"I've got a feast / in my back pocket . . ."

[bunnyjadwiga]

A recent SCA request for help with a feast led me to thinking. I know that if I was in a hurry, and had to scramble together a feast menu off the top of my head, based on what was easy to prepare, easy to get, and popular, I could probably pull one out of my back pocket relatively easily. In fact, most SCA foodies could (in my opinion). I started asking around and found that others liked this pleasant game.

So... I'm inviting you all to go ahead and try it. Assume 60-100 attendees, and a budget in the normal range for your area. Please post your 'back pocket feast' before reading other people's comments, if you would. I'm looking forward to seeing your answers...

Comments

[flannelbutch.livejournal.com]

period or perioid?

Back Pocket Feast - a survey of Dutch cooking (800 -1600 ACE)

[fiannaharpar.livejournal.com]

Odriana's Back Pocket Feast

First Course
Wheat bread
a variety of cheeses
Onion/Ale soup

Second Course
Bacon/Garlic/currant stuffed chickens
roasted veg with oil and fresh cilantro


Third Course
Spelt or Barley Frumenty
OR
Dutch funnel cake from "Eenen seer schonen.."
Fresh fruit if it's in season

[selyrabbit.livejournal.com]

I just grab "Banquet dels Quatro Barres". It worked when I had to change the feast I was going to do to a Spanish feast as the crowns request with 3 weeks notice. I'll think of more as I tend to keep ideas written down just in case. I am not afraid of reprising some of my former feasts either with maybe a change in sauces or in sides to make it appear different. I find that most diners just want something that is filling and tastes good.

[danabren.livejournal.com]

Step 1 - Take on challenge of being emergency head cook.

Step 2 - Call local pizzaria and ask if you can get a discount for bulk order.

Step 3 - Sit back and relax at the knowledge of a job well done, wondering why everyone always stresses over it.

Step 4 - Receive phone call from hysterical event steward.

Step 5 - Get defensive. Yell "I don't know why I bothered offering to help!". Hang up. Cry.

Step 6 - Quit SCA in a public-forum hissy fit.

Step 7 - Sneak back, hoping everyone misses me and says so loudly.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

I'm going for a central Italian theme here. A lot of these dishes I got from my grandmother, and I've never actually been a head cook before, so I still have to hunt down period recipes -- but I'm sure I can find them.

In no particular order (I'll work out an order later):
Pasta (probably fettuccine) with butter and pecorino cheese
Sautéed chickpeas
Salad of seasonal greens
Lamb (in spring) or pork (otherwise)
Cooked seasonal vegetable: simmered broccoli, grilled asparagus, or grilled fennel
Some sort of fish
Vegetable tarts
Fresh seasonal fruit
Cheesecake

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

when I think of basic, simple dinners, I always refer back to the one and only Feast of Simple Fare I attended, many years ago.

Soup
Salad
Roast chicken
Simple sausages or a pork dish, depending on price
buttered worts, preferably cabbage
A baked vegetarian pottage.
frumenty
fruits and or fruit soup

breads, cheeses, and a couple of sauces.

I like doing things in a somewhat spartan manner, and allowing the sauce to be the fancy element, when it is a meal with fewer dishes. That allows people to avoid things they ought to avoid a little more easily.

[joef-johnm.livejournal.com]

Here's one of the ones I've had floating around that I haven't gotten to do yet:
THE FOUR SEASONS OF LOVE:

Starters
Sallat
Bread
Butter
Cheese

Winter
Pork w Jance Sauce
Sisseros - Chickpea Puree

Spring
Lamb w Garlic Cameline Sauce
Peas w Spring Onions in Almond Milk

Interval
Onion Pea Soup

Summer
Chicken w Cold Sage Sauce
Tortes of Herbs, Cheese and Eggs

Fall
Beef w Saupiquet Sauce
Mushroom Tart or Baked Mushrooms
Honey Glazed Vegetables, including turnips, hard squash and carrots

All Early French, one I've been mulling for awhile and will do one of these days.

[paquerette.livejournal.com]

Well, bear in mind that I've never cooked quite on that scale before (most I've done was sideboard lunch for 50) and I don't actually know a lot of dishes off the top of my head. So these are things I'm familiar with and could probably come up with something pretty close without looking them up again, but I couldn't necessarily do properly without at least taking 5 minutes to visit the sites that have them and printing them out.

Out on table/replenished as needed:
Breads (probably white and wheat, maybe rye; probably purchased) and herbed and plain butters.

First course:
Icelandic chicken pie (double-crust pie with chicken, bacon, and sage)
Armored turnips (just cause I could make it in my sleep at this point)
Salad of fresh greens and herbs, with balsamic vinegar dressing (totally winging it; I know there are period salads but I wouldn't know one if you dumped it on my head)

Second course:
Roast pork with currants, pine nuts, red wine (based on boar en brassey but as a roast instead of a stew)
Barley
Carrots & parsnips

Dessert:
Seasonal fruit
Bread pudding (again, I know there are period ones but I'd have to wing it) or Roman cheesecake
Glazed nuts maybe, if I'm not out of money by now. ;)

Budgeting, I always need help with. So it could be I just sunk us. ;) I'm guessing a $7 or $8 feast though? That's average around here.

[sister-devora.livejournal.com]

I've done one. I was called a little over a week before feast and told that the people who had volunteered to bring bread and meat had suddenly had an attack of life and had to bow out.

With the help of the Kettle and Trumpets emergency feast squad, we produced:

Roast beef
Chicken in a citrus marinade
Chicken soup
Peasecods in butter
Ham
Homemade mustard
A sauce for beef (beef juice, verjuice, garlic, and breadcrumbs)
Green sauce
Barley
Homemade bread
cheese.

It worked. And came in at about 1/2 the projected cost per person, so we fed even more people.

[izzy-the-good.livejournal.com]

My optiona would be based on seasonal issues.
Creamed carrot soup or creamed mustard. Salet with lemon dressing. or salets vinagrette. Pork with apples and onions or beef in beer. root stew. minute rools. carrot turnip mash or glazed roots. garlic noodle. Ember day or sausage pie.
Then it would just be desert. seasonal fruit tartlets, baked apples or any chocolate I can find. These are actual things I have done when challenged. We have had people come by and Christoffel has said "dinner guests? bet you cant make a period with whats on hand" yea its all stock stuff :) I fed 15 no notice :) :)