[Sca-cooks] Medieval Cooking 201

[kingstaste at mindspring.com]

 From the Moas office,  I received this
answer:"{there is}interest  in types of cooking, say preparing a period
Italian/German/whathaveyou feast, where do you start, what are good sources,
helpful hints, that kind of thing."

You could take this and do a hypothetical feast class.
	Pick a period, say Italian Renn, and use it as a model.  Show the class the
beginning stages "the autocrat wants an Italian Renn theme for the event,
here is the site, money, and number of diners to cook for".
	Discuss how to begin the process of research, figuring out what sources are
available that cover cooking from that era.  Include information about
'thinking outside the box', going beyond cooking sources and into other
areas like literature, household accounts/diaries, etc. for food
information.  You might even want to discuss whether that area had active
guilds, for example, would the cook of the day baked bread or gone to the
local bakers for their daily loaves?
	Then show the sources you have decided on to get your menu ideas from.
Include discussion of those that will likely be at head table and their
known likes/dislikes/whims.  Have a menu planned out with explanation of why
you made the choices you did.  Discuss the service methods appropriate to
the feast, and work in scheduled events such as entertainment or games or
Court that might be happening during feast service.
	Finally, end with a discussion of redaction and scaling recipes up to
appropriate amounts for the number of diners.
	If a student is apt enough to follow you (i.e. is beyond having to have
their hands held while working at a cutting board), they should be able to
extrapolate the process and apply it to whatever particular theme/era/region
they like.
	Good luck!
	Christianna