More time needed

Okay. So I WAS going to enter Regionals this year. I could. I would not be happy with my entries. See here are the issues. In the Almond skyr recipe, I can use wine or vinegar. Originally I was thinking of using wine but I would not be able to approximate wine from that time period with a satisfactory level of confidence. So, decided on vinegar, specifically malt. So I then started researching vinegars. Supposedly period vinegars were weaker than modern day. Yet I've found no actual evidence starting this. I have found tons of evidence for modern vinegar brewing that says each batch is a living thing and you won't know the acidity levels until it's done. That tells me it was the same then as it is now. I'm sure they used the same process of introducing a 'mother vinegar' to feed off the ale and make the resulting vinegar. So, I'm going to get some low hops, malt ale from one of the local brewers and then make my own using a commercially available unpasteurized vinegar as a mother.  This will result in a milder tasting vinegar according to various home brew websites, and I believe a less pungent "cheese." This sounds more acceptable to me.

So, Curds of almond milk - Make Malt Vinegar, Make Almond Milk

That brings us to the Kaliis, essentially milk, bread, and eggs.
Baking the Bread:

I could use commercial yeast or a sourdough starter, except all of my research indicates that didn't happen until much later. That most yeast for bread baking was acquired from the local brewers, from the barm of the ale. This was mixed with flour and water and used as leavening. So, when I acquire the ale for the vinegar, I will also be acquiring some barm. This will of course need to be experimented. I am experienced with sourdough starters and commercial yeast, but barms are way out of my comfort zone. I'll be using a bread recipe of a mix of wheat and barley flours. This would have been acceptable according to the region and still technically wheat bread without the addition of rye flour. I anticipate several tests will be needed.

Then the Sauce for Lords.

Need malt vinegar and bread crumbs. See above. The spices would be acquired from a trader. I will use Spicewells.

I could just use store bought and commercially available products. Not going to. The Almond curds will still be cooked over coals as will the kaliis. I'm thinking of doing this at Foxhunt 8, when I'll be cooking some of the dishes over fire pits and wood fires. Before that though I will make it at least once on a commercial range. 

Midlands Regional Preparation

13th Century Cooking Pot

Bean Pot














So, I'm entering my first A&S Competition. Three entries into Division 5, Single Dish.

Kaliis
Sour Curds of Almond Milk
Sauce for Lords

All of the entries are recipes from northern European manuscripts from the 13th century. My main source book is Libellus De Arte Coquinaria


Kaliis is basically wheat bread crusts, cooked with milk and thickened with egg. I will make it as is. But then I will also make it with the addition of cinnamon and possibly other spices, also thinking about butter. There is no mention of any fruit in the cookbook. Honey is only used in sauces. Sugar is only mentioned once in a dish for the sick. I would speculate that the dish was eaten with bits of meat, probably as a breakfast dish. Definitely not safe for Lenten times. I haven't decided how I will cook this yet. It's possible I will use a clay pot or I may actually use a more shallow pan since it instructs to simmer it. I imagine it to be very similar to 'white mush' with the consistency of a gruel or cream of wheat. The recipe before it for white mush recommends flavoring it with butter and cinnamon and saffron. I'll try it both ways. I'm wondering if it will be possible to have it for sampling at the competition. I could always have it in a crockpot and then put it into the serving dish when it was time. But have in the documentation actual photos of me doing it over a flame in an earthenware vessel. That reminds me, that I should ask if I can have power.

Edited to add: Have researched milk and bread. Have decided to bake a bread of wheat flour, using a starter developed with fermented dough, as the recipe specifically mentions wheat bread. I have decided it is to keep the cook from using the more common rye bread. For the milk, I will use oberwise brand whole milk as technically the cream content is the same as raw milk and it's not legal to purchase raw milk where I reside. Eggs I will use large size vegetarian fed chicken eggs, unless research indicates otherwise. The flour I will use Bob's Red Mill Brand as a personal preference of their level of quality.

