[Sca-cooks] Period Cooking Outdoors

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

I cook a  9th c Hiberno-Viking feast for 30+ people with no modern 
facilities.  We have water at a tap a block away, two braziers/above 
ground firepits (no fire on the grass), two tables, a small clay 
oven,   ice chests, an assortment of hand forged steel and cast iron 
pots, wooden and metal bowls, and other kitchen stuff.  Ice and 
bottled water is available on site too.

This is living history in the middle of an Irish festival, surrounded 
by people, and the real point is demonstrating period cooking.  I try 
hard to keep modern things out of the kitchen, but we don't have the 
budget to have everything perfect, so we use some modern but not too 
obtrusive things. There are no recipes from this time, so all are my 
best guess, based on foods known to be used here/now. and later 
recipes

I've found the small braziers to be inadequate, they just don't build 
up coals you can cook with.  So we are hoping to upgrade the 
facilities next year.  I'm hoping to get make some pottery too... our 
setup is just too metal heavy, but I haven't found much on cooking 
pots for our time.

I cook everything on site.  The pork was cooked the day before and 
kept in the cooler. The butter and cheese were demos the day before. 
Someone brought me fresh nettles, so we made nettle cheese, it was 
finished after dark, and got a bit carmelized and was lovely.  The 
duck, chicken and barley were finished an hour before serving, and 
left covered in the pot.  Just before serving we cooked the oatcakes 
and veggies, sliced and reheated the pork.  Things went pretty well 
this year, but I had a few planned dishes that didn't happen.

Ranvaig

Last years menu was:
Braised Pork with Cormaye Sauce - pork, mead, garlic, cumin, coriander, pepper
Braised Chicken with leeks and parsley - chicken, leeks, parsley
Braised Duck with onions, thyme, and honey
Braised roots - carrots, parsnips, turnips, parsley root
Barley with hazelnuts
Oatmeal Littiu - oatmeal, milk
Cured salmon - salmon, sugar, salt, mead, dill - this was made ahead
Mustard sauce,  - mustard, mead, honey
Garlic herb sauce - garlic, sage, parsley, bread
horseradish sauce - horseradish, vinegar
Plum sauce  - plums, celery leaves, cumin, honey, wine, vinegar
Bread, Oatcakes - made on site
Nettle Cheese,Dill Cheese, and butter, made on site
Pears, plums, peaches, berries
radishes,  celtic salt,
honey - from the hive of one of our members
Mead - made on site the year before

>Merhaba,
>
>I would ask the aid of the assembled for resources on cooking in a
>period manner for camping.  I'm contemplating cooking for about 50-75
>people at a site that lacks modern facilities, so the idea of doing
>this in as period a style as I can manage intrigues me.
>My focus would be "Middle Eastern" period foods, and mostly snack-type
>stuff on top of this (I have the Miscellany, as well as some Ottoman
>cooking resources) but I'm not tied solely to that theme.  Any
>resources (books! books! books!), or advice, the assembled can give
>would be of help, and greatly appreciated.
>
>Sukran,
>
>
>----asim