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!)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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....)
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....)
Monday, March 15, 2010
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!
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!
Mini Meat pies!
We had an event this past weekend which presented us with a bit of a logistical challenge.
The site we normally use was unavailable to us, and the site we were able to get instead had a lovely large industrial kitchen..... and we didn't have access to the industrial range. We're a small shire, with limited resources, and we couldn't risk paying the additional fee for the stove usage. The site DID have, though, a small "efficiency" kitchen down the hall, with a four burner electric stove, oven, and microwave.
So, really, this isn't so bad. It just meant that very little actual cooking could be done on site... it was more of a "bring and reheat" sort of menu, which is actually quite fine, because it means most of the "labor intensive" cooking can be done ahead of time, which is nice.
For one of our courses we chose to make miniature meat pies. These little pastry nibblets are not only tasty, they're super cute! And they lend themselves to so many interesting decorating concepts.... We chose predominantly clovers (as it was "The Feast of Saint Patrick"....) and seeblatts (one of the elements of our Shire arms) as our primary themes for this batch.
The recipe was a combination of various "meat pie" recipes I've used in the past. We wanted something that was modern enough not to freak people out, but was medieval enough to give that special feel to this dinner course. Finger foods are always fun, too! (Plus, the kids can help with the decorating! Bonus!)
To make these little gems:
Filling:
Pastry:
At this point if you want to get fancy with your "lids" carve designs into the center of the remaining circles, leaving enough space around the outer edge to allow for crimping. My kids helped on several of the lids with simply a wooden skewer (think punched tin art....). Otherwise you can just vent them by poking them with a fork in the center or cutting a slit in the center with a paring knife after you've sealed them.
Place your lids on top of the filled bottoms. Moisten edges with water and press with a fork to seal. Bake at 425 degrees F for 12-16 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately, or cool, wrap and freeze for up to 2 months (we reheated by putting them in a steam table tray and warming them, but you could also pop them into the oven at 350 until they're hot and serve!)
This recipe makes about 18 mini pies. We figured 2 pies per person as a serving, as they were not the "main event" of the course they were in. You can really play with the recipe (I am thinking about doing a chicken taco filling, honestly!), and you could even go vegetarian if you wanted!
The site we normally use was unavailable to us, and the site we were able to get instead had a lovely large industrial kitchen..... and we didn't have access to the industrial range. We're a small shire, with limited resources, and we couldn't risk paying the additional fee for the stove usage. The site DID have, though, a small "efficiency" kitchen down the hall, with a four burner electric stove, oven, and microwave.
So, really, this isn't so bad. It just meant that very little actual cooking could be done on site... it was more of a "bring and reheat" sort of menu, which is actually quite fine, because it means most of the "labor intensive" cooking can be done ahead of time, which is nice.
For one of our courses we chose to make miniature meat pies. These little pastry nibblets are not only tasty, they're super cute! And they lend themselves to so many interesting decorating concepts.... We chose predominantly clovers (as it was "The Feast of Saint Patrick"....) and seeblatts (one of the elements of our Shire arms) as our primary themes for this batch.
The recipe was a combination of various "meat pie" recipes I've used in the past. We wanted something that was modern enough not to freak people out, but was medieval enough to give that special feel to this dinner course. Finger foods are always fun, too! (Plus, the kids can help with the decorating! Bonus!)
To make these little gems:
Filling:
- 1 lb ground meat (we used beef)
- 1/2 cup minced onions (optional - we left them out)
- 1-2 cloves finely minced garlic (optional - we left them out due to allergy concerns in a few of our attendees)
- 1/2 c wine (use a wine that you'd normally drink with whatever meat you're using - we used a red wine)
- 1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional - we used almonds)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Other spices to taste (optional - go crazy! I like nutmeg on meat, but experiment!)
Pastry:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1 cup shortening
- 3/4 cup shredded cheese (we used cheddar)
- 3/4 c evaporated milk
- 1 Tbsp vinegar (we used rice wine)
At this point if you want to get fancy with your "lids" carve designs into the center of the remaining circles, leaving enough space around the outer edge to allow for crimping. My kids helped on several of the lids with simply a wooden skewer (think punched tin art....). Otherwise you can just vent them by poking them with a fork in the center or cutting a slit in the center with a paring knife after you've sealed them.
Place your lids on top of the filled bottoms. Moisten edges with water and press with a fork to seal. Bake at 425 degrees F for 12-16 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately, or cool, wrap and freeze for up to 2 months (we reheated by putting them in a steam table tray and warming them, but you could also pop them into the oven at 350 until they're hot and serve!)
This recipe makes about 18 mini pies. We figured 2 pies per person as a serving, as they were not the "main event" of the course they were in. You can really play with the recipe (I am thinking about doing a chicken taco filling, honestly!), and you could even go vegetarian if you wanted!
Feasts are your friend!
So many times when I go to SCA events I hear the same (sad...) things.
"We don't go to feast because...."
I love cooking. I love feeding people even more. Until I started dancing in the SCA, cooking was my first love. I also believe that a feast (really, ANY meal... but especially a feast) should be a communal and enjoyable experience for the participants. It's not just a cafeteria (or a "Lunch Tavern") where you grab something to eat, scarf it down and move on to your next activity. The feast (whether it's a "Peasant's Supper" or "High Feast for The Crown") adds a wonderful layer to the historical reenactment experience! I mean... people DID eat back in the old days... and it wasn't at a burger joint!
I also believe that the process of getting the food to the table should be ~as exciting~ and interesting and enjoyable as the meal itself. I enjoy learning new recipes... adjusting, modifying, or just completely turning a recipe inside out. There something very satisfying about sitting around a table with three or four of your closest friends with your arms in a bowl of ground meat and miscellaneous ingredients up to your elbows and reconnecting while you work on a recipe together. There's something ~magical~ about watching children learn how bread is made, or butter, or.... (What? Kids in the kitchen?! Oh yes! Absolutely!)
So let's explore ways to make feasts fun! After all, there's nothing quite as exhilarating to a cook to hear somebody say "This is the best feast I've been to in the 25 years I've been in the SCA!" or "This is my first feast, and it was AWESOME!"
"We don't go to feast because...."
- "I hate medieval food, it tastes gross."
- "We always leave the feast hungry and have to go eat at
after, so why bother?" - "It takes too long to get our food."
I love cooking. I love feeding people even more. Until I started dancing in the SCA, cooking was my first love. I also believe that a feast (really, ANY meal... but especially a feast) should be a communal and enjoyable experience for the participants. It's not just a cafeteria (or a "Lunch Tavern") where you grab something to eat, scarf it down and move on to your next activity. The feast (whether it's a "Peasant's Supper" or "High Feast for The Crown") adds a wonderful layer to the historical reenactment experience! I mean... people DID eat back in the old days... and it wasn't at a burger joint!
I also believe that the process of getting the food to the table should be ~as exciting~ and interesting and enjoyable as the meal itself. I enjoy learning new recipes... adjusting, modifying, or just completely turning a recipe inside out. There something very satisfying about sitting around a table with three or four of your closest friends with your arms in a bowl of ground meat and miscellaneous ingredients up to your elbows and reconnecting while you work on a recipe together. There's something ~magical~ about watching children learn how bread is made, or butter, or.... (What? Kids in the kitchen?! Oh yes! Absolutely!)
So let's explore ways to make feasts fun! After all, there's nothing quite as exhilarating to a cook to hear somebody say "This is the best feast I've been to in the 25 years I've been in the SCA!" or "This is my first feast, and it was AWESOME!"
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