Sour Curds of Almond Milk is a Lenten version of Skyr. A spoon-curd cheese that has been eaten since the Viking Age at least and still to this day in Iceland and Scandinavia. This was not a common food as it requires wine and almonds. The recipe says wine or vinegar. I am choosing to use wine. I've narrowed it down to a Chenin Blanc. Since during this time period France and Spain were the leading exporters of wine to the Northern lands and Britain. Also Denmark had a tight trade relationship with England since they were England's gateway to the Baltic trade routes. England was favoring French wines because of the marriage of Henry and Elinore (sp?) Check later. I chose white to keep the curd white as I speculate that the Lenten substitute would want to seem as close to the actual product as possible. The food of the time also seemed to favor white foods. Plus, honestly the idea of pink-ish fruity curd cheese sounds revolting to me. I will serve it with bread. Possibly honey as a drizzle as Skyr has been known to be enjoyed with honey since the Viking Age. For this recipe, I will also be making my own almond milk, cooking over an open flame, in a clay cooking pot very similar to the 13th century cooking pots shown in the Museum of London collection shown above. The 13th century pot in actually approximately 10 inches in height and 12 inches in circumference. The modern lead-free clay bean pot in approximately 8 inches in height and 10 inches in circumference. This will be kept cool until serving. Since it would be most likely made for Lent that is a cool season and it wouldn't have been a problem.

Edited to add: Still going with a wine, as almonds indicate a recipe for a wealthy house. While researching vinegars for the Sauce for Lords, I decided that the most logical choice of vinegar would be malt, as it comes from malted barley, brewed into an ale and soured. In Denmark, at the time, ale was the most common drink and barley the most cultivated crop, specifically to make ale. So while I could use malt vinegar for this recipe I am still choosing to use wine, to keep with the theme of affluence my recipe choices indicate.

A Sauce for Lords is an interesting spiced vinegar sauce, thickened with bread crumbs. Luckily I will have bread from the Kaliis recipe and will use the same kind for both. A wholewheat bread made from a sour starter. I haven't decided or researched enough to decide whether to use a red or white vinegar...though a malt vinegar may be acceptable too. One solution could be to try it three times with all three as they all may have been used. The other creative license I was considering was the addition of raisins to balance the sour, as suggested in the notes of the book, on that particular recipe. If I did it would be in addition to making the sauce as stated, without. Since it mirrors a very popular sauce of the time period that in other sources adds various dried fruits, I feel comfortable that it's within the scope of the project.  This will be room temperature and I need to find a cask for it. I'm also going to roast some duck, cover it in sauce and salt it, for tasting, as the recipe directly after suggests for its purpose.

Edited to add: Going to use malt vinegar. Wine would have been imported and possibly too expensive to allow to sour or too scarce to allow souring. Malt vinegar would have been more readily available more cost effective for preservation.

More to come....

Foxhunt VII - Nanban Invasion

Feast Menu

Sake Sashimi - Salmon sashimi
Bluefin Tuna Giri
YakiGyoza – Pork pan dumplings
Kitsune Udon – “Fox Noodles” Noodles with deep-fried tofu and Kombu Dashi
Nabeyaki Udon – Noodles with egg, fishcake, chicken, mushrooms and Bonito-Dashi
Umeboshi glazed Beef Dango - meatballs in a pickled plum and miso sauce

Kyuri to Wakame no Sunomono – Cucumber and Seaweed salad
Asazuke Hakusai – Quick Pickled Veggies with wasabi
Kome - Rice

Sweets:
Ichigo Daifuku( Strawberry and Anko Mochi),
Yokan (Anko)
Tofudango (skewered Sweet Soy sauce dumplings)
Fresh Fruit - Melons, Asian Pears, Lychees, Oranges

Drinks:
Hot Green Tea
Ume Syrup Drink (Cold)

Lunch:
Ginger Scallion Chicken Onigiri
Sweet Bean Paste Buns

 Or

Portuguese  Feijoada (Meat and Bean Soup)
Rice and Sauteed Kale
Pasteis de Nata – Custard puff pastry pies

For this feast I was completely out of my knowledge comfort zone. I knew vague ideas of modern Japanese food from Culinary school. I've also had experience making sushi in restaurants so that made it a little easier.

My main source for this feast was The Oxford Companion to Food, wikipedia, food-timeline, and a youtube channel called "Cooking with Dog." Hilarious. Check it out. That nice little Japanese woman taught me how to fold gyoza and make udon noodles. All the sweets too. If you can call them that. They were not delicious. We did them accurately. People who enjoy mocchi treats did enjoy them. I did not. Everything else was very well received.
We rented large noodle bowls, tea pots, and smaller bowls to use as Japanese style teacups. We hot bottomless hot green tea. There were paper banners with calligraphy hanging from the rafters and tall orchids and bamboo on the tables.

