[Sca-cooks] Irish Festival Feast Report

[Sharon Palmer]

I just got home from three days of deming a 10th c Irish village at 
the Irish Festival... kind of a preview of Pennsic, except that I 
could go home, shower, do laundry, and sleep in my own bed.  This 
isn't SCA, but many of the people involved are also SCA.

This was the third year I was running the kitchen, and things went 
the best yet... in large part because I had the most help.  We cooked 
over a wood fire and baked bread in a clay oven, while talking to the 
public about what Ireland was like in the 10th century.

Friday we cooked a vegetable stew and baked bread, cheese, and butter .
For the butter I poured cream into a plastic bottle and let the 
children take turns to shake it.  It was the first time I'd made 
butter and I was amazed at how well it went.

The cheese making demo was less successful.  It was the first thing 
we cooked on the new raised firepits and the pot was too high and the 
fire too low, and it just didn't want to curdle.  I added twice the 
vinegar I usually do, and the whey still wasn't clear when I got fed 
up and poured it into the cheesecloth.  Someone put the cheese away 
in a plastic bag, in a cooler full of icy water, the bag wasnt sealed 
well enough, and I decided it was safer to throw it away untasted.

Saturday they made seethed beef, porridge, oatcakes, chicken with 
leeks, nettle soup, lots of bread, and butter.  I say "they" because 
I had stressed my arthritic joints too much on Friday.  I set up the 
warp weighted loom and spent the day weaving and bossing, that is, 
giving directions to other staff.  I didn't even set foot in the 
kitchen except to clean up at the end of the day.

Sunday was the big feast for all the reenactors.  Feast was scheduled 
for 4pm and we ate at 5pm, partly because of some issues with the 
firepits.  We served about 30.

For the most part the cooking went well.  The carrots and parsnips 
became roasted veggies not fritters, and the Forcemeat balls were not 
cooked at all.   The blackberries were another cooler accident, the 
bags obviously had cooler water in them and I chose not to serve 
them.  The cherries never became an actual sauce and were served as a 
cherry puree instead.  I don't think anyone but me noticed the 
difference. 

We had live harp music and singing during the feast and it was served 
in our large tent, with nothing modern in sight.  The atmosphere was 
wonderful!

Ranvaig.. tired but happy


Handwashing

On each table:
a basket of bread and oatcakes
a plate of fruit - plums, champagne grapes, and cherries, apples, raspberries
a plate of cheese and butter
salt, honey, mustard sauce, garlic sauce, cherry sauce

The dishes:
Parsnip and Carrot Fritters
Cured Salmon
Venison in Wine
Cabbage with Bacon
Chicken and Leeks
Littiu - Oat Pudding
Blackberries
Seethed Beef
Pears in Wine
Turnips
Salmon
Mushrooms
Forcemeat Balls
Mead