Playing with knives and fire

[Public] Architecture talk: "James Hoban and the 18th Century vaulting of the White House"

2008-05-01T21:39:02Z

Upcoming event some of you may want to go to... Next Monday, May 12, Federal Lodge #1 will have a program on "James Hoban and the Eighteenth Century Vaulting of the White House." James Hoban was the designer of the White House.

This is part of a series of exhibits and events in Ireland and DC commemorating the 250th anniversary of birth of White House architect, James Hoban. Federal Lodge has a special connection with James Hoban, since he founded the lodge in 1793 and was its first Master. The lodge has had a series of monthly programs on architecture-related topics in Hoban's honor, all open to the public.

Monday, May 12, 2008

"James Hoban and the Eighteenth Century Vaulting of the White House" by James Jacobs

Dinner is at 6:30. The program will start sometime after 7:30. Guests are welcome at no charge.

The location is the Scottish Rite Temple, 2800 16th Street, NW in DC a few blocks from the Columbia Heights metro stop. Parking in the temple lot is free. Directions are on the Federal Lodge web site.

[public] Tournament of Chivalry

2008-04-21T21:06:23Z

Report from Tournament of Chivalry, Storvik, April 19 2008.

I arrived in the afternoon, apparently just shortly after the kitchen had opened. Tirzah and orlacarey put me to work chopping apples and I did that for maybe an hour? I replaced ~~a sweet lady whose name I forget~~ eridun who had cut her finger. Tirzah had improvised a "finger condom" for her, a latex glove to go over her gauze-wrapped wound, but it was still threatening. So Dierdre O'Bardon and her lord came over to join me in finely chopping apples. After they were all chopped I just set a timer (a very practical thank-you gift for helping) and monitored the apples and waited, and waited... The apples roasted in the oven for half hour per batch until they softened at all, and even then they couldn't be mashed - they had to be pureed a bit in a food processor. The roasting really brought out the flavor though. Hot, freshly-roasted Granny Smith apple chunks are delicious! Saw a bunch of other folks too, including spikywheel who delivered her homemade onion pies, freshly baked off-site. Vitha was doing pretty much everything; cooking, plating, even helping with cleanup long after feast was over... she just didn't sit still!

There was enough help in the kitchen at that point, so I ducked out and joined the musicians for the (very small) court on the field. Seriously, there were maybe only a half-dozen people in the audience, plus about that many musicians; rather disappointing for a "major" fighting event. I'm not sure why. The Baron & Baroness processed in with a beautiful, loud bugle call so you'd think people would have heard it. Anyway,luscious_purple heralded the court, and telerib and other musicians provided lovely background music; I just banged on my tamborine, the only instrument I had with me. I especially liked the sly "Imperial March" (Darth Vader theme) the harps slipped in as the autocrat's husband was called into court. There are times for formality and pageantry in the SCA, but for this informal field court it was nice to have a little fun. Also recognized were hardworking folks Ascelina le Dragon (baronial courtesy award?) and someone from House Wulfshaven who was inducted into the order of the Golden Dolphin (James Griffin ~~(I recognized him but I'm blanking on the name?)~~. Finally they called on luscious_purple herself and recognized her with the Lozulet (Storvik baronial service award).

Graciela (Grace?) was the hall steward and supervised the servers. It was good to have a capable, designated authority. Per her request, we servers put questions to Grace to ask Orla to answer or relay to Tirzah and then all the way back again. That was a good tactic to minimize hassling the kitchen staff. Grace and Orla also serenaded us with the "servers song," which I understand Grace had learned less than a half-hour before. We actually had sufficient servers for once, so that was nice.

Unfortunately we ended up having a relatively lot of empty seats at feast, the first time I've seen that happen for one of Tirzah's feasts. The servings were all for tables of 8, and many of the tables had far fewer feasters. So the carefully planned portion control didn't apply to many of the diners, and later dishes like the lamb and asparagus weren't eaten much mainly because people were too full. Also, the feast itself started a little late. This was amazingly not because the site opened the kitchen hours late. Tirzah and Orla and their crew had caught up! No, some of the fighters wanted to shower. People-wrangling is tough sometimes.

Everybody who was there really liked the food. Towards the end, they applauded the kitchen and Tirzah/Orla in particular. Unfortunately the kitchen staff were busy plating the last course at the time and I don't think they heard it.

Comments from the feasters:

"Is there any more gnocchi? Pleeease?" (I say I don't know, I will ask.) "No, that's OK, I'll go get some... hang on..." At that point, the lady got up, ran to the kitchen with a bowl and returned with a bowl of gnocchi. That *second* batch of gnocchi was inhaled. It lasted maybe 5 minutes or however long it was to serve it.

"...And the way the applesauce went with the pork. That was perfect!"

Me: "My lord, are you done with the beef soup?"
Fighter: "Noooo. You're not taking my meat away from me."

Me: "This is sushi-grade tuna in a ginger-saffron sauce...."
Fighter, eyes lighting up: "You brought me more meat!"

Same Fighter, for the fennel salad: "There's no meat in this!"
Me: "Try it!"
(Later: the bowl was half gone. That table had only four people. Hmm...)

