[Sca-cooks] De-brief from the Coronation Feast last weekend.

[Laura C. Minnick]

So, I slept for most of the week. But here it is!

First off: We did it! I am still alive!

There had been much planning, research, buying of serving dishes. 
Re-construction of notes (lost my notebook on the way to Investiture- 
disastrous!) and cross-checking on stuff happened.

And then I cut part of my finger off.

Only a little- the tip of the pad on my left index, WHERE ALL THE NERVE 
ENDINGS ARE. We couldn't get it to stop bleeding, and ended up in ER. 
This was of course the weekend before the big dinner. This was the 
beginning of prep week, of course.

Also had interesting challenges: two of the diners were both lactose and 
gluten intolerant. That cut down my options significantly. I dealt with it.

_Sources and research_:

Well, there aren't any extant Carolingian cookbooks. So I've had to work 
from a number of things, and sort of triangulate from there.

We do have Anthimus, a diplomat and doctor who wrote his little book on 
food about two centuries before my time. (I'm shooting for 780-800.) He 
doesn't really offer recipes per se, but somewhat oblique instructions 
on how he thinks food should be cooked. But he's a bit odd. He says that 
the Franks are very healthy because they eat their bacon raw, but then 
turns around and says it's not good to eat.

We have archeological sources, which have accounts on what is found in 
the middens, etc. If there's fish bones in the trash, you can be sure 
someone ate the fish. Bonnie Effros in particular has some good information.

We also have the Capitularies- documents that Charlemagne sent out to 
the managers of his various estates. He detailed what cereals were to be 
grown in the fields, what vegetables were to be grown in the gardens, 
what animals to raise, even what sort of bedding should be there when he 
visited. These documents give us detailed information on what foods were 
available- very solid info for determining their diet.

We also have the later Roman cookbooks. The Franks weren't a whole lot 
later than the Romans, and much of France in particular was heavily 
Romanized. The Roman cookbooks were still in circulation (the doctors in 
Charles' court were known to have some) but we don't know how much they 
might have used them.

The foods I tried to keep to things we know were grown on Frankish 
lands, or readily accessible by trade. I also tried to keep to what was 
available seasonally, or kept in storage in a cold cellar.

_Diners were_:

TRMs Vik and Astrid
TAH Telisia, of the Summits
THs Gemma and Steinn of Tir Righ
THs Ogedei and Ifatayo of Avacal

_Staff were_:

Serving and some kitchen help- Malcolm and Yseult, with a little help 
from the young Gryphon.
Kitchen help- Idonia, Ursel, Katrine, Ulric, Diedre.
Cleanup- Ulric and Diedre, Gerard, Idonia.
Comic relief- Amalric.

And my staff got noshes too.

_THE MENU_:

We were pretty sure that court would be late, so we planned for the 
first course to be things that could probably wait, and the second 
course to be cooked while the first was being served.

First off, there was formal hand-washing. I seated the diners all on one 
side of the table, and we did the handwashing from the front (as well as 
the service). First the sanap was laid over the dishes, then the water 
and towel were offered, and the sanap removed. This proceeded according 
to precedence, with TRMs first, TAH Summits next, the Avacal and Tir Righ.

_The hors d'oeuvres_ were trays of fruits, nuts, cheese and olives. 
Fresh apricots, cherries, salted almonds, an assortment of kalamata and 
green olives, some Dubliner and havarti with dill. I almost hated to 
send them out, they were so pretty.

And we served a cabbage soup made with beer, beef broth, and caraway. I 
found a gluten-free beer, thanks to a tip from Malcolm. We also served 
this beer with dinner, as well as a sparkling white wine. I didn't get 
to the red we had for the second course, and I completely forgot about 
the pear cider.

_The First Course_:

Pork roast, marinaded with vinegar and wine, a little olive oil, lots of 
garlic, salt and pepper. The leftover marinade was boiled, and with a 
little more wine, turned into a sauce to drizzle over the pork.

Plum sauce, made of plums from our tree out back, red wine, and powder fort.

Rainbow trout, roasted with lemon slices stuffed in the cavity, and 
served with a drizzle of lemon and some capers.

Black-eyed peas, boiled with a little chicken broth and some smoked pork 
neck bones.

Carrots and parsnips cooked with a little chicken broth, white wine, 
drained, and tossed with white wine vinegar and a little honey.

_Entrements_:

Salad, dressed with vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, and a few 
raspberries tossed in with the greens.

Roasted pears, cut in eighths, half of which had the centers filled with 
goat cheese and drizzled with a raspberry goo, the other half filled 
with an almond paste and topped with candied ginger. (I wanted one of 
the raspberry ones and I'm still peeved that there were none left!)

_The Second Course_:

Chicken with fennel (very tasty!).

Sweet and Sour Beef (sort of borked off of Anthimus, but much simpler), 
the sauce was more subtle than I'd planned, mostly because I ran out of 
vinegar and honey, but it was very nice that way.

Lentils with cumin (always a real hit- I had to squirrel some away so I 
could have it later!).

Leeks simmered in chicken broth and white wine, salt, and pepper.

I know I used a bunch of parsley, but can't remember on what.

_Dessert_:

Tarts- one filled with almond paste and Morello cherries, the other with 
mascarpone and peaches. I made gluten-free crusts by making basically 
graham-cracker crusts, using almond meal in place of the crumbs. I'm not 
entirely happy with how these worked- in particular the cheese didn't 
work- the combination was too fatty, and the crust burned on the bottom. 
The almond and cherry one was very tasty but was gummy. I'd worked on 
the crust earlier in the week, but hadn't tried it with the filling. 
Note for next time- try the whole thing.Wrap-up:

I was REALLY happy with it on the overall. The diners were happy and 
went away stuffed. The staff was happy and got noshes, I was happy. We 
worked hard, but I felt prepared and didn't feel rushed or anxious. The 
only disaster was dropping a bowl of leeks I'd reserved for the beef. I 
managed to not hurt myself, we had enough food, and the leftovers are 
not vast.

Have I learned anything? Yup! For one thing, I'm learning to ask for and 
accept help. And I'm learning who I can rely on. And I've learned just 
how much I can do when I'm prepared.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Well, after my bank account 
recovers. Ow.


( Yes, I know mascarpone isn't period. I've been trying to find a cheese 
for tarts that I like, and haven't yet. Part of the problem is that many 
period cheeses have changed a lot over the centuries, and I cannot get a 
firm grip on what might be more appropriate.)


Oh- I forgot to mention the drama about the table trestles that did not 
arrive. Turns out they'd been mistakenly delivered to a camp on the 
other side of the big loop. Why no one over there said "Gee, these don't 
belong to any of us- hey, there's a name taped to them! We should send a 
herald around or something..." We ended up with a makeshift arrangement, 
but it actually worked!

Liutgard

-- 
"It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our 
abilities." -Albus Dumbledore ~~~Follow my Queenly perambulations at: 
http://slugcrossings.blogspot.com/