[Sca-cooks] al-Barran Midwinter is done!

[Stefan li Rous]

Cailte described the recent feast she ran:
> the feast consisted of
> 1st:  salmon pasties, pate (chopped liver), compost,
> herbed cheese, toasts, egg 'salad' (ugly peeling
> necessitated the morphing of stuffed eggs)
Interesting recovery, even if egg salad isn't period. Or is it? Anyone 
have any recipes or evidence for a period egg salad? Was your problem 
with the eggs peeling them? Fresh eggs are more difficult to peel than 
older ones. Even then, there are various techniques which have been 
mentioned to make the peeling go better. You might be interested in 
this file which contains some previous conversations on peeling 
hard-boiled eggs:
eggs-msg         (140K) 12/25/02    Egg storage. Recipes. Substitutions.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/eggs-msg.html
Hmmm. Or you might check this file:
eggs-stuffed-msg  (32K) 12/25/02    Period stuffed eggs dishes. Recipes.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/eggs-stuffed-msg.html
> 2nd:  beef/venison stew w/ wine and raisins served on
> trenchers, pork/apple/onion stew w/ thyme, oatmeal pudding
> with apples and raisins stewed in white wine w/ginger,
> butter and honey; roasted vegetables
> (carrots/onions/parsips/turnips/rutabegas/leeks)
How does this oatmeal pudding vary from oatmeal (eaten as breakfast) in 
texture?
> 3rd:  broth of thyme not served due to inadequate amount,
> but not missed
Do you have evidence of thyme being used to make a broth in period? As 
a broth to be eaten as just that? How "rich" was it in any tests you 
made (since you didn't end up making it for the feast)?
> 4th:  a version of hens in the lombarde manner being
> chicken thighs w/bacon under the skin basted w/ vinegar,
> cinnamon, cloves and ginger,
Interesting basting sauce. Sounds like it might be good on duck.
> basically, we fed almost 400 people with $1300.00, which
> is really not too shabby i think.
That sounds like a very good price. Less than $4/person assuming a 
number of those were comps.
> we also fed the event
> site janitorial staff, bartenders and security (makes 'em
> happy and more willing to help with those occasional
> grease spills).
Ouch. Having to pay for staff like that seems like it would really run 
up your hall costs. Did this mean folks couldn't bring in their own 
alcoholic beverages for instance?
> now on to the 'baronial green chili stew' at estrella!
Not period, but it still sounds interesting. Recipe? I've had green 
chili stews here in Austin, but it might be nice to make my own 
sometime.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****