Feaster: "The asparagus in cream sauce was very good. I just don't have any room!"
Me: "But I hope you'll have room for the pistachio cream for dessert?"
Feaster: "Oh yes."

Entire Table, seeing the dessert tray: "PISTACHIO CREAM!!!"

Feaster, just before tossing back her pistachio cream: "It's like doing shots!"

Feaster (pointing to an empty seat next to him) "And one for my friend here..." (wanting more Pistachio Cream)

Too Many People to Count: "Mmmmm, pass me more gnocchi!"

Too Many People to Count: "Is there any pistachio cream left?"

I served two tables, one full eight and one that started with two people and somehow grew to four over the course of the meal. Duke Ragnarr was at the small table. He is notorious for only ever eating hot dogs and Ho-Hos and macaroni and cheese. We cooks love him anyway, because he helps with cleanup and appreciates the work that goes into a feast. I'd made a show of placing the gnocchi right in front of him with a flourish, but unbeknownst to me the kitchen soon after presented him with his own bowl of Gnocchi! And *gasp* he even ate it!

So people were fed into submission. Yay!

Pi Day recipes - Cube Roots and Tarte of Cream

2008-03-17T22:08:15Z

Friday was Pi day (3/14, get it?) Our longtime gaming friend and his better half hosted a Pi Day party for lots of their friends on Saturday (a large approximation of pi). It was great to meet so many nifty people and game as only nerds can do. The games were as good as the company. Also, Sweetie brought his vintage Apple IIc and lots of folks played Oregon Trail. I learned two new games, "Rise of the Galaxy" (similar to Puerto Rico, with cards like Citadels) and "To Court the King" (a dice manipulation game, Yahtzee on crack).

This was a potluck, with an invitation to bring pie or a Pi-themed dish. There were pineapple wedges, key lime pie (Sweetie ate half of himself), pine nuts, pink lady apples, a couple Squared Pies, a yummy peach-strawberry pie, apple and several other fruit pies, and a cute minimalist pie (a baked plain pie crust). I did my usual potluck strategy, trying medieval-style food on unsuspecting people. Made a custard pie (tart of cream) and some "cubed roots" (roasted root vegetables, cut into cubes). There were over a dozen assorted gamer geeks, and at least one or two SCA folks I didn't know yet. Almost all the attendees are on LJ. (I haven't friended you all yet, but I recognize several people I know who are your friends or friends of friends.)

The recipes, by request...

Cubed Roots

2-3 medium beets
1 large sweet potato
4-5 large carrots
1 large Spanish onion
~2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 shakes (~1/2 tsp?) Lemon Pepper seasoning

Chop the veggies into approximately one-inch by one-inch cubes (cubed roots). Throw into an oven-safe pan (I used a glass cake pan). Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with lemon pepper. Toss to coat. Roast at ~375 degrees for ~30 minutes or until veggies are tender.
Sources: My own twisted punny mind. Though I was inspired by a comment on the SCA-Cooks list (someone suggested cubing radishes). The original roasted veggies technique came from the SavingDinner.com Thanksgiving menu.

Tart of Cream

Take Creame and Egs and stir them, together, and put them into a strainer till the whay be come out, then strain it that it may be thick, season it with Ginger, Sugar, and a little Saffron, and then make your paste with flower, and dry your paste in the Oven, and then fill it, and set it into the Oven to dry, and then take it out, and cast Sugar on it, and so serve it forth.

Redaction, by Dierdre O'Bardon of the Bright Hills Cooks Guild:
1 cup of cream
½ cup of milk
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of ginger (level or heaping depending on how much ginger you like) [I used 1 heaping]
~5 strands of saffron [I used a big pinch]
1 pie crust [I used a Pillsbury graham-cracker crust]

Mix cream, milk, eggs and saffron with a whisk until well blended.
Mix ginger and sugar thoroughly.
Add ginger and sugar to the eggs, milk, saffron and cream. Mix with a whisk until well blended. Pour into a 9 inch pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. [I baked it for 55 minutes until it stopped jiggle-rippling, it still was quite soft and custardy]. At least one original source is here.

I also attempted a Pie of Paris (meatloaf pie) but that didn't turn out as well. I was rushed for time due to some last-minute mundane business that interrupted just when I pre-heated the oven. *sigh* Life happens. But it was a great party! I hope to game with some of you again soon.

Biography of Mrs. James Hoban - Susanna Sewell

2008-02-14T23:29:54Z

Federal Lodge on Monday held an event toasting the wives and significant others of famous masons. As I wrote in a previous post, my husband went in character as James Hoban, architect of the White House and supervisor of the U.S. Capitol. Hoban also founded Federal Lodge #1. I played Hoban's wife, Susanna Sewell. We both attended in circa-1800 costume. About three hours before the event, Sweetie called me, rather irritated - it seems the event organizer hadn't found enough background information on her life to properly toast her. Well we weren't getting all dressed up for nothing! So I jumped headfirst into teh interwebz and dug up enough info to justify our outfits. I discovered they had used a different spelling for her first and last names, so I did find information on Susanna and her family. So here's a short biography of Susanna Sewall, aka Susannah or Susana Sewall, aka Mrs. James Hoban.

