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!)