[Sca-cooks] Siege Cooking Competition

[kattratt]

Ok now I know I have been on this list to long.... I am getting picky...
Isn't a carrot a root vegetable? 
This still sounds to me like a very tasty meal.  
Are any of the winners on this list? maybe they can pip in with their 
creations...
Hint
Nichola

lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:

>
> 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.
>
> 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