Title: Bnfld-Bat-Fst-art
Subject: Feast and menus from the Bonfield Battle event in Ealdormere.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: menu, recipe, SCA, feast, Ealdormere, 1998, Bonfield Battle

Bnfld-Bat-Fst-art - 7/13/99

Feast menus and recipes from the Bonfield Battle event in the SCA kingdom of Ealdormere.

NOTE: See also the files: Fst-Menus-art, feast-menus-msg, headcooks-msg, p-menus-msg, kitchen-clean-msg, fst-disasters-msg, feast-serving-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 14:13:29 -0400
From: "Groulx, Michelle" <MGroulx at NRCan.gc.ca>
Subject: SC - A fellow Ealdorereans experiment

Greetings all,

I have been asked to post this to the list for any and all comments/opinions
on this. I will post your findings on the E-List if thats alright.

Thanks all
Micaylah

***********************

What follows is my menu, recipes and redactions for this year's
Bonfield Battle, held in Ealdormere. As many of you may realize, I'm one
of those painful people who attempt to prepare mostly period repasts at
any outdoor event I attend. All recipes this year were from James
Prescott's translation of _le Viandier de Taillevent_. To quote Prescott:
"Guillaume Tirel, also called Taillevent, was probably born about 1310
and died in 1395. He started as a 'kitchen boy' under Charles IV, rose to
'first cook of the king' under Charles V, and eventually became 'master
of the kitchen stores of the king' under Charles VI."

46. Small birds like larks, quails, thrushes and others.

Pluck, them dry, without water, boil them a bit, and spit them including
the heads and feet (crosswise and not lengthwise). Put some slices or
cracklings of pork fat or sections of sausages between each pair. Eat
them with fine salt. in a pie, with harvest cheese put in the belly.

6 quail
1/3 lb sausage

I prepared the latter variation of this recipe last year, and this
year wished to try the former, being a lover of small birds. As my quail
were commercially purchased, they were already gutted and plucked. As
Taillevent suggested, I skewered them crosswise with sausage, starting
and ending with sausage. I used a butcher-prepared sausage from the pig
we purchased this year from our farmer friend, about 1/3 lb, cut into 2"
pieces and skewered through the filling, not the casing, to allow
drippings to come into contact with these lovely wee birds. Six birds
were used.

Once spitted, the birds and sausage were placed over a medium fire
with a good bed of coals, and roasted gently until well done. These were
served with watercress greens. A succulent dinner for two.

150. Watercress greens

Take your watercress, boil it with a fistful of chards, chop it,
brown it in oil, and then (if you wish) boil it in [almond] milk. On meat
days boil it in meat stock, or with butter or cheese. If you wish, eat it
raw without anythin else. It is good against gravel.

1 bunch fresh watercress
1 pkg beef bullion
1 tbs olive oil
1 cup water

Wash and trim the watercress. Pour oil into a small cast iron
saucepan. Add watercress. Cover and set over a medium fire until the
cress begins to go limp. Add bullion and water. Cover and allow to simmer
for about three minutes. Remove cress from pan and serve immediately. The
broth, BTW, makes a very tasty consomme for an appetizer.

37. Scallops.

Pick them over well, scald and wash them brown them in oil with
copped onions and Spice Powder and eat them with good White Garlic
[Sauce].

1 lb. bay scallops
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp poudre fort

Pour oil into a medium skillet and place over a medium fire. Add
scallops and onion and sautee gently until tender, about 10 minutes. Add
poudre fort. Toss gently. Remove from fire and serve with White Garlic
sauce.

222. Spice Powder.

Grind ginger (4 parts), cassia (3 1/2 parts), nutmeg (2 parts), pepper (1
1/2 parts), long pepper, cloves, grains of paradise and galingale (1 part
each).

Poudre fort
(from Mistress Sarra Graehem)

2 tbs. ginger
2 tbs. cinnamon
1 tbs. nutmeg
4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. grains of paradise
1 tsp. galingale

Grind all together and store in air-tight jar.

154. White Garlic [Sauce].

Crush garlic and bread, and steep in verjuice.

2 cloves of garlic, minced finely
2 tbsp commercial bread crumbs
4 tbsp red wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients and serve.

Scillian Eggplant

This is not a medieval recipe, rather one adapted by me to create a
medieval-like dish, based upon Martino's Rape Armate (turnip pie) which
was served at the Septentrian Baronial 12th Night Monadh hosted.

1 Scillian eggplant, peeled and sliced into thin circles
4 oz. (approx) Asiago, crumbled
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
1 tbsp olive oil

Roll olive oil around a small (#*), cast iron baker. Layer
eggplant, garlic and Asiago into the pan. Cover and place oven to the
side of the fire, over a few hot coals, with a few hot coals on the lid.
Turn periodically, and bake until tender, about 20 minutes. Serve
immediately.

