[Sca-cooks] An interesting proposal...

[Susan Fox]

marilyn traber 011221 wrote:

>A friend recently, after 9 years of litigation, has done the last court date,
>and will finally be paid. He wants to celebrate with his friends and family,
>and he has asked me to cook/supervise a Medieval feast. This will be in
>northern IL, in June.
>
>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.
>
>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 ;-)
>

You friend means well but I'm not entirely sure how well this will go 
over with his intended audience.  You might want to consider their 
modern tastes, which admittedly are more "anachronistic" than most 
USAns, but go easy on the really unusual tastes.

Consider:  Speissbraten, a kind of German BBQ with an interesting 
history spanning the oceans and back.  I think this would serve your 
multiple purposes of historical value and accessibility for this select 
group of diners.

The recipe I keep seeing over and over online is this one, although I 
believe that you can vary it quite a bit, like different meats.

AUGUST GEORG'S SPIESSBRATEN

1 Shallot or small onion cut  into small pieces
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch Mace
1 large Steak (just over 1 lb), at least 1 1/4 inches

((Note: Per Horst Scharfenberg, this recipe originated in the town of 
Idar-Oberstein in the 19 th century, when gemstone prospectors returning 
from South America created their own version of gaucho-grilled steaks. 
The dish was then further refined by Scharfenberg's mentor August Goerg. 
K.B.)) Per person: thick, trimmed Mix together the shallot or onion with 
the pepper and mace. Insert a few shallot pieces into the steak using 
the point of a small knife <http://www.recipeland.com/recipe/951/#> . 
Coat the steak with the shallot mixture, pressing it in so it will 
adhere. Remove the loose shallot pieces and grill the steak (over a fire 
of oak logs, says August Goerg, from which the bark has been removed).* 
Take the steaks off the grill while they are still pink inside. Sprinkle 
them with salt. *Note: A special grill is used, suspended with 3 chains 
from an iron tripod and constantly swinging through the flames. From: 
THE CUISINES OF GERMANY by Horst Scharfenberg, Simon & Schuster/Poseidon 
Press, New York. 1989 Posted by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 8/92

See also: Schwenkbraten, fresh pork slices marinated in beer and onions 
and grilled the same: 
http://www.jambra.net/6911/recipes.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwenker

Yours in service,
Selene Colfox