[Sca-cooks] Red Dragon Test cook

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

Sorry, this is long and a bit rambling, but its very late.

In Sept, I will be head cook for the first time at Red Dragon hosted by Tirnewydd (Columbus OH).  I picked a late period German feast from Rumpolt and Welserin.  Welserin is available in translation online.   Rumpolt is a large, wonderful cookbook, and mostly not translated, so I've been working on translating it.

I did a test cook today, and served it at our weekly meeting.  I made the plate of marinated veggies (cauliflower, beets, white and red cabbage, turnips, radish, and cucumber), the Rinderbraten, Roast chicken. rice in almond milk, carrots and parsnips, the pork and candied lemon rind.  I also made homemade soft cheese, and a dish of mushrooms.

We had a meeting two weeks ago and went over the menu and my cooking plan. Because of the available facilities (or lack there of) we are going to cook the pork and the rice in roaster ovens.  I'll cook the bread, torte, and pie offsite, since the site oven is not reliable for baking.

Wednesday is my day off and I planned to spend the day cooking.  I got up early and went to the market for the items that were not already in my larder. By 10am, I had the pork in the slow cooker, I  with German white wine, half a head of garlic, and a teaspoon each of cubeb and caraway.  The Rinderbraten was marinating, and the almonds were soaking for the almond milk.  Cooked the beets and left them to cool, and did the last cook of the candied lemon peel.   And started heating milk for the homemade cheese.

I finished peeling the almonds around 3 pm, just before two friends arrived, who were soon peeling and chopping vegetables, while I got the chicken and rinderbraten in the oven.  The carrots, parsnips and some mushrooms were wrapped separately in foil and roasted in the oven too.  Most of the marinated vegetables were blanched and dressed.  I tried to season each one differently.  We added saffron to the turnips, and cumin to the cauliflower, some were sweet and some not.

By 6 pm, everything was done, except that the meat needed a little more time in the oven, so the hot tired cooks cooked off in the pool.  We packed the hot food into a cooler, and the salads separately and took them to the meeting, plated, and set them out all pretty on a tablecloth.

I thought it was very well received.  Some of the seasoning needs adjusting, but that is what a test cook is for.  I thought the rice in almond milk needs another test cook.   This was the first time I'd made the recipe, and it was bit too bland, but most people liked it.  I'd meant to test cook the sauces, but they will have to wait for another day.

I only took home a few vegies and a sandwich worth of the pork.  My kitchen has amazing amount of dirty dishes. All in all, it was a great day.

Ranvaig


Red Dragon menu
First course:
Bread, flavored butter, and preserves,
Plate of marinated veggies and salad:  boiled eggs (R23), endive (R1), lemons (R27), radish (r44), cukes (r20), red cabbage (r33), cauliflower (r47), beets (R29), asparagus (R15), and such
Laid around the salad: Rinderbraten (R41), Schinken (smoked ham), Liver sausage (W26), cured Salmon, and such

Second course - small roasts:
Homemade Bratwurst (W25)
Roast chicken
Rice in almond milk (r173)
Roast carrots and parsnips (r182, 183)
Mustard, horseradish, and other sauces
Hungarian torte _with many leaves (layers) (R25)

Third course - large roasts:
Fish in rye pastry, shaped like a fish (w64, 65)
Roast Pork
Boiled chard and cheese dumplings (w119)
Vegetable dish

Last course:
Fresh and preserved fruit, Nuts, Confits, Pastries