picnic-feasts-msg - 7/23/12
Ideas for light, picnic style feasts. Recipes.
NOTE: See also the files: jalabs-msg, breakfast-msg, finger-foods-msg, meat-pies-msg, ham-msg, pastries-msg, salads-msg, bread-msg, mustard-msg, sausages-msg, fruits-msg, cookies-msg.
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 13:46:25 -0800
From: kat <kat at kagan.com>
Subject: Basket Lunch (long)
Renata asks:
> Soooooo, my clever friends -- any ideas on what would look impressive,
> sound (and eventually taste) mouth-watering, pack well, stand up to
> minamal refrigeration, feed 4-8 people, and (maybe) not be a huge
> undertaking? Period or close would be nice, too.
Renata:
Funny you should ask; my lord and I just did this last month at a local
Canton basket lunch auction. It was extremely peri-oid but not *quite*
period... ;-)
Our menu, with only one hot dish:
Sallet
Blaunche Porrey (served hot)
Tartes de Bry
Saffron Rice
Cold chicken in Sawge
Shortbread (OK, I cheated; it was late and I was tired)
2 bottles of sparkling cider (OK, I *really* cheated)
The sallet was my version of a combination of the period recipes we have
for salad: a leaf lettuce and baby spinach leaves, tossed with a
combination of chopped scallions, chives and other savory herbs, olive oil
and a nice wine vinegar, and garnished with edible flowers. Definitely
peri-oid.
The blaunche porrey was my redaction of a recipe that appears in Pleyn
Delit. I redacted it as leek soup; the PD recipe comes out as more of a
pottage, but I wanted a hot soup in case it was *really* cold out.
Tartes de Bry also came from PD. I garnished the top with a few threads of
saffron for that "conspicuous consumption" look.
The saffron rice appears as "Potage of Rys" in "1000 Eggs, Vol. 1." It
makes a superlative side dish and I use it a lot.
The recipe for Sawge I think was discussed recently on this list; I was
skimming posts but thought I saw it. The version I used was in Pleyn
Delit. I interpreted the dish as a sauce, to go on cold meat. We simply
sliced cold chicken breast and spread the sauce over it.
The only thing that required refrigeration (it was a nippy day in any case)
was the chicken; everything else did fine in adequate shade. One very
small cooler held the chicken and the sauce adequately. The brie tarts can
be made up to 2 days ahead; refrigerate them until you leave for the event
and then just keep them in shade and cool.
- kat
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 14:16:17 EST
From: allilyn at juno.com
Subject: SC - Re: [mk-cooks] Picnic Feast Ideas
Basins for washing hands, throw a few flower petals in for 'ambiance'.
Cover electric lights--got outdoor Xmas lights?--with chinese lantern
types. Extra lighting with tall tiki torches (tall helps keep flame from
hair and veils) I know you said 'picnic' but a sheer veil is good
mosqito protection for the back of your neck. Canvas painter's cloths to
throw on ground for reclining and keeping one's pillows clean. Didn't
see mention of a porta potty or canvas wall shrouded pit and bench
facility. (More hand washing basins, or a large size of the pop up
sanitary hand towels--like for babies?)
Dining flys for sun or rain.
Allison, allilyn at juno.com
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 13:40:26 -0800
From: Kerri Canepa <kerric at pobox.alaska.net>
Subject: SC - An Andalusian lunch
The Canton up the road from here holds a Summer Hunt every year which features a
picnic basket auction to help raise money for any number of reasons (postage,
printing of newsletter, offset event costs, etc). Since I've been perusing both
al-Baghdadi and the anonymous Andalusian cookbook, I decided to put together an
Andalusian lunch. I'm unsure as to whether picnic baskets were used for such a
thing, so I offered the lunch on a large brass tray. As an added incentive, I
also danced for the folks who purchased the lunch (dinner AND a show!).
The menu:
Meat roasted over coals
Stuffed eggs
Soft flatbread
Olives
Dates
Melon
Grapes
Pistachios
Honeyed bread
The flatbread was purchased (a bread marketed as Greek pita bread) and the
olives, dates, melon, grapes and pistachios were put out on lettuce leaves in
little bowls. The meat, eggs, and honeyed bread were made in advance.
The recipes:
Meat roasted over coals (anonymous Andalusian cookbook)
Cut meat however you wish and throw on a spoon of oil and another of murri,
salt, coriander seed, pepper, thyme; leave for a while until it has absorbed the
spices, prepare without smoke and roast on a spit and watch it.
1/2 lb beef (a lean cut), cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 tsp thyme, dried and minced
1/4 tsp pepper, ground
1/2 tsp coriander seed, ground
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp balsalmic vinegar **
Mix all ingredients together and place in ziplock bag. Marinate for 30 minutes.
Thread meat onto skewers and place under broiler. Cook 5 minutes, turn, cook 3
more minutes. Remove from skewers and serve.
** I don't have murri and I'm not even sure what might be used instead. I chose
balsalmic vinegar because of it piquancy without being too bitey.
Notes: This has a very pleasant flavor and smells wonderfully of thyme.
Stuffed eggs (anonymous Andalusian cookbook)
Take as many eggs as you like, and boil them whole in hot water; put them in
cold water and split them in half with a thread. Take the yolks aside and pound
cilantro and put in onion juice, pepper and coriander, and beat all this
together with murri, oil and salt and knead the yolks with this until it forms a
dough. Then stuff the whites with this and fasten it together, insert a small
stick into each egg, and sprinkle them with pepper, God willing.
Ras' recipe reduced:
4 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
2 tsp cilantro leaf, ground in a mortar to a paste
1/2 tsp onion juice
1/4 tsp pepper, ground
3/8 tsp coriander seed, ground
murri (not included)
2 tsp olive oil
salt to taste
Cut eggs in half with a thread (dental floss works great too). Push yolks
through a sieve and add rest of ingredients. Mix together, adding oil if
necessary, until it forms a smooth paste. Fill each white with yolk mixture and
pin two halves together with a toothpick. Sprinkle with ground pepper.
Notes: I've found that the halves hold together better if the yolk mixture is
even with the cut surface.
Recipe of the Necessities of Bread and Confection (anonymous Andalusian
cookbook)
Take a ratl of wheat flour and knead it with twenty egg yolks, a little water
and oil. Then make small, very thin round flatbreads of it, and as soon as they
are made, fry them in plenty of oil until they are close to browning. Put them
in a dish, boil honey a little and clean it of its foam and cut almonds and
walnuts into the honey, put it into the dish, sprinkle with sugar, set whole
pine-nuts about and present it.
Honeyed bread, reduced recipe:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/8 - 1/4 tsp salt
4 egg yolks, lightly stirred up
1 - 2 tsp water
1/2 tsp olive oil
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
pine nuts
oil for frying
granulated sugar
Put flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Put yolks in the well with
olive oil and water and stir gently into flour. Add water if necessary to hold
dough together. Knead dough for 5 to 7 minutes, form into a ball and place under
a bowl to rest for 30 minutes.
Put honey in a small pot and heat to boiling, removing foam as it rises. Reduce
heat and add almonds and walnuts. Simmer while preparing breads.
Cut dough into 8 pieces. Put 1/2 inch of olive oil into a pan and set heat to
medium. Take one piece at a time to roll out, leaving the rest under the bowl.
Roll out each piece into a 3 inch very thin disk. When oil sputters when a drop
of water is put into it, put disk into oil. Turn disk when just turning brown
and remove when both sides are lightly brown. Drain on paper towels briefly and
transfer to a plate. Pour honey nut mixture over disks, sprinkle with granulated
sugar and pine nuts and serve.
