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!!!)