hsifeng | Entries tagged with rwa workshop

Wow…

The RWA Workshop was a blast: As we did not prep the food samples over the weekend (due to Pele’s passing), hubby and I did all of the shopping and most of the cooking on Monday night. This meant sauces, meat pie filling and waffers. The makings of the blaunderlyes and the rest of the meat pie bits travelled to SF with me and were finished at Kristie’s house there. They were *beautiful*! (It helps to have the assistance of a professional chef…*grin*).

Dame T, Lady K, Princess S and I went out to sushi dinner and enjoyed the SF weather. Blustery, foggy (yes – at the same time) and 60ish degrees.

Coming from the Central Valley and dealing with our heat, it makes me understand how folks cold pay the ridiculous rents and put up with the traffic/parking in the City.

Almost.

I spent a sleepless night trying to figure out how to reconfigure my workshop timing (there was some confusion as to if I would have any time ‘in addition’ to my 40 minute class to set-up and tear-down my display/food table), wondering if any of the topics I covered would be of interest to a romance novelist crowd, worrying that I would not get enough sleep (*chuckle*), etc.

Up early (4:30 AM) and into the shower. After a short debate, I sidelined the high heels I had brought for my Doc Martin Mary Janes – best plan ever! - and finished packing/repacking boxes and ice chest and putting everything in the care. Dame T and I were out the door and on the way to the hotel in separate cars by 6:30 AM.

Got to the conference, had the normal “everything has been put in the wrong place, no room keys will work and people are missing” drama (all resolved without any stress on my part, but it may have taken a few years off of T’s life). Found out that I had HOURS before my class to set up, since the first presenter didn’t mind my things being in the back of her room while she did her thing.

After me lending her a hand with a faulty room key and some issues with finding ‘all of her bags’, Lady J stepped in and took care of being my food prep and distribution service. This meant I only had to deal with the *actual verbal content* of the class during my session – a HUGE relief. Since my class was followed by a lunch break, I also had plenty of time to put everything away safely for the trip home.

*JOY*

We had a great session: I warned my folks early on that a) I was running on three hours of sleep b) and a double latte, c) this was my first workshop on this topic to this kind of audience and I was a bit nervous and d) I talk fast anyway. I let them know that it was OK to flag me down to lower my pace if necessary, but that we had a lot to cover in a short time.

The topics I went through, with only a few deviations due to questions, were as follows:

Market Place conditions & Common Foods

Kitchens and the items found there – cooking related and otherwise

Food & ‘Religion – Medicine – Sex’

Tastes of the Period

Feast Decoration, Etiquette and Food Presentation

We had to skip all the lovely information I had on weddings, but I expect some of that will go out to individuals in e-mails if they get around to contacting me.

As you can see, any one of those topics is an hour of talking by itself. I did the whole thing in 45 minutes. When I realized we had come to the end of our time, I let folks know I could stick around for a bit (since there was a 90 minute ‘lunch break) and started serving food.

Several of the ladies stuck around after they had their plates and asked more questions/complimented me on the class. They all seemed genuinely interested in the topic and were very receptive to the information I had to give (even when it was simply referring them to a reference source). I got a lot of, “Oh, your husband helped make all this food? You are *so* lucky!” *looks smug*

All in all, they were very nice, and I would probably do something like this again – in a year. *grin* I do need some time to decompress from the prep, lack of sleep and ‘over and back’ nature of the trip.

It would have been lovely to spend time boozing it up with the crew post-sessions, but I had to get on the road as quickly as possible. Master S did manage to get me on the MUNI to the SF Public Library so I could have a card/online access of my very own (*squee*) – he also bought me the BEST CUP OF COFFEE EVER!

http://bluebottlecoffee.net/

No joke.

These people roast X number of beans in the AM. If you show up after they run out your SOL. They brew every cup of coffee *by hand* in a gravity coffee pot. They have Japanese cold filtered coffee (if enough has come out of the machine to fill your cup when you show up…it’s a very slow drip).

I think the coffee gods live here.

