[Sca-cooks] Steppes 12th Night is completed

[Michael Gunter]

>Asparagus? oh, well. No loss there. :-)

The asparagus was REALLY good. Lightly breaded with the flavor
of the flour seasonings then sprinkled lightly with red wine vinegar
to brighten it. Just slightly past crisp.

>The wastels yfarced was probably my favorite dish at this feast. In fact, I 
>had gotten another one when they brought out seconds and brought it home.

Well, I was really grumpy when I saw them taking out seconds. I had
left strict instructions that no seconds were to be served until after
the second course. I have discovered that if seconds are served many
people stuff themselves and don't eat the following course. This happened
here as well. And, unfortunately, the popular item was probably also the
most filling.

>Well, I've liked it in resturants and a few feasts when they served olive 
>oil with the bread instead of butter.

This
practice doesn't appear to be either historical or even currently
accurate for Mediterranian cuisine. The Italians don't eat bread
dipped in olive oil. That's an American invention.

I do admit that I love doing it though. The same as I love chips
and salsa even though you only see that done in Mexico in
tourist places.

>Was it? It didn't seem that carb heavy. There were quite a number of meat 
>dishes.

I adjusted some of the menu to reduce the carb. But it wasn't all that
meat heavy either. Four meat dishes, two chicken, one beef and one
pork. And the portions of meat were probably smaller than most folk
are used to.

On the other hand there was stuffed rolls, makerouns, and a heavy
bread pudding.

>>  Only at the demand of my assistant did I keep it in the
>>menu.
>Thank your assistant.

Well, she has reminded me a few times of the error of my ways.

>I wasn't impressed by the greens.

They would have been better if they were the proper greens and I'd
had the chance to spice them correctly. Just a bit of salt would
have made a world of difference. But, some folk loved them.
I wish I could have gotten access to some beet greens though.

>I wonder if that was what was in the oven when I was cleaning up the 
>kitchen. I noticed that the ovens were still on, and asked if they were 
>supposed to be. Someone opened the door to several trays of rather over 
>cooked and blackening chicken pieces. Oops. :-)

That would be the steamed chicken that we couldn't get to cook through.
Once we had out some orders but couldn't get anoyone to eat it, we put
the rest in the oven for "a few minutes" to finish cooking. Oops, indeed.

>Huh? Okay, what is the difference between "mixed salad greens" and 
>"spinach, kale, beet greens, etc"? I thought the latter were "mixed 
>greens". They certainly sound like *my* idea of a salad. Or by "mixed salad 
>greens" do you mean the usually insipid mix of mostly lettuce and such 
>which you get from the modern grocery store for salads?

I'd wanted greens such as spinach, kale, beet tops, etc..and only got
a few boxes of spinach. The other boxes were basic wild field greens
and lettuce. There are recipes for cooked lettuce so I just went with
it. But they don't have nearly the flavor or texture of the cooking
greens.

>It must have varied quite a deal depending upon which pieces you got. My 
>wife's was pretty gristly and stringy. Mine was okay, but not spectacular. 
>Rather bland.

That is a dish I should have pre-cooked a day or so ahead. Eating
it now is like an explosion of flavor. I do wish we had more currants
when I cooked it as I expected it to be sweeter than it turned
out to be.

>>The texture would have been better if I had been able to grill or broil
>>them instead of using a convection oven as I did.
>So how would grilling or broiling them change them? Isn't that what a 
>convection oven is supposed to help with? Or is it just a faster oven?

They would have picked up the smokiness and crisped a bit more
over a grill or under a broiler than just being cooked. They were
kind of spongy instead of that firm grilled mushroom texture. And
the bacon would have crisped more. Although the period recipe
states the bacon should have been boiled beforehand so I guess
that wasn't too far off.

Convections are great for browning foods, but differently from
direct flame.

>This was probably my second favorite dish. But mine had the onion rather 
>than the bacon. I think I would have preferred the bacon better.

Did you request the veggie version or were you served it?

When eating them I didn't remember that they were supposed
>to be endored. It wasn't that apparent. But they perhaps I'm thinking more 
>of a batter than an egg glaze.

