So, I had an interesting new experience at Pennsic this year. I actually got to participate in a siege cooking contest. I've run two of them in the past, but never gotten to compete.
Now, going to Pennsic, I only took minimal cooking implements. I had a set of cast iron pans, but only two wooden spoons and one spatula. I had my stove, and our feast gear, and two small/medium stoneware bowls for mixing. The Physical set-up for the kitchen was minimal, too...my 3 burner camp-chef stove and two boxes with the coolers in them.
The contest was being run by one of the merchants, who admitted that she runs the contest because she doesn't have time to cook, so she does the contest as her way of having other people cook for her. Fair enough. She ran three (or four?) days of preliminary rounds, then one day of a final, with the top three cooks being in the final round.
The criteria she was judging on were : Appearance, Taste, Presentation, Authenticity, and Least Waste.
The rules were that we could use only the ingredients she gave us plus water, salt, and "old world herbs and spices". Ingredients were given at approximately 5pm, and the cooked dishes were due back at the merchant's booth at 6pm the next day.
Remember that "minimal cooking" thing? I did have salt, and pepper, but the only other spices I had were a "basic brown spice mix" that I've made (to be "powder Douce" if I add sugar, or "Powder Forte" if I add pepper), and some cinnamon. There was mint growing in our campsite, too. That's it. Yes, there was a spice merchant, but once I had ingredients and started cooking, I didn't really have time to run to the merchant area, so I used what I had.
The ingredients I was given the first day were: Rolled Oats, Oat Flour, Honey, Lard (copious amounts of lard), A beef steak with a bone in it, onions, apple cider vinegar, beets and radishes, both with the greens attached, strawberries, and black grapes. Oh, and chickpeas.
What to do with those...and how to use almost everything...
Well, one of my first thoughts was...I have honey, vinegar, berries, and mint...Sekanjabin!
I boiled the strawberries and honey, then let them cool and pulled out the solids as well as I could. I saved the berries for later...thinking some kind of Strawberry Puree was in order. I then reheated the honey and added mint, letting it set for a while, then straining it into a bowl and adding the vinegar. Did I mention that there were a LOT of bees on site? They absolutely loved my kitchen. I covered sweet things in bowls with linen napkins to keep the bees out, and kept the ziploc with the honey in it sitting in a bowl well away from the rest of the kitchen.
So...I now have a drink. What's next.
Least waste...this says I should use the greens from the radishes and the beets. Beet greens are actually really tasty, and are a relative of Chard. I chopped the greens and parboiled them, then drained out the liquid (now "broth", or at least the start of one) and set the greens to the side to fry up later.
I've done chickpeas a couple times for feasts...roasted then served in a broth. I've always used canned ones, and the ones I was given were dried, but that wasn't a problem. Chickpeas were soaked overnight, then "roasted" in a pan to give them a nice nutty flavor and texture. Just before serving, I fried a bit of onion in lard, added the chickpeas and broth.
Beets got wrapped in foil and tossed into the campfire for a while. The beef was cut into strips and marinated in vinegar to fry up at the last minute, and the bone and trimmings were added into the broth to boil for a better stock.
Grapes...what to do with the grapes. Someone in camp had taken a class on using fruit in recipes, and the handout from the class had a recipe for a grape sauce. Fair enough, the meat I was cooking should be served with multiple sauces. Grapes were cut in half and boiled for a while to get the juice out, then drained, mixed with a bit of honey (the recipe called for sugar, but honey was what I had), pepper, cinnamon, and salt. It was actually fairly tasty at the end.
I had one cookbook with me...a camp cooking cookbook from Drachenwald. In it was a recipe for a thin barley porridge to use as a meat sauce. I didn't have barley flour...but I had oat flour. Close enough! I made a porridge (see also "basic gravy without using oil" with the broth/stock and some of the oat flour. I have to admit it was as ugly as sin, partially from cooking it in the cast iron, and partially because beet greens make a horrible color broth. (One of the judges later said that it was a good thing the sauce tasted good, because it looked awful, lol.)
Another sauce I made was an onion relish. Basically, fried chopped onions with apple cider vinegar, a bit of salt and pepper.
I still had the rolled oats. And the lard. Lots of lard. Lots of oats.
Hmm...
Oatcakes!
Made a basic oatmeal with the oats and water and a little salt. Stirred in the rest of the oat flour (no waste, remember) and let it cool until I could handle it. I made small patties with the oats and set them to the side while I heated lard in a pan. When the lard was hot, I dropped the patties in and cooked until they were a bit crisp on the outside.
Greens were fried in a bit of lard with some onions.
Meat was fried quickly in a bit of lard.
Strawberry mush was cooked and had a bit of oatmeal added to it, then served cold.
So...my menu for the first round of siege cooking included:
I won my round, and moved on to the finals...which will be the next post, as this one is very long.
Now, going to Pennsic, I only took minimal cooking implements. I had a set of cast iron pans, but only two wooden spoons and one spatula. I had my stove, and our feast gear, and two small/medium stoneware bowls for mixing. The Physical set-up for the kitchen was minimal, too...my 3 burner camp-chef stove and two boxes with the coolers in them.
The contest was being run by one of the merchants, who admitted that she runs the contest because she doesn't have time to cook, so she does the contest as her way of having other people cook for her. Fair enough. She ran three (or four?) days of preliminary rounds, then one day of a final, with the top three cooks being in the final round.
The criteria she was judging on were : Appearance, Taste, Presentation, Authenticity, and Least Waste.
The rules were that we could use only the ingredients she gave us plus water, salt, and "old world herbs and spices". Ingredients were given at approximately 5pm, and the cooked dishes were due back at the merchant's booth at 6pm the next day.
Remember that "minimal cooking" thing? I did have salt, and pepper, but the only other spices I had were a "basic brown spice mix" that I've made (to be "powder Douce" if I add sugar, or "Powder Forte" if I add pepper), and some cinnamon. There was mint growing in our campsite, too. That's it. Yes, there was a spice merchant, but once I had ingredients and started cooking, I didn't really have time to run to the merchant area, so I used what I had.
The ingredients I was given the first day were: Rolled Oats, Oat Flour, Honey, Lard (copious amounts of lard), A beef steak with a bone in it, onions, apple cider vinegar, beets and radishes, both with the greens attached, strawberries, and black grapes. Oh, and chickpeas.
What to do with those...and how to use almost everything...
Well, one of my first thoughts was...I have honey, vinegar, berries, and mint...Sekanjabin!
I boiled the strawberries and honey, then let them cool and pulled out the solids as well as I could. I saved the berries for later...thinking some kind of Strawberry Puree was in order. I then reheated the honey and added mint, letting it set for a while, then straining it into a bowl and adding the vinegar. Did I mention that there were a LOT of bees on site? They absolutely loved my kitchen. I covered sweet things in bowls with linen napkins to keep the bees out, and kept the ziploc with the honey in it sitting in a bowl well away from the rest of the kitchen.
So...I now have a drink. What's next.
Least waste...this says I should use the greens from the radishes and the beets. Beet greens are actually really tasty, and are a relative of Chard. I chopped the greens and parboiled them, then drained out the liquid (now "broth", or at least the start of one) and set the greens to the side to fry up later.
I've done chickpeas a couple times for feasts...roasted then served in a broth. I've always used canned ones, and the ones I was given were dried, but that wasn't a problem. Chickpeas were soaked overnight, then "roasted" in a pan to give them a nice nutty flavor and texture. Just before serving, I fried a bit of onion in lard, added the chickpeas and broth.
Beets got wrapped in foil and tossed into the campfire for a while. The beef was cut into strips and marinated in vinegar to fry up at the last minute, and the bone and trimmings were added into the broth to boil for a better stock.
Grapes...what to do with the grapes. Someone in camp had taken a class on using fruit in recipes, and the handout from the class had a recipe for a grape sauce. Fair enough, the meat I was cooking should be served with multiple sauces. Grapes were cut in half and boiled for a while to get the juice out, then drained, mixed with a bit of honey (the recipe called for sugar, but honey was what I had), pepper, cinnamon, and salt. It was actually fairly tasty at the end.
I had one cookbook with me...a camp cooking cookbook from Drachenwald. In it was a recipe for a thin barley porridge to use as a meat sauce. I didn't have barley flour...but I had oat flour. Close enough! I made a porridge (see also "basic gravy without using oil" with the broth/stock and some of the oat flour. I have to admit it was as ugly as sin, partially from cooking it in the cast iron, and partially because beet greens make a horrible color broth. (One of the judges later said that it was a good thing the sauce tasted good, because it looked awful, lol.)
Another sauce I made was an onion relish. Basically, fried chopped onions with apple cider vinegar, a bit of salt and pepper.
I still had the rolled oats. And the lard. Lots of lard. Lots of oats.
Hmm...
Oatcakes!
Made a basic oatmeal with the oats and water and a little salt. Stirred in the rest of the oat flour (no waste, remember) and let it cool until I could handle it. I made small patties with the oats and set them to the side while I heated lard in a pan. When the lard was hot, I dropped the patties in and cooked until they were a bit crisp on the outside.
Greens were fried in a bit of lard with some onions.
Meat was fried quickly in a bit of lard.
Strawberry mush was cooked and had a bit of oatmeal added to it, then served cold.
So...my menu for the first round of siege cooking included:
- Sekanjabin to drink
- "Carbonados" (the meat bits)
- grape sauce
- onion relish
- oat porridge
- Onions & greens
- Fried oat cakes
- Baked beets (sliced with burned outsides removed)
- Chickpeas in broth
I won my round, and moved on to the finals...which will be the next post, as this one is very long.
3 comments:
Sounds good to me. How many judges were there?
I need to find the right vinegar for Sekanjabin. Stuff I used had too strong an aftertaste
16 c Sugar
10 c Water
1/3 c white or rice wine vinegar (boil 30 min)
1 large handful of flavoring (simmer 30 min)
strain
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