[Sca-cooks] Feast in Nithgaard (State College, PA) Sept. 14, for Henry V's birthday

[Stefan li Rous]

Henry/Alex said:
<<< I arranged for him to hang them overnight before he
brought them over. It had been really hot just before, so hanging
earlier would have needed a cool basement. >>>

Wow. Still way to hot here to do that. Generally in the upper 90s here.

<<< who were already there were out plucking pheasants. >>>

Umm. An interesting tongue-twister for the herald-types. :-) Say that ten times fast.

<<< The blanche brawn came out bland with an uneven texture, because we
hadn't devoted enough time and labor to the mincing, and because (due
to a communication breakdown) the aftermilk got mixed in with the
almond milk. >>>

Uh, what is "aftermilk"?

<<< Instead we made do with noumbles and egerdouce of a kid, >>>

How did this go over with the feasters?

<<< Anyway the plan was to start each roast on the grill and then finish in the oven, >>>

Everything being equal, is it better to roast a meat on the grill and finish in an oven? Or to cook it a while in the oven and then finish browning it on the grill?

What about on a stove top?

<<< I didn't realize at first that the pheasants that had just been butchered that
morning still had their necks on. When I took out the spare bird that
I'd brought home I found that it also had its crop in. >>>

So the solution is? Just cut off the necks and crop? If so, was this more than just an irritation?

I thought the crop was attached to the head. Is it attached to the neck?

Newbie question. Just how big is a pheasant? How many did you have? Are they more of a game bird/dark meat taste?

<<< I cheated and did the viand rial anyway because it's small and light and
quick and easy, and it rounded out the course nicely. >>>

What is this "viand rial" again? Recipe? Perhaps this is a good recipe to keep in mind for pot lucks and quick meals and such?

<<< the best of the lot were the brawn with mustard (salted boar mini roasts with honey mustard) >>>

Was the original meant to be made with salted (as in preserved) boar/pig? If so, did you create salted pork to start this with? Or were you using fresh pork but adding salt?

<<< and the pomys en gele (which I didn't make or supervise, just provided instructions and whole spices). >>>

Recipe/instructions?

Actually, since I've saved your message to create a feast review file for the Florilegium (The detailed feast reports on this list really have dropped off a lot in the last year or two), I would love to get more of the original recipes and redactions. :-)  Although I also don't know if anyone reads them or not. :-(

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****