A& 50 Project #7 - Mixed Loaves #1

Today's project is a braided loaf of white and pumpernickle rye bread.  I was concerned, because rye bread is a lot denser than a basic wheat bread, and I wasn't sure how they'd do together in the same loaf.  Fortunately, my experiment worked!

To start off, I actually created the sponge last night, mixing the rye flour, water, and yeast together and letting it sit overnight.  This particular recipe called for a rather stiff sponge, so I wasn't sure what I was going to find this morning, but luckily it did seem to rise, albeit not as "fluffy" as a basic processed white flour sponge normally typically becomes.  It certainly was a lot denser to work with as I kneaded the bread flour into the rye sponge.  The rye flour creates an almost grainy textured dough, and it's very heavy and not as elastic as a "white bread" dough. 

Molasses gives it a nice brown colour, however! (I've read you can add cocoa powder if you want to make it a very dark rye bread. I refuse to use cocoa in my cooking when it comes to Anything SCA, mostly because I don't like chocolate, and it's a *very* late period ingredient anyway, which none of my personas would have known about!)

For the rest of the braid, I just used a basic white bread recipe.  I made two braids.  I think next time I will do a twist instead.  The Two-Pumpernickle/One White braid looks pretty, the Two-White/One Pumpernickle looks a little odd. ;)

The braids were brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with a little bit of coarse salt, then baked at 350 until shiny and hollow-sounding.  The rye did not rise as much as the wheat, as can be seen in the "Unbaked" picture above.  I was a little worried at this point, but there's nothing to do but see what happens at this point, so into the oven we go!

Through some miracle of bread-making, the rye rose beautifully in the oven, and texture-wise, although it is a slightly denser dough, it baked up into a lovely loaf, with little differentiation, aside from the colour/flavour (caraway and molasses will do that!), in the crumb.





Next time I will definitely do a basic two-strand twist, rather than a braid, to get a more even distribution of the different doughs.  (If I do a braid, I'll throw in a third type of dough, perhaps a basic whole wheat?)  That being said, this loaf is *delicious* and pretty enough to serve as a centerpiece for a family dinner, which is how this batch will be used, for a New Year's day dinner. :)



Lussakatter : A&S 50 Challenge Project #6

In our modern calendar, Dec. 13th is celebrated by some as the Feast of Saint Lucy.  In Sweden it has a very special observance, with a processional, candles, and, most importantly for my purposes, a special saffron bread which I am going to attempt to recreate!  (If you're interested in learning more about this tradition, you can read about it here.)  This particular celebration is actually something I first learned about when I was in elementary school about thirty years ago, and at my church (Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie) we have a woman who brought this tradition to the church over forty years ago, and it's still going strong.  Within the SCA, my Pelican, Meistara Thorhalla Carlsdottir af Broberg, is Swedish both in mundane and persona.  This one's for you, Mama T!

For the uninitiated, saffron is pricey!  Saffron is the dried "threads" from the crocus blossom.  We purchased 1.7 grams (yes... one-point-seven grams) of saffron last night for $15.55.  (that's enough for two batches of this recipe, as an example...).  In comparison, crack cocaine's most current prices (according to this site ) is about $40 per quarter ounce.  So technically, saffron is cheaper than crack, but it sure doesn't feel like it!   

In the kitchen, saffron is the world's most expensive spice.  (Seriously.  Click here to read about saffron prices!) As a side note, there are a number of "faux saffron" substitutes available which will create a similar colour, although the flavour is affected (not negatively, but it is a different flavour!).  If saffron is out of your budget, I recommend trying this recipe anyway and using turmeric or "Portuguese saffron" which is actually the stamens of the safflower plant.  READ THE LABELS carefully if you choose to use a saffron substitute.  Don't be misled just because the label says "saffron"!

Another tip: "real" saffron is packaged like the precious cargo it is.  The actual threads are in a small plastic package, inside a white paper package, inside this glass bottle which is sealed.  I'm fairly certain in some supermarkets you have to actually get it from the pharmacy, with the other controlled substances!  (OK, not really, but it is really, really well packaged.  Do not be alarmed!)  You may find (especially in some Hispanic food sections) "saffron" in a small cellophane bag.  It's good.  It's just not "the real deal."  (I have used that with good results for various rice dishes tho!)

 Saffron has a very unique, almost bitter aroma, and it imparts an incredibly rich orange-yellow colour to foods cooked with it (paella uses saffron!). 

For this recipe I ground the threads with a small amount of sugar, and steeped the resulting powder in warm milk.  The colour was exceptionally vibrant (my cell phone camera doesn't do it justice!), and I began to feel hopeful that this was going to work!

Here's the saffron all ground up with some sugar (I think this provides a little more of an abrasive surface, grinding the saffron finely).

Here you can see the colour of the milk right after the ground saffron was mixed in.  The colour deepened considerably as it steeped, while the milk was cooling down to a manageable temperature (approx 100F).

The recipe I used also called for "quark," which is apparently a type of European cheese which I don't have in my kitchen (I am so ashamed...). Cream cheese was listed as a reasonable substitute, however, so I mixed that in.  The dough is very rich and shiny with butter and cream cheese and milk all added to the flour/etc.  At this point the recipe becomes a fairly standard bread recipe, kneading, kneading, kneading... The recipe states that the dough should be shiny and silky, and to be careful not to add too much flour.  The basic proportions are: 2 cups milk, 1/2 c. butter, 1 oz saffron ($$$$), 2/3 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 pkgs yeast, and approx 7 cups flour.  (you'll need a little more flour for rolling out the bread, and an egg, beaten, for brushing it, later). 

After about 10 minutes of kneading, I had a nice vibrant yellow dough ready to rest and rise.  Back into the bowl, with a nice clean kitchen towel to cover it, and the waiting game begins.  Fortunately, I'm making soup for tonight's A&S meeting, so the kitchen is nice and warm and humid and the dough rose fairly quickly (about an hour).

After the dough was finally doubled, I punched it down, then divided it into 24 even pieces.  Each piece was rolled out into a rope and coiled into the traditional shape.  (Some people put raisins in the center of each spiral, but I personally don't care for baked raisins, and I'm out of currants.)  Saint Lucy is the patron saint of the blind (the stories are pretty gruesome, actually), and this shape is meant to represent a pair of eyes.  (It could be worse, I suppose!)

After brushing the little rolls with some beaten egg, they were baked until shiny and happy.  (I feel like I'm channeling a famous Indiana painter...)   They smell divine, and the rolls are very rich.  Hopefully next year I can get the saffron in time to make this delicacy for my family in  a more timely fashion!

A&S50 Challenge project 5: Scottish Oat Bread

In my quest to work my way backwards through history, and "all over the place" culturally (and because I don't have the saffron yet to make the Santa Lucia buns.. that's a project for tomorrow, though!), today I'm working on a Scottish Oat Bread recipe. 

The interesting thing about this recipe is it uses a sponge, and I am not terribly familiar with the use of sponges in bread making.  I normally just dissolve my yeast in warm water, let it bloom, and move on with my life.  I'm enjoying learning the nuances of this, though, and this particular project was especially interesting as it rested all night, which I'm certain helped soften the oats.

This recipe calls for a cup of "Scottish oats", also known as "steel cut", "pin oats", "Irish Oatmeal", and so on.  Rather than smashing the oats flat when they're processed, they are cut into small bits, about the size of the little beads on the end of many sewing needles.   

(That's a penny, for calibration)

So, to make this sponge, you pour boiling water over the chopped oats, add some flour and some sugar and the yeast, mix it up really good, and stick it in the fridge overnight. (I live in Indiana, and I was thinking about "life before refrigeration" as I was mixing this up last night.  I think setting it off to the side away from the hearth but inside the home, well covered so no curious cats/dogs/whatever tipped it over, would have worked, too, but setting it "outside", even in some kind of storage hut, would be bad.. the yeast would freeze to death.. ha!  Bad!  The idea appears to create a SLOW yeast fermentation process, not kill the yeastie-beasties from hypothermia!).  In the morning, you have this foamy, frothy goo that's rather yeasty-smelling and sort of lumpy.  Appetizing, no?

After that, it's much like any other bread.  Add warm water or milk (I went with milk), a fat (in this case the recipe called for butter), some salt, and some flour, and mix and knead until it's a smooth, happy, elastic mass.  this recipe also calls for a little ginger, and I think that's a delightful thing to use, so I added it.  The oats are very noticable in this dough.  They are definitely softened by the soaking process, but they in no way disintegrate into the dough, as you can see here:

Once the dough has risen and been punched down (see above), you knead it briefly on a floured surface and divide into three parts.  I like to try new things. I have a couple of different baking pans, so for this I went with my "regular" metal loaf pan, a silicone loaf pan (we met these in the Shaker bread project) and a fluted pan which I normally use as a form for bread baskets by tipping them upside down and draping the dough *over* them.  It's the holiday season, though, so I thought we'd try this and see if this turns out a pretty, semi-decorative loaf.

I like simple, round (or oval) loaves, but variety is a lovely thing. It adds visual interest to a feast table, for sure, and it can provide a simple way to differentiate between types of breads, especially useful if you have people with particular allergies. "The braids have cinnamon, the twists have barley..." etc. In this case, I am just experimenting, since we'll eat these here at home, unless a loaf somehow survives until A&S night tomorrow night! (Miracles DO happen, sometimes....) So, the little loaves are nestled in their pans, and we wait the requisite "until doubled" time.  It's winter, and I keep my house fairly cool, so it takes a little longer (usually about an hour and forty-five minutes) for this stage of things.

As I waited for the dough to rise, I speculated on how common oat bread might have been during "period" eras.  We know oats have been a foodstuff for an exceptionally long time.  My persona is Viking-era Danish, and oats and oat cakes have been found in both grave finds and midden pit excavations.  For the "statistical breakdown", however, I did some digging, and came across an article entitled, "Grain Yields on the Winchester Manors in the Later Middle Ages" by D.L. Farmer in the November 1977 edition of "Economic History Review"  (Nov77, Vol. 30 Issue 4, p555-566, 12p, per an EBSCO database search.  I love being a college student with access... ahhhhhh....).  This article addresses the yield of wheat, barley and oats at various manors in the Winchester Bishopric of southern England, and averages the yields of the "most successful" manors, and compares them to the "least successful."  It's an interesting read, and I recommend it on its own merits.  For the purposes of this particular "I wonder...", however, it shows that wheat, barley and oats were harvested in more or less equal numbers of bushels, with exceptions in various years, due to environmental conditions, etc, and, in fact, oats and barley yields improved significantly in the period immediately following The Black Death, according to Farmer's data (the author speculates that wheat yields were adversely affected by a decline in available field workers during the time of the Black Death, although oat yields declined significantly in the late 15th century, according to this article, while wheat production grew by leaps and bounds).  So, it stands to reason that oats would be a viable, and relatively common, foodstuff, so this bread is close enough for my purposes to being a viable "period-plausible" recipe.  Huzzah!

It can be all too easy for me to get lost in research, and the timer buzzing ripped me from my perusals!  Alas!  The loaves were lovely and ready to go into the oven, though, so I brushed them with some melted butter and slid them into the oven, pouring some water into the metal pan on the bottom of the oven before closing the door.  (I don't have a fancy steam-injected oven, but I love what steam does to the crusts!)

The fluted loaf finished baking first, as I'd used a smaller amount of dough, being uncertain exactly how it would respond (new dough, new pan, new technique...).  It turned out super cute, however, and I think this has major potential as a "centerpiece loaf" perhaps in a bread basket with some honey butter beside it...

The "regular" loaves took about 15 minutes longer to bake, and I brushed them with some more melted butter when I pulled the fluted loaf out of the oven, as they were still very pale (and I like the rich buttery crust, anyway!).   This particular bread did not rise/expand as much as the wheat ones do, so there's less difference in the shape/size of the loaves from the metal vs. silicone pans, too.  (In the picture below, it's metal->fluted metal->silicone, in that order.)

My entire house smells amazing.  The ginger is not really noticable, it's more of a hint of "something extra" in the bread.  The texture is a little chewy, with the oat still very much noticable, but pleasantly so.  It's a surprisingly light bread, too.  Definitely a keeper!!

Are you "Hungary"?

It's been a while since I cracked the pages of my "Bread Bible" and rifled through, and tonight my youngest daughter, Emily (Or Emma Solveigsdottir, in SCAdian terms...she's 9) perused the pages and noted some recipes which require overnight (or longer) soaking of the grains, which sounds like an excellent idea, but no good for dinner tonight.  Bookmarked for later, we perused further...

In the interest of time, we opted for a fun-sounding Hungarian bread called "Pusstabrot."  I know!  Appetizing name, eh?  We thought that alone made it worth the effort. ;)

If you like "pan anise", a Mexican bread with anise, I think you'd like this bread.  The recipe calls for a half teaspoon of fennel, toasted and ground, and added to the flour.  I've never toasted fennel seeds before so we slowly roasted them in a cast iron skillet over low heat until the seeds turned brown, then took them off the heat and ground them in the mortar and pestle.  Toasting the fennel gives it more of a "nutty" smell than one usually finds with that particular spice, without losing the distinctive flavour of the seeds.

Other than that, this is a very straight-forward white bread recipe, with all the usual "mix, knead, rise, shape, rise" goodness one finds in a basic yeast bread.  Once the bread has risen, you knead it a bit to work out the air bubbles and then shape it into loaves.  I'm fond of a basic, elongated loaf, on a flat baking sheet most of the time, and we went with that this time, as well.  I feel it provides a crustier finished product, and the crust is the best part of home-made bread!  Another hour-ish of rising, and the loaves are ready to finish off before sliding them into the oven.

A long slash down the length of each loaf adds definition and prevents the loaf from going all crazy and rising any which way it wants, and an egg wash comprised of egg white, a teaspoon of water, and a pinch of salt (the salt seems to help break down the proteins in the egg white) goes on top, then a sprinkling of fennel seeds to complete the loaf, and into the oven they go.

The hardest part of bread making is the patience each step requires.  I struggle with patience under any circumstances, but when I forget to start the bread in a timely fashion so it's done with ~plenty~ of time for me to complete dinner, as well, it's especially hard.  But, there's nothing more disappointing than cutting into a beautiful loaf, to find a semi-gooey mess inside.  So, we waited patiently for the loaves to bake, as the fragrance of the bread, and especially the fennel seeds filled the kitchen and teased us mercilessly!

Now, remember, we're a SCAdian family, so while the bread is rising, we're not just surfing FaceBook, or watching TV or something.  Emily and I are working on a couple of different projects.  I'm embroidering the sleeves for my new woolen kirtle before piecing them into the body, and Em's just practicing her stitching. 

Finally, that wonderful smell that says "Hey, I think the bread is done!" wafted from the kitchen, and we raced in to check on the loaves.  To our delight, they were nut-brown and shiny and delicious-smelling!

That fifteen minutes of waiting for the bread to "cool" so you can slice into it is excrutiating, and we sat in the kitchen and stared at the timer, Emily trying to convince me it would be ok to cheat, a little, me extolling the virtues of patience (right.. I'm SUCH a role model!)

The Hungarian bread was a *major* success.  The loaves are light, very light, and delicious.  The fennel is a delicate hint, not overpowering, and it's an excellent compliment to the curried chicken and sauted zucchini that made up our dinner tonight. I will definitely make this bread again!

A&S 50 Challenge : Project 3

Once the first blush of this wears off, I am going to have sad children (and boyfriend), but for now, the baking just keeps on going here in Solveig's Kitchen!

For today's project, I chose two sweet breads.  One is a Portugese recipe which contains dried currants and lemon juice, an interesting concept!  The dough, according to the recipe, is traditionally coiled and baked, called "caracois."  It can also be baked in a plain round loaf, or a braid, called "tranca a tricana."  Of course I opted for the braid and the coil!  The dough is a little softer than I expected, but it smells buttery and sweet when it comes out of the oven, and I'm looking forward to tearing into it tonight an A&S Sewing Circle (don't you wish YOU lived in Afonlyn? lol)

Here's the braid, before it went into the oven.  Notice the healthy slathering of butter!  And below, the coiled loaf, also liberally brushed with butter:

The loaves feel light to the touch, and smell divine!

The other recipe I chose is an Oat-Cinnamon swirl bread, except I abhor cinnamon (and besides, one of my Quality Assurance Engineers... err.. Shire members... is allergic, anyway, darn the luck) so I replaced the cinnamon sugar with a mace/ginger/clove mixture instead.  It's also a sweet dough, and you roll it out into a rectangle, butter the top, sprinkle the sugar mixture on top and roll it up, jellyroll style.  I added currants to that dough, as well (since I only had about 1/4 cup left, anyway), and I left one loaf intact, and turned the other into.... sweet rolls!  The house smells divine from the sweet breads rising and baking all afternoon!  Overall, today's baking has been a huge success and I can't wait for sewing circle to share these sweet treats with my A&S friends!

                                   

Feather Bread-Take 1

A&S 50 Project #2:  Feather Bread

Here's the recipe, from "Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads." (1995 edition)

Ingredients:

• 4 to 4.4 cups bread flour
• 2 pkgs dry yeasr
• 1 TBSP each salt and sugar
• 1.5 cups hot water (120-130F)
• 1/3 c. butter or other shortening, room temperature
• 1 egg white, slightly beaten, mixed with 1 TBSP water

In mixing bowl, place 3 cups flour, the salt, yeast, and sugar.  Stir to blend.  Pour in the hot watrer, and stir with a heavy spoon for 2 minutes, until batter-like dough is smooth.  Cut the butter into 2-3 pieces and drop into bowl, stirring until butter is absorbed into the mixture.

Add the rest of the flour, 1/4c at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition.  When the dough is a "shaggy mass" and can be lifted from the bowl, place on a floured work surface.

Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.  Add sprinkles of flour is the dough is sticky.  place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until it doubles in volume, approx 1hr.

Remove plastic wrap and knead for 30 sec to press out the bubbles.  Divide into two pieces.  Roll pieces out under your palms, into 18-20" baguettes.  Place on greased baking sheet, and cover lightly.  Allow to rise until loaves are doubled in volume, approx 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425F 20 minutes before baking. 

Make a 1/2" deep slash down the length of the loaves with a razor blade or sharp knife.  Or, cut diagonal slashes like you would for a French loaf.  Brush the loaves with the egg mixture and bake until they are shiny brown, about 25 minutes.  Turn over one of the loaves and tap firmly.  A hollow sound means the bread is baked.

Remove from the oven, and place on metal rack to cool.  (Clayton says this loaf freezes beautifully for later consumption.)

My thoughts:
When starting off, 2 cups of flour would be a better starting point.  Three make for too stiff of a dough right off the bat, and there's no "batterlike" consistency at all.  I was able to simply knead the dough until all the flour was incorporated, however.  Also, my kitchen was a bit cold, and it took *forever* for this dough to rise, so the finished product ended up with a slight "sour-doughish" hint, which is delightful, but not what I was looking for in this batch.  I'm going to try this again with a warmer kitchen, and see what impact that has on the bread.  Overall, however, this is a lovely bread.  I made a much deeper cut, to create more surface area for some toppings, and sprinkled coarse kosher salt on one loaf, and raw sesame seeds on the other, and they turned out very pretty.  (Sorry the picture is fuzzy, my camera doesn't like heat, I guess!).  The "Quality Assurance Engineers" (ie, the kids) approve of the flavour!  It's denser than a typical baguette, but it's also softer on the outside, which is nice.  I will definitely make this again, regardless!  It's PERFECT to go with our pasta dinner tonight!

A&S 50 Challenge - Hooray!

So, I was perusing the monthly A&S newsletter (I highly recommend this!  You can sneak a peek yourself here: Midrealm A&S NewsLetter ) and noticed the big "A&S 50 Challenge!" article smack in the middle of the page.  I guess I'd heard about this, because it wasn't so much a "Wow, what's this new thing?" as a "Wait... Let me read that again!" dawning of actual awareness.  So, I bee-bopped over to the A&S 50 page (Here: A&S 50 Challenge Home Page ) to read up on it. 

Serendipity!

Just this past weekend I picked up a new book, "Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads" (1995 edition... I found it in my favourite used books store!) and have been re-inspired.  I do love to bake, and this has a frillion (technical term) recipes for 27 total categories of breads. 

At the Crown Tournament, I displayed some breads I'd been working on. 

I've been dabbling in baking here and there, nothing serious, really, though.  We had several types of bread available at our recent feast, which was fun! 

I've approached a few laurels about perhaps apprenticing in bread-making, but there's no real interest, it seems.  So, I've decided, rather than pound my head against the brick-walled oven hunting down a Laurel, I'm going to seek personal fulfillment this way.

Yep, I'm taking up the challenge.  To quote the A&S Challenge site:

The Depth Challenge -

*50 of any one type of thing, in order to push your skills and knowlege to new levels (how broadly you define this is up to you)

Sounds good to me!  I'm fairly certain I can find people willing to taste-test my results, AND since group efforts are completely permissible, I'm enlisting my children as capable kitchen assistants.  This fulfills my personal mission of getting kids involved in cooking, as well as passing along the skills of this particular culinary art to the next generation.  I'm excited!  It's good to have a project, especially one that builds upon itself!

Now the hard part... narrowing it down to just 50 types of bread!

Momentum

One of the biggest hurdles I feel we face as medieval cooks is getting people past their initial resistance to trying new things.  Chicken cooked in an unfamiliar way can be a little "weird" to people, but at least chicken is a known quantity, so when you tell people you've stewed the chicken with apricots and beer, they may think "Huh?!" but they're more likely to be willing to take that first bite because of the existing comfort level with the main ingredient.

The same is rarely said of more "exotic" dishes, and here in the Midwest, aka The Middle Kingdom, "exotic" covers a LOT of territory.  A significant portion of the people I serve at feasts will be unfamiliar with at least one of the ingredients I'm using.  Actually, that "wha..?" process usually starts at the supermarket, when i have to explain to the cashier or the person in line behind me that that weird knobbly-looking thing is a rutabaga, and the "green onions on steroids" are actually leeks (and so on, and so on, and so on...).  I try to encourage people to try those ingredients at home, providing hyper-simplified suggestions for prep, such as, "If you peel the rutabaga and cube it up, you can boil it and serve it much like mashed potatoes, with butter and salt and pepper.  It has a little more of a spicy flavour to it, but the texture is somewhat similar, and it's fun to mix things up.  Plus it's a gorgeous goldenrod colour when it's cooked and looks so pretty on the table!"  I'm not sure if any of the cashiers or "Random folks in queue" have ever taken me up on my culinary snippets of advice, but I do try to be an Ambassador of New Flavours, even there in the mundane world.

It's a pleasure to find that by now, having just completed our "Third Annual" Norse-inspired feast, I have a lot of repeat guests in the Hall.  This has many benefits, not the least of them being that those people know they are going to find GOOD FOOD on my tables.  This makes them more likely to try those scary unfamiliar dishes, because there's at least an even shot that it will be palatable!  Then, because humans are very, very good at picking up on safety cues from the crowd around them, the "newbies" in the group become a little less freaked out by this platter of Strange And Unusual Stuff they're being served.

There's something almost magical about the phrase, "Wow!  I never even heard of but that was GOOD!"  It warms my heart, not just because I am on a mission to bring Flavour And Fun to this region, but because I feel so very fortunate to have grown up in a household where an incredibly wide assortment of flavours, textures and ingredients were routinely included in our menus.  I love having that variety of options in my personal kitchen when I'm feeding my family, and I am delighted to broaden other people's horizons, as well. 

So what was on the menu this time? 

We started the evening with fairly basic (and familiar) items.  Edible bread baskets (that is... the baskets themselves were made of bread, and meant to be eaten!) held barley flatbread, and whole grain bread, and wheat bread (all home-made by our Cooks Guild as we sat around my dining room table kneading and chatting...).  There were bowls of cheese, olive oil and za'atar.  Za'atar is a combination of thyme, sumac, sesame seeds and salt, and this herb mixture is eaten by dipping a piece of bread into olive oil, then into the dried herb mixture.  It's delicious, and personally, I eat it for breakfast at least four days a week!

