Northern Region War Camp '12 Meal Plan

For NRWC 2012 I found myself in an interesting position. None of the rest of the Household would be present and I was going to be doing the entire event solo. While I was a little nervous about my lack of infrastructure (others usually bring kitchen supplies) I decided to use the opportunity to eat as medieval as possible for the entire event, since the only food preferences and allergies I had to worry about were my own. It also seemed to be a good opportunity to eat at medieval times, with breakfast being very small and simple, a dinner in the early afternoon that was the largest meal, and a later supper somewhere around dusk that was light and easily digested.

My idea was to plan foods that could mostly be prepared beforehand, either by being fully cooked and re-heatable (MADE), or chopped/sliced/etc. at home and stored in the cooler until needed (PREP). The remainder were things that would be easy enough to prepare from scratch on-site with limited table space or were purchased. While I would love to eventually get to the point where I can have a weekend's menu that is completely from 13th and 14th c. Italian sources, I chose to compromise with some other dishes that I either had experience cooking or had few ingredients and simple preparation methods.

Some recipes were altered to be Gluten-Free, and I substituted vegetable broth for meat broth in the Friday items that called for it.

My Original Meal Plan

Breakfast (2 times early)

Sausage (1) (Saturday) (MADE)

Boiled Beef (Sunday) (MADE)

Cheese

Gluten-Free Bread (MADE)

Gluten-Free Beer

Dinner (2 times 2 or 3 in the afternoon)

Salat dressed with vinegar and oil (Both days)

(Friday) Peas

(Friday) Sprouts

(Friday) Congur in Sawse (will probably use a white fish) (Sauce was MADE beforehand)

(Friday) Perys en Composte (MADE)

(Saturday) Leeks & Bacon (PREP)

(Saturday) Buttered wortes (PREP)

(Saturday) Boiled Beef (MADE)

(Saturday) Emperors Fritters

Dried fruits & spices to close (Both days)

Supper (2 times after dusk)

(Friday) Green Poree (p. 69 of Medieval Kitchen) (PREP)

(Saturday) Herb Soup (PREP)

GF Bread

Cheese

With one exception, this all came together beforehand. I wound up running out of time and energy and wasn't able to prep the dough for the Emperor's Fritters.

So how did it go in practice?

As I set up to start making dinner I discovered that my newly purchased single-burner stove just really, really hated the particularly strong wind that was whipping through camp. I also discovered that I'd completely forgotten to pack the sprouts. The latter turned out to be a good thing, as I had far more food than I could handle alone, and the former was conquered with creative use of my own body as a windblock. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the fish dish, which I had never tried before.

I also completely forgot about my carefully prepared "Friday Fast" menu and laid out bread (containing eggs) and cheese without even thinking about it.

Overall it was very satisfying, and I had done enough prep that by the time the fish was done the peas were still warm.

I was also very happy with the wine I chose, and will be hunting down more of the Soave's in the future.

This soup ended up being ridiculously easy and also amazingly filling, with very little clean-up. It was the perfect thing to have before beginning an evening of carousing. Robert Fairfax was kind enough to help me eat it, as the one thing I learned from this is that I have a really hard time estimating how much food one person needs. I'm just very used to cooking for two in real life.

Again with the cheese.

The Green's GF Tripel Blonde Ale is hands-down my new favorite GF beer. It was light and a little fruity, which made it perfect for breakfast. The sausage is a Chicken-Apple that I eat regularly and adore. I have no idea if there is any period precedence for chicken sausages, but it was already in the refrigerator so I browned it at home to make it more visually appealling. It tasted lovely straight from the cooler.

Saturday Dinner (around 7 pm)

Like all well-laid plans, sometimes things go awry. By mid-day of Saturday I was already feeling wiped out by heat, sunburn, lack of sleep, and a bit too much wine the night before. I participated in the Laurels vs. Pelicans Boffer Melee and afterwards was unable to function for some time. As a result, "dinner" started getting prepared quite late in the day, and completely eliminated the need for supper.

The original plan was:

Salat

Leeks & Bacon

Buttered wortes

Boiled Beef

Emperors Fritters

Dried fruits & spices to close (Both days)

As previously mentioned, the fritters didn't happen, but I fortunately had a lot of poached pears left over. Fairfax joined me for the meal once more, and we opted to pass on the salad since there were so many other greens involved. It all turned out extremely well and I was very pleased. Of course my phone was drained by then and I was unable to get a photograph.

Sunday Breakfast (around 8 am)

Since I knew I had to pack up I opted to skip the beer, but otherwise it went to plan. I finished off the very last of my Gluten-Free bread and most of the cheese. The boiled beef was just as good cold as it was hot.

Overall I think the plan went well. It was a lot of preparation but that was well worth it when I was wrestling with a cranky stove and trying to cook on only one burner. Finding time to cook and eat at the correct time of day turned out to be the largest challenge, as 2-3 on Saturdays tend to be packed with activities at most events.

Below are some of the resources I used while planning.

Notes on meal times at Godecookery.com

How to cook medieval at Godecookery.com