[Sca-cooks] Kudos to the Cooks!

[ekoogler1 at comcast.net]

Wow!  Wish I could have been there.  It sounds like a wonderful feast.  I have had the pleasure of dining on food prepared by Master Llew and Dame Hauviette--the two of them prepared the food for our handfasting celebration at Pennsic.  It was a true wonder as they managed to find foods for Phillip (14th Century Irish Merchant) and Kiri (16th Century Japanese)!!  I feel truly privileged to have had these gentles prepare our refreshments for us.

Kiri
> Greetings!  A simple Twelfth Night event for a Barony burgeoned into a Kingdom 
> Twelfth Night, complete with Royalty and two peerage elevations.  An ambitious 
> menu was planned, centered around the elements of the song "Twelve Days of 
> Christmas".  Then, the Monday (or Tuesday?) before the event, the head cook 
> learned that they could not use the kitchen.  No tables, no prep space, no ovens 
> or stoves, and no running water!  The promised renovations had not been 
> completed.  The call went out for roasters, etc. and the feast came out a 
> tremendous success.  Master Llewellyn and his "can-we-help-you-in-this-crisis?" 
> staff crafted saffron broth (ooh!). The hypotrimma salat (two turtle doves) was 
> presented with cabbage leaves curled over the sides of the bowl to look like 
> dove wings.  The dressing was delightful.  The standing chicken pie (don't eat 
> the side crust!) was exquisitely spiced.  There was a four-and-twenty berry pie 
> that disappeared from our table so fast one might not hav!
> e known it had been served!  The fruited bread rings were a challenge presented 
> to Llewellyn who admits to trepidation when it comes to bread baking.  His baker 
> had an attack of real life on (Thursday?) and no fifth dish was to be done so 
> Llew "rose to the occasion".  The dishes of fruit compote were each decorated 
> with seven sugar paste swans swimming in the syrup.   The roast goose was...oh, 
> slobber...scrumpdelicious!  Head table got sauces for the goose which we lesser 
> folk did not receive, but we found that the syrup from the compote was a good 
> match.
> 
>  By the time the cheese ravioli appeared with the venison sausage, sauteed 
> cabbage and fennel, we were stuffed.  A number of us, after gorging on what we 
> could, had fun playing with the suggestively-shaped sausage and the 
> round-and-firmly-packed ravioli, tastefully decorated with some of the leek 
> topping for the cabbage.  The cheese ravioli was extremely flavorful and we 
> popped buttons stuffing a few more ravioli into our tummies than we really had 
> room for.
> 
> The final dishes were pizzelles in a dysshe of snow and sweet cheese torts.  The 
> tortes, while sharply spiced, were a hit with the Viking at our table who ate 
> more than his share of them! The "snow" was so tasty that a noted 
> Countess/Laurel/Pelican removed the decorations (a red apple and green rosemary 
> sprigs) so that she could "lick the dish clean".
> 
> Llew's helpers included Angharad ni Ghlais (cheese tortes), Francesca de Onorati 
> (cooking, cleaning, skill!), Gwyneth Banfhidhleir (autocrat and talented cook in 
> her own right), Hauviette d'Anjou (who whips up a mean "snow" plus dances with a 
> sword on her head!), Helewyse de Birkestead (hands, help, talented cooking), 
> Nicholaa Halden (bean cakes), Roewynne Langley (jellies), and Wulfwen atte Belle 
> (sugar paste).  These folk deserve plaudits for pulling off what could well have 
> been a disaster when the kitchen became unavailable.  Congratulations to all!
> 
> Alys Katharine, still working off the extra ravioli and "snow"
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