To this mix, we delivered apples and pears, drizzled with local wildflower honey (we have an AMAZING source of local honey here!), a pureed vegetable soup with an optional addition of pan-seared cod, and "Valkyries on Horseback," which has been mentioned in this blog before.  Now, I will tell you, when you suggest that people eat prunes, there is often some resistance.  I think most people consider prunes a medicinal tool reserved for those of ancient and decrepit status, and shy away from this most lovely of fruits.  This recipe got a lot of converts that night, however.  Bacon makes everything better, apparently!  The hesitance quickly evaporated after one bite, and the "Valkyries" were a huge success.  I recommend them as an easy appetizer for any setting, medieval or not!

Now we're just warming up, at this point.  My Lord, Uisdean, is truly blessed by the Gods when it comes to his skill with the fire, and he made smoked beef brisket which was so good it almost brought tears of joy to my eyes (and offers to "take him off my hands" from several people... ha!  Not likely!).  Ten and a half hours of slow smoking, we had three separate grills going in the backyard, and it was worth every nanosecond.  A mustard and wine sauce was served to complement the meat, along with rice-stuffed cabbage rolls and leeks, carrots and mushrooms lightly sauted in olive oil and lightly tossed with a wine sauce just before being served.  I love listening to the ebb and flow of conversation and general merry-making during feasts.  I try to wander the crowd, gauging reactions, explaining the ingredients (although NOT the recipes... you have to come cook with us for that!), trading quips and humorous comments, and the like.  For me, watching people enjoying their meal is the best possible reward, and bragging about my Lord's amazing grilling skills is icing on that cake.  ~grins~

Now, this is a FEAST, not just a dinner.  In the Old Days, slaughtering would have been completed, harvests all brought in, and people would be joining to celebrate the time of plenty, so you know there has to be more food to come!

Lamb and barley stew is a classic dish, and one I expect to find at most Norse events including my own.  It can be spiced heavily, or lightly, allowing the natural succulence of the lamb to shine.  This year, we opted for a more simple combination of flavours, but we had some really stellar quality fresh lamb to work with, and at an even more excellent price, so we took advantage of that opportunity.  To complement the lamb, we served mashed rutabaga, and a light, refreshing "compote" of cabbage and beets (really, it was more like a relish, with an apple cider based pickling brine for the vegetables).  The bright flavour of the compote, and the gorgeous ruby colour, alongside the golden rutabagas, added a nice visual presentation to the stew which, though delicious, is rather drab in appearance, making for a well rounded course!

Bellies were getting full, but dessert was still on the way!  The Cooks Guild had made shortbread cookies, but with a twist.  For this Norse feast, the cookies were "carved" with runes before they were baked, adding a touch of whimsey to the tables.  Also, bowls of bread pudding were served, along with custard sauce and brandied fruit.  My standing joke is that the brandied fruit has to be good... I was tipsy for three days just from cooking it!  For a little additional fun (What?  Fun?  I know!  Don't tell!) we had imported a rare delicacy all the way from far-off Sweden.... Swedish Fish!  (I'm fairly positive they didn't have gummy-fish candies back in Denmark, but... kids and adults alike understood the joke!)

Norse cooking can be challenging.  We don't have any existing "cook books".  We have some sagas which talk about food that was served, and we have grave finds and midden pit excavations to tell us what ingredients were used, but from there?  It's all speculation.  There is a very narrow range of "traditional" Norse dishes which are common at feasts, but my goal is to broaded my *own* horizons as a cook, as well as offering new and intriguing experiences to the people I feed, and I think we balance that well.

Now, what will we serve next year, and how will we push the envelope?  We are already planning the menu... and can't wait to do this again!  Watching people get braver and braver in their dining experiences is well worth the work, and we're creating that momentum here!

Children should cook!

Children should cook. 

There are lots of reasons children should cook.  For one, they should grow up and have options outside of "Which heart-stoppingly unhealthy fast food place do I want dinner from tonight?" or "Mmmmm.... boxed sodium insta-meal!"  And I *do* so very much want my children to grow up and move away and cook their own meals...

Three of my four children are not even in high school yet.  Cooking at this stage of the game is more of a socialization process, and that's a Very Good Thing.  They are part of the family, a contributing part of the family, and there is something very viscerally rewarding about providing the basic human needs.  They can't really provide shelter, or clothing, or things like that, but they can prepare (or help prepare) meals, and know that they were instrumental in feeding the group.  That's a valuable life lesson, and in today's world, where families all too often don't have a whole lot of "together time," I think meals provide a shining opportunity for that sense of interconnectedness to shine through.

I find when I cook for SCA events that many, many MANY people (adults, that is) are sorely lacking in even rudimentary cooking/kitchen skills.  This is true for all generations, not just the "Fresh Out of High School" crowd.  I know my own generation (I'm almost 38, for the record) tended to have mothers who shooed children out of the kitchen.  Meals magically appeared on the table at dinner time, and the kids perhaps loaded the dishwasher afterwards, but they really didn't know how food was prepared.  I remember classmates experiencing that flash of panic when they were finally on their own and had to muddle through things like cooking hot dogs without a safety net. (I know, it seems shocking... but I've seen a LOT of burnt hot dogs, and NOT because they were held too close to the fire while camping!).  After all, we were the generation born *after* TV dinners were invented.  All Hail Destruction Of Cooking Skills! 

So, what can be done about it?  Well, the Shire of Afonlyn likes to cook... a lot.  And we like kids... a lot.  (We have a goodly number of them running about. ;)  I think we have almost as many children as we do adult members!)   We're working on organizing an event for kids (Parents are obviously welcome too, and most of the classes will be designed to have the parents *and* the children working together, just like you would at home) which will include a cooking track for classes where kids will prepare the dishes for the evening's feast.  We're looking at doing this in the late spring of 2011, so stay tuned! :)

Siege Cookery!

My Pelican's Shire, Shadowed Stars (up in Fort Wayne, IN), hosted a lovely little event this past weekend which had, as part of the activities, a Siege Cooking competition. We got the rules a couple of weeks in advance, but the ingredients were delivered to us on-site and we had 3.5 hours to cook and plate our creations.

 

Here are the rules (in case anybody else wants to steal this idea! It's a brilliant version of an A&S competition!!)

 

The Mistress Isabel Moundoghter Siege Cookery Contest with a Viking Twist from Meistara Thorhalla

 

The Premise: The Vikings have sieged your castle for months now and you are beginning to despair that the castle will not be able to withstand another attack. Your liege comes to you, the humble castle cook, and asks for your help. He has decided to invite the Viking leaders into the castle to parlay for peace. He is counting on you to serve up a sumptuous dinner to impress the Vikings. You look in the cupboard and find the following ingredients:

Required Ingredients (you must use at least some of these) 

• ¼ loaf of stale wheat bread
• ¼ cup hulled barley
• ¼ cup salted butter
• ¼ of a head of cabbage (a Shadowed Stars favorite!)
• 1 onion
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 cup of wheat flour
• ½ cup rye flour
• 2 carrots
• 1 cup of whole milk
• 1 cup of dried plums

Optional Ingredients (you do not have to use these but it could be helpful)

• 2 eggs
• 5 pieces of uncooked bacon
• ½ cup of cream
• 2 small apples

One of you will be lucky enough to win the random drawing for the piece of mystery meat. This is a 3 – 5 ounce piece of pork, beef or chicken. But remember, there can be only one, so don’t count on this.

  

What you will need to bring:

• Up to ¼ cup of any fresh herb, if you choose
• Up to 2 Tablespoons of any dried herb or seasoning, if you choose.
• Pots
• Pans
• Utensils, including knives and cutting board
• Towels and a dish rag (you might need them)
• Serving dishes
• Serving utensils
• Anything to add flair to your presentation, candle are permitted.

 You will be judged on:

•  Taste
•  Appearance (this includes table setting)
•  Apparent quantity of dishes (how much did you make?)
•  Number of different dishes

 All dishes must be prepared on site. You may not start any dish at home. You will receive your ingredients at the site.   You will have 3 hours and 30 minutes to prepare your entry.

 

 So... we diced for the meat, and I lost. Drat!! ;) Now, I don't really like recipes, as a rule. I've spent a good amount of time learning about spices and how food works and I prefer to cook by the seat of my... erm... kirtle, so I looked over the ingredient list a few weeks before the contest, and let the ideas sit in my head and percolate, and then I packed my spice chest.

 

The other competitor, Lady Cerridwynn, and I took very different approaches, and it was very interesting to see the variations we came up with, based on this relatively skimpy list of ingredients. You don't really realize how much we rely on oil and other fats in modern cooking! I spent quite a bit of time cooking the bacon very slowly to render as much fat out of it as possible! We DID have the luxury of almost an entire loaf of bread, though, and a HALF head of cabbage each, which completely set my preconceived plans on their head. ;)

 

My final presentation was:  

• Valkyries on Horseback (almond/breadcrumb spiced filling, stuffed in prunes, and wrapped in bacon) (recipe, as it were, to be posted in the comments)
• Cabbage soup.
• Savory barley porridge
• Stuffed cabbage rolls
• Cabbage/onion/apple cold compote
• Crispy spiced bread (like croutons? just nibbly bits)
• Apple/carrot tart with a rye streusel topping
• Bread pudding and a spiced custard sauce

 Now... cooking... and feasting... in the SCA should be fun! And to that end, in the interest of "Schtick!" I had gotten some "Swedish fish", you know? Gummy candy? Shaped like fish? And I arranged them on a HUGE platter, and I (because my persona is Norse, too, and I wasn't about to lose that opportunity for some fun and games!) mentioned that I recognized some of my kin in the forces arrayed outside and managed to get word to them, and they smuggled in a delicacy SO RARE it is hardly ever seen outside of our Homeland, and then only served to the most HONOURED guests...

 

 ...Whipped off the cover, and watched the judges almost fall off the bench with laughter.

 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (although obviously this could not be counted towards my "official" entry... more's the pity!)

 

When it came down to the end, between us we created about 18 unique dishes. The judges sat in discussion for what seemed like *forever* (it was actually almost 45 minutes...). I won, by a bare one-point-five points, and honestly, it was an honour and a privilege to compete with Lady Cerridwynn. She's *amazing* and I would happily take my family to ANY feast she has a hand in creating!

 

The moral of the story? Ingredients are less important than learning how to cook. I encourage people to get into the kitchen and experiment with flavour combinations and see what you can come up with! I think you'll be surprised!

 

 

Lady Solveig in kyrra Sveinsdottir, and her Pelican, Meistara Thorhalla Carlsdottir af Broberg (AKA Mama T of House Roaring Valknuts, bringing you the BEST in Creative Mayhem since AS. XXXI!!!)

 

 

Kitchen Safety - SCA style!

Within our Society, safety is a frequent discussion.  When it comes to combat, there are people who are specifically charged with ensuring that the rules are followed and safe practices are followed.  These individuals are called "Marshals", and they are easily recognizable on the field.  They will often wear a tabard with the badge of their office prominently displayed, and they carry a staff which has a black and yellow spiral pattern that is very distinctive, so they can be quickly spotted.  (Here's a quick look at Combat Marshals and their role in Society.)

So, this is a VERY GOOD THING.  Safety is important.  We want to keep playing with our friends, and if we break them, that tends to put a damper on things!  And, as part of their job, Marshals "Authorize" people to participate in combat.  Think of it as a "Fighter License".  They get a card that shows what things they're permitted to do, and it keeps everybody within safe parameters.  Huzzah!  We Like Safe!!

I would suggest, however, that there is as much, if not more, risk of actual harm in the *kitchen* as there is on the battle field.  We have sharp (or... sometimes... sadly... not so sharp) knives.  We have water and slick floors.  Flames... hot oil.... Salmonella... the risk factors in a kitchen are (as with any food prep space) real and present concerns.  However, just as Fighters wear protective gear and discuss safe combat methods, a responsible kitchen staff will use protective gear and discuss safe food handling methods.

So, enough of the dry boring stuff. ;)  My Shire is small, but we make up for it with a sense of humour big enough to compete with any Barony!  As the head of my local cooking guild, I took the liberty of instituting "Kitchen Authorizations"!  But, to have Authorizations, you have to have a Marshal... So I took some more liberty (I am a Norsewoman!  Bold and True!) and styled myself "KITCHEN MARSHAL".  But lo... I needed a Staff Of Office!

Now, Fighter Marshals have options here.  Heavy Combat marshals often carry these long poles with yellow and black spiraled stripes.  Rapier Marshals are a little more varied, and I've seen everything from a telescope to a striped bullwhip to a Lady Marshal of my acquaintance (my foster-daughter, actually) who carries a Flag Fan with the requisite markings.

