which are
cooked with meat broth that one should not cast in either sugar or milk, but
this is according to each one's appetite; and in truth, with fideos or rice
cooked in meat broth, it is better to cast good grated cheese upon the
dishes.
3 C Water
2 Chicken Bullion Cubes
10 oz Egg Noodles
2 Tb Butter
1 1/2 C Almond Milk
3/4 C Parmesean Cheese
Bring water and bullion to boil and add butter and noodles. Cook for 5
minutes stirring frequently. Add the almond milk and cook for 6 more minutes
stirring frequently. Remove pot from flame and allow to rest covered for
about 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl and shake cheese evenly over
top.

All this being said, how long do you have until your feast? And how much
change do you want to/feel willing to make? I do not think that it is
reasonable to expect a seperate feast for the high table, but if you have
plenty of time and can be accomodating in modifiying the menu then it will
make for a happy crown. Then again, if it is only a few weeks until the
event and you are just now receiving the list I feel it would be
unreasonable to expect you to re-do your feast. At that point I would make
sure there was something in each course that the crown would eat and maybe
make a solitie that would appeal to his tastes.

Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva