[Sca-cooks] suggestions

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Lisabetta,

>  >  Is there a theme to the event?
>
>At this time there is no theme.

OK, to get more focus, what time of year is the feast being held? 
What is the focus of the event it will be at?

The most abundant "SCA-period" recipes we have are English and 
French, but there are plenty in German, as well as a more limited 
number on Spanish and Italian. And i'm skipping over my favorites, 
dishes from the 9th-13th c. Iraq, 13th c. Muslim Spain (al-Andalus), 
14th c. Egypt, and 15th c. Ottoman Empire.

>  >  How period do you want the feast to be?
>
>Due to wanting to educate myself more on period feasts, I would like 
>it to be somewhat period, as I have only done one truely period 
>feast.

My personal belief is more period is better. Before i became a head 
cook I had previously only attended one feast and helped at one 
other. My feast was in December and had a hunting theme. I used all 
"period" recipes, but they were from several centuries and several 
cultures. Since that time i have tried to focus on one culture and 
one time period only per feast. Do what makes you most comfortable.

>  > How many are you cooking for?
>
>roughly 80 people. I will have an indoor kitchen, but we will be 
>eating outdoors.

I served that many at my first feast as head cook, although we ate indoors.

>  > How many courses do you want to have?
>
>still deciding

I would suggest that three is good, but you could have two or even 
four. But if you are uncertain about cooking for so many diners, try 
two or three courses.

>  > How many dishes per course?
>
>two to three

I'd recommend three dishes per course, basically meat, vegetable, 
starch. As far as i can tell, early feasts did not have a separate 
dessert, so you can include a sweet tart or cooked fruit in a course 
or two. To make it feel more "medieval" i would *avoid* the standard 
modern pattern of: first bread, soup and salad; second meat, 
vegetable and starch; third fruits and sweets. Try to mix sweets and 
meat in a course. Soup can be problematic to serve, so while i've 
served soups, i'd suggest skipping it.

I highly recommend steering clear of potatoes. We know that sweet 
potatoes (those long tubers with reddish skins and yellow or orange 
flesh - sometimes called yams, although they are not really yams) 
came from North America and were eaten in England and Spain in the 
16th century. White potatoes, on the other hand, since they 
originated in South America, took longer to reach Europe and there's 
scant evidence that they were eaten in Europe within SCA period. For 
this reason i would avoid them.

There are plenty of other things to serve for starch: pasta, 
parsnips, turnips, lentils, split peas, chick peas, barley, cooked 
wheat grains, to name a few.

Listees here will be happy to help you select and develop recipes.
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita