[Sca-cooks] Unique tapas

Fri Jan 22 20:17:42 PST 2010

Hi Suey!

You say that the selection in this pueblo is very limited, but you do not say how you are getting to this village.  Are you flying in to Mexico City and then driving to Chiapas?  Are you driving there from Chile?  Are you sailing there, etc.  How early will you get there before the wedding?

If you fly into Mexico City and then drive to Chiapas, could you not take some time and shop in Mexico City where your selection will be greater and then bring it with you?  Just because the pueblo has limited resources, does not mean that you cannot bring in food from elsewhere.  I could understand that bringing food from Chile might be a problem, but that does not mean that you cannot go shopping elsewhere in Mexico.  If you want serrano ham, or any other kind of ham for that matter, I am sure that is can be found somewhere in Mexico, like Vera Cruz or Cozumel or another closer resort town.  Even if you have to be there weeks in advance, you should still plan a shopping day outside of Chiapas to get what you need closer to the wedding day.

As for the food itself, I would think that English tea sandwiches would be something fun, especially since the groom is half English.  There are also some fun sandwich rolls using pita or tortillas and a variety of fillings.
As for period recipes, how about using Digby's Cheese Goo as a cheese fondue, using cubes of bread to dip into the sauce?  Or make Olives of Beefe/Veal in a smaller size [or make larger and slice] and attach to tooth picks or skewers?  Or any kind of tart or pasty would work.  The ingredients for pie crust are not unusual to find.  You can make any kind of meat or veggie recipe and bake them into a small tart crust for ease of eating.  The form may not be period, but the flavors will be. 

There is a recipe for mushrooms in pastry from Menagier de Paris, that if you leave off the pastry makes a great hors d'oeuvre.  I have served them to both SCA diners and mundane diners and they both love it.  Just buy baby or small portabella mushrooms and serve them whole.

Mushroom Pastries (Menagier p. M-25):  
Mushrooms of one night are the best, and are small and red inside, closed above; and they should be peeled, then wash in hot water and parboil; if you wish to put them in pastry add oil, cheese, and powdered spices.

Fine Powder of Spices (Menagier p. M-40):  Take an ounce and a drachm of 
white ginger, a quarter-ounce of hand-picked cinnamon, half a quarter-ounce
each of grains and cloves, and a quarter-ounce of rock sugar, and grind to
powder.

1 lb mushrooms
9 oz cheese [brie]
olive oil

spice powder:  1/4 t cinnamon, 1/8 t cloves, 1 t ginger, 1/8 t grains of
paradise, 1/4 t sugar

My take on this recipe as an hors d'oeuvre:

Rinse mushrooms to remove any dirt from their stems. Grate or chop cheese. Grind or mix up spices.

Place mushrooms on a large cookie sheet.  Place olive oil in a hand sprayer and spray the mushrooms with the oil lightly.  Sprinkle the spice powder on the inside of each mushroom.  Cover eash mushroom with grated brie.  Bake the mushroom in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is lightly browned.  Serve hot with tooth picks or skewers. 

You will need to scale up the recipe to 200 people or probably a minimum of two mushrooms per person.

Others have made this recipe using cheddar cheese or parmesian cheese, which I think is wrong, as this is a French recipe.  Brie, in my humble opinion, is better tasting and French.  Other cheeses or types a mushrooms could be substituted depending on what is available.

I hope that this helps you.

Huette

--- On Fri, 1/22/10, Suey <lordhunt at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Suey <lordhunt at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Sca-cooks] Unique tapas
> To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> Date: Friday, January 22, 2010, 2:15 PM
> Bare with me. My computer just died
> after more than 4 years of laptop service 16 hours a day and
> I am changing from Windows to Mac. Total I lost the latest
> SCA message so if anyone can send me a copy many thanks.We
> are holding mass on Tuesday for the old computer filled with
> cat hairs over my cat's stomach who cannot believe how hot
> it is here. He was born a year ago.
> I saw that Sharon asked what we are thinking of. 
> Suzanne, co-chair with me from NYC. lives in MX part of the
> year. Daughter and groom are totally international as both
> have two different nationalities. He is half Mexican and
> half British. She is half American and half Spanish.
> So what I am proposing to Suzanne is that, depending on the
> number of guests which we will not known until after the
> fact as SanCris is a pueblo, we break down into categories:
> seafood, meat, vegs/cold, room temp and hot. Then I am Mrs
> medieval. This history of Spanish cooking has different
> periods before America and so I present an Apicuis tappa,
> followed by an Hispano Arabic, a Catalan thing and finally
> tortilla with the American potatoes. Now as our children are
> marrying from people all over the earth perhaps Suzanne can
> create plates from four continents that represent our
> family.
> Now San Cris is nothing land, so don't expect us to find
> melon, flaky pastry or pecans at the end of April.
> San Cris is onions, tomatoes, cucumber and bread and some
> pork products but not serrano ham!
> Suey
> 
> 
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