    Susanna Sewall was born in Prince George's county Maryland, the daughter of Clement Sewell and Eleanor Carberry. Susana's childhood friends included her sister Mary and her father's slave, Bett. In May of 1797, Susana and her sister Mary witnessed Bett's wedding to Edward Butler, a free man from a notable Black family. Trinity Church performed a Catholic marriage at her father's special request. [Warner]

    When James proposed marriage to Susanna, she demanded a house where she could provide hospitality. Just a few months before, James Hoban had just been made superintendent of the President's House and the Capitol building. The Federal City commissioners had provided him with the former superintendent's house, that of George Hadfield, which was located close to the Capitol. But it was a modest house not made for entertaining. "In the summer of 1798, James informed the commissioners he planned to marry and therefore wanted a good kitchen added to the house they promised him." The pinch-penny commissioners did not want to agree, but so forceful were his demands that on August 21, they agreed to provide a kitchen. "It would have to be built of the commonest materials and in the cheapest manner." [Warner 143]

    Six months later, on January 13, 1799, James and Susanna married. It was a family affair. Susanna's cousins officially witnessed the wedding. They had a loving marriage with ten children including a son, James. [Baker?]

    The Irish immigrant, James Hoban, had married into a wealthy family. Her family had been Catholics in Maryland for over 100 years, having been invited to settle there by Lord Baltimore himself. [Warner 143?]

    Susanna's father, Clement Sewell, was a hero from the Revolutionary War. He had served alongside George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of George Washington. Clement was one of two Roman Catholic men mentioned in Custis's records. Custis called him "my neighbor and my firm friend. He was a brave soldier, a good citizen, and an honest man. A fine youth, he joined the famed Maryland line, a volunteer; was promoted for his gallant conduct on the field of battle; and, after hard service, returned to his home with a shattered limb and the consciousness of having done his duty."

    James Hoban used his wife's family connections to his advantage, in particular her father's business. Clement had previously operated Suter's Tavern, where he had hosted George Washington numerous times. In 1796, Clement built the three-story City Tavern in Georgetown at what is now 3206 M Street NW. In 1798 the "Centinel of Liberty" newspaper advertised the new tavern as "a well built three story Brick house" with "a roomy and convenient Store House, now used for a stable, but originally built for and well-calculated for above-mentioned purpose, also a Granary, Kitchen, meat House & all of brick." The building still stands today. [City Tavern website]

    The tavern soon became a major meeting house. It was next door to the Bank of Columbia, which had George Washington on its board of directors. When John Adams visited Washington in 1800 to inspect the new buildings, he used Susanna's father's tavern as his base of operations. On June 6, 1800, Adams was honored at a banquet in the Long Room of the Tavern where he gave the toast: "Georgetown - May its prosperity equal the ardent enterprise of its inhabitants, and the felicity of their situation." [City Tavern club?]

Disclaimer: This was compiled in less than two hours. I have not cleaned this up much or added in all the citations yet. There may be factual errors, which I freely claim are all mine.

Sources:

American Mason. Bro. James Hoban, The Irish-Catholic Mason Who Built - then Rebuilt - The White House. http://www.americanmason.com/didntARC.ihtml
Archiseek. (1996-2007). Archiseek / Ireland / Architects of Ireland / James Hoban. Architects of Ireland - James Hoban (1762-1831). http://www.irish-architecture.com/architects_ireland/hoban.html
Baker, Pete. (2006, September 04.) James Hoban - an architect to remember. http://www.sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/james_hoban_an_architect_to_remember/
Home Page. James Hoban Society. Via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, Feb 8 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070208110556/http://jameshoban.org/
Warner, William W. (1994). At Peace With All Their Neighbors: Catholics and Catholicism in the National Capital. Georgetown University Press, found on Google Books. Page 141 and several others; this was a treasure trove of information on Hoban, the Sewall family, and many other Revolutionary-era Roman Catholics.
Livingston, Mike. (2001). Georgetown tavern serving history since John Adams. Washington Business Journal 13 July 2001. Article available online.
City Tavern Club: History of the Club. http://www.hometoday.com/city_tavern_club/History.cfm
Pop-up Pedigree (Clement Sewall). http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/a/jamison_clan/p5.htm
Griffin, Martin I.J. (2006). Catholics and the American Revolution V3. Kessinger Publishing, page 347.
Trinity Church-Georgetown DAR - vol.. 47 Trinity Church Marriage & Baptism Records 1795-1805. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/dc/vitals/trintych.txt
The White House. http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/white_house.htm
[Some UFO conspiracy Web site, I kid you not, that had Hoban's wife's name with the wrong spelling]
[The George Washington Custis memoir book that was found on Google books]

Demanding a proper kitchen before she'd marry? Susanna was a lady after my own heart. :-)

QOTD: Why we feed children

2008-02-14T16:00:42Z

Quote of the day, from the Bright Hills Cooks Guild:

"Feeding the little ones is a public safety issue, truth be told. We feed nearly anyone who comes into the kitchen. If it's chewing we're less likely to try to peel it, steam it or throw it into the oven."

-- Lord Bruce the Robert, responding to a mother's thanks for giving her four-year-old a snack before the feast on Saturday.