12. Almond cumin dish.

Cook your chicken well in water, quarter it, and brown it in lard.
Take almonds, crush, steep in your broth, and boil with your meat. Add
ginger and cumin steeped in wine and verjuice. This dish always thickens
itself.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup ground almonds
1 pkg chicken bullion
1 cup water
1" fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
2 tsp cumin seed
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

This meal was cooked over our wood stove, as it was tipping down
with rain. This is also a recipe I've tried, unsuccessfully, to prepare
accurately, for three years, having one year a person with nut allergies
in my camp, and having mistaken a package of pork butterfly chops for
chicken breasts. This year we hit pay-dirt. :)

Pour olive oil into a medium skillet and place over a brisk fire.
Brown chicken breasts in the olive oil. Combine almonds, chicken bullion
and water. Add to pan and remove to a medium fire. Combine ginger, cumin
and vinegar. Add to pan and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve
immediately. This is a simply stunning dish, which was served with
braised leeks.

28. Veal ragout.

Roast it on the spit or grill without letting it cook too much, cut
it into pieces, and fry it lightly in lard with onion cut very small.
Take grilled bread steeped in wine and beef broth or puree of peas, and
boil with your meat. Grind ginger, cassia, cloves, grains of paradise and
saffron (to give it colour), and steep in verjuice and vinegar. There
should be enough onions; the bread should be browned; and it should be
thick, sour with vinegar, spicy and golden.

2 veal fillets
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and diced finely
3 tbsp commercial bread crumbs
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 pkg. beef bullion
1 cup water
1/2 tsp poudre fort
pinch saffron

As on Sunday, this meal was prepared over our camp stove, because
of rain and age.

Brown the fillets & onions in olive oil in a medium skillet over a
brisk fire. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over fillets. Simmer
for 10 minutes. Serve immediately. The dish was served with braised
parsnips. This one had Gerraint smacking his lips.

Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 09:18:09 -0400
From: "Groulx, Michelle" <MGroulx at NRCan.gc.ca>
Subject: SC - A fellow Ealdormereans Menu

In reference to the menu I posted a while ago from a gentle at Bonfield, I
forwarded her the discussion and this was her response.

Micaylah
*******************************************

Thanks very much, Micaylah, for forwarding those responses. Heavens, such
discussion! :)

I found it interesting those two gents got all caught up in two items:
parboiling the birds and lard/olive oil. From long experience I've known
parboiling meat or fowl was to: a/ enable a person to pluck the feathered
beastie, b/ render a tough bird or beastie tender. As I was using chicken
breasts, modern, grocery store variety, they needed neither plucking nor
tenderizing. I suppose I should have mentioned I used, in addition to the
cheat OXO packet, the wee amount of drippings I did garner from the pan,
but as this was merely a dinner for two, it seemed hardly worthwhile.

The whole question of lard is legitimate. However, it's one of those old
bug-a-boos about modern taste, diet, etc., etc. I do carefully monitor our
fat intake. Particularly as my husband's dad popped off in his 50s with
heart-failure, and because I'm rather, well, Rubenesque, shall we say.
It's also easier to transport/store olive oil than lard, and it can be
used for so much more than mere cooking. So, olive oil won out. And it
wasn't such a leap, as olive oil certainly was used extensively throughout
the Med region. At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :) As to
a superior taste when cooking with lard, well, that's definitely personal
taste. I and mine loathe the taste, in particular the aftertaste. But
thereyago.

I was also curious about the comment regarding chard in the watercress. I
had prepared this very recipe the year previous using the chard. It was
yummy. But waaaay too much for two to eat. So this year I
deleted the chard and used only the watercress, both of us being fans of
the wee green herbage. Cress isn't bitter at all. Very peppery and sweet,
in fact. Anyone who eats it regularly knows this. Chard is the more bitter
of the two. But, hey, each to their own.

One other curiosity was regarding the interpretation of Taillevant's
instructions for the quail. I think Ras misread and thought the
parboiling, spitting with sausage, eating with fine salt, and then in a
pie stuffed with harvest cheese was all one recipe. It's not. It's two.
One's for spitted quail and sausage eaten with fine salt. The other's for
a quail pie, birds wrapped in bacon and stuffed with harvest cheese and
then covered with pastry. I feel fairly confident I did Taillevant proud
with this one.

Anyway, it was interesting to receive the feedback. My thanks for your
considerable trouble.

Leonora

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	Bnfld-Bat-Fst-art	Page  of