• About the Gazette
  • Kingdom and Local Events
  • Submissions

The Æthelmearc Gazette

~ Covering the Kingdom of Æthelmearc of the SCA

The Æthelmearc Gazette

Tag Archives: Cast Iron Chef

Cast Iron Chef Competition Returns for Fourth Year

21 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by aethgazette in Archery, Arts & Sciences, Cooking, Event Announcements & Updates, Food

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cast Iron Chef, cooking competition

THL Lijsbet and Sir Rowan at the 2015 competition. Photo by JJ Art Photography.

The drums of War may have been stilled for another year, but in the Barony of Delftwood there is still a fire burning around which to gather in fellowship – and FOOD!

Join us on Sunday, September 2, 2018 at A Shoot in the Wildwood for the 4th Annual Cast Iron Chef Cooking Tournament!

Cooks of all ages and stages are encouraged to test their mettle by preparing a multi-course, period-plausible meal, while creatively adapting to the twists set up as part of the unique competition format selected each year. We are excited to reveal several new and fun challenges for this year’s tournament:

THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE

This year, all cooking teams will be required to complete a technical challenge as part of their final entry evaluation. Teams will receive a recipe from a period resource that they must redact and recreate to the best of their abilities. The outcome of this challenge will then provide the framework around which the remaining dishes should be planned.

PANTRY PRICE HIKES

As always, the pantry will be stocked with a bounty of ingredients for our cooks to use in the creation of their entry meals. This year, however, everything comes with a price that must be paid to obtain them. All registered teams will receive a purse containing a standard sized “allowance,” that they use to purchase items for their entries. No ingredients will be available without payment, so cooks will need to budget wisely.

MO’ MONEY, MO’ FUN

While every team will get the same amount of coin to begin with, they will also have the chance to increase their budget in this year’s Cast Iron Chef archery shoot. Archers who have been recruited by tournament cooks will have the opportunity to shoot on behalf of their teams. While the details of the shoot will be announced at a later date, what is certain is that each team’s allowance will increase based on the results.

All teams will still be expected to follow the rules that have been established as the core of the Cast Iron Chef Cooking Tournament:

  • All dishes presented as part of an entry must be made on site using the communal cooking fire,
  • during the scheduled cooking time,
  • and use only ingredients provided by the tournament.
  • Cooks should plan to supply their own cookware appropriate for use over an open fire, and their own knives.

At the end of the tournament cooking time, you will be able to present your meal to our judges for the chance for your team to win some amazing prizes!

We hope you will join us for a fun day of fire, friendship, and food at this year’s Cast Iron Chef! If there are any questions, please contact the tournament coordinator, Edelvrouw Lijsbet de Keukere.

DONATIONS AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED

Cast Iron Chef is always looking for food donations to help the tournament run smoothly! See the wishlist here for a comprehensive list of items for our pantry that are welcome contributions in any amount.

In addition, we need to borrow  for the competition:

  • 3 to 4 pop-ups (10×10 or 12×12; intended to be used as the sign-in/hospitality area, judges’ lounge, dishwashing area, and kitchen equipment area)
  • 5 chest coolers (intended to hold the pantry items that need to stay on ice;  medium and large sizes preferred)
  • Easy-up/easy-down shelving (any number – intended for use in the pantry to organize ingredients, or in the equipment area to organize cooking tools and essentials)
  • Cast iron cookware to have on hand for cooks who need it

If you’d like to donate or loan something, contact THL Lijsbet privately to arrange a drop-off or mailing address.

FACEBOOK GROUP

Competitors and judges are welcome to join the Facebook group here.

Anyone who enjoys medieval food and finds fun in a good challenge, join us!

See you around the campfire, THL Lijsbet

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Event Report: Cast Iron Chef III (at Shoot in the Wildwood)

19 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, Cooking, Event Reports, Food

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Cast Iron Chef, cooking competition, Delftwood, Shoote in the Wyldewoode

By Elska á Fjárfelli, of the Dominion of Myrkfaelinn (Susan Verberg)

Come for the pointy projectiles! Stay for the fabulous food!

Accurately described by co-organizer THL Lijsbet de Keukere, Delftwood hosted its third annual Cast Iron Chef Cooking Tournament on September 3 as part of the barony’s archery event A Shoot in the Wildwood.

The cooking trench at Cast Iron Chef cooking tourney III, with in the foreground the oven Algirdas scratch built.  All photography by Elska.

Each year brings a new challenge, and this year Lijsbet and Lord Sebastian Mora challenged the archers to shoot their best royal round on behalf of the cooks for first pick of their coveted Mystery Baskets. The baskets varied in theme, each one contained high-quality, valuable ingredients… and all had to be used in some way or another to create the best three-dish meal.

To supplement the Mystery Basket, the pantry had been bountifully stocked with pantry staples common for the average medieval household: beans, grains, common garden vegetables, simple dairy products, and foraged goods.

With these building blocks the teams, consisting of no more than a head cook, one assistant, and one archer, were charged to make a plausibly medieval meal over the communal open fire for the judges to sample. Following the format of the past three years, all tournament cooking had to be done on site during the designated tournament time of three hours, and no food brought in from off site could be used. While most cooks brought their own copious amounts of cast iron cook wares, for the cook in sudden need loaner pots & pans were available. Occasionally, the judges would make their rounds, and even though they were not supposed to direct, it was totally fine to ask questions…

While I tried my best to compile as complete a picture as possible, I was distracted by cooking, and the Book of Faces wasn’t as enlightening as hoped… my advanced apologies to anyone I might have missed!

And without further ado, let’s introduce our cast iron teams!

Kiera and her menu.

Kiera MacLeod had archer Edward Harbinger shoot her the East Kingdom Basket, which included barley, asparagus, rosewater, cherries, turnips, and rump roast.

Ciaran & Wynn’s meal.

Algirdas and Aldanza.

Ciaran & Wynn choose the Butcher’s Basket, which included an intriguing collection of pork necks, pork hocks, and chuck steak.

Meadbh and Elska’s menu.

Meadbh ni Clerigh, assisted by me, had her daughter Mary of Hartford shoot us the Sweet & Savory Basket;  Mary shot the overall highest score. This basket included walnuts, dried figs, dried prunes, dried apricots, dried dates, and dried cherries with chuck steak.

Matheus & Katherine’s entry.

Matheus Hundamaðr, assisted by Katharine Thorne, had archer Snorri sketi Bjornsson shoot them the Perrote Basket. This basket included parsnips, lentils, chickpeas, turnips, chives, peach sauce, and pork shoulder.

Thirteen-year-old Morgan Littlejohn, assisted by her father Fearghus macEoin Littlejohn, had archer Siobhan shoot them the Farmer’s Basket. This basket included gruyere, parmesan, turnips, leeks, celeriac, apples, pears, asparagus, and chicken.

Algirdas Wolfus, assisted by Aldanza Wolfus, had archer Robert of Furness shoot them the Delftwood Basket. This basket included eggs, apples, olive oil, honey mustard, dates, and chicken.

 

Fearghus and Morgan.

While the highest scoring archer gave her team first pick of the Mystery Baskets, the organizers then threw in a nice curve ball by reversing the order of who went shopping first in the Pantry! Did I overhear one cook thank his archer for having been a lousy shot…?

What did we end up making?

Matheus & Katharine made a “Norse Meal in Miklagård” with a menu of:

  • Grikkland Grautr: a pottage of red lentils, rice, chickpea, parsnips, onion, garlic, butter, cumin, and celery seed, garnished with shaved radish and chives.
  • Pork in the way of Serkland: pork, rubbed with rosemary infused olive oil, crushed long pepper, salt, coriander, cumin, and turmeric, seared then stewed with verjuice and dried figs, finished with fresh figs.
  • Sœtrbröd: whole wheat and ground walnut pancake, spiced with mace, nutmeg, and ginger, topped with peach preserves, butter, cooked apricots, and roasted walnuts.

The menu of Morgan & Fearghus included:

  • Chicken and vegetable stew.
  • Stuffed roasted apples and pears, decorated with edible flowers.
  • Asparagus with parmesan.

Algirdas & Aldanza’s menu offered, with little flags following the French style:

  • Vegetable and cheese egg tart.
  • Apple and carrot salad (garnished with fig and almonds).
  • Chicken bruet with mustard sauce in a leaf of egg.
  • Sage water.
  • Date and apple tart.

Meadbh & Elska made a 14th century Anglo-Saxon meal with:

  • Kidney and Steak stew with dates and apricots.
  • Savory custard pie with eggs, soft cheese, pears, dates and almonds
  • Barley with raisins and shaved almonds.
  • Cherry and almond pie.
  • Bread pudding with dates and figs.
  • Sage water for hand washing.

Ciaran & Wynn’s hearty menu was:

  • Pig knuckle and barley pottage.
  • Pork hock pottage.
  • Grilled vegetables & steak.
  • Rehomogenized milk.

Finally, Kiera’s menu included:

  • Grilled chicken with cherry sauce
  • Chicken & barley pottage
  • Grilled asparagus
  • Marzipan-filled dates.

The winners of the third Cast Iron Chef cooking competition, with the competition organizers.

