Title: KF-feast-msg
Subject: The King’s Forest Feast. "A Feast Consisting of Victuals Which Could Be Begged, Borrowed or Stolen In and Around The King's Forest". Cooked by Lord Ras.
Author: Edited by Mark Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: menu, forest, game, SCA, feast, review

KF-feast-msg - 4/25/00

The King’s Forest Feast. "A Feast Consisting of Victuals Which Could Be Begged, Borrowed or Stolen In and Around The King's Forest". Cooked by Lord Ras.

NOTE: See also the files: feasts-msg, feast-menus-msg, p-menus-msg, feast-serving-msg, fst-disasters-msg, headcooks-msg, exotic-meats-msg, food-sources-msg.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: Uduido at aol.com
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 17:54:14 -0400 (EDT)
To: sca-cooks at eden.com
Subject: sca-cooks Re: 13th century English forest

<< I'd love to hear more about this feast. Just how far did you stretch
 the concept? Did there just happen to be a spice train in the forest?
 Or was this pretty much English herbs and foods? What was the menu?
 
 Or even, what did you find out that you didn't actually use in this
 one feast? Do you have a list of items that were likely to come from
 a 13th century English forest? Mushrooms? rabbits? acorns? >>

The feast consisted of:

Bear Stew (Stewe)
Roast Venison (Mete y-Rosted)
Rabbit and Squiirrel Pies (Mete in Cofyns))
Chicken thighs baked in Clay shaped in the form of swans (Byrdes)
Cabbages (Caboches)
Strawberry Tarts (Strawberye Tartes)

A Casserole of Wheat berries, pigeon, mushrooms, carrots, onions, greens and
flowers (The kitchen crew went out in the AM and collected dandelion leaves
and flowers, violet leaves and
lilac flowers. Rose petals were donated.)

The beverage was cider.

Normal period spices (Pepper, cubebs, galingal, grains of paradise, true
cinnamon, cloves, etc.) were used under the rationalization that they could
have been stolen from a spice merchant traveling through the forest. :-) 

The game was donated by the hunters in the shire and several mundanes who I
approached for donations of game. These were collected and processed (frozen
or canned) as they were made available in the 3 months before the feast.

Lord Ras the Reformed

From: Uduido at aol.com
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 17:58:27 -0400 (EDT)
To: sca-cooks at eden.com
Subject: sca-cooks Re: 13th century English forest

<< Just how far did you stretch the concept? >>

The only real stretch was an individual who showed up with a rattlesnake as a
donation. I cooked it discretely; removed the flesh from the bones and
through it in the squirrel and rabbit pies. All in all a good time was had by
all.

Leftovers (what there were) were put out for breakfast along with omelettes
to order.
I think this was the fondest memory of working in the kitchen that I have!
:-)

Lord Ras the Reformed

Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 20:45:24 EST
From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com>
Subject: SC - Game feast-story LONG

kat at kagan.com writes:
<< Darkwood is a difficult place to try to serve "specialty meats;" and when
you consider the fact that out here they consider VENISON a specialty meat...
I could no more serve eel or ostrich here than fly to the moon.  I was pushing
it with the goose and the salmon...   >>

I understand your feelings regarding the service of "specialty" meats. And,
your local group's location may or may not be a factor in serving what was ,
in fact common fair in the MA. At the very least, game animals were common
enough among the nobility and upper class citizens of that time to have made
an impact on the surviving corpus of recipes. I would like to tell the story
of my game feast, if I may.....

I have been using meats such as lamb, goat, rabbit, emu (not period but big
and handy. :-)), bear, venison, squirrel and pigeon regularly at most all of my
Feasts. The time that I remember with the most fondness is when a local stick
jock walked into my kitchen at a feast I had entitled "A Feast Consisting of
Victuals Which Could Be Begged, Borrowed or Stolen In and Around The King's
Forest". Essentially, it was a game feast.....Anyway, this guy throws down a
rattlesanke in front of and says, "Here's something for the feast!."

I hastily converted the rattlesnake into a less recognizable form by braising
it in some chicken broth, grated black pepper and a small onion with a clove
stuck in it. After it was done, I quickly stripped the flesh from the bones
and cut it into chunks. And immediately dumped it's contents into the 5 gallon
pot containing 35 lbs. of simmerimg cubed bear meat. The assorted small game
which included 2 rabbits, 7 squirrels and 11 pidgeons were roasted, picked from
the bones and added to one pan of the frumenty. A Pottage of herbs was
produced using dandelion, spinach and leaf lettuce. Sauted carrots sweetened
slightly with a bit of sugar and served with fresh ground pepper and a
sprinkle of ginger was another vegetable. Rosated onions the other.

Given that all the game was donated, I managed to spend less than $75.00 on
that feast. The local doomsayers were all complaining that no one would eat
that stuff. There was even a comment from someone that suggested no one was
going to eat any of the food.

As the first course, the bear stew, homemade bread and cheeses, was being
served you could hear a wave of silence slowly creep across the hall following
the servers as they advanced through the diners. Then for a few minutes, the
only sound was spoons clicking on dishes...suddenly some one started stomping
and then another and another..................soon the entire hall was
thundering with yelling and feet stomping .......

I creeped from the kitchen to face my punishment and as I appeared thunderous
applause began. I cried just like a baby. And you know what was the best part
of it all? Not a single bit of food was left at the end of the feast. An added
plus was the 3 beggars I had at the back door with its attendant opportunity
to feed the "poor".

Ras

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 11:13:27 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Aiofe and bear stew

liontamr at ptd.net writes:
<< This may be your solution to the pet population explosion, Ras, but I warn
 you to WARN ME if you are ever going to serve dog OR cat at an event.
 Hubby already distrusts most SCA cooks after a bout with food poisoning
 from an event. Let's not exascebate the situation, by feeding him dog,  'K? >>

No problem. Recipes and ingredients lists are always available for the perusal
of the finicky eater. :-) The feast you mention was a real hoot.

One lady (Jewish) ate 3 bowls of the Bear Stew which was listed as 'Bear Stew'
on the menu. After the feast she came into the kitchen, having found out it
really was bear stew, lifted me from the floor, slammed me into the wall and
proceeded to give me a tongue lashing about how any sane person would never
serve such a thing at a feast. She also accused me of trying to defile her
body with forbidden food.

She then dropped me to the floor and stormed out of the kitchen. I grabbed a
bottle of ice cold ale and , humming contentedly, went to the back porch for a
much needed breath of fresh air and a bowl of bear stew, :-)

Ras

Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 22:51:19 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Shrooms of the Wild (was Scrapple recipe OOP)

stefan at texas.net writes:
<< Well maybe. I *think* this is the feast you are referring to:
 KF-feast-msg      (12K) 11/ 4/98    The King's Forest feast. >>

Yes that is the one. A correction though...I put the rattlesnake  meat in the 
bear stew (making the problem for the Jewish lady doubly worse) and used the 
broth in the rabbit/squirrel pies. I think I made it sound as if I used the 
meat in both dishes which is not the case.

Ras

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	KF-feast-msg	Page  of