[Sca-cooks] Re: Home From Great Western War

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Harris Mark.S-rsve60 wrote:

>Huette von Ahrens wrote:
>
>>And what Anahita neglected to mention is that
>>her team won!  They presented 13 of the most
>>delicious, exquisitely presented, well-prepared
>>apple based dishs that I have ever tasted.  It
>>was a great joy to be a judge for this
>>competition.
>>
>
>"Apple" was the special ingredient, then? Was this known ahead of time? I might do okay if I knew the ingredient ahead of time and could look through my library for recipes but on the spur of the moment with the pressure to get everything planned and cooked, I think I'd have trouble even coming up with possible recipes. 
>
It was known ahead of time so the contestants could prepare and shop. 
 It would be nice if we had a big-city TV station budget and could 
supply a full pantry but we couldn't;  instead, each contestant got $100 
[out of my personal pocket, I've got their receipts] and a couple months 
notice.  The theme ingredients are carefully chosen, considering 
seasonality, regionality and frequency of appearance in SCA-period 
documentation.  'Twouldn't be fair to give them "maize" or "grapefruit" 
  as a SCA period cooking contest, would it?  So far, we have done 
Plums, Almonds, Garlic and Apples.  

>I like apples but a meal of this sounds like an overload of apples. 
>Now no one on the team even wants to look at an apple for awhile?
>
that kind of burnout happens, no matter what the theme ingredient is. 
 I'm still iffy about Plums.  I've recovered my fondness for Garlic 
however.  ;-)

Next time:  more showmanship and maybe an enforced time limit.

Selene Colfox