Welcome
back to the kitchen! This month I’d like to get back into the “how to”
area and talk about how to plan the menu for a feast.
Planning a menu can sometimes seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be. Like other skills, this is something you will get better at as you practice, but you need to start somewhere. My suggestion is to start simple, and work your way to more complex menu plans.
I have seen some absolutely wonderful menu plans based around “stories”. A travel theme is sometimes popular, for example, using the journey of Marco Polo as a framework. For something like this, the first remove has dishes from Italy and the last remove involves dishes from the Orient, with dishes in between tracking his travel route. Another notable theme for a feast is the recent feast menu at Winchester Pilgrimage, where dishes moved through themes starting in the soil, moving to the field and stream, and finishing in the sky. Both of these are fairly complex menu plans, and not something I would suggest for beginners.
So, what would I suggest for a beginner? Start small. When I’m trying to explain feast cooking to someone who hasn’t ever experienced an SCA feast, I often say that it’s like cooking two Christmas dinners simultaneously and serving them back-to-back. Planning your menu can follow that same idea - plan two dinners and serve them one after the other.
While I was growing up, my brothers and I took turns cooking supper for the family. We were taught that a supper needed to have 1) a protein, 2) a starch, 3) a vegetable. We also had salad with every supper, which counted separately from the vegetable. If we had extra people coming to eat, we might make extra side dishes, or add dinner rolls, or dessert afterward. If you look at a traditional Christmas Dinner, these same basic principles apply. A Christmas menu may include, for example, roast turkey (protein) with stuffing (starch), mashed or roasted potatoes (starch), brussel sprouts with chestnuts (vegetable), roasted parsnips (vegetable), and cranberry sauce.
Now lets look at how we might apply that to a feast menu. The feasts I generally cook are two removes each with several dishes, rather than several removes with only a couple dishes each. This is a personal preference on my part, partially so the feast doesn’t drag on too long and we can get on to the evening’s other activities. I’ll decide on a theme, time period and/or geographical area for the feast, then start selecting the dishes for each remove.
A Christmas dinner is generally based around the turkey, and all the side dishes are chosen to complement the turkey. Likewise, I pick the meat for each remove first. The template I seem to have fallen into is a light meat (poultry or rabbit), generally stewed, for the first remove and a darker meat (lamb, beef, pork), generally roasted, for the second.
Next comes the starch. Cooked grains are easy, and in one form or another are appropriate for just about every time period. Bulgar wheat, groats ( whole oats), or pot barley can all be cooked in a variety of liquids, with or without other seasonings. For some areas and time periods, rice may also be appropriate. I try to choose a recipe and a grain that will specifically complement the meat I’m preparing for that remove. For example, Frumenty y lentyn (bulgar wheat cooked in almond milk with saffron) was a light, slightly sweet grain which goes well with duck or goose. Barley cooked with Bacon has a heavier, saltier flavor and is a good complement to a heavier meat such as roasted venison or beef.
Once I have the meat and starch, it’s time to fill out the remove with other side dishes. I was taught growing up that two thirds of what is on a supper plate should come from the ground (meaning vegetables and salad) and I try to stay at least close to that with feast menus. I try to choose vegetables that are in season where I am, or for the geographical area I’m basing my feast around. Checking your local farmers market is a good way to determine what is in season for your area. Generally, produce is higher quality and less expensive when it is in season.
Choosing the specific dishes, for me, involves a lot of back-and-forth between cookbooks or online recipe searches and my proposed menu. Often I will have a general idea for a type of dish I want to cook , or a specific ingredient I want to use, and I will search through recipes to find one that sounds right. Then, I will check to see that the dishes I selected will actually work well together. This is something we generally do without thinking too hard about it for modern cooking (most people wouldn’t serve Fried Chicken, Fettuccini alfredo, and teriyaki stir-fried vegetables together as a meal) but this can be an important step in your test-kitchen if you are cooking unfamiliar recipes.
To wrap things up for this month, remember to spend some time putting together your menus and testing the compatibility of your dishes, especially the first few feasts you prepare. Feasts made of simple dishes that all complement each other are generally more appreciated that feasts filled with impressive, complex dishes that don’t.
