[Sca-cooks] Speaking of Lent....

[Stefan li Rous]

Mairie commented:
  >>>
Last year, it being my first try at such a thing, I just did a Medieval
Lenten Diet during Holy Week, which got fairly interesting, because I  
was
horribly ill with the flu, and wanting things like chicken soup. ;o)
It was a great learning experience, though, and one that I'm going to  
repeat
this year, with some additions.
<<<

Well, hopefully without the flu this year. :-) Or were you planning  
on trying some of the period medical cures as well?

 >>>
So, this year Maire is:
Keeping a dairy/meat free Lent the whole 40 days, but only during  
Holy Week
will I be using Medieval recipes.  The rest of the season, I'm going  
to feel
free to experiment with modern recipes that contain fish, grains, fruit,
etc.  I'm hoping that next year, I'll be able to do the whole 40 days
medievally.  Right now, I can't afford all the fish, which is  
inordinately
expensive in my part of the world (not near any seaports, etc.).
<<<

Yes, but in period that held true as well. But then salt and dried  
fish was a bit easier to get as well.

 >>>
I'm using my experiences from last year, and this year, to build a  
base of
workable recipes. ;o)
<<<

I would be interested in hearing about the medieval Lenten recipes  
that anyone makes for this effort. I have only a little bit in  
specific files in the Florilegium on Lent and fasting, although there  
are recipes throughout the files which would probably work for this.  
Perhaps it would be nice to have some info on what Lenten recipes you  
all enjoyed (or didn't). If the recipes are elsewhere in the  
Florilegium, I don't know that I necessarily want to repeat them in  
this file(s), but specific period Lenten recipes you liked or Lenten  
menus you did, might help others. Especially for those who might want  
to bring the feasts they give in the future in line with the season.

If you do a Lenten version of a recipe which you had previously done  
the non-Lent version of, comments comparing the two might be  
especially interesting.

 >>>
My persona is 14th century Irish (from Dublin), ...
<<<

Well, no problem finding fish there for Lent.

 >>>
What will make this extra-interesting this year is that our barony's  
annual
Spring Feast (and A&S Competition) falls within the Lenten season, so  
I'll
have to bring my own food. <g>
<<<

Maybe. But then we've talked multiple times on this list about folks  
with special diets, including vegetarian, should be able to still eat  
our feasts by leaving out some items. Or requesting ahead of time  
that the cook plan to modify some dishes for them. Here is a chance  
for you, as the feaster rather than the cook, to try it from the  
other side. (Unless you *are* going to be the cook for your barony's  
Spring Feast).

 >>>
--Maire, in sub-zero Artemisia [it's frickin' *cold* out there!],
<<<

Yes. Who left the window open and let the heat escape! Cold and wet  
with sleet here today. My mother picked this weekend, a number of  
weeks ago, to move across town. Sigh.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****