[Sca-cooks] Virtual Cooking Contest

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

At 4:22 PM -0400 5/28/04, kingstaste at mindspring.com wrote:
>You are sitting at home while all your friends are off on holiday, when you
>get a message from your liege that he and 3 guests will be needing your
>services Sunday night for dinner.

>Box contents:
>1 pound salted white fish, 1 pound smoked venison sausage links, 1 
>whole hen (plucked, head and feet still on), 3 onions, 1 head 
>cabbage, 8 oz dried peas, 1 bunch fresh mint, 1 bunch fresh spinach, 
>1 pound spelt flour, 8 eggs, 1 bottle red wine, 1 pt. flat beer, 2 
>lb. Basket of assorted fresh fruits, including apricots,cherries, & 
>bilberries

My shoebox contains 2 lb beef, 8 oz dried mushrooms, 1 c. hulled 
barley, 8 oz skyr or fresh cheese , 2 small leeks, 2 small radishes, 
1 turnip,  8 oz butter, 1/2 c. honey, 1/2 c. vinegar, 2 oz hazelnuts, 
1 head garlic, 2 oz salt, 1 oz mustard seed, 1 tsp peppercorns, and 2 
T fresh dill

There are no existing recipes from this time so these are only 
plausibly correct. Everything is cooked over an open fire.

My basket of fruit has a pear, 1/2 lb plums, 1/2 lb sour cherries, 4 
oz raspberries, and 4 oz bilberries (no apricots in Viking Denmark). 
But I don't think there would be ANY fresh fruit in Denmark in May.

Ranvaig

Virtual Viking Feast Menu

Beef with plums - marinate 2 lb beef in 2 1/2 c. wine and 1 tsp 
pepper. Remove seeds from 1/2 lb plums and cut in quarters. Place 
meat and marinade in a pot with the plums, cover, seal, and cook over 
a slow fire until tender.  Slice the meat. Cook the pan juices until 
a little thickened add salt to taste and pour over the meat.

Chicken with Leeks - put a whole chicken, 2 sliced leeks, and 2 c 
water in a pot, Cover, seal, and cook over a slow fire, add salt to 
taste.  Place the chicken on a platter, surround with leeks.

Chicken Broth, served separately as a soup.

Sausage - simmer 1 lb smoked venison sausages in 1 pt beer, and grill 
on a sticks over a fire.

Sauteed cabbage - shred 1/2 head red cabbage and saute in 2 T butter, 
add a 1/4 c. wine and simmer until done.  Serve with the sausages on 
top.

Fish cakes - Pound 1 lb salted fish well and soak for a day, changing 
water often.  Drain, add fresh water, and simmer until done.  Flake 
the fish, removing bones, and mix with a minced onion, 2 eggs, and 
1/4 c spelt flour.  Make into small cakes.  Fry on a griddle with 
some butter.  Serve with the garlic sauce.

Eggs - hard boil six eggs, shell, and cut in quarters.  Sprinkle with 
salt and minced dill.  Serve on the plate with the fish cakes

Garlic sauce - roast a head of garlic in coals, peel and pound with a 
little water.  Mix in 2 T vinegar, 1 c. water and crumbs from a piece 
of the flat bread, cook until thickened.

Mustard sauce - grind 2 oz mustard in mortar & pestle, add 1 tsp 
honey and enough wine to make a sauce, let rest.

Roasted Onion - roast an onion in the coals.  Peel and chopped into 
slivers, serve as a relish.

Pease with spinach - 8 oz  dried peas, 1 sliced onion, water to 
cover, cook over a fire until done, drain if necessary.  Add 1 bunch 
spinach, shredded and salt to taste.  Cover and let rest 30 min.  The 
heat will cook the spinach.

Mushrooms with Barley- Soak 8 oz dried mushrooms in water to cover 
for an hour.  Cut up the mushrooms, and add to the mushroom broth 
with 1 c. barley and salt to taste. Cover and simmer slowly, adding 
water as necessary. When nearly done, take off the heat and let rest 
30 min.

Compote - shred 1/2 small head red cabbage, 1 turnip, 2 radishes, and 
1 pear, Heat 1 tsp mustard seed, 1/4 c vinegar, 1/4 c wine, and 2 T 
honey.  Add pear and turnip, simmer a few minutes. Cool, mix in 
cabbage and radish, and let marinate all day.

Skyr with berries - Put 8 oz skyr on a plate.  Top with 4 oz 
raspberries, 4 oz. bilberries, a drizzle of honey and 2 oz chopped 
hazelnuts.

Stewed Cherries - cook 1/2 lb sour cherries with 1 c. red wine and 2 T honey.

Flat bread - mix spelt flour and 1 tsp salt with enough water to make 
a dough, let rest for an hour, make into thin cakes and cook on a hot 
griddle. Press on them a bit to make them puff up.  Serve with 
butter.  (one is used for crumbs)

Butter

Mint Drink - steep the mint in boiling water and add 3 T. honey

Of course you would need lots of wine and beer to drink... but that 
is my lord's problem, he just told me to cook.

References:
http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/vikfood.html
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/food.htm
http://home.comcast.net/~iasmin/mkcc/MKCCfiles/AFeastAtCarrickFergus.html
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FEASTS/Irish-Vik-fst-art.html
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BY-REGION/fd-Norse-msg.html