Notes: Salt was not included in the original recipe but the bread is bland
without it. The trick to frying the bread is to keep the heat rather low as you
want the dough to cook all the way through without getting burned. The disks
were less than 1/4 inch thick and when cooked had a soft texture. I suspect that
if the disks were rolled out even thinner, they'd be crispier. I let the honey
nut mixture cook until all the bread disks were fried. It was a lovely carmelly,
nutty mixture which sticks to everything. Note to self: use waxed paper instead
of aluminum foil when pouring the honey nut mixture on bread. Well, I was out of
waxed paper.
Cedrin Etainnighean, OL
Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 18:26:32 -0400
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler at chesapeake.net>
Subject: Re: SC - What would you do? or 2 months to freak out
Along the lines of cold chicken, we put out cold chicken at Amalric & Caia's
Coronation, along with a Green Sage Sauce that I got from Scully's Early French
cookbook. We got rave reviews on the sauce...if you're interested, let me know
and I'll send it to you. It's one of those sauces that improves with age, so
making it up ahead of time is a good thing!
Kiri
From: "KarenO" <kareno at lewistown.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 08:03:10 -0600
Subject: [Sca-cooks] picnic baskets
Lars commented:
> we are having a picnic affair later this month to celebrate the end of June
in the barony. No refrigeration or ways to provide refigeration (including
ice chests) due to the fact that the picnic baskets brought will be on
display for auction and set out to be looked at. So, I'm wondering <
A Trick I used was to print out the menu on nice paper and displayed
that with some of the non-perishable items, while keeping the cold stuff
cold in coolers hidden away til time to eat/ dispense with the basket.
Caointiarn (whose 2 offered lunches made quite a good sum of money
:*>)
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 10:56:35 -0400
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <rcarrollmann at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Picnic foods...
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Lessee.... many of the cheese/herb/vegetable tarts are quite tasty
served cold. Raw carrot and parsnip sticks are period. as are various
fruits. Continuing along a Spanish/Mediterranean theme, there are
olives (for those who like them), cheeses, and nuts.
Brighid ni Chiarain
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 09:49:14 -0700
From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Picnic foods...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Greetings, cousins. I'll be day-tripping to a
local event in a few weeks, and I'd like to
provide a picnic lunch for (probably) 4 of us to
enjoy that day. I haven't had a chance, yet, to
check the flori-thingy, but I thought I'd also
fling the idea out to the lot of you, and see
what you'd serve for a picnic, since it'd make
an interesting discussion if nothing else. 4
people. No refrigeration, and preferably no
heating/reheating. Period food. No allergies
or major food issues that I'm aware of.
--Maire
One of my standards is Barmakiya:
(from the Miscellany)
Recipe for the Barmakiyya
Andalusian p. A-9 (Good)
It is made with hens, pigeons, ring doves, small
birds, or lamb. Take what you have of it, then
clean it and cut it and put it in a pot with salt
and onion, pepper, coriander and lavender or
cinnamon, some murri naqi, and oil. Put it over a
gentle fire until it is nearly done and the sauce
is dried. Take it out and fry it with mild oil
without overdoing it, and leave it aside. Then
take fine flour and semolina, make a well-made
dough with yeast, and if it has some oil it will
be more flavorful. Then stretch this out into a
thin loaf and inside this put the fried and
cooked meat of these birds, cover it with another
thin loaf, press the ends together and place it
in the oven, and when the bread is done, take it
out. It is very good for journeying; make it with
fish and that can be used for journeying too.
Note: The Barmecides were a family of Persian
viziers who served some of the early Abbasid
Caliphs, in particular Haroun al-Rashid, and were
famed for their generosity.
1/2 c sourdough 3 T olive oil for dough 1 1/2 t (lavender or) cinnamon
3/4 c water 1 lb boned chicken or lamb 1 t salt
1 1/2 c white flour 10 oz chopped onion 1 T murri (see p. 5-6)
1 1/2 c semolina 1/2 t pepper 3 T olive oil
(1 t salt in dough) 1 t coriander 3 T more olive oil for frying
Cut the meat fairly fine (approximately 1/4"
slices, then cut them up), combine in a 3 quart
pot with chopped onion, 1 t salt, spices, murri,
and 3 T oil. Cook over a medium low to medium
heat about an hour. Cover it at the beginning so
it all gets hot, at which point the onion and
meat release their juices; remove the cover and
cook until the liquid is gone, about 30 minutes.
Then heat 3 T oil in a large frying pan on a
medium high burner, add the contents of the pot,
fry over medium high heat about five minutes.
Stir together flour, semolina, 1 t salt.
Gradually stir in 3 T oil. Combine 3/4 c water,
1/2 c sourdough. Stir this into the flour mixture
and knead to a smooth dough (which should only
take a few minutes). If you do not have
sourdough, omit it; since the recipes does not
give the dough much time to rise, the sourdough
probably does not have a large effect on the
consistency of the dough.
Divide the dough in four equal parts. Take two
parts, turn them out on a floured board, squeeze
and stretch each (or use a rolling pin) until it
is at least 12" by 5". Put half the filling on
one, put the other on top, squeeze the edges
together to seal. Repeat with the other two parts
of the dough and the rest of the filling. Bake on
a cookie sheet at 350? for 40 minutes.
For the fish version, start with 1 1/4 lb of fish
(we used salmon). If it is boneless, proceed as
above, shortening the cooking time to about 35
minutes; it is not necessary to cut up the fish
fine, since it will crumble easily once it is
cooked. If your fish has bones, put it on top of
the oil, onions, spices etc., in the largest
pieces that will fit in the pot, cover the pot,
and cook for about 10-15 minutes, until the fish
is almost ready to fall apart; in effect, it is
being steamed by the liquid produced from the
onions and by its own liquid. Take out the fish,
bone it, return to the pot, and cook uncovered
about 30 minutes until the liquid is mostly gone.
Continue as above.
Gingerbrede is also good, easy to make, keeps.
Gingerbrede
Curye on Inglysch p. 154 (Goud Kokery no. 18) (GOOD)
To make gingerbrede. Take goode honey & clarifie
it on ?e fere, & take fayre paynemayn or wastel
brede & grate it, & caste it into ?e boylenge
hony, & stere it well togyder faste with a sklyse
?at it bren not to ?e vessell. & ?anne take it
doun and put ?erin ginger, longe pepper &
saundres, & tempere it vp with ?in handes; & than
put hem to a flatt boyste & strawe ?eron suger, &
pick ?erin clowes rounde aboute by ?e egge and in
?e mydes, yf it plece you, &c.
1 c honey 1/4 t long pepper 30-40 whole cloves (~ 1 t)
1 3/4 c breadcrumbs 1/4 t saunders (or 5 t sugar, pinch powdered cloves)
1 t ginger 1 T sugar
Bring honey to a boil, simmer two or three
minute, stir in breadcrumbs with a spatula until
uniformly mixed. Remove from heat, stir in
ginger, pepper, and saunders. (If you can't get
long pepper, substitute ordinary black pepper.)
When it is cool enough to handle, knead it to get
spices thoroughly mixed. Put it in a box, cookie
tin, or the like, squish it flat and thin,
sprinkle with sugar and put cloves ornamentally
around the edge. Leave it to let the clove flavor
sink in; do not eat the cloves.
An alternative way of doing it is to roll into
small balls, roll in sugar mixed with a pinch of
cloves, then flatten them a little to avoid
confusion with hais. This is suitable if you are
making them today and eating them tomorrow.
--
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 19:51:05 -0500
From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Portable Lunch Foods
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
<<< Kingstaste: What I'm looking for now is suggestions for other period
prepared foods that would do well in our bento lunch boxes while at
the war. >>>
I'd suggest trying some of these things at home before the war.
Less period ideas: sushi or summer rolls in rice paper can be filled with anything you want. Last time I made sushi for a group, one kind was "red neck sushi" filled with cold chicken, sweet potato and green beans.
Blanch cabbage leaves use them instead of bread for "pies". Cabbage might hold up better than lettuce, which wilts pretty quickly in the heat. Or pack things to be wrapped, and pack the lettuce on its own.
You could make an bento-like assortment of bits of period things. A piece of chicken cubed or sliced, some cold smoked meat, or roasted then night before, sauce or mustard to dip them into, a piece of sausage, some fresh fruit (grapes, oranges, cherries, peaches, plums, etc), a bit of good cheese, some cooked or raw veggies, some cabbage salad, some pickled veggies, a bit of cold omelet or hard boiled egg, some rice or mancho blanco, a piece of dried fruit, a sweet cake or a piece of marzipan or a little sweet preserves.
Rumpolt has kn?dels or meatballs of various meats and poultry that could work cold, a lot of salad ideas, "Zugeh?rung" or relishes, as well as many pies meant to be served cold, and krapfen or filled ravioli.
Hammel 39. Take the flesh from the hind leg/ and cut it out/ and take fresh unsalted bacon/ and a little onion/ chop it together until it becomes small/ do ground pepper and no eggs in it/ and make longish dumplings (or meatballs)/ lay them on a grill/ and steam it with onions or with juniper berries/ be it sour or not/ like it is in both manners good. You can also make such dumplings/ like one makes from veal meat/ with beef or with white weck bread/ like this it is all the more mild/ still that one can make them with all that belongs with it/ be it white or yellow.
Spensaw 23. Smoked or salted pig is not also bad/ serve it cold or warm/ It is good in both manners or cook under green cabbage/ with sour herb or with spinach/or Bisenkraut which one otherwise calls Roman cabbage.
Spensaw 25. Steamed dumplings/ white in their own stock/or make yellow/ cut the leg from the hind quarter/ chop the meat small/ wind it over the leg/ set it to and let simmer/ make it with parsley Root or sour with lemon/ be it yellow or white/ with Groselbeer or Agrastbeer/ when it has simmered / then lay on a grill/ and brown/ and make a stock under it.
Indianischen Henn 7. Take a half breast/ that is raw/ and make dumplings from it/ be they yellow or white.
Indianischen Henn 9. You might also well make a mince from it/ if it white/ then take a clear chicken stock/ if it is instead roasted/ then take a brown stock/ that you have poured off from a Roast/ with a hen stock/ that is very lightly salted. When one will serve it on a table/ then one squeezes sour Seville orange juice into it/ like this it will be good and lovely.
Lachs 1. Simmered salmon you can give warm or cold
Some cold menu items:
A veal roast cold/ sprinkled with oranges.
A hare/ sprinkled with sour lemon.
An Indian hen (turkey) cold/ with red beets.
A pheasant cold/ with cherry sauce poured over/ and sugarcoated confits thrown over.
Grouse cold/ chopped citron put over/ and with pomegranate kernels thrown over.
Zerbenade sausage cold.
Bleeding? partridge/ with toasted slices (of bread)/ softened in Malvasier wine/ and small confits thrown over
A white boiled hen cold/ with its broth/ grated almonds strained/ that the broth becomes well thick/ and let cool/ and poured over the hen/also of various colors/ confits thrown over.
A pressed pigs head cold.
A venison roast cold.
Endive salad.
Head (cabbage?) salad.
Chicory root salad.
Sugar root salad.
Chicory that is poached/ in water/ also a salad.
Head salad white/ that is poached and made sweet.
A cardoon salad/ given raw on the table/ and made with pepper and salt.
A poached cardoon salad.
From various green herbs a salad/ and borage flowers sprinkled over.
Citron chopped small/ prepared with sugar/ and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.