If we had more time they would have had a thicker glaze probably.
Maybe with several applications. As it was they just recieved a
couple of applications.

>> > If you like mac and cheese, the makerouns were a hit. Wide

>I'll have to try making these sometime, but it will probably be with 
>store-bought dried pasta rather than making my own.

While it would be good, I think what really made this very simple dish
was the quality of the pasta. I recommend you look for decent fresh
pasta if you can get it.

>>This dish was totally amazing and decadant. I feel guilty for even
>>serving it, much less eating it.
>Guilty for what reason?

Kind of like a cigarette company executive should feel guilty for
distributing cancer sticks. People love it but it is sooooo bad
for them.

>I guess it could have been cooked rarer. Mine though, was quite moist. I 
>found it monotonous? Not exactly bland. But something to spark it up. But 
>then I like spices. I think it would have been much better with a sauce of 
>some kind.

I'm always a big advocate of sauces. I boiled down the marinade
but didn't care for the outcome. I think a nice raspberry/wine
puree would be nice. But, again, it is one of the dishes that
other folk rave about. Different strokes and all...

>I'm not sure that word got out to all the tables to send up someone with a 
>tray and another set of dishes for them.

I've heard of the communication problems. But I ain't taking the
blame for everything!

>Is it more or less period than bring the food out on platters and serving 
>it "family style"? I don't know.

Depends on when and where. I've seen references to individual
plating. But it was more common to have dishes for 2 to 4 people
brought to the table. I've read rather fascinating treatises on
dining manners for this style. Even Henry VII would have the
dishes brought to his table and he would choose which he
ate. But there are also accounts of fully laden plates being presented
to the diner.

Of course, having someone get up from the table to get the food
isn't ever mentioned. Ah, the joy of servants!

>My wife thought we were supposed to cross off the dishes we didn't want and 
>had marked a number of dishes off her token. That idea is good, since it 
>would minimize the waste of plating food that someone wasn't going to eat. 
>But it sounds like a logistics problem.

Exactly. I had originally intended for special diets to be taken care
of this way. But it was pointed out to me what a logistical nightmare
it would turn into. With the delays already happening, I think it
was a good decision. If someone had real problems with something
they could either not eat the offending matter or bring their own
plate up for dishing.

>Yes, this was a problem. It was also noted during cleanup that only two of 
>the eight or so people were from the hosting barony.

Don't get me started on that.....grrrrr.....

But then
>it was their court which was going on during this time and I was perfectly 
>happy to help out during this time and let more of the locals see their 
>court.

Um...nope. I totally disagree with this. And I had run-ins with Baronial
members before on previous 12th Nights when we were trying to get
help only to be told "This is when I dress up nice. I'm not going to
work." Wrong. This is when you let others dress up nice and enjoy
your barony. Now get yer damned grungies on and get to work!

Dress up nice at the other events. Work at your own.

Still, some of the cleanup crew were getting
>pretty ragged by the end and having some other folks come in to relieve 
>them would have helped.

I would have helped cleanup more, in fact, I came in later and scrubbed
the stoves and took out trash and such. I needed to sit down for an
hour or so first. We finally left around midnight.

>>(The drinks, btw, were period fruit syrups watered down. I promised no
>>more Country Time Lemonade or Iced Tea at my feasts.)
>Yes, I thought this was nice. Unfortunately since all likely were loaded 
>with sugar, I didn't get to try any of them.

Well, yes and no. The syrups have a lot of sugar. But they were also
very watered down. Interestingly enough, the blackcurrant drink was
very popular.

>One problem I noticed was that Steppes should have had some folks in charge 
>of overseeing the public trash cans so that they were emptied before they 
>overflowed. In several cases I found myself having to move the foot or two 
>of yucky bottles, paper, food piled above the top of the can to another can 
>before I could tie off the plastic bag and get it to the dumpster.

I agree. I think that was a problem of the two even stewards never
hosting an event before. Little things like that kind of get overlooked
your first time.

>It also didn't help that the plastic trash bags being used were often the 
>thin, white plastic kind and barely withstood being tied off or lifted from 
>the cans.

Yeah. Trying to haul 30 lbs of garbage in tissue paper truly sucks.

>Stefan

Gunthar