[Sca-cooks] An interesting proposal...

[agora at algonet.se]

Mead without alcohol? I have at home a wonderful tasty mead, make only with 
fermented honey.
It's tipic period drink for Germany and the Northern countries.-
Ana

On 16 Feb 2006 at 11:08, Michael Gunter wrote:

>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


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