In doing my research, I learned to focus on clean fresh flavors, seasonality, and presentation. The Japanese in period did not have an abundance of different foods. They subsisted on what was available, but they prepared it perfectly and made sure it was pleasing to the eye as well as the mouth. I was hesitant to agree to preparing this feast. In the end I'm glad I went through with it. It was a valuable learning experience and gave me a great new perspective.

Ayreton Carnivale

Carnivale Feast Menu

Smoked Brisket
His Excellency, Serjeant Henry of Exeter

Roast Pork with Fig Sauce
Mistress Gianetta Andreini da Vicenza

Vegetable Barley Soup
Dame Jocelyn of Lutterworth

Chicken Bitka with horseradish cream
Recipe Courtesy of Lady Bojei Timur

Pickled Cucumber and Eggs
Baroness Sarafina Sinclair

Spanish Salad
The Honorable Lady Elaine Ladd

Saffron Ryse with raisins of corrance
Dame Nicholaa Halden

Seasonal Fruit Pies
Mistress Margherita Alessia

Apple Pies
Lady Ann of Walton Woods

Beer Bread
Lady Marissa de Courette

Chicken Bitka
Rose Cream Pudding
Foxvale’s infamous Carrot Fritters
Syrup of Basil
Syrup of Sour Grapes
Lady Kara Atladottir

This feast was a fun feast. When I started to plan it, I really wanted to encourage Baronial participation. So I suggested it be a "Taste" of Ayreton. I chose types of dishes, proteins, vegetables, starches, sweets, and then thought long and hard about who of the talented cooks of our area I'd like to reach out to and what I'd like them to make. Once I had the major dishes out of the way, I allowed any other volunteers to offer up their specialty. It was served buffet style, with the meat being carved, mostly because of the space constraints of the site. Once the dishes were assigned and budget numbers alloted, all I did was sit back and wait until the day of to prepare my dishes and receive the already prepared and assigned menu items.

Very well received.

Elizabethan Picnic Vigil

At Simple Day this year, my newly acquired laurel was put on "surprise" vigil for the Order of the Pelican. Way before she took me as an apprentice, I had been sought out to throw her an Elizabethan surprise vigil on par with a picnic. All recipes came from or were inspired by To the Queen's Taste or

Here's the menu:

Fennel Pork Sausage with Goose sauce
(Cold Sausages and Mustard Onion Sauce)
Cold Roasted Pork loin with Rosemary

Minst Pyes
Small meat and dried fruit pies

Cheeses - Apricot Stilton, Cashel Blue, Stout Cheddar
Fig Conserve
White and Brown Breads
Butter

Baked Pudding in the Italian Fashion
Bread pudding with apples and bacon
(She loves bread pudding)

Fine Cakes
(Shortbread cookies) some with Anise seed and some with rosewater and red rose petals.
Fresh Fruit
Watermelon, Pineapple, Cherries

Marchepan Pelican Plaque

Lemonade
Dried Cherry Red Wine Cordial

Viking Child!

Fun Pic of my daughter.

Queen's Pennsic XL Openning Ceremonies Garb

This Garb was made for HRM Runa Kirri, post baby. Based on a speculative grave find in which a trefoil brooch was found at center waist placement with seamed edge fragments still attached. Decided this was the most convenient for easy feeding of the little one. The underdress was pleated and trimmed in tablet weaving. It was all seam finished by hand using a number of decorative stitches. Her Majesty was very pleased.

Some Embroidery

A Project For His Excellency, the Baron of Ayreton

A Project For Myself

A Project for HRM EikBrandr II Coronation Robe Arm Bands

My First Scroll Assignments

After doing the blanks it was suggested I contact my regional signet and ask for upcoming assignments. Here are the results.

Illumination

At the Vanished Woods All Souls event, it was also a scribal symposium. I took a class on a whim on how to make scroll blanks for the beginner. I REALLY enjoyed it. Not sure why I hadn't tried it before. Since I can't do anything small, I decided to partner up and do half the alphabet in scroll blanks. A-M, no j. J is a new letter. Below are the ones I did. These are my first blanks. I did them between November and January, A.S. 45.  

Cooks Collegium Coffeehouse and Coffeehouse Class

Because of the Coffeehouse I planned and ran at the 40 year celebration, I was asked to plan and run a more period version for the Cooks Collegium when it took place in the Barony of Ayreton, specifically in the Canton of Vanished Woods.

The research for the coffeehouse was extensive so I actually turned it into a class handout to be available to my customers if they were interested. Anyone interested in the class notes, feel free to contact me.

Courage Tart
England – 1588 The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the kitchen, Thomas Dawson, 39


Banbury Cakes
England 1649 - The English Hous-wife, Gervase Markham, 80.


Shortbread Cookies (Fine Cakes)
England – 1588 The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the kitchen, Thomas Dawson


Lebanese Baklava
Baghdad 1226 – Kitab al-Tabikh, Muhammad bin al-Hasan b. Muhammad b. al-Karim.
Translated by Charles Perry, 99.


Helva
Persia 800-1000, Medieval Islamic Civilization:An Encyclopedia, Vol.1, Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach, 204


Simit
Istanbul 1500s -  Seyahatname, Evliya Celebi.
"By the mid 1600s there were 70 bakeries, employing 300 bakers, in Istanbul alone according to Celebi and simit making was a regulated profession with numerous rules and strictures governing the bakers."


Tutmac
Baghdad from 1069–1073 - The Divan-ı Lüğat-i Türk, Mahmud al Kashgari


Ember Day Tart
England 1300s -  Curye on Inglish, Constance B. Hieatt (ed.), Sharon Butler (ed.)

Everything was very well received. The Ember Day Tart I made deep dish so it was more substantial, like a quiche. I made the noodles for the Tutmac from scratch. The Lebanese baklava was actually redacted from a recipe in The Baghdad Cookery Book. Wasn't able to find a recipe on the web to link.

I gave out a good number of recipe redactions that day and sold out.

Foxhunt - VI

Foxhunt VI, also known as Rose Tourney and the Baronial Investiture of Ayreton.

Promulsis
Mulsum
A spiced and sweet aperitif (Wine reduction based, non-alcoholic)
Epityrum  - Olive tapenade with flat breads
Dressed Figs with Ham, Cheese, Nuts, Honey
Honored Cheese - Herbed cheese garnished with six pointed stars of parsley and lavender
Roasted "Fox Tongues"

Gustaitio
Patina of Anchovies without Anchovies - Egg custards with smoked trout and dill
Roasted Ham with cooked with Honey and Salt, Sliced Apples and Pickled Onions
Salad of Red grapes and mozzarella cheese with black and green olives

Cena Prima
Caged, Spit Roasted "Peacocks and Cranes," Dressed
Roasted Ducks and Chickens in costume
Fried Turnips
Puls of Spelt with Grilled Celery

Cena Altera
Conciclan Apicianam - Peas and Broad Beans with Smoked Pork Sausages
Radicchio and Endive with Pine Nuts and Raisins, Oil and Vinegar
Fried Squash with garum and black pepper

Mensa Secunda
Dates preserved in Rose Petal Honey
Globi - Fried Bread glazed in honey
A Salad of Fresh Fruits

This feast was Psick. (Like Phat) It also had soooo many issues. There was no kitchen. The preparation area that houses 6 counter-top roasters and the refrigeration units were located approximately 100 yards from the grills and propane burners. The dish sink was outdoors and 200 yards from where we were serving feast, 100 yards from the preparation area and 250 yards away from the grills. Maintaining food safety was my main priority. My second priority was serving delicious food for 250 people. High feast (above) was sold out at 100+. Low feast was sold out at 100, in addition to all the serving staff and support staff and comped diners.

This feast was heavily researched. All recipes were authentic directly from Apicius. Everything was made, from scratch. The sausages, the breads, the mulsum-wine. Everything. I had a staff of two assistant cooks and two grill cooks. We fed 250 people. Biggest mistake: Not realizing there was no outdoor lighting. Because court ran long, it got dark, we had no light. So in come the volunteers holding flashlights, or parking cars pointing their headlights at us while we plated in the dark.

The first course was a passed appetizer course in keeping with roman tradition and started with a sweet wine. The second course involved spit roasted chickens and ducks. That for head table was dressed like a peacock in a bread dough lattice-work cage.

The third course, for head table involved a plaster pig that was eviscerated having the grilled sausages spilling forth like entrails.

The last course were the delicate sweets.

The 'fox tongues' were a play on a Roman recipe called 'peacock tongues.' They were grilled chicken breast tenderloin strip that were glazed with a Roman BBQ-like fig sauce.

Foxhunt V

Feast Menu for Foxhunt V
A Pilgrimage from Rome to the Holy Land

On the Table
Ciabatta
Olives and Grapes
Olive Oil

Rome
Smoked Pork
Gnocchi with Romano and Brown Butter
Carrot Fritters

Constantinople
Fatoush Salad
Chicken Kabob
Grilled Vegetables

Jerusalem
Baba Gnoush
Beef Kefta
Grilled Lamb
Cucumber and Yogurt Salad

Finale
Barbousa – Middle Eastern Semolina Cake
Galaktoboureko – Greek Custard in Phyllo
Coconut Date Rolls

For this feast, I had interest from two, new to cooking feasts, people who wanted to cook specific things. One person wanted to smoke pork shoulders. One person wanted to make Middle Eastern foods. The way we compromised was to have a traveling menu. We started in Italy where pork is king and traveled to the middle east. In addition to the counter-top roasters and fryers, we decided to rent grills. Of course it was an intensely windy day, causing the fire and heat to fluctuate. We remedied this by increasing the fire with wood in addition to charcoal. Since everything we were grilling was quick-cooking items this worked just fine. Had we been cooking larger cuts of meat we would have had to create make-shift grill/ovens to keep the heat and temperature constant.

We used  A Baghdad Cookery Book for inspiration, but also added some more modern recipes by request of one of the interested parties.

Foxhunt IV

Foxhunt 2008
Feast Menu
(Brought to you by the letter B. B is for Barony.)

Board
Garlic Paste
Honeyed Apple Butter
Dark Oaten Bread
Manchet (White Bread)

Bird
Fowl in Yogurt with Ginger
Leek Salad with Marbled Eggs, Herbs and Flowers
Rice with Roasted Chickpeas
Swan stuffed with Crystal Eggs – A subtlety

Beast
Swine with Apples and Apricots
Parsnips with Buttered Greens
Salad of Melons
Apricot Delight

Bounty
Pomegranate Beef
A Dish of Eggplant
Lentils with Spinach
Pistachio and Apple Pastry

Baked
Presented Dessert Finale

This feast was inspired by the Middle East, slightly Turkish. I was going for English meets influences from the Crusades. Again, everything is period possible and based on seasonality of ingredients. I used the 13th Century Andalusian cookbook for inspiration and input of cooking style and technique. I was still limited by the facilities. Using only counter top roasters, and prepping ahead of time. The 'Swans with Crystal Eggs' were actually honeydew melons, carved into swan shapes, that held mock-sugar crystallized grapes. The 'Marbled Eggs' were hard-boiled eggs, That were cracked and patch-peeled then soaked in warm soy sauce for and hour before cooling.
The order of the menu items a classic example of cheapest to most expensive. It is always more cost effective to serve the cheaper ingredients and dishes before the expensive ones during a multi course meal so that the diners end up eating less as the meal continues.

For the Dessert Finale, this event was near the start of the local push for the five shires to become a Barony, yet to remain separate and equal Cantons. So each shire was baked a small yeast risen, Banburry-like Cake with its Device made in marzipan on the top.

Foxhunt I - 2005

Event Theme - Generic Medieval Hunting Feast
4 Removes

Grain bread and fresh herb lemon cheese, honey
Grapes
Cold Meat Pie with onions

Roast Venison with apples
Salat of greens and herbs
Lentil Pottage with dried fruit

Fresh Fowl stuffed with grapes
Oat Pilaf with forest mushrooms and leeks
Carrot Fritters with ginger cream 

Marzipan filled dates
Claret Pears

This was my first feast cooked in this Kingdom. Nothing was researched or documented besides seasonality of ingredients and period possible foods/cooking techniques. At the time, I had just graduated from culinary school and was completing an internship in upper Michigan. I specifically drove down for the weekend to cook at the event and then had to be back to work Monday morning. This facility was a fairground, with no actual kitchen. Everything was cooked in counter top roasters, propane fryers, and camp stoves, or prepared ahead of time. The lemon cheese was prepared on site by adding lemon juice to whole milk over a fire until reaching the appropriate temperature cooling, straining, and hanging 4 hours prior to serving.
The "Fresh Fowl" was a combination of freshly hunted Michigan geese, as well as purchased pheasant, quail, and capons. For the head table, the goose was presented with the preserved and oven-sanitized wings, stretched to seem 'in flight.' Was a very dramatic and well received presentation. This was the first appearnce of my soon to become, infamous, carrot fritters. This experience set me on the path toward wanting to improve my knowledge of period cooking, techniques, ingredients, as well as feast design and execution. The limitations of the facility I found particularly challenging and enjoyed having to work with would I had to the best of my abilities. That is something I still enjoy and have actual become someone to consult during feast planning when other feast stewards encounter logistical problems.