Feast

A 12th Century French inspired feast. 

Cooked by the venerable Maistir Aodh O Siadhail

Assisted by:

The Honourable Lady Amphelise de Wodeham

Lady Juliana ferch Luned

Lady Milada von Schnecken

Frú Aðísla Arnulfsdóttir

Co-researcher: Magnifica Magdelena Grace Vane

Norman feasting was VERY heavy on the meat and bread. Our modern sensibilities won't handle that so well, so I'm allowing for some vegetables as well. I'm aiming to put out a substantial first course, and then have the second and third be more in the way of filling up the gaps - so maybe keep a little bit of room so you can taste everything, but otherwise make yourselves content!

First course: Roast Beast & Frumenty; a pottage of Chicken; Buttered Turnips, Creamed Leeks. And bread.

The Beast will certainly be beef; it might be venison (or both!) if we can wrangle the supplies. Frumenty is a dish of bulghur wheat cooked in stock, with eggs mixed through - the egg fried rice of its day, more or less - and a very traditional accompaniment to roast meats. There will be vegetarian and vegan versions as needed; everyone will eat well.

Second course: Anchovies; Baked chicken on sops with sauce; White fish in a sweet-and-sour sauce; Stewed cabbage; Bean pottage. And bread.

We're mostly going for strong tastes in this course. Meat served over "sops" (slices of bread, sometimes toasted), and covered in sauce was a standard serving right through the Middle Ages, and really lasted up until the early Victorian period. You can make an argument that Yorkshire Pudding holds the place of sops even now, and with New World stuff, bangers and mash with gravy holds the same sort of niche. The sweet-and-sour sauce strikes us as modern, but in fact fruit sauces with a vinegar component were very medieval, and for the Normans, would have struck a balance between Northern European food and the more Arabic stuff their people in Sicily were coming in contact with.

Third course: Fritters of fruit and vegetables; sliced roast duck; Baked fruit (apples, pears, plums) with cream and honey; Dates in compost. And bread.

This rounds out the feast, and leaves everyone with some nice rich tastes to finish up on. A little meat still, because Normans, but mostly moving into sweeter things.

You'll note there's bread with every course. Bread was completely the staple of the medieval (continental) European diet (the Irish were different), and I'm a firm believer in including it with all courses, because to do otherwise would leave the wealth and generosity of the host in doubt. And this is Coronet!

Maistir Aodh O Siadhail

Feast Cook