[Sca-cooks] An interesting proposal...

[Michael Gunter]

>My food budget is $5000 for 200 people ($25 per person), and, in 
>discussion,
>he thought he'd like me to do period German. We'll have plenty of meats- 
>it's
>farm country, and we're discussing whole pigs, geese, and chickens, among
>other things.

Wow. Very nice. I've never had a budget that big, and I doubt many of
the folk on this list have either.

>The kickers are this. My "field of operations" will be, essentially, a hay
>field, but I'll have a budget of roughly $15,000 to set it up as a kitchen 
>and
>a feast hall. Also, we're not cooking for your usual mundanes ;-) Most of 
>the
>guests will be Amish, and the rest will be blacksmiths ;-)

Bah. No biggie. Half the feasts I've done have been in big fields.
Can you dig firepits? That will help a great deal. Look up the construction 
on
the beehive ovens that have started popping up around the SCA.
Also, get the big propane Cajun cookers and cast iron griddles. Maybe a 
couple
of propane field ovens. Rent lots of tables. Get a couple of pop-up awnings.
Get lots and lots of water. Lots of huge garbage bags.
If you want to grill get some 50 gallon drums cut in half with frames.

>I need ideas, for side dishes that can be conveniently done outside.

Lots of salats. One I like from Guter Spise is a very spicy slaw.
Do carrots yrosted.  Buttered worts. Grilled Mushrooms. Steamed or roasted
vegetables with Savory Cheese over them. Asparagus dredged in spiced flour
and fried in butter. Roasted Onions.  Benes yfried.

>I need ideas for a dessert-type board.

Fruit tarts if you have baking facilities. They can also be done ahead
topped with egg whites whipped with honey.
Cariadoc has this awesome stacked pancake cake thingy that you cook
on a grill. Basically make a pancake, flip and top with more pancake batter,
flip, repeat for several layers. Then poke holes in the cake and pour in
melted honey and butter.
If you have the cajun cookers you can make deep fried fruit pies. What
are they called, Bear?
Mix or make new cheese (queso blanco) with honey, almonds and a bit of
rosewater and use as a dip with crackers..
Dariyoles are good if you can bake. Make custards in a steam bath.
Boyled Cream can be made on site and that is wonderful.

I would like to do a subtlety, preferably as a
>surprise for the man- he's a good guy, and considering he's been almost
>starving these last few years, and one of his first thoughts was to share 
>the
>bounty with his friends, I want to make it as special as possible.

Can't help with that. I'm a lowly cook and not an artist.

>I also need a recipe or two
>for a period, completely non-alcoholic beverage, that would conceivably 
>served
>in Germany.

Not sure if it was served in Germany, but a popular beverage throughout the
period was to boil down fruit juices and sugar into a syrup and then mix 
with
either hot or cold water. I frequently cheat and go to Middle Eastern markes
for things like Black Current, Lemon, Pomegranite, etc..syrups for my meals
since we can't serve alcoholic beverages at feast and I'm trying to get 
people
away from Iced Tea and Instant Lemonade.

>Any thoughts any of you will have will be greatly appreciated. This should 
>be
>fun ;-)

I suggest you look up one of the translations of Ein Kokbuch von Guter Spise
on the web. It has wonderful recipes that do well with modern tastes.

I wish I could have been more help but this is just me at work firing off 
stuff
from the top of my head.

Gunthar