Oh, and the guy behind the counter totally lusted after my Team Buckaroo Banzai jacket…*smirk*

So, after no sleep, no food, a double latte, a stressful conference, The Gods Coffee ™, a trip on the MUNI to the SF Book Mecca; I got a three hour drive home to wind down. It was actually nice. I turned up the Cranberries, REM, Depeche Mode, Perfect Circle, etc and sang at the top of my lungs the whole way home.

Thank you to everyone on here that lent a hand in crafting my materials and who gave me 'atagirls' to keep me motivated along the way - I couldn't have done it without you!

Current Mood: content

( Just in case anyone was interested in the materials that are included in the handout I will be using for the 'Medieval & Renaissance Foods' presentation in SF, CA next week... )

Old World:

Vegetable greens (Wortes): cabbage, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, chicory, endive, radicchio, spinach, sorrel, watercress, lamb's lettuce, dandelion, nettles, rocket, mustard greens, turnip greens, beet greens.

Roots: rapes (turnips) - the staple, salsify, radish, celery root, pasturnakes (carrots and parsnips), skyrwates/skirrits (water parsnip), scallions, onions, garlic, leeks.

Beans and Peas: peas, split peas, white beans, fava beans (broad beans), lentils, chickpeas (garbanzos).

Stalks and Vegetable Fruits: asparagus, celery, fennel, mushrooms, marrows/gourds (mostly varieties we would call summer squash and zucchini), cucumber, eggplant, artichoke, olives.

Grains: wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, rice, millet, spelt.

Fruit: apple, crabapple, pear, quince (very common), cherry, peach, apricot, nectarine, damson (plum) and prune, fig, date, pomegranate, orange, lemon, grapes, raisins, melon (such as honeydew and muskmelon/canteloupe), rhubarb, strawberry, currants (very common), gooseberry, bilberry, wild blackberries (but not cultivated), mulberries.

Nuts: almonds (a staple), filberts (hazelnuts), chestnuts, walnuts, acorns, sesame seeds, pistachios, pinenuts.

New World:

Roots: potato, sweet potato, jicama.

Beans and Peas: pinto beans, red beans, kidney beans, lima beans, string beans (haricot), runner bean, field peas, black-eyed peas, cacao beans (chocolate), vanilla beans.

Stalks and Vegetable Fruits: tomato, winter squash types, avocado, peppers (both bell and hot/chili types).

Grains: corn (maize), quinoa, wild rice.

Fruit - New World, Asian and Modern: banana, persimmon, kiwi, mango, guava, papaya, starfruit, grapefruit, lime, passion fruit, pineapple, prickly pear, black raspberry, loganberry, cranberry, blueberry, breadfruit.
Nuts: pecans, peanuts, coconuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts.

Feast Information

The following are examples of information about original feasts from the medieval thru Early modern periods. These are provided to give you an idea of what feasting was like during this period.

During the Reign of Elizabeth I of England: “These diversions of the Court in the open field…were projected in midsummer. [Sir Thomas] Stow tells us of a rural banqueting house made in the year 1581, for the receptions of certain Ambassadors out of France on the south-west side of the Queen’s palace at Whitehall, which must have been in the garden, near the river, 323 feet in circumference (therefore a circular pavilion or tent) . “The top of the house was wrought most cunningly “ over the canvas work “with ivy and holly, with pendants made of wicker rods, garnished with bay, rue, and all manner of strange flowers garnished with spangles of gold,” and ingenious devise to produce the effect of drops of golden dew; it was also “beautiful with teasons” (festoons) “made of ivy and holly, with all manner of strange fruits as pomegranates, oranges, pompions, cucumbers, grapes and such like, spangles with gold and most richly hanged; betwixt these works of bay and ivy was great space of canvas, which was most cunningly painted with the clouds, stars, the sun beams, with divers coats of sundry sorts belonging to the Queen’s Majesty, most richly garnished with gold.”

Kempe, Alfred John Esq. F.S.A. “The Loseley Manuscripts and Other Rare Documents: Illustrative of some of the more minutes particulars of English History, Biography and Manners from the Regin of Henry VIII to that of James I” Google Books, July 20, 2008. <http://books.google.com/books?id=GFULAAAAYAAJ>

For a banquet given by King Richard of England and the Duke of Lancaster in 1387 (estimated to have been intended for 10,000 diners – original word spelling retained):

14 oxen lying in salte

2 oxen ffreyssh

120 hedes of shepe fressh

120 carcas of shepe fressh

12 bores

14 clavys

140 pigges

300 maribones (marrow bones)

of larde of grece, ynough (enough)

3 ton of salt veneson

3 does of ffressh veneson

50 swannes

210 gees

50 capons of hie grece (larded)

8 dozen other capons

60 dussen hennes

400 conyngges (large rabbits)

4 fesauntes

5 herons and bitores

6 kiddes

5 dozen pullayn for gely (pullets for jelly)

12 dozen to roast

100 dozen pieons (pigeons)

12 dozen partrych (partridges)

8 dozen rabettes

12 dozen curlewes

12 cranes

wilde fowle ynogh

12 galons melke

12 galons crème

11 galons of cruddes (curds)

12 bushels of appelles

11 thousand egges

Sass, Lorna J. To The Kings Taste: Richard II’s book of feasts and recipes. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.

Wedding feast customs in 16^th C Germany: “As many as thirty-two guests might legally attend the morning meal and forty the evening banquet, although extensions could be negotiated or bought. The city (Nürnberg) fought a loosing battle to keep the fare modest on such occasions. Early in the century, numerous ‘exotic’ entrées (partridges, hazel hens, pheasants, peacocks, capons, turkeys, ptarmigan, stags, roe, fish and ‘spicy side-dishes’) were strictly forbidden. By mid-century – 1565, rare game and rich confections remained illegal; however, other substantial dishes might now grace a table, along with some plain species of fish (gudgeon and perch), hazel hens, and partridges.”

Ozment, Steven. Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany. New York: Viking, 1999.

As an example of ‘high feasts’ from the fourteens and fifteen centuries: “A few English cookery manuscripts devote a folio or two to the elements of several grand feasts….the first of these, the menu for the Coronation Banquet [of Henry IV of England], sees generally typical of noble meals of the period, and typical too of other examples of menus we find for the same high social level in England: It enumerates 43 dishes presented in three servings termed the first, second and third courses. These dishes range from a boar’s head, large joints of meat, pheasants and piglets and great pies in the second, to Blandesore, partridge, rabbits and fritters in the third. Every serving concluded with a subtlety.”

Scully, Terence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. New York: Boydell & Brewer, Ltd., 1995

On the Use of the Fork (and other eating implements):“…After the pantler had laid the high table, he saw that the other tables were provided with bread, trenchers of salt, spoons and perhaps knives. Cutlery was fairly basic, and usually the diner was expected to provide his own knife, sharpened on a whetstone at the door of the hall, which most carried in a leather sheath attached to the belt. The same knife […] would perform other duties through the day.”

“From early Tudor times, major households provided cased sets of matching knives for the use of their guests. Perhaps the most magnificent of these was that owned by Henry VIII, described in his inventory as: ‘… a case of knives garnished with sundry emeralds, pearls and rubies about the next and divers amethysts; jacynths and balases upon the foot thereof furnished with knives having diamonds at the ends of them.’ Other sets of knives in Henry VIII’s inventory were accompanied by a matching fork, but this was provided only for serving the meat and not intended for eating. The principle of the fork was not new; it had been known as a cooking implement for centuries, but it was a luxury utensil in medieval times, usually of silver, for eating sticky suckets or sweetmeats. Only the Italians used forks for dining at this time; in England fingers were perfectly respectable eating implements even in the reign of Queen Anne in the early 18^th century. When dining on joints of roasted and boiled meats that formed such substantial part of medieval and early Tudor meals, each person used his long, sharp-pointed knife to cut off the pieces he required; the knife point was then used to transfer the meat on to his trencher, where it was sliced, and to take salt from the salt-cellar as required. As The Babees Book of Manners of 1475 advised: ‘do not touch the salt in the salt cellar with any meat, but lay salt honestly on your trencher for that is courtesy.’ "

“…The fork was still only used for eating sticky suckets, or sweetmeats, although it was certainly known as a fashionable novelty from 1582 onwards, as is evident from gifts of forks made ot the Queen on various New Year’s Days.”