In the end? We were all so excited and hungry for our own food that we were waiting for the judges to move along, so we could go enjoy ourselves! And not just us, there were quite a few bystanders with empty plates, waiting for the word to dig in…

For me, this was the first time cooking multiple dishes over open fire, and am I glad I brought all my cast iron pots & pans, we used every single one! It was a wonderful experience, not competitive at all. There was many a time where someone exclaimed for some sugar/cinnamon/flour and it would instantly appear from another cook’s station. We loaned out gear as needed and kept and eye on all that was cooking. I do not think I would have done anything different, and hope to be able to participate again next year! Thank you, Lijsbet and Sebastian for organizing, again, this wonderful event. A big thank you to all the volunteers and donors of wonderful foodstuffs, thanks to you the pantry was glorious! Thank you to our judges for your constructive help and feedback. It made for a most wonderful outdoor experience. All in all, I hardly even noticed the rain.

And now for the results we’ve all been waiting for…

While being able to make something wonderful out of pig’s knuckles and hocks is a worthy deed indeed, the Baroness felt she was most impressed by 13-year-old Morgan and her third time entering this competition successfully, thereby Morgan  and her dad Fearghus were the Baroness’s pick.

Playing to the crowd by bringing Delftwood and Kingdom regalia – and choosing the Delftwood Basket – the Baron was not able to overcome all this Delftwood splendor and picked team Algirdas & Aldanza Wolfus as the Baron’s choice. But don’t think that was all! Algirdas built a completely functional on-site oven as well, and the two of them walked away victorious as the Ultimate Cast Iron Chefs! Vivat!

For many more pictures of the A.S.52 Cast Iron Chef, see John Michael Thorpe’s photos here and JJ Art and Photography’s here.

 

For more information about this awesome Tournament, see here.

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Cast Iron Chef Competition Needs Volunteers

01 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, Cooking

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cast Iron Chef, cooking competition, Delftwood, Shoote in the Wyldewoode

Greetings from the Cast Iron Chef coordinators!

Every year, we rely on many hands to keep the tournament running smoothly, and this year is no different. If you are so inclined, we are looking for volunteers to assist us with the following tasks:

  • Setting up the pantry shelter, judges’ area, and wash station (preferably done Friday evening)
  • Digging the fire trench (preferably Friday evening, but Saturday morning/afternoon is fine, too)
  • Building the initial fire for cooking (Sunday morning)
  • Running fire wood when we get low (Sunday)
  • Putting pantry items out on shelves (Sunday morning)
  • Monitoring the water cooler to make sure it stays full (Sunday)

The event is scheduled for Shoot in the Wildwood, September 1 @ 5:00 pm – September 4 @ 11:00 am, in the Barony of Delftwood.

Please let me and/or Sebastian know if you think you can help us out in any way to get the tournament ready for our cooks. Thank you so much in advance!

THL Lijsbet

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Æthelmearc Gazette

Æthelmearc Gazette

Categories

  • 50 Year
  • A&S Champs
  • A&S Competition and Display
  • A&S Faire
  • AE 300
  • AELive
  • Announcements
  • Aoife's Links
  • Archery
  • Arts & Sciences
  • Autocratting
  • Awards
  • Æthelmeac Æcademy
  • Æthelmearc History
  • Bardic
  • Book Reviews
  • Brewing
  • Camping
  • Combat Archery
  • Competitions
  • Cooking
  • Corporate News
  • Costuming
  • Court Reports
  • Crown Tourney
  • Dance
  • demos
  • donations
  • Equestrian
  • Esoterica
  • Event Announcements & Updates
  • Event Reports
  • Feast
  • Fencing
  • Fiber Arts
  • Food
  • Forestry
  • Gaming & Fun
  • Gulf Wars
  • Heavy List
  • Heraldry
  • Herbalism
  • Humor
  • Ice Dragon
  • In memoriam
  • Interviews
  • Kingdom News
  • KMOAS
  • Largesse
  • Music
  • Newcomers
  • Officer Announcements
  • Pennsic
  • Poetry & Prose
  • Populace-in-focus
  • Quarterly reports
  • Queen's Rapier
  • Rapier
  • Research
  • Royalty
  • SCA @ Home
  • SCA History
  • SCA Shop Talk
  • Scribal
  • Service
  • Siege
  • Teaching
  • The AEthelmearc 300
  • Thrown Weapons
  • Tidings
  • Uncategorized
  • Youth Activities
  • Youth combat

RSS The Æthelmearc Gazette

  • Wolgemut to Perform at Pennsic
  • Populace in Focus – THL Gunnlaud Leifsson
  • Mark Your Calendars! AEthelmearc Pennsic Happenings!

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: