Friday 26 August 2011

Raglan Feast Menu and recipe sources

I promised I would post sources for the recipes from Raglan's feast, along with any modifications I can remember having made. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Post-Raglan Kitchen notes

 After cooking the feast at Raglan this year, several people were surprised that a feast could be produced under the unusual conditions they saw in the kitchen. While a good magician never reveals her tricks, a cook doesn’t have the same restriction.

Midday Meal


Welcome back to the kitchen.  Breakfast has been cleared and cleaned, the fighters are on the field, and classes are in full-swing. Most people will acknowledge that Breakfast is important to get the day started, and the Feast is often the High point of the event. Still, if people are too hungry they won’t properly appreciate the Feast, and moods sour quickly if the populace isn’t properly fed. Therefore, we need to offer a hearty meal in the middle of the day to refuel everyone from the vigors of the morning’s activities in preparation for the rest of the day.

Breakfast

Good morning, and welcome back to the Kitchen. I hope you slept well. Start the kettle for your coffee or tea while I light the stove and we’ll get started.

Everyone knows that mornings at most events start a bit slowly. Saturday mornings people are recovering from travel, and Sunday mornings people are recovering from Saturday’s fighting and revelry. There is one person, however, who can’t afford to be sluggish first thing in the morning - the breakfast cook.

Traveler's Fare

Food sets the tone for any event. Hungry people get grumpy, while well-fed people can enjoy the multitude of available activities provided by the event staff. Feast is the center-point of the event, from the kitchen staff’s point of view, and the other meals take a back-burner (so to speak). However, with a bit of clever planning, the smaller meals can be just as enjoyable an experience as feast, and set the stage nicely for the rest of the event. To this end, I will be writing a small series of articles including tips and tricks for making the non-feast meals at events an enjoyable experience. For this month, we’ll start at the beginning of the event - Traveler’s fare. 

Monday 1 August 2011

An introduction - a bit about me

I've been in the SCA for over 15 years, and have been cooking at events on and off for the last 10.

I made my first experimental forays into feast cooking while I was still in the states in around 2002. After moving to Drachenwald, and Insulae Draconis in particular, the bar was raised much higher for the level of cooking expected at events. I have been enjoying my time here feeling my way through different styles of cooking, and it was suggested that I start teaching. Well, I don't currently have any students, and I'm not sure how to teach what I do, so instead I'm writing articles and blogs, and hoping that may help others.