“…The introduction of the table fork into England in 1611 encouraged the popularity of these continental dishes; food didn’t have to be mashed and ‘brayed’ for eating with a spoon.”

Paston-Williams, Sara. The Art of Dining: A History of Cooking & Eating. London: National Trust, 1993.

Imagery

A king and queen at feast.

"The House of Rest;" a dinner scene, with bread & frumenty being eaten

Cooking in a large kitchen.

Recipes

The following recipes are examples of food that can be prepared in your home to give you a ‘taste’ of food from the medieval and early modern period. These are all found on the website www.godecookery.com and the original recipe (as it was written at the time), it’s ‘translation’ (into modern English) and a redaction (for your use) are included.

I hope you enjoy these and share them with friends and family!

A Potage of Roysons

PERIOD: England, 15th century
SOURCE: Harleian MS. 279

DESCRIPTION: An apple-raisin pudding

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

A potage of Roysons. Take Raysonys, & do a-way þe kyrnellys; & take a part of Applys, & do a-way þe corys, & þe pare, & bray hem in a mortere, & temper hem with Almande Mylke, & melle hem with flowre of Rys, þat it be clene chargeaunt, & straw vppe-on pouder of Galygale & of Gyngere, & serue it forth.

GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:

A Pudding of Raisins. Take raisins, & take out the kernels, & take some apples, & take out the core, & pare the skin, & smash them in a mortar, & mix with almond milk, & mix with rice flour, so that it's very thick, & strew on galingale & ginger, & serve.

MODERN RECIPE:

    * 1 cup raisins
    * 1 1⁄2 cup Almond Milk
    * 1 Tbs. sugar
    * 1 tsp. mixture of galingale & ginger
    * 4 tbs. rice flour (or unbleached white)
    * 4-6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

Boil the apples & raisins until the apples are very soft; drain well. Mash the fruit and place in a pan with the almond milk, spices, and sugar. Cook over medium heat. Add the flour and continue to cook until "clene chargeaunt" (very thick). Add flour as necessary. Sprinkle top with ginger just before serving. Serves 6-8.

Almond Milk can be made according to the instructions at www.godecookery.com, or you can substitute with the modern Swedish method of making almond milk by flavoring whole milk with almond extract.

Can't find galingale? Use ginger as a substitute.

Basic Meat Pie

PERIOD: Medieval/Renaissance
SOURCE: Various

DESCRIPTION: Basic recipe for a medieval/Renaissance-style meat pie

Medieval meat pies usually consisted of beef, pork, venison, or fowl, or a mixture of those meats. The meat was either broiled or boiled, then used in small bite-sized chunks, or else reduced to a paste by mashing or "mortaring," and mixed with other ingredients. To make a basic medieval meat pie, choose your meat - a nice roast or even a cheaper cut will do nicely. Don't use pre-ground raw meat (such as hamburger) - it will completely change the taste of your product. Use about 1 1⁄2 lbs. for a pie that will feed 6-8 people. Broil or boil it until tender, remove from the broth or drippings and let cool. Chop in bite-sized chunks, mince very small, or chop small and pass through a food grinder or processor to achieve a paste. Mix into the meat any of the following: egg yolks (for liquid and binding), raisins, currants, nuts, cheese, dates, figs, a splash of wine, seasonings (ginger, salt, pepper, etc.) - be creative and have fun! Mix these ingredients either with the meat chunks or blend them in with the meat paste and place in a pre-baked pie shell. The final mixture should be a little too moist and just slightly runny - it'll stiffen up when baked, and the extra moisture will keep the pie from going dry. Liquid to use: egg yolks, wine, broth, etc. Medieval pies (sometimes called "bake metis" in Medieval days) were often topped with either a pastry shell (often called a "coffin") or "byrdys." (Medieval man had a reputation for eating practically anything with wings! "Byrdys" could be any small bird, ranging from swallows, sparrows, to game hens. For the 21st c. kitchen, small cooked chicken pieces such as small thighs or the "drumstick" section of the wing will do nicely.) After preparation, the pies can either be cooked at once or frozen in the raw state to be thawed & cooked later. When baking time comes, keep them in the oven until the pastry is golden brown. Meat pies can be served hot, at room temperature, or even chilled from the fridge.

