[Sca-cooks] Siege Cooking Competition

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Well, this weekend i participated in a Siege Cooking Competition at 
the West Kingdom Arts and Sciences Tourney. I also taught a couple 
classes and took a number - the manure and urine technology class was 
WONDERFUL! I took it right after i taught an introduction to Middle 
Eastern food.

Each team was allowed to bring a few items (very few) - one root 
vegetable (we brought onions); one above ground vegetable (we brought 
carrots); one fresh fruit (we had plums); two herbs (we brought mint 
and cilantro, hoping to do Andalusian - but the rye and pork nixed 
that). I think every team brought milk.

We really had no idea what we would be given - the description was rather vague

No team got the same food items. There were 3 of each thing - the 
Fearless Leader had expected far fewer entrants and i suspect he'd 
shopped for six teams and ended up with eight, which was why some of 
the foods were a bit skimpy - we were supposed to be able to feed 4 
diners PLUS the three judges.

Meat: chicken, pork, and beef (we got 3 pork chops). Rye and whole 
wheat flour (we got rye). Grain: brown rice, barley, or rolled oats 
(we got barley). Three spices (we got powdered ginger, nutmeg, and 
cloves). Some kind of fat - olive oil, lard or butter (we got olive 
oil). Nuts: pine nuts, almonds, walnuts (we got walnuts). Seeds: 
candied anise, caraway, and i'm not sure what else (we got caraway). 
Dried Fruit: dates, apricots, apples (we got apricots). One fresh 
vegetable (we got mushrooms). Each team got a small bag of coarse 
brown sugar crystals.

While our team did not win, we did come in third in a field of eight, 
and there were only about 3 points out of 100 total separating the 
top three teams.

The winning team was composed entirely of Laurels, most with Laurels 
in cooking.

Points were given for using one time and one culture - we used some 
German and some French recipes (mostly 15th c.) and introduced 
ourselves as the Alsatian Sensations (well, some teams had a name).

I was away teaching a class for about 2/3 of the cooking time :-( but 
i brought some cookbooks which saved us when we didn't get chicken or 
beef and couldn't do Andalusian.

Many teams brought  unhomogenized milk and made butter and fresh 
cheese. Since the team member who bought our food had been making a 
lot of fresh cheese lately, she didn't want to (i think we would have 
scored higher if we had - i think there were more points for more 
dishes).

We made broth from the pork bones and scraps and used it and milk to 
cook the barley - the mushrooms were added to this frumenty. - if i'd 
been there i would have suggested cooking the mushrooms separately 
for more points. We made "A Clever Dish of Fruit" by cooking the 
plums and apricots and pureeing them - then they were spiced, and 
sweetened, and walnuts were stirred in. We cooked the carrots in 
olive oil with mint and caraway seeds. We pan fried the pork, cut in 
cubes, with salt and pepper, then used the drippings cooked with 
vinegar and ginger for a sauce. We made pancakes with the rye flour 
and made a sweet sauce with cooked plum juice. And we made rather 
weak sekanjabin and clarea d'agua - weak because we were given so 
little sugar. And we made hand washing water with the mint.

I went around and sampled food from every one of the other seven 
teams and even spent some time travelling around with cooks from two 
others. There were many delicious dishes and some less successful. 
But every team seemed happy with their effort. And i had a great time 
chatting with all the teams.

Anahita