I cook.  And so, what better symbol than a wooden spoon!  Lo, the joke was born.  I found the largest *functional* wooden spoon I could find in my local Large MarketPlace... bought some acrylic paint... girded my creative loins (as it were...) and set to work.

I am not, frankly, the most skilled visual artist in the Middle Kingdom. HA!  But this was a labour of love, with a heavy undercurrent of amusement (which is usually the case, when it comes to love, I've found....) and so with some determination, and a lot of patience, I was able to create....  THE SPOON. :)

You'll note the distinctive stripes (in Blue and Gold, the colours of my Shire) and the Crossed Weapons (in this case a spoon and fork....) and I've personalized this one with my name and a seeblatt, which is that heart-shaped doodad (It's part of my Shire's official Arms and my non-official personal arms.).

In addition to the spoon, we have Authorization Cards (just like the fighters!!!).  The cards distinguish between four categories: Feast Serving, Wooden Spoons/Other Blunt, Knives/Other Sharp, and Flame/Fire/Heat.  These are given to the Kitchen Staff and each category is signed off as the person reaches basic competency levels in each category.

Now, I should probably pause here.  This is IN NO WAY intended to suggest that there is a rash of food poisoning or finger amputations going on in my Kingdom.  Quite the opposite, actually.  The Feast Kitchens I've worked in have been very, very well run.  And we're not creating some Bureaucratic Nightmare Process that sends people screaming in panic from the kitchen.   In ~practice~ this is more of an attempt to make Kitchen Staff feel like they MATTER to the PROCESS of "creating the Dream".  Being an Authorized ~whatever~ adds a sense of accomplishment.  And, honestly?  It's just darn FUN, and if that's not why we play this game, I don't know what is.  (The food/kitchen safety stuff is really just a little bit of a bonus!)

(Sidenote:  I have only had to whack one Peer on the knuckles with this spoon - he tried to enter my kitchen and had muddy boots on.  Unacceptable.  However, it was proven that this spoon is quite substantial and suitable for repelling invaders... if for no other reason than an Angry Norsewoman with a Wooden Spoon triggers a visceral level of fear that the East Kingdom would probably pay highly for!)

Involving kids in the kitchen

The SCA is a family affair, right?  We encourage people with children to participate in the Society!  We even have created offices and activities which specifically aim to get children involved in Society.  We have Youth Combat.... Youth Ministers.... Page School.... but rarely, RARELY, do I see kids in the kitchen or serving at feasts during SCA events.  I think this is skipping over an entire category of volunteers, and cheating the kids out of a really great experience!

Part of the issue, I think, is that a lot of people don't involve their kids in daily cooking.  (to be fair, I think a lot of people in general don't engage in daily cooking.... I have worked in a lot of feast kitchens where the ADULT help was unsure and unskilled.... I think it's just a factor of modern life, to some degree!)

And so, while it's a little scary/daunting to teach your child to use a knife properly in the confines of your kitchen at home, when you add the stress and chaos (and yeah, fess up, there's plenty of BOTH in feast kitchens!!!) of an event there's a tendency to ship the kids off to Youth Pointe and pray to whatever Kitchen Gods are handy that they're occupied long enough to let you get that last batch of ~whatever~ started with enough time before Court is done...

There are a lot of tasks that don't require Advanced Kitchen Authorization skills, however.  Peeling vegetables, washing fruit/vegetables, grating cheese, mixing honey into butter, filling salt cellars, arranging food on plates/platters, carrying pitchers of water, and so on. And there are lots of non-basic tasks which can easily be done by children, if you take a few minutes to explain what it is you want done.  (I do like to pair up adult and youth kitchen staff, just to observe the due diligence of safety concerns.)

My kids like to cook.  My kids like to cook so much that 9 times out of 10 if they're watching television it's Food TV and they're discussing the merits of plating dishes in various ways, and I frequently come home from running errands to find that my 9 and 11 yr old daughters have created (yet another) dessert recipe by combining ingredients and techniques from already-tried faves into a new (and usually quite edible, and even tasty!) dish, and my 13 year old son is known for creating entirely new recipes altogether!  (This is the boy who two years ago served tomato slices which he put under the broiler with bleu cheese and salt and pepper and olive oil... I personally believe tomatoes are poison, but his younger sisters said they were delicious!  So peer review by sibs being the stringent and vicious thing it is, I believe them... lol)

When I'm doing a feast, I like to get my kids involved.  For one, I simply trust them as capable assistants.  They know to wash their hands (a lot....) and how to use a knife safely...(most of the time...)  and not to nibble out of the bowl of chopped veggies... ;)  For another, I believe whole-heartedly that there is something very valuable in the concept of "learning by doing", and what is more "historically accurate" than children in the kitchen?  In addition, there is a definite charm added to a feast when you have children in their garb carrying food and drinks to the Good People Of The Realm who have gathered there.  They add a certain "Awwwwww...." factor which is useful for ambiance... and, in return, it is almost guaranteed that toasts will be made to the cooks and serving crew at the end of the feast, a prime opportunity to teach children that service is a valued part of What It Is That We Do in the SCA. 

Engage the youth, and you'll have kids who have a reason to play in the SCA, rather than complain that they are bored, and flop in a corner with their video game or cell phone while you attempt to recreate your chosen era of history.  Combat is not for everybody, nor is it The Only Avenue Worth Exploring, for youth OR adults.  I believe in making as many opportunities as possible available to *everybody* in the Society, no matter what their age... the kitchen *is* my battleground.... I fight against boring food!  Kids help add a fresh perspective!  (and, pssssssst.  Kids who help COOK vegetables are often more likely to try EATING them, too... but you didn't hear that from me!)

Beef Brisket... Viking style

My Shire hosts an annual event called Winter Nights.  Winter Nights is a Norse-themed event (which I adore to no end, since my persona is Norse, afterall... ).  We are fortunate enough to have as one of our members the owner of a local bar called the Heorot.  The upstairs is decorated like a Norse long hall, and it's *ideal* for this setting! So Winter nights is an evening of really great food, really great beverage options (If you like beer, you'll LOVE the Heorot.  I *don't* like beer, but I DO love Framboise... and they have root beer on tap that's phenomenal!!) and generally a whole lot of merriment.

