[Sca-cooks] Siege Cooking at Battlemoor

[Kathleen A Roberts]

On Fri, 4 Jun 2010 02:36:49 -0500
  Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:

> Hasn't the emphasis for all these siege cooking contests 
>always been on fun and food? How is having an emphasis on 
>fun and food this year any different from in the past?

well, some of the competitions i have been involved with 
were heavy on the ambiance in your camp for the judges, 
and very secretive of ingredients and theme.  this is 
fine, but sometimes hauling all your cookbooks, pots and 
pans, candlesticks, rugs, pillows, good feast gear was 
frustrating.  i don't know about you guys, but i am seeing 
fewer locals taking trailers to war, and packing as good 
as they can in the old pickup.  excess load = excess fuel. 
  so, the idea is that you have some idea what you are 
getting into, and can pack accordingly.  the central 
judging area allows audience participation AND the teams 
don't have to set up an eating area in their camp.

  
> Have all the teams generally been able to work past 
>'surprise' ingredients into their presentations? Is it a 
>requirement that they do so? or does it just gain you 
>additional points?

it was all a surprise in my experience.  theme and 
ingredients.  you always need to use everything given you, 
no matter how little, to get full points for use of 
ingredients.  but if you know ahead of time the basket 
will contain ... oh, let's say... poulty, meat with bone, 
root veggies, dried fruit, lentils, sweet spices, dried 
herbs, berries...  then you can start thinking of recipes 
and methods of cooking, and leave more of the day for the 
actual prepping and cooking.  HOWEVER, that doesn't mean 
you won't get some salt pork, walnuts and cone sugar that 
morning along with what you already know.  those will need 
to be incorporated as well.

the coordinators of battlemoor wanted to focus on 
hospitality and fun.  therefore, i thought it might be 
interesting to see how a siege cooking contest would work 
if everything wasn't such a huge secret and some of the 
hassle was gone.

BTW... i only have one spot available.  i got three hits 
yesterday alone.

cailte

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which 
sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
W. B. Yeats
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Kathleen Roberts
Coordinator, Student Admissions
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
505-277-8900
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