A fools dish

[alysten]

I am investigating sweet dishes for Bhakail's Yule feast.  I will have to prepare foods from a common larder (part of the feast challenge from the autocrat) that are fitting for "traditional English" feast.  I am going out on a limb and say that eggs, cream, sugar and fruit should be part of the common larder.  These are common enough ingredients and the building blocks for so many other things. [Poll #1455074][Poll #1455074]

Comments

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Gooseberry fool!! ;-)

[alysten.livejournal.com]

Not sure if that will be in the larder. Actually I have no idea what is in the larder. Its kinda like IronChef SCA.

But gooseberry is one of the classics.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

I'm aggravated that I haven't been able to check out the nursery sale down the road - I'm hoping to plant a couple gooseberry bushes.

And make a small fence out of espaliered apple trees. With scion wood from period varieties. ;-)

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

As far as I understand it, "the larder" is supposed to be what would actually be available to an English cook in December. I think that's going to limit fruit, unfortunately -- but you'll have apples for sure, quince paste likewise, and I think maybe medlars if they're findable. In terms of dried stuff: figs, dates, raisins, prunes. Not sure what else...

Ooh, and while I was poking around looking for backup to my random thoughts, I found this neat site: The Thorngrove Table.

ETA: I would be surprised if pumpkin shows up. Squashes of some sort, probably, but not pumpkin proper. Shakespeare's "pumpion" is problematic -- see this article on linguistic confusion.

[alysten.livejournal.com]

We were speculating that it could be pears, apples, possibly pomegranates, winter oranges. Figs and dates are kinda pricey at that time of year. Though quince has potential. I am really liking the pumpkin idea as a potential.

Neat link. Thanks!

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

Er, when I said "squashes," please imagine that was "gourds." :)

BTW, I'm sorry to have missed another project day. :( I have the 20th marked on my calendar!

[alysten.livejournal.com]

Pumpkins from Mexico were brought to Europe by Columbus. It is plausible that pumpkin [though not our modern pumpkins] could have indeed been what "pumpion" was. Still researching though. Though apparently they called anything round and melon like in shape, a melon. Which ironically enough, is not too far from the truth. Again it is all going to depend on what's in the basket. The nice thing about fools, is that they are flexible based upon the season in which they are cooked.

Feel free to pipe up if there are suggestions that sound particularly yummy to you, or vise versa.

Looking forward to having you here.

[math5.livejournal.com]

Nuts are very plausible fruits: almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts store through the winter.

[alysten.livejournal.com]

That could work really nicely too. :D

[math5.livejournal.com]

Tons of possibity, these little ones are extremely versatile :)

[alysten.livejournal.com]

I can do sooooo much with cream and eggs.