[Sca-cooks] September 2008 MK Cook's Challenge

[Gaylin Walli]

With the exception of August (because of Pennsic), the Middle Kingdom Cooks
list has been regularly having "challenges" among its members. These may
include things like virtual siege challenges, disaster recovery challenges
(e.g.,, the kitchen burned down the night before the event, what do you
do?), or thought provokers intended to spur discussions (e.g., other than
your chef's knife, what single tool is essential to your recreation?).
Challenges are issued (by me, based on private requests and my little ol'
evil imagination), the first of every month or the closest day thereto if
that day falls on a weekend or a holiday. I issued September's Challenge
this morning and thought that, now that I've resubscribed to SCA Cooks,
perhaps people here might be interested in seeing the challenges as well.

Enjoy,

Iasmin

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In honor of being back from Pennsic (and at the request of a few members),
this month's Cook's Challenge is a good, old fashioned, (virtual) siege
challenge, taken from Iasmin's Disaster Deck (minus the disaster).

The Challenge:

You are the besieged in a fortified location. Your food stores are running
low and you must figure out a way to end the siege to avoid the possibility
of starvation. Your enemy has agreed to parlay at your location and you must
appear to be able to hold out for many more months should negotiations go
poorly. Your goals are to create the greatest number of *tasty* and viable
dishes with only the ingredients listed below.

The Rules:

-- You have unlimited supplies of fat and water.
-- You must use recipes that would have been used in period and you must
list the title and general description of the recipe.
-- You must list roughly the amount of the ingredients you're using in the
recipe (and obviously your total amounts must equal those listed below).
-- You can split the amount of an ingredient as much as you need to between
recipes in order to make the dishes you need to.
-- You can assume you have a a fully functional medieval or renaissance
kitchen, not just a fire pit.
-- Your time is not limited for preparation, but you probably don't have
more than two days before the negotiations must take place.

The Ingredients:

You have exactly these ingredients to spare for you dinner and no more (with
the exception of the fat and water)....

-- one 3 lb whole roasting chicken, all parts attached (except the feathers)
-- 3 chicken eggs
-- 1 lbs of brown rice
-- 2 cups whole wheat flour
-- 5 spring onions (green onions with the stalks attached)
-- 1/2 cup dried prunes
-- 2 rather runty apples
-- 1/2 cup dried currants
-- a whole lemon, rather wrinkled
-- 1/2 lb white, hard cheese, unknown type
-- 1/2 cup olive oil
-- 1/2 cup honey
-- 1 cup goat's milk
-- 1/2 lbs fresh spinach
-- 3 large, red carrots, tops attached (in miraculously good condition)
-- 1 small bunch of thyme
-- 2 sticks of cinnamon
-- 1/4 cup whole, raw almonds

What do you cook?