We normally expect between 45-75 people to attend this event, and it's primarily a FEAST (which is somewhat of an anomaly, but it works well for us!) with dancing and gaming and socializing afterward.  We've done this event two ways.  Buffet style is way less work for the cooks and servers, but you tend to run out of meat before everybody eats (and meat is normally hands down the most expensive part of a feast menu).  Serving it in defined courses works well but you need to make sure you have enough serving staff to pull it off.  (I'm lucky.  I have a fully authorized staff in my Cook's Guild!).  


My goal with this feast is to offer foods which could conceivably have been present at a large celebration such as Winter Nights.  This is the end of the harvest season, and the preparation for the winter.  Extra livestock would have been butchered, stores laid in, etc.  We don't have extant cookbooks from the Norse period. We have references in the sagas, we have grave finds, and we have information from trash pits to base our knowledge on what would have been available.  I don't look at this feast as "This is what the average Norse family would have for dinner" but "This would have been a HUGE celebration... what ingredients do I have to work with?" and go from there! (I do try to serve one "edgy" or unfamiliar dish each year, just to offer people a chance to broaden their horizons!)

Ok, so this is purely conjectural on my part, but the etymology of the word "Brisket" is at least possibly linked to the Old Norse word "brjosk"  (from "brjost" or "breast").  So, it's a start. Now, when I lived in Texas (that's Ansteorra, to my SCAdian friends!) they frequently made brisket... and  not just in the SCA... Brisket is a staple dish!  In fact, it's sort of the "go-to" dish for most family functions.  And it has to be one of the easiest dishes known to mankind. It's also a fairly easy way to feed a large number of people, and if you shop around, you can get a large brisket for a decent price!  We've done this feast for two years in a row, and the brisket has been on the menu both years, and disappeared faster than you can say "Valhallah!"

Here is my Norse-inspired version of this favourite.  It's easiest if you put it in the oven before you go to bed, because it has to cool low and slow for at least 10 hours.  (You ~CAN~ do this in a crockpot on the low setting, too, if you have a large enough crockpot to hold your brisket... I do not.)

1 10-12 pound untrimmed brisket
1 can of beer *OR* 1 1/2 cups of mead
1 thinly sliced onion (optional)
6-8 cloves of peeled, crushed garlic (optional)
1 Tbsp salt (I like to use sea salt)
1-2 tsp cracked black pepper
1-2 bay leaves (optional)

Line a large baking dish with heavy duty foil.  (Yes, I know they did not have heavy duty aluminum foil back in Jorvik or Iceland....).  You're going to need to create sort of an  airtight (relatively...) "envelope" around the meat with the foil.  I normally lay two long pieces of foil on top of each other, fold over one of the long edges a couple of times and crimp it well (sort of like you're sewing the foil along that long edge), then unfold and lay that in the dish. You want enough foil that you can bring it back ~over~ the brisket and seal it inside the little foil package when you're ready to cook it.  Place the brisket, fatty side up, in the baking dish on top of the foil.  Layer the onions on top of the meat.  Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the brisket.  Seal the foil tightly around the brisket.  Put the brisket in the oven and turn it to 225 degrees F.  Bake for 10-12 hours.  Remove from the oven and let sit for an hour.  Unwrap the foil (carefully.. you're going to have meat juices spilling everywhere if you're not careful!).  Cut the brisket against the grain and serve.

When we do this, I prep the brisket the night before the feast. The day of the feast, while I'm baking the last of the bread and prepping vegetables, etc., I will slice this and put it in foil pans.  I have several portable "party warmer" racks that sit over gel fuel cans.  The ONE downfall of the site we use is there's no kitchen available to us.  SO I have all my food in rectangular foil pans and we reheat over the gel fuel.  This lends itself beautifully to this.  Just layer the slices in the pan, pour 1/4 cup of the juices over the meat and seal tightly with foil, and you're ready to go.

A couple of other observations:  Dark beer is absolutely delightful in this recipe.  I used Guinness last year and I've never had better brisket (and I've had a LOT of brisket....).  I have heard of people using onion soup mix rather than fresh onions and seasonings.  I tend to find that too salty, but I am not a salt fan, so feel free to give it a try.  Mead makes a really, really great brisket, as well.  Some people freak out when they get a brisket and see that this thick layer of fat.  I say, "Hooray!  It was a good year for the cattle!" and move on with prepping it.  You can get a trimmed brisket at the butcher, but I find it tends to dry out more.  (Also.... if you happen to have leftovers, brisket makes a really really *great* sandwich!  We have not had leftovers at Winter Nights yet....)

Putting the "Creative" in SCA food....

I am a huge fan of authentic recreation.  Truly, I am.  I love the sights and sounds and (most of) the smells of an encampment, or a large event. 

Sometimes we get a little bogged down, though.  I mean, let's be honest.  We do not have time machines to go back and see for sure how things were done.  My persona (that's "the person I pretend to be when I'm dressed up", for any non-SCAdians reading) is 9th century Norse.  We don't even have ~cookbooks~.  We have the contents of trash pits and burial finds to track backwards from.  That's a little challenging.  And even for the later period stuff (say the 1500's and on) we still don't have 100% certainty on every single recipe and every single *method* of cooking.

So, we do our best.  And in the meanwhile, we can even have fun with it. ;)  At a recent event that my group attended we presented some "effigy breads" to the Baron and Baroness of the host group... a Dragon and a Tiger.

(We live in the Middle Kingdom, and the Dragon is symbolic of our kingdom.... the Tiger is the symbolic representation of our neighbors to the East.... with whom we sometimes have.. disagreements... hehe).

In more recent news, I decided that since KITCHEN work is actually more potentially dangerous than FIGHTING (I mean.. they use rattan sticks.  And wear armour.  We use real knives.  And wear aprons.) that I was going to start "authorizing" people to work in my kitchen.  So, I made myself a Marshal Spoon (personalized...) and we handed out "authorization cards" to folks who had shown themselves as safe and knowledgable in various kitchen tasks.  There's no rule that says cooking in the SCA can't be fun... and really?  I don't mind working, and working HARD, for my fun.  But there should be fun mixed in there, somewhere!