In Costume: Mr. and Mrs. James Hoban, circa 1800

2008-02-12T05:27:13Z

Sweetie's lodge had a thank-you dinner Monday in honor of "spouses, partners, and significant others" who support their men. Throughout the evening brothers toasted specific notable companions and gave a brief history of their accomplishments. Examples included Eleanor Roosevelt, the wives of several famous masons, and the long-time partners/companions of J. Edgar Hoover and Oscar Wilde. Sweetie delivered his toast in character, as White House architect James Hoban toasting his wife Susanna Sewell. Sweetie learned this one week ago. He had a costume; I borrowed one from chargirlgenius. I also pulled together a brief history of Susanna and her family at the last minute, posted in another entry.

Here's a picture of the two of us in circa-1800 garb.

THANK YOU to chargirlgenius for lending me this terrific dress, and to you and isabelladangelo for your excellent advice. You are amazing!

A few additional photos are here.

Many recognized at Bright Hills Feast of Fools

2008-02-11T17:52:38Z

On Saturday, Bright Hills had its "Feast of Fools." It was a joyous day! I still can't stop grinning. I will try to get around to a feast review later. Photos of the event are posted here. Feel free to share!

Big News: Three of our very own Bright Hills Cooks Guild members were inducted into the Order of the Pelican!

Chagan Khulan Baghsi (Baghsi, pronounced "Bog she", is the Mongolian title meaning Teacher). She had a short vigil since she, like usual, was the event autocrat.
Mistress Cordelia FitzRobert of York. Cordelia turned almost as purple as her famous Berry Pudding; the Queen had to remind her to breathe. Fortunately, Cordelia recovered and accepted.
Mistress Jeanne Tenneur de Bec. She was speechless! I personally had always assumed Mistress Bec was a Pelican already, she has done so much for Atlantia and many other kingdoms. I am absolutely delighted that she's officially a double-peer now!

All three were completely surprised. They had even cooked food for each other's vigils, not knowing that they were to be called up. In fitting, the vigil tent was set up directly outside the feast kitchen.

Also, our head cook Lord Bruce received his Coral Branch (Atlantian arts and sciences AoA-level award). Baroness Martelle, aka martelvonc, also gave Bruce some plush Carrots of Doom. She authorized him to fling them at her if Court ran too long, so the Feast would not be delayed. (Fortunately this was not necessary!)

Dame Olwen the Odd was recognized with a Silver Nautilus (Atlantian special arts award).

And 'bella, who has been working in SCA kitchens for eleven years, finally was recognized with her Award of Arms! We've been trying for years and we finally got her. Vivat!

Vivant to all the awardees!

Edit: Apparently this weekend over in Ansteorra, count_gunthar also received his Laurel in cooking! Vivat to you too Papa Gunthar!

Link parking: Kunsthistorisches Museum - Vienna, Austria

2007-12-05T23:34:17Z

<jaw drops>
German garb and coral beads and closeups and embroidery and details galore!
KHM (Austrian museum) photos posted on flickr - and she has other museum photos too!
Posted by racaire, a SCAdian in Drachenwald.

Thanks bunnyjadwiga for the initial link.

Coronation feast

2007-09-05T22:15:16Z

Saturday did not start out well... I slept in due to Benadryl and left later than originally planned. Then it took about three hours to get to the site - twice as long as it should have - due to a bad accident on I-66. So I missed the Coronation ceremony and arrived right at the end of lunch; but fortunately just in time for the Paternoster class. Then I joined the busy kitchen crew for the rest of the day. I did catch a glimpse of our new Queen Ro (aka bronx_baroness) at evening Court. She was magnificent in her gorgeous Mongolian garb, with a radiant expression to match. It's nice when your Majesty is actually Majestic! She takes this role to heart, and I know she will be a Good Queen.

The food was lip-smacking. (Menu previously posted). The site was the biggest, nicest, best-equipped site kitchen I've ever seen. The only part that wasn't perfect was a few mix-ups with the serving and timing of courses; a couple times we had to scramble and portion out platters for tables that had been accidentally missed entirely. But there was plenty of food - if anyone went home hungry, it was their own fault. There were even extras for the kitchen staff, for everything except the beef in the first course.

We had LOTS of help. The Cooks Guild was there in force. The Bright Hills folks pitched in, including martelvonc on the dishes. Dame Olwen's neighbor m'lady 'bella had a knack of showing up exactly when anyone needed an extra hand to lift heavy things or panicked about the plating. Lady Ananda of the-long-name-ending-in-Firenze worked all day and finally sat down for the first time, sometime between the second and third courses when there was actually nothing to do. For my part, I worked with a Stierbach lady named Morgan and we made the spinach ~~tart~~ casserole and it turned out decently yummy: spinach and sour cream with a touch of sugar and salt. From defrosting the bricks of frozen spinach to portioning out the finished product took over two hours, with most of that time just waiting and waiting for the spinach to boil. And then squeezing and squeezing and squeezing the spinach to get the water out. I also did lots of plating. For some reason the guild always makes two or three times as much couscous as the populace can possibly eat...

It was a good day for beads too. There were some jaw-dropping beautiful beads in the A&S competition, later auctioned off to support breast cancer research. Lady Elena from Highland Foorde also taught an excellent class on beaded Paternosters. I kept messing up on the knots that act as spacers/buffers between the beads - I think maybe my thread was too thin for the largish holes in the beads. I will probably re-do my Paternoster at some point, and maybe even document it and enter in an A&S competition sometime. Oh wait, that violates telerib's guidance against back-documenting... yes, Teleri, I have actually been reading your articles on Research.

At about 10:30 I figured I should return home before Sweetie started worrying about me. Turned out he only arrived home himself 20 minutes before I did; he'd been biking through the abandoned Pennsylvania turnpike tunnels. He said they really do look post-apocalyptic. Oh well. He missed a good feast!

Cooks Guild Coronation pre-cook

2007-08-27T20:46:50Z

My Saturday afternoon was spent frying hundreds of pieces of naan bread. Yes, hundreds! And we'll probably end up making even more! Our Cooks Guild is feeding 200 people on Saturday. The site (a BSA camp) has a large kitchen, so it should be fine.

When the bread was done (for the moment - still might make more), we turned to the chickens. Yep, deboning lots of piping-hot freshly-roasted chickens (the geese and ducks were done by the time I arrived).

As always, the Bright Hills Cooks Guild is really living up to our unofficial motto, "Feed them into submission!" One of our own (the fabulous bronx_baroness) is being crowned Queen. We are pulling out all the stops! And as of Saturday there was still money in the budget for more belly-bursting yummy goodness... Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

Feast Presented by the Bright Hills Cooks Guild

"Along the Silk Road"
Saturday, September 1, 2007

First Course:The Orient
Shika-ni â?" Simmered Beef
De-boned Chicken Morsels
Shiitake Kara-Ni (Mushroom Relish)
Edamame
Banch - Meat Dumplings

Entremets

Second Course: Asia
Baid Mutajjan (boiled fried eggs)
Lamb & Paneer
Spiced Chickpeas
Couscous
Ukrainian Cucumber Salad
Nan Bread (handmade)
Sikhdorov Madzoon - Yogurt Sauce
Entremets

Third Course: Europe
Great Pie of Fowl
Tarte of Spennedge (Spinach)
Sallet of Greens and Herbs

Dessert:
Berry Pudding
Pear Pie

Beverages to be provided
Water, Sekunjabin, Iced tea

Pardon me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard...

1820s recipes transcribed (first few pages)

2007-05-05T19:54:18Z

I've transcribed the first eight pages of the book Sweetie gave me for Christmas last year. This is a manuscript, a personal recipe book from someone in the UK circa 1820. The transcription is going much faster than I expected; this is an hour's worth of work. I'm still working on the tb versus lb symbol and how to best record that, but this is fun!

1

Receipt for Orange Wine
To every Gallon of water, put eight or nine Seville Oranges pare them very thin, throw the white part away, press the juice of the oranges through a Sieve upon the rhind then put it in the cask and to every Gallon of water put add 3½ ltr of good coarse sugar Boil it as long has the scum rises then set it in a tub to cool. when cool enough put in a small toast with a little barm upon it put it in the cask the next day to the rhinds and juice let it stand open a week then stop it up Close for three months if a Large Quantity it must be kept longer
Feb. or March is the best time of making it and a pint of Brandy to every six Gallons. NTo Half the Juice. 4 tbs Sugar is not too much half Seville and half Sweet oranges I used the wine Excellent. Mrs Edwards Jury St

2

Porter
I make a Hogshead of Porter sixty three gallons wine measure
Six Bushells malt, six pounds Hops, one pound &½ Liquorice root, 1¼ pound Spanish Liquorice twelve pounds coarse Brown Sugar burnt ½ & Corriander seed Boil these gently two hours with the wort keeping it well stirred to the bottom the whole time, then strain off the hops Re cool and manage if as other Beer it will be fit for use in six months. the sugar should be burnt very black in an Iron Kettle or Frying pan, tile if it is bitter then add a little warm water, or wort to prevent its being too hard, while browning keep it constantly stirred that it may not boil over, or burn the Kettle which would spoil it—burn only two or three pounds at a time, and often dip a little of the sugar in cold water to taste if it is bitter enough. NTB one third should be common malt and the rest high. dried on purpose

3

Ginger Pop
one pound of Loaf sugar one ounce of cream of Tarter in fine powder one of powdered (or bruised Ginger) the rind & juice of a small lemon one Gallon of boiling water mix these ingredients together & when nearly cold, add a spoonfull of yeast. let it stand 12 hours & then bottle
if taking care to secure the corks tight it is fit to drink the second day

Raisin Wine
to one Gallon of cold water put eight pound of picked fruit then boil the stalks in as much water as will cover them let it stand till quite nearly cold then put it into the barrel let it stand twelve months and then draw it off
Mrs Edwards, Jury Street

4

Gloucester Jelly
Rice [Tags?]. Pearly Barley Hartshorn shavings and [rrings] root each half an ounce, simmer with three pints of water till reduced to one, strain it and take a little two or three times a day dissolved in Wine, milk or broth.

Bottle Gooseberrys Green
Before the gooseberrys get at all ripe, fill your bottles up to the neck then cover them with water at least up to neck Then set them in a pot of cold water hang them over a slow fire till it nearly boils then take them off the fire and bottle them next day Rosen the corks well. Mrs Spraggett. Chadshunt

5

Port wine jelly
A bottle of port wine three ounces of Isinglass, two ounces of Gum Arabic and two ounces of white sugar candy to be put into an earthen vessel and simmered until all are be dissolved

To make Ginger Wine
To each Gallon of water 3 pounds of Lisbon sugar one of Ginger 2 lemons, put it into a the Barrel warm a little barm half an ounce of Isinglass boiled when it has done working stop the barrel – in two months it will be fit to drink. put in the barrel some Brandy
Mrs. Evans

6

To make British Sherry
Take ten Gallons of water to thirty Pounds of sugar, boil them half an hour scum it untill clear when cool put to every Gallon of Liquor one quart of strong ale out of the Vat, let them work well together in a tub two days then put it into the Barrel with one pound of sugar candy four pounds of raisins one quart of brandy and two oz Joinglalg when it is done working stop it up and let it stand one year then Bottle it off

To make mince pyes without meat
boil 8 eggs hard then chop them as fine as possible. (1 currants not chop d) the juices rind of a lemon the juice of an orange some brandy candy'd ¼ tb peel ¾ to sugar 1 in Good Plums chop about 12 large apples chop Grated Sherry wine Spice it to your taste
If guinea fowls are young they look purple on the head – old ones look brown on the head
Mrs R Spraggett

7

Sponge Cake
9 Eggs leave out 4 of the whites ¾ tb Lump sugar grated fine ½ tb fine flour beat all up together well bake in a quick oven ¾ of an hour. the rind of a lemon grated Miss A. Maud

To make Gingerbread
a Quart of flour half a pound of Butter to Table spoonfull and half of grated ginger 3 Ounces candid Orange peel one spoonfull of moist sugar mix them all well together with a pound of treacle, roll it out and make it in little cakes then butter your Tins and lay them on. be sure rub the butter well in the flour

Rock Cakes
To one tb of flour take ½ tb of lump sugar ½ tb Butter 10 .oz Currants 3 Eggs a little brandy drop them on tins and bake them ½ an hour in a slow fire oven

My purpose for transcribing this book is to eventually post it on a webpage somewhere. I don't yet have a personal web site. And if anyone is interested in attempting the recipes, particularly the brewing recipes, that would be great!

Medieval Hummus

2007-04-30T19:46:49Z

This Saturday I went to the St. Anne's costume symposium. I had heard that there would be a potluck, so I made some medieval hummus.

Medieval Hummus
from Medieval Arab Cookery page 383, this section (The Description of Familiar Foods) translated by Charles Perry

Period recipe:
HUMMUS KASA ['chickpea blanket'; kasa is the name of a coarse woolen fabric]. Take chickpeas and pound them fine after boiling them. Then take vinegar, oil, tahineh, pepper, atraf tib, mint, parsley, the refuse of dry thyme, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, Ceylon cinnmon, toasted caraway, dry coriander, salt, salted lemons and olives. Stir it and roll it out flat and leave it overnight and take it up.

My redaction:

1 cup finely ground nuts*
2 cans chickpeas (15 oz and 19 oz), drained and rinsed well
1/2 tsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
5 tsp olive oil* or more as needed
5 tsp Tahini (sesame seed paste)
Dash fresh ground black pepper (several grindings)
~1/4 cup fresh curly parsley leaves, snipped
1/8 tsp dried mint leaves, shredded
1/8 tsp caraway seeds, ground
1/2 tsp ground coriander
~2 tsp salt (start with 1 and add to taste)

Put all together in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add more olive oil or salt to taste. Let sit at least a day or two so the flavors can meld.

*Note: May need more or less olive oil when using ground nuts.

Comments and Lessons Learned:

When I first tasted this it was SOUR. It really needs to age for a couple days; just overnight probably won't be long enough. That said, I don't think reducing the vinegar or lemon juice is really necessary unless trying to serve it immediately. For vinegar, I'm not sure what the most period vinegar would be, but I chose apple cider vinegar as it was on hand and flavorful.

Also, my first batch was much too salty (this has been corrected in the above recipe). This was entirely my own fault from doing this in a hurry (I had to be up at 4:30 the next morning and it was already 10:00 at night). I'd had an accident a while back where my salt box lost its pouring spout, and I was a doofus and using it anyway. Yeah, and pouring into measuring spoon over the food processor and trying not to spill and mess up the countertop. D'oh! Of course, it decided to gush. The above recipe has been corrected. My office-mate likes it, but she's a self-admitted salt-a-holic.

*My first try omitted the nuts and added more olive oil as partial compensation. I thought that appropriate since at a pot-luck people with nut allergies might not expect nuts in their hummus. I would definitely include them if I ever entered this in an A&S contest though, since it would have space for an ingredient list. I expect having the ground nut meat would make it more fatty and pleasing to the palate, and maybe give it a more solid texture. Fat is a good thing. Due to the way this spread loves to soak up olive oil, it's hard to put in too much.

After sitting in a cooler/fridge for three days, the flavor magically melded and became yummy. Not sour!

Apparently the St. Anne's potluck was limited to the guild members only. That turned out to be a good thing, since aging a couple days improved the flavor tremendously. Co-workers liked it too.