RECIPE FOR BASIC MEDIEVAL/RENAISSANCE MEAT PIE:

    * 1 1⁄2 lbs. meat (beef, pork, venison, rabbit, poultry, etc. or any combination), parboiled and in small chunks, ground, or mashed
    * 1 9" pie shell (lid optional)
    * cooked chicken pieces (wings, thighs, etc.) (optional)
    * 4 egg yolks
    * 1⁄2 to 1 cup meat broth (quantity depends on the dryness of the other ingredients - use your discretion. The final mixture should be on the wet side.)
    * splash of red or white wine
    * 1 to 2 cups TOTAL of any of the following, separate or in combination: minced dates, currants, raisins, minced figs, ground nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.), grated cheese, etc. The variety of ingredients & the total amount used depends on personal taste.
    * 1⁄4 tsp. salt
    * 1⁄4 tsp. pepper
    * 1 - 2 Tbs. TOTAL of any of the following spices, separate or in combination: ginger, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, cubebs, galingale, etc. The variety of spices & the total amount used depends on personal taste.

Mix well all ingredients except chicken. Place in pie shell and top with either a pastry lid or the cooked chicken pieces. Bake in a 350° F oven for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the pastry is golden brown and the filling set. Serve hot or cold. Serves 6-8.

Blawmanger

PERIOD:England, 14th century
SOURCE: Utilis Coquinario

DESCRIPTION: Traditional medieval rice dish

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

Tak þe two del of rys, þe thridde pert of almoundes; wash clene þe rys in leuk water & turne & seth hem til þay breke & lat it kele, & tak þe melk & do it to þe rys & boyle hem togedere. & do þerto whit gres & braun of hennes grounde smale, & stere it wel, & salte it & dresch it in disches. & frye almaundes in fresch gres til þey be browne, & set hem in þe dissches, & strawe þeron sugre & serue it forth.

GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:

Blancmange. Take two parts of rice, the third part of almonds; wash the rice clean in lukewarm water & turn & boil them til they break and let cool, & take milk and add to the rice and boil together. Add white grease & ground dark chicken meat, & stir well, & salt it and place it in dishes. Fry almonds in fresh grease until brown, & set them in the dishes, and strew on sugar & serve it.

MODERN RECIPE:

    * 1 cup rice
    * 3 cups Almond Milk
    * 1 cup ground cooked chicken, dark meat only (legs and thighs)
    * dash salt
    * 1/4 cup fried slivered almonds
    * sugar to garnish

Bring to a boil the rice, milk, & salt. Reduce heat, stir in chicken, & cover; allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is absorbed and rice is fluffy. Garnish with almonds and a sprinkle of sugar.

Judging by the many versions of this recipe that appear in period cookbooks, it is certain that most (if not all) medieval cooks were at least familiar with this dish. By the strictest definition, Blawmanger (also known as blankmanger) is any bland, white pottage based on almond milk, and (except for a few fish-day versions) contains ground poultry, thickened with rice flour; the standard English flesh-day version was ground capon (or chicken) with rice and almond milk. In some recipes the poultry is in chunks, rather than ground up. Today's modern blancmange is a type of rice-pudding dessert, much beloved by the English, and only bears a slight resemblance to its medieval forerunner.

Poivre noir

PERIOD: France, 14th century SOURCE: Le Viandier de Taillevent

DESCRIPTION: A black pepper sauce

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

Grind ginger, round pepper and burnt toast, infuse this in vinegar (var.: and a little verjuice) and boil it.

MODERN RECIPE:

    * 2 cups red wine vinegar
    * 1 Tbs. ginger (see note)
    * 1 Tbs. pepper (see note)
    * 1-2 cups bread crumbs made from burnt toast

Bring the vinegar to a boil; reduce the heat slightly, and with a wire whisk, beat in the spices. With the whisk slowly begin to beat in the bread crumbs until you reach the thickness of sauce that you desire. Continue beating until you have a smooth consistency and the mixture has again returned to the boil. Remove from heat and serve as an accompaniment to meats and poultry.

