[Sca-cooks] back from war - siege cooking

[Susan Fox]

Following more than one thread here.  Congratulations to the victors of 
Siege Cookery!  I have judged it before and hoo doggies, that is a LOT 
of work and discussion to decide amongst even two complete 
presentations.  Three were nearly impossible, and I had to say I was 
relived that no other kingdoms entered.  [We did come up with an 
Inter-Kingdom Stupid Peer Trick... but that's another story.]

I bet I know where the farm venison came from.  A couple of years ago 
when the Estrella was there for about the second time I think, a venison 
farm nearby took a merchant space and came with no costuming, decor or 
anything, just a dayshade with freezers full of delectable bambi burger, 
chops, steaks, stew meat, summer sausage and more.  They were welcomed 
like long lost kinfolk and were kitted out by the end of the war.  Nice 
people!

But farm venison has less "gamey" flavor than hunted, of course, since 
it has a controlled diet and lifestyle.  The squeamish mimis can console 
themselves that "they know where the deer has been" but some of the 
delightful difference between Venison and other red meats can get 
diminished, as Cailte observes.

A lot of Caidans didn't go this year for various reasons.  Yes, Caidans 
are made of sugar and we do melt in the rain, don't you know?  Also, 
something that out-of-towners might not consider;  a significant portion 
work in a major industry of the Los Angeles area;  show biz!  And 
Estrella hits on the weekend between the Grammy and Oscar award 
ceremonies.  So whether in production, hospitality or journalism, who 
has time for a trip in the middle of all that?  I tried to go one year 
and my office was a disaster area when I got back.  Soooo, no Estrella 
for me until I retire, which lord willing is a long way off. 

I stayed in town and went to a brewers' guild meetup where I brewed my 
first batch of beer.  Yay!  I worked up a good batch of bread using the 
wort before hopping, just basically a sweet malty barley tea, and the 
barley lees.  It was nice and fiber-rich.  So far, it's best destiny 
seems to be toasting it and then putting cheese on.  Saving some of 
those toasts for onion soup too.  Noms.

So how is this weekend going?

Cheers,
Selene Colfox
>
>
>>
>> What do you mean you had a problem with the farm raised 
>
> it was so mild.   we poked it, sniffed it, cut off an cooked a little 
> piece, even tasted the blood.  we thought it was beef tenderloin it 
> was so mild.
>
> cailte