May 9th’s Culinary Night was a little smaller than we’ve been used to in recent months – the season really starts to kick off in May in Avacal, and stretches right through to September. Most of our members were either gearing up for camping or trying to catch up with mundane life!
We had an absolutely heaving table, though! Ása and I had our recipes to test for the Grand TUA feast, and Lianora had put on (almost completely by herself – a huge feat!) a non-SCA Medieval feast for something like forty people that week, so she brought tons of her leftovers to share with everyone.
Caiaphas and Francis do frequent experiments with frozen period treats – surprisingly enough, the technology existed in period! Apparently, they used a chemical reaction with saltpeter to reduce the temperature quickly enough for things to freeze. They decided to make orange sherbet today, using regular navel oranges and sugar. Delicious!
Audrey brought a family recipe for stroganoff; she didn’t have much time, but always brings something to share anyway! It was delicious. She also baked some sourdough bread to go with our butters.
Master Thorvald often brings fish dishes, which I always enjoy a lot because it’s not something often served in the SCA. (At least, not where we are!) This night’s offering was steelhead trout in daube sauce, which was pleasingly tart.
Drífa came with some pickled carrots; it’s always so nice when people bring preserves, since I think they were such an important part of our collective diets up until the 20th century! Her carrots had plenty of anise in them. Super delicious!
Lianora’s offerings were amazing. First, there was cormarye – a marinated pork dish which is always very popular with us. She made chard in butter, roasted potatoes, boiled quail eggs, a soup of mixed greens (not dissimilar to the one Borealis brought for TUA – very delicious!) a “sour cherry sauce” (a really unique flavor – like a savory pudding,) and some venison, which is a special treat for those of us without a regular supply of game meat.
Ása brought her delicious peeres in confyt and herb butter, and I brought a salad (they’re period! I promise to do a post about this) with vinaigrette, honey butter, applemoyse, and my ‘snowe.’
We had a great conversation about the future of the Culinary Group – some months, we’re so big that we don’t all fit comfortably in Caiaphas and Francis’ house anymore! We all feel strongly that we never charge anyone money to attend Culinary Night, so that’s something we’ll have to figure out in the future.
Here’s what was brought!
Near row: chard in butter, cormarye
Next: pickled carrot; potato; quail egg; apple moyse
Next: mixed greens soup; orange sherbet; honey butter;
Next: sour cherry sauce; venison; stroganoff
Next: steelhead trout in daube sauce; herb butter; bread
Next: salad; whipped cream snow; reduced pear syrup (almost entirely hidden); pears
Until next time!
– Alice Percy
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