Medieval Cuisine featured on Wikipedia

2007-04-05T20:08:19Z

It's today's featured article. Quite nicely done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_cuisine

Common food additive proven dangerous

2007-04-01T21:43:29Z

In case people haven't heard...
A chemical, dihydrogen monoxide, has been appearing as a frequent ingredient in many foods. According to its material safety data sheet, laboratory studies have shown it to be toxic in mice:
TOXICITY: LD50 (IPR-MOUSE)(G/KG) - 190
LD50 (IV-MOUSE) (MG/KG) - 25
DHMO is a major component of acid rain and contributes to the development of almost all types of cancers. It also reacts explosively with sodium, potassium, and some metals. From a cooking point of view, I discovered that this chemical additive is actually used in most household cooking. And due to its unregulated status, it is even applied to so-called "Organic" foods!
There is much more DHMO research out there. I urge all conscientious cooks to check your kitchens for DHMO-containing foods. I guarantee you have been using this dangerous chemical and you may not even have realized it.

Bisar - Medieval ME Fava Bean Spread

2007-03-12T18:53:25Z

This was my first original redaction from Medieval Arab Cookery. It actually turned out pretty well.

I made up this fava bean spread at the last minute for a Cooks Guild meeting. It's similar in texture to hummus, but with fava beans instead of chick peas. My redaction is a vegetarian version, as the only meat I had instantly available for grease was bacon, not appropriate for an Arabic recipe. I used olive oil as a substitute. The original text is below for comparision.

My redaction:

Ingredients
1 can (30 oz) foul medammas (cooked fava beans), Cortas brand
2 Tablespoons olive oil
~3/4 stick (6 oz) salted butter
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
3 Tablespoons minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon salt
2-4 Tablespoons olive oil or more as needed

Method
1. Rinse and drain the beans at least twice. They shouldn't foam when rinsed.
2. Mash beans and 2 Tbsp olive oil in food processor, scraping the sides down as needed. The paste should be fairly smooth and thick without visible chunks of beans.
3. Melt butter in pot over medium heat.
4. Stir mashed beans into butter.
5. Add garlic, cumin, and salt; mix well.
6. Heat until warmed throughout, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add additional olive oil as needed if mixture is difficult to stir.
7. When serving or transporting, cover with olive oil: Make a shallow depression in the center. Fill the hole and cover the top of the spread with a thin layer of olive oil. This helps keep the spread from drying out.

Serve hot or cold, with pita bread triangles.

This was even better the second day when the flavors had melded together. It reheated well with an additional tablespoon olive oil stirred in and 15 seconds in the microwave.

Caveats:
Check for salt and consistency.
All measurements and times are approximate.
The mixture will thicken and dry as it cools. Stir in more olive oil as needed.

Taster Reactions:
Cooks Guild members liked it and went back for seconds. Their kids wouldn't try it but went after the pita bread instead.
Sweetie liked it a lot. He said it was similar to refried beans.
Several co-workers tried it and liked it.

Next time:
It would be truer to the original recipe to use a meat-based fat. If I had enough time, I might try following the original recipe: start with uncooked soaked fava beans, and go through the soaking/cooking/blanching process before mashing them in the pot with a ladle. This would probably result in a chunkier product, but it would be more period. (Interesting note - I thought the recipe had called for fat in the original cooking step, but when I checked the original text, it didn't call for adding fat until after the beans were mashed.) Using an animal fat would probably make it much more flavorful. For my vegetarian bisar I added extra garlic and cumin so it wouldn't be bland.

Kid appeal is not great; it's just plain brown paste. Some garnishment might help make it more appealing. Lemon slices might be a pretty and tasty accompaniment. Maybe curly parsley or cilantro would work too.

Documentation:
In the interest of fair use, I am only excerpting the portions of the text relevant to my redaction. About half of the original recipe was just detailed directions on blanching and cooking the beans. Dr. Perry's translation includes additional period margin-notes and adds some very useful footnotes. Note that unlike medieval European recipes, many medieval Arab recipes had measurements in the period sources.

"Description of Bisar [bisar, a paste of fava beans]
{snipped the long section how to prepare and cook the plain beans}
Then you stir it after that with the ladle until it becomes like ointment. And at that time you throw in enough fresh fat to cover it, an ounce of garlic pounded with oil and salt, five dirhams of cumin, which you toast and pound, and five ounces of butter, and its salt appears."

From Kitab Wasf Al-At'ima Al-Mu'tada, The Book of the Description of Familiar Foods, translated by Charles Perry. Published in Medieval Arab Cookery, essays and translations by Rodinson, Arberry, and Perry. Prospect Books (2001), page 376.

For those who are interested in medieval middle eastern cooking, this book is a fantastic resource. This particular chapter was translated by Charles Perry. He's not only skilled in the languages, but he also knows the culinary traditions. His translations are practical as well as scholarly.

I look forward to trying more recipes from this book. Who knows, but I might even enter this into an A&S competition someday.

Renaissance Masters and Mirrors

2007-03-09T20:22:33Z

Interesting idea - did the great Renaissance painters use mirrors in their work?

"In 2001, artist David Hockney and scientist Charles Falco stunned the art world with a controversial theory that, if correct, would profoundly alter our view of the development of image making. They claimed that as early as 1420, Renaissance artists employed optical devices such as concave mirrors to project images onto their canvases, which they then traced or painted over. In this way, the theory attempts to explain the newfound heightened naturalism or 'opticality' of painters such as Jan van Eyck, Robert Campin, Hans Holbein the Younger, and many others."