Planning a menu can sometimes seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be. Like other skills, this is something you will get better at as you practice, but you need to start somewhere. My suggestion is to start simple, and work your way to more complex menu plans.
I have seen some absolutely wonderful menu plans based around “stories”. A travel theme is sometimes popular, for example, using the journey of Marco Polo as a framework. For something like this, the first remove has dishes from Italy and the last remove involves dishes from the Orient, with dishes in between tracking his travel route. Another notable theme for a feast is the recent feast menu at Winchester Pilgrimage, where dishes moved through themes starting in the soil, moving to the field and stream, and finishing in the sky. Both of these are fairly complex menu plans, and not something I would suggest for beginners.
So, what would I suggest for a beginner? Start small. When I’m trying to explain feast cooking to someone who hasn’t ever experienced an SCA feast, I often say that it’s like cooking two Christmas dinners simultaneously and serving them back-to-back. Planning your menu can follow that same idea - plan two dinners and serve them one after the other.
While I was growing up, my brothers and I took turns cooking supper for the family. We were taught that a supper needed to have 1) a protein, 2) a starch, 3) a vegetable. We also had salad with every supper, which counted separately from the vegetable. If we had extra people coming to eat, we might make extra side dishes, or add dinner rolls, or dessert afterward. If you look at a traditional Christmas Dinner, these same basic principles apply. A Christmas menu may include, for example, roast turkey (protein) with stuffing (starch), mashed or roasted potatoes (starch), brussel sprouts with chestnuts (vegetable), roasted parsnips (vegetable), and cranberry sauce.
Now lets look at how we might apply that to a feast menu. The feasts I generally cook are two removes each with several dishes, rather than several removes with only a couple dishes each. This is a personal preference on my part, partially so the feast doesn’t drag on too long and we can get on to the evening’s other activities. I’ll decide on a theme, time period and/or geographical area for the feast, then start selecting the dishes for each remove.
A Christmas dinner is generally based around the turkey, and all the side dishes are chosen to complement the turkey. Likewise, I pick the meat for each remove first. The template I seem to have fallen into is a light meat (poultry or rabbit), generally stewed, for the first remove and a darker meat (lamb, beef, pork), generally roasted, for the second.
Next comes the starch. Cooked grains are easy, and in one form or another are appropriate for just about every time period. Bulgar wheat, groats ( whole oats), or pot barley can all be cooked in a variety of liquids, with or without other seasonings. For some areas and time periods, rice may also be appropriate. I try to choose a recipe and a grain that will specifically complement the meat I’m preparing for that remove. For example, Frumenty y lentyn (bulgar wheat cooked in almond milk with saffron) was a light, slightly sweet grain which goes well with duck or goose. Barley cooked with Bacon has a heavier, saltier flavor and is a good complement to a heavier meat such as roasted venison or beef.
Once I have the meat and starch, it’s time to fill out the remove with other side dishes. I was taught growing up that two thirds of what is on a supper plate should come from the ground (meaning vegetables and salad) and I try to stay at least close to that with feast menus. I try to choose vegetables that are in season where I am, or for the geographical area I’m basing my feast around. Checking your local farmers market is a good way to determine what is in season for your area. Generally, produce is higher quality and less expensive when it is in season.
Choosing the specific dishes, for me, involves a lot of back-and-forth between cookbooks or online recipe searches and my proposed menu. Often I will have a general idea for a type of dish I want to cook , or a specific ingredient I want to use, and I will search through recipes to find one that sounds right. Then, I will check to see that the dishes I selected will actually work well together. This is something we generally do without thinking too hard about it for modern cooking (most people wouldn’t serve Fried Chicken, Fettuccini alfredo, and teriyaki stir-fried vegetables together as a meal) but this can be an important step in your test-kitchen if you are cooking unfamiliar recipes.
To wrap things up for this month, remember to spend some time putting together your menus and testing the compatibility of your dishes, especially the first few feasts you prepare. Feasts made of simple dishes that all complement each other are generally more appreciated that feasts filled with impressive, complex dishes that don’t.
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