This very tart sauce may startle a few people, but many love its sharp and unique taste. Feel free to adjust the spices to your personal taste - some may enjoy using less pepper and more ginger, etc. The sauce can be as thin as a gravy or as thick as a dip. It goes wonderfully with venison and roasts.

Bibliography*

This bibliography includes all works used in the researching of this workshop.

Books -

Albala. Ken. Eating Right in the Renaissance.Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
Paston-Williams, Sara. The Art of Dining: A History of Cooking & Eating. London: National Trust, 1993.

Scully, Terence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. New York: Boydell & Brewer, Ltd., 1995

Ozment, Steven. Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany. New York: Viking, 1999.

Sass, Lorna J. To The Kings Taste: Richard II’s book of feasts and recipes. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.

Hieatt, Constance B.; Brenda Hosington and Sharon Butler. Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks. Second Edition. Tornto: University of Toronto Press, 1996

Pounds, Norman and John Greville. Medieval City: Greenwood Guides to Historic Events of the Medieval World. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005.

Hildegard. Hildegard's Healing Plants: From Her Medieval Classic Physica. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.

Articles –

Harvey, John H. “Vegetables in the Middle Ages.” Garden History, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Autumn, 1984): 89-99

Roper, Lyndal. "Going to Church and Street": Weddings in Reformation Augsburg.” Past and Present, No. 106, (Feb., 1985): 62-101

Laudan, Rachel. "Birth of the Modern Diet." Scientific American Special Edition 16, No. 4 (Dec., 2006 Special Edition 2006): 4-11.

Websites -

Matterer, James L. “Gode Cookery” July 20, 2008 <http://godecookery.com/>.
Munro, John H. “The Consumption of Spices and Their Costs in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe: Luxuries or Necessities?” University of Toronto, Economics Department. 1983. <http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/SPICES1.htm>

Kempe, Alfred John Esq. F.S.A. “The Loseley Manuscripts and Other Rare Documents: Illustrative of some of the more minutes particulars of English History, Biography and Manners from the Regin of Henry VIII to that of James I” Google Books, July 20, 2008. <http://books.google.com/books?id=GFULAAAAYAAJ>



*You'll notice I didn't use all the websites that I thought I might. This is because I am not going to be giving reference for resources to buy materials from, and the websites that requested authorization before their materials were used didn't respond to my request for permission. *shrug* I think I will be just fine without them.

Current Mood: content

http://keirasoleore.blogspot.com/

*chuckle*

Per the information included above, there is going to be 'hands on tasting' at the workshop. The good news is, this is a 'pre-RWA Guild Meeting' workshop (*perhas a smaller crowd, perhaps not). The bad new is, I have not idea how many items I should bring....

*snort*

I am already planning on bringing some springerle cookies (since they can be made up a month in advance - *yipes* that is NOW), and I am considering bringing some period 'sauces' in order to demonstrate the overall differences in the flavor spectrum from the Medieval period (sweet and savory with meat isn't something that is common in the modern sense of taste).

I don't want to serve meat or anything that might spoil.

I will be attacking the recipe books tonight for more ideas and then sharing them tomorrow for input. If you have any favorites you'd like to share from past events, please let me know!

Our headcount for the class is currently 10 folks, T expects 20, but will cap the class at 30 if we get there.

Current Mood: curious

I am going to start webbing some site I have found with good content. These will all be food related and will end up in the workshop bibliography if I use any of their content in the final class. I am going to keep adding to this same entry (to keep it all in one place for my ease of access), so keep checking back if you are interested.

General Reference at www.netlibrary.com & www.books.google.com/

www.godecookery.com The main source, I will list specific sections of the site that I have interest in using below this point:

www.wikipedia.org There are a number of entries that I have been seeing in The Land of Wiki that I think I will use. They are inventoried below:
                   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting_and_abstinence_in_the_Roman_Catholic_Church
                   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent

http://goldenlyon.org/cgkit.html#Cucina_per_campagna_stores (this totally makes me want to do an *actual* cooking workshop...) This site includes a list of the food prepared for the workshop including spices, sauces, etc. Seems pretty consistent with my information on the items commonly found in medieval cookbooks - Powder Forte, Verijuice, etc. - perhaps could be used for 'feast' reference with some information for common herbages as well. There is a ton of inforamtion on camp cooking that this group appears to have compiled in various PDF's in other sections of the site. Might even use some of the same sauces as sample foods, with bread for dipping.