A pie from a wild pig cold.
A snipe pie.
Cold boiled deer feet and a sweet mustard poured over.
Cold roasted turkey
Cold capon sprinkled with oranges
A smoked tongue
Cold boiled beef in salt
A cold wild roast from a deer
A cold roast goose/ a cold pork roast/ and a calf breast that is filled/ all arranged in a dish
Cold peas with vinegar
Ranvaig
To: Authentic_SCA at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Preparing an Elizabethan Picnic
Posted by: "Mary Llewellyn" mary.m.llewellyn at gmail.com vielleplayer
Date: Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:14 pm (PST)
If you look up Lady Fettiplace's Receipt Book (which is a delight!),
there are some descriptions of food meant to be eaten outdoors, for
example, during a summer fruit harvest. I don't have my copy handy,
but I remember one dish, "Fraises", which are basically thick, eggy
pancakes rolled around a filling of applesauce. I've made them from
Lady F's book, and they are both easy to make and delicious.
References to fraises go back at least to Chaucer's time, IIRC.
Fresh berries in season are always welcome at a picnic and could be
used to fill the fraises, too. Or preserves (jams, jellies, and
marmalades), which are period for Elizabethan/Jacobean cooking, as the
large amounts of sugar required first became available in about the
1540s. By Elizabeth's time, preserving was a highly esteemed art
practiced by gentlewomen, as documented in Lady F's book, which is
also full of wonderful preserve recipes.
There's a lot to be said for simple, fresh food prepared well,
especially at a picnic. Sounds like it'll be a lovely event!
Adelicia di Rienzi
Barony of Lyondemere, Kingdom of Caid
To: Authentic_SCA at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Preparing an Elizabethan Picnic
Posted by: "Richard of Essex" RichardofEssex at gmail.com richardofessex
Date: Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:15 pm (PST)
Thank you for your input Lady Magdalena. We were planning on going
around Easter time and buying up a bunch of little baskets to use as
the feast tokens. We would then tie a colored ribbon to them and you
would present it to the feastocrat when the time comes to get your
"picnic". The ribbon would be removed by the feastocrat to show
you've claimed your food. We were thinking of going with some sort of
meat and bread item (veggie or meat pies were recommended to cover
both items), a fruit and/or vegetable dish, and some sort of pastry.
It would all be prepared prior to the event and served cold. Then the
person would find a nice spot outside to sit and have their "picnic".
:) I had originally thought of having the picnic after all the
tournaments are done (since the fighters might not want to eat while
fighting), but I will talk with our feastocrat about it. Also the
event will be held here in the Middle Kingdom, in the Shire of
Tirnewydd (columbus Ohio) so you are of course more than welcome to
travel here to attend. :)
Richard of Essex
--
Richard of Essex
Lance of Saint George
House of the Tudor Rose
To: Authentic_SCA at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Preparing an Elizabethan Picnic
Posted by: "Elizabeth Walpole" ewalpole at grapevine.com.au e_walpole
Date: Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:55 am (PST)
-----Original Message-----
We were thinking of going with some sort of meat and bread item
(veggie or meat pies were recommended to cover both items), a fruit and/or
vegetable dish, and some sort of pastry.
Richard of Essex
------------------------------------
The last two events I've been involved in organising both had a finger food
aim, but it's nice if you can have stuff that doesn't involve pastry as
there are a lot of people who can't eat wheat/gluten and although we did
make some gluten free pastry (actually the lady who had a gluten intolerance
volunteered to help with the cooking and made the pastry herself) it was
much harder to work with than regular wheat pastry. Although it's probably
not very English 16th century (although it might be worth checking out how
far back Dolmades go in the Mediterranean) wrapping food in leaves or maybe
stuffed vegetables might work.
Elizabeth
-----------------------------------------
Elizabeth Walpole | Elizabeth Beaumont
Canberra, Australia | Politarchopolis, Lochac
<the end>