[Sca-cooks] Dinner for eight

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Mon Nov 12 19:28:41 PST 2007


Rocas asked:

<<< I wanted to ask for some input on a project of mine.  I have been  
practicing medieval cooking for several years now. >>>

Well, keep practicing. You can eventually get it down. :-) Some of  
the folks here have, although I still have a way to go.

<<<  I am used to cooking it for my wife and myself.  I have never  
cooked for a feast, though I did serve at a Val-day feast when I was  
in the Blue Dragons. >>>

Cooking feasts is not a requirement. Many of us just enjoy cooking  
for pot lucks and trying dishes at home and will probably never cook  
a large feast.

<<< I am planning a period dinner party for four couples.  The dinner  
will be done in French service style along with all of the usual  
period eating customs.  But I am having trouble deciding what to  
include in the menu.  I have a limited budget and many of the dinner  
guests are mundanes (that is to say, not rennies).  I was wondering  
if anyone has done something similar and would be willing to share  
their experience. >>>

What do you mean by "French service style"? Does this mean you are  
looking for just French dishes? Either way, do you have a particular  
time period or culture in mind, or does it matter?

Perhaps this file in the FEASTS section of the Florilegium might help.
French-Tbl-Srv-art (7K)  5/22/04    An example of French table service
                                        translated by Angharad ferch  
Iorwerth.

Take a look at the other files in this section. There are a number of  
reviews of various SCA feasts. Some with menus. Some also with  
recipes. While many of these won't follow the order of the dishes and  
the format you seem to have in mind, they should give you an idea of  
what others have cooked for groups.

Here is some more general info on period feasts:
p-feasts-msg      (70K)  9/24/06    General comments about period  
feasts.
Medievl-Feasts-art (16K)  2/24/05    "The Medieval Feast - An Event,  
Not Food"
                                        by Mistress Willow de Wisp.
Fst-Menus-art     (11K)  8/22/04    "On Rules for Feast Menus"
                                       by Lord Daniel Raoul le Vascon  
du Navarre.

In period it wasn't unusual that not everyone got everything on the  
menu. It was often very hierarchical. Those higher up the social  
ladder got the choicer items and more of them, and it progressed  
downwards from there. You mentioned reading some period menus. This  
file has some more:
p-menus-msg       (58K)  4/24/06    Examples of medieval feast menus.


If you can tell us a bit more about the cultures and time period of  
your feast and perhaps other details you want to include, perhaps I  
can point you to a few more files that might be of use.

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 ****





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