There's a noted optics researcher giving a talk on the plausibility of this theory on Monday for the UM CS department. There's also an explanation online that explores other possible methods.

Words for the day: "epidiascope" and "opticality."

ITIL v3 will use KM!

2007-03-08T21:02:41Z

Woohoo! The new ITIL will emphasize Knowledge Management.

From the ITIL Version 3 FAQ, about two-thirds of the way down the page:

Question
Will the new ITIL address knowledge management?

Answer
Yes.
One of the key improvements to V3 is the introduction of the Service Management Knowledge System. The SMKS incorporates the former knowledge bases we are familiar with from V2 such as known error, and CMDB, but expands on this to be much broader in scope.
All books in the core will have guidance on knowledge management and introduce the principles of moving from simple data collection to extracting information from data, deriving knowledge from information and wisdom from knowledge, as in the concepts of knowledge management. This is far more synergistic to the concepts in practice today for knowledge management and those predicted by knowledge management thought leaders for the future of knowledge management. It is also the direction that enables growth from reactive to proactive service management.

Nifty Pickles!

Right to Bear Arms

2007-02-21T18:04:07Z

Wow. So after I'd thought an Award of Arms was something that one didn't earn until after at least a couple years, they made me Lady Flora on Saturday at the Dun Carraig event.

For those who weren't there, here's how it happened.

The kitchen was mostly empty - only three or four of us had not gone out for court. I was working on two pots of lazizan (a Mughal Indian rice/legume dish). Suddenly someone, I think it was Michel, came into the kitchen and said, "Flora you're wanted in court." They hauled me out, still in my apron. I was frantically trying to remember how to do the bowing and which thrones to reverence and all that... Also, since I was in my Indian salwar camise, the only garment I really had to curtsey with was my (rather stained) apron. Anyway I finally made it to the pillow and knelt down.

King Ragnarr was smiling and said, "When we asked 'Where's Flora?' the answer was 'She's in the kitchen.' That's because she's *always* in the kitchen." And His Majesty said how They appreciated my service, and They had decided to elevate me to the ranks of Their nobility.

So I squeaked out a thank you, and somehow backed out of there and went back to the kitchen. And the rice hadn't even burned.\

Thank you everyone who contributed to this. A special thanks to all the Cooks who have let me serve in your kitchens. It's been fun!

PS - The same court also included Tirzah and Orla receiving their Pearls (which surprised me, as I'd assumed they'd already had them). So it was a great day all around.

Cheese Pastries

2007-02-15T01:07:19Z

Okay, tonight my original thought had been chocolate-chip cookies. But when I was getting out the chocolate chips, I came across some almost-expired Bisquick... And while wondering what to do with it, I also noticed a cheese block lying around that needed to be eaten. And Lady Gwyneth MacDonaugh had recently posted a recipe for the delicious little Cheese Pastries from the recent Lochmere German feast (based on her and Giano Balestriere's redactions from his German translations). I fell victim to the Awesome Power of Cheese.

I wasn't going out in on the icy roads and was limited to materials on hand. So I attempted the tarts with colby-jack and Asiago cheeses, and Bisquick. This experience was not even period-oid since I believe colby and Monterey jack are American cheeses, and I don't have the original medieval recipe. So I was just going for some crispy cheesy goodness and maybe something my sweetie would eat when he got home.

I ended up putting in about twice as much cheese per tart compared to what we did for the Lochmere feast. Even so, I still ran out of dough early and had some cheese left, so I made a very inauthentic rarebit for dinner. To give the rarebit some added flavor, I threw in some smoked paprika. As a side effect, the paprika gave it a lovely color - bright pumpkin orange.

But yeah, back to the cheese tarts.

They were on the good side of edible, mild in flavor (which I expected), but with a completely different, fluffy texture.

Results compared to our feast:

1. The Bisquick crust was thicker and lighter than pie crust (well duh, it's biscuit dough). I had rolled the dough just as thin as we did our pie-crusts for feast, but it puffed up a lot more and wasn't as crisp. Only the egg-washed parts were really browned, even when the tarts were fully baked.

2. I had not expected the cheese filling to have such a light, fluffy texture - almost like a souffle. This might be due to the cheese being very finely grated, but I'd expect that would just encourage melting. Maybe it had a lot of air in it? I'd kept the proportions of egg to cheese about the same, but it still was surprising.

3. When using cheeses that aren't as strong in flavor, maybe throw in some spices. I imagine some pepper would have perked these up tremendously. Or (for my modern, home use) some smoked paprika would be yummy, it did wonders for the rarebit.

4. About half the cheese tarts split a little around the sides where the crusts were pinched together. I'd expected this and spaced them accordingly, and lined my baking sheet with parchment. If I were making these for an actual feast, I wouldn't dare put in as much filling per tart.

All in all, this was a modest effort. I'm only moderately satisfied, they turned out fairly tasty, but fluffy instead of crispy. The true test will be if my sweetie will eat any. My guess is he'll say they're too bland, and then munch several anyway. There are about a dozen left currently, so I might have to inflict them on some of my co-workers. Watch out eklectick and dallendoug.