Title: SC-Estrela-09-msg
Subject: The Siege Cooking Contest at the Estrella War in 2009.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: siege, cooking, competition, contest, Estrella, SCA. surprize, mystery, review

SC-Estrela-09-msg - 8/20/09

The Siege Cooking Contest at the Estrella War in 2009.

NOTE: See also the files: siege-cooking-msg, SC-Outlandish-msg, SC-Potrero-art, SC-Talonvale-msg, cookg-compet-msg, cookg-classes-msg, Mystry-AS-Cmp-art.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:58:05 -0700
From: "Kathleen A Roberts" <karobert at unm.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] back from war - siege cooking
To: SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org

back home safe and sound, tho the vehicle had its problems
coming home... (another mechanic's child gets to go to
college!)

anyhoo, siege cooking was great.   very challenging.
congratulations to the cooks of artemesia on their win.
the outlands came in second, followed by atenveldt.  caid
did not  mount a team.

our team consisted of two experienced cooks (Gwen-Cat and
myself), one intermediate (lady auria) and two wonderful
novices (lord cedric and lord tyron).  ya gotta learn some
time!  our diswasher and judge extraordinaire (countess
claudia and mistress aldyth respectively) were fantastic.
lord cedric had built his very own beehive oven in the
camp of the college of st. golias, and it was used to full
capacity.

we got a few ingredients that stymied us (why, o why do we
outlanders have such a problem with farm raised venison?
perhaps our stalwart hunters have us spoiled with the
wild stuff!)

so here is a listing of ingredients and what we made for a
Russian (!) theme...

i think i have this right... if not, Gwen-Cat or Aldyth can
correct me on the positioning. 8) we got more herbs than
anyone could imagine, and several unusual ingredients
(kefir, kasha). unfortunately, i can no longer remember
which dish the spaetzle accompanied...

cailte

THE INGREDIENTS:

Venison Loin
Pork Tenderloin

Carrots
Turnips
Onions
Beets
Radishes
Cabbage

Flour (unbleached wheat)
Eggs
Butter (1 pound!)
Kefir (i thought it was buttermilk)
Vinegar (apple cider)
Mead
Honey

Prunes

Fresh sage
Fresh mint
Fresh bay
Fresh dill

Black pepper (fine ground)
White pepper (fine ground - had us stumped a bit)
Caraway
Fennel
Anise
Cumin
Ground Clove
Ground Cinnamon
Thyme
Rosemary
Salt

from the pantry
not much to pick from...  rye flour and YES! more 
prunes!!!!

THE FOOD:

First Course - Relish tray and Breads

Venison tartare
Pickled turnips (cloves)
Pickled beets (bay)
Pickled eggs (bay)
Pickled carrots (caraway)
Radishes (not pickled) 8)
Kasha bread with seeds (fennel, caraway, etc)
Prune filled kollach style bread
Butter
Salt
Water flavored with mint, vinegar and honey

Second Course - Pork

Pork stuffed cabbage in a vegetable broth

Roast honeyed sage pork stuffed with prunes
Roast carrots
Spaetzle (?)

A bit of mead to clear the palate

Third Course - Venison

Venison/turnip roulades in a mead and honey glaze
Candied beets and carrots

Venison cubes marinated in kefir with kefir/dill sauce
Kasha with onions sauted in butter
( I do believe this was the hit of the day)

Dessert - Prun-iliciousness

Blini (rye and wheat blend)
Prunes (whole) stewed in mead, cinnamon, cloves and honey
Warm spiced mead

Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:40:45 -0700
From: "Kathleen A Roberts" <karobert at unm.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] back from war - siege cooking
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

  Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
<<< Cailte said:
This was at the recent Estrella War, right? >>>

yes.

<<< Was each kingdom limited to a single team each? >>>

yes, one team per kingdom, and if a kingdom does not mount 
a team, a wild card team can come in.

<<< 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

Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:14:12 -0700
From: Deborah Hammons <mistressaldyth at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] back from war - siege cooking
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

My way more than 2 cents:
I have been fortunate to be the Outlands judge for all 4 years.  Each year
has been a learning experience for  the cooking teams, the judges, and the
period encampment.  I still cringe at the title of Siege cooking, rather
than Combat cooking for the Estrella competition.  I feel strongly in a
siege situation you are intimately familiar with your larder and should not
have to identify the ingredients you are given.  In a combat cooking
situation (Iron Chef) it is more important to do the identifying.

The judging forms have changed every year.  This year they used the one from
the Southern Crusades.

The obstacles:

Documentation is not required, but the teams are graded lower if it is not
provided.

Heavy consideration is given to presentation, ambiance, and sanitation.
Hand washing even if it was not demonstrated to be a practice in the time
and place.  Forks or no forks.

I am going to try and send a better judging form for them to use next year.
I think the teams would benefit from seeing those forms before the
competition so they know just what they need to accomplish in each area.  It
has to be better than going from Wow to Edible.  And they really do need to
decide if they want a documentable re creation of food, or seat of the pants
cooking.

Aldyth

And Cailte, if you have that bread recipe with the buckwheat groats in it.
 Pretty Please?

On Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 3:24 PM, Susan Fox <selene at earthlink.net> wrote:
<<< 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.] >>>

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	SC-Estrela-09-msg	Page  of