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.sfpl.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=23628198&site=ehost-live Link to that article, "Birth of the Modern Diet" - Scientific American, Special Edition: Recommended by Leighlani.

DHF Internal 'Food Porn - Reformation Style' thread: Viewable to members of the Guild only (sorry!). Found these (still working!) old links from prior research in here:
        Francesco Sirene, Spicer - for purchases of supplies
        http://www.katjaorlova.com/MedievalKitchenEquipment.htm - overview of kitchen goods and how order was maintained in large period kitchens (clip art of kitchen impliments)
        http://www.keskiaika.org/kirjasto/food/preparation.htm - more kitchen info and food preservation including information on wine that I would like to include
        The Consumption of Spices and Their Costs in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe

Current Mood: contemplative

My friend T has asked that I host a 45 minute workshop for her at the Romance Writers of America, Annual Guild meeting in SF on July 30^th. Now T is a brilliant garb researcher with a far greater grasp of the periods in question (medieval and renaissance) than I have. She’d been hosting ‘corsets and underwear’ workshops for RWA events for years now: Needless to say, she hasn’t asked me to do a workshop on clothing.

Nope, she wants me to do one on food.

Having been to some of the crazy 16^th C parties that hubby and I host, and having supped at our table at various encampments – I believe she is under the impression that I have done a lot more research on this subject than I really have.

I knew buying all that period cookware and service would get me in trouble some day…

*grin*

So, with the help of

dravon ,

shadowd1and

dragonwoman, I have started coming up with a list of subjects that I think will be of interest to RWA members. Some of this I will cover with ‘static displays’ (ie: I will set up a table with a period place setting – for the 16^th C since that I what I have – and have a placard that describes what folks are looking at, same for crockery, cookware and possibly glassware if I can convince myself that it won’t get broken): But I am looking for any source material that may be floating around on the interwebs that I am not already in contact with – or that I may not have seen the depths of.

Research starts for real as of today!

I am currently using

dragonwoman's vegi research folder, NetLibrary, Google Books, JSTOR (thank you SF library card!) and www.godecookery.com. If anyone knows of any articles, books, etc. that they feel are integral to the items below – or if they just want to send me some crib notes on a favorite topic of food that is mentioned in my list – lemme know!

At any rate, I am going to web the crap out of what I am finding so that I can share!

TOPICS:

Feast vs Meal – What was served, who served it & who ate what.

* “Fancy” Food vs daily fare

* Order of meal service and placement of guests.

* Dogs roaming around the floors?

Food and Weddings – What did they serve and what did it mean?

*Who paid for it?

*’Traditional wedding fare’ and its meaning

*’Wedding Feast’ traditions – dancing, drinking and sewing someone into a blanket

Who did the cooking – Cooks as a professional class
*Mama vs The Cast Iron Chef

*Who could afford them, and what were they buying?

What did they eat with – Flatware, Glassware, Pottery, oh my!

*Samples of each, with some information on cost and availability – including samples of table linens.

*When did forks become common use items?

Food as God and Medicine – the role of food in medieval lifestyles

* Medical: ‘The humors’ and how food effects them

* Religious: “Don’t eat *that* today!”

Misplaced foods & food myths – The potato isn’t your friend.

*Spices and their cost and locations

*Food preservation - basics

*’New World’ foods (pumpkins, corn, potatoes, etc.)

*’Old World’ foods (pasta, ‘sandwiches’, etc.)

PS:

shadowd1and I are going to be 'premiering' this workshop at Fort MacArthur on July 12th & 13th. If you are in the LA area and feel like stopping in, we'd love your input! (

dravon, you are already on the list baby!)

Current Mood: hopeful

Take a Deep Breath...

and remember to exhale...

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