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The Æthelmearc Gazette

~ Covering the Kingdom of Æthelmearc of the SCA

The Æthelmearc Gazette

Tag Archives: Hael Storm

Chopped: Medieval Style

29 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, Cooking

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Hael Storm

This month’s Hael Storm (The Rhydderich Hael’s monthly A&S gathering – see this article for more information.) featured the Mystery Basket Challenge, with baskets provided by Lord Wolfgang Starke, master of diabolical, yet period, ingredient combinations.

More than 25 people enjoyed the day as we cooked, did A&S projects and just had fun socializing (plus hammered dulcimer!).

Lord Bulvi drew the Ox tail basket.

Lord Bulvi drew the Ox tail basket.

The baskets were:

Ox tail, slab bacon, beets, bulgur

Emmentaler cheese, chicken, chard, pears, white beans

Salt pork, sausage, turnips, cabbage

Tripe, beef, apples, parsnips, barley

Brown eggs, leeks, mushrooms, squash (gourds), lentils

Participants pored through the collection of medieval cookbooks from Tiercelin’s library, augmented by a collection from THL Rhiannon. Lady Katerin drew the biggest challenge with the tripe basket.

Researching recipes.

Researching recipes.

Well, ok, some of us laboring not so much - and of course the Brit is the only one in the pool room with a suit and tie on.

Well, ok, some of us laboring not so much – and of course the Brit is the only one in the pool room with a suit and tie on.

We generally start at around 11 am with the goal of serving forth at around 6. Baroness Morgan arrived with a pot of hearty garlic soup to ward off hunger pangs until dinner and THL Maeve had the foresight to bring loaves of bread, fortifying the intrepid cooks as they labored over hot stoves. The dinner food was not immune to filching, however, as Tiercelin discovered when she went to check on the cabbage and sausage dish simmering in the slow cooker and was horrified to find that the meat had all disappeared. “I thought for one mad moment that maybe it had just melted down,” she laughed “until we realized there had been a mix-up and everyone had thought it was for lunch, albeit strangely while I was in the other room.”

The general goal of the Cook’s Guild part of the Hael Storms is to use period techniques and baseline extant recipes to put out a meal for people to enjoy at the end of the day.

THL Rhiannon works on a chicken dish.

THL Rhiannon works on a chicken dish.

Sometimes we will redact and follow recipes closely, but the Mystery Basket sessions are more to look at general medieval cooking techniques as a starting point for experimentation. Braising, stewing, different types of tarts and pies, breads, soups; all were part of the final line-up.

We enjoyed a tripe pie with a custard binder, chicken stewed with beans and vegetables, cabbage and sausage casserole (although granted, only cabbage by dinnertime), ox tail stew with beets and bulgur, roasted turnips glazed with honey, a vegetable dish of lentils, leeks and mushrooms, and a non-period but delectable rye bread stuffed with slab bacon and raisins.

hael4Dessert was a pear and cheese tart after one in Markham (minus the cheese), and a fruit fool with wild plums supplied by Lady Morgana from her own gardens this summer.

The Hael Storms are open to all and sundry – generally we rotate between the homes of Tiercelin and Jock in the southern part of the Barony (Hamburg) and Wolfgang and Katerin in the north (Lockport). We encourage everyone to join us for fabulous feasting and company!

We also encourage everyone to start their own A&S gathers in their home groups.  Where there is food, there is fun!

Bacon bread!

Bacon bread!

 

 

 

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Cheese Gnocchi: Little Medieval Pillows of Love

01 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences

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Cheese Gnocchi, cooking, Hael Storm

At today’s Hael Storm (see earlier post), we did a short class on making cheese Gnocchi, a popular dish at the Hael’s Masked Ball in December. gnoc9The original recipe is from a manuscript Frammento di un libro di cucina del sec. XIV, edited by Olindo Gierrini in the late 1800s. This redaction is from The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, Redon, Saabban and Serventi, University of Chicago Press, 1998. If you have made modern gnocchi, you will notice that the technique has not changed in hundreds of years. The ingredients, however, are different; most modern gnocchi recipes use potatoes, which are a New World food. The original translation:

Put cream cheese and flour in large bowl.

Put cream cheese and flour in large bowl.

If you want some gnocchi, take some fresh cheese and mash it, then take some flour and mix it with egg yolks as in making migliacci. (Note: interestingly, there is a Corsican specialty bread still made today called migliacci that is made with fresh sheep’s cheese, eggs and flour.)  Put a pot full of water on the fire, and when it begins to boil, put the mixture on a dish and drop it into the pot with a ladle, and when they are cooked, place them on dishes and sprinkle with plenty of grated cheese.

Mix flour, cream cheese and egg yolks by hand.

Mix flour, cream cheese and egg yolks by hand.

The Recipe:
3 8 oz. packages cream cheese
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups (more or less) flour
salt to taste
grated parmesan
chicken broth

Mash up the cream cheese and mix in the flour with your hands. Add salt to taste and blend in the egg yolks. Keep kneading to form a smooth mixture. It should be about the consistency of a soft bread dough. Separate out balls about as big as your fist, and roll into inch thick ropes. Add more flour as needed to maintain consistency. Cut off pieces (the rolling on the fork thing is a later invention) and dropinto boiling water. When they rise to the top, they are done. You can also cook in broth. For the Masked Ball feast we cooked them in water, and then served them in bowls of broth, just enough to coat, not enough to make soup. Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Another Hael Storm hit!

Knead on board until consistency of soft bread dough. Then roll pieces into 1" snakes.

Knead on board until consistency of soft bread dough. Then roll pieces into 1″ snakes.

Cut into small pieces.

Cut into small pieces.

Gnocchi ready to drop into water.

Gnocchi ready to drop into water.

Rising to the top - they are done. This will only take a minute or two at a rolling boil.

Rising to the top – they are done. This will only take a minute or two at a rolling boil.

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Regional A&S Gatherings: The Hael Storm Model

24 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by aethgazette in Arts & Sciences, Event Announcements & Updates

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A&S, Hael Storm

Submitted by Ysabeau Tiercelin.

Enjoying the fruits of our labors!

Enjoying the fruits of our labors!

For a couple of years, we’ve been hosting monthly A&S gatherings at our home in Hamburg; they’ve become known as Hael Storms, because, well, Rhydderich Hael. But with so many groups within an hour’s radius, our goal this year is to make these truly regional A&S gathers. We are hosting the next one on Sunday the 1st, from noonish until whenever (although those of you here after 9 p.m. are watching Downton Abbey with us). Highlights this month include a cheese gnocchi class to demo the dish that was a hit at our recent Masked Ball, and dying wool in a bath over a fire to make period fishing lures.

What exactly is a Hael Storm?
Quite simply, it’s an informal A&S gathering, open to any interested participant.

Learning to make flatbread.

Learning to make flatbread.

Our Cook’s Guild hosts the cooking portion – sometimes we just try new recipes, sometimes we have theme days where everyone brings ingredients for recipes from a specific time or culture, sometimes we do a medieval version of Chopped (mystery baskets – tongue or sardines anyone?). This month will be a bring-your-own-recipe version, so bring a recipe and the ingredients to make your dish. We have a pot luck at around 6 pm to enjoy the literal fruits of our labors. Cooking not your thing?  Bring drinks or something to share. We just ask that no-one come empty-handed.

Garb help.

Garb help.

The Textile Guild helps people with sewing issues, including guiding newcomers through their first garb. We embroider, knit, draft patterns, do garb research and anything else sewing related. Sewing machines and ironing boards provided! Lots of costuming books!

We have a functional scriptorium with tables, class space (we have done a raised gilding class, among others), light boards, many books with scribal inspiration, and a copy machine.

We’ve had musicians (we have a harpsichord in good tune for anyone interested) playing, a sushi demonstration, and fencing outside in good weather.

In short, if it’s A&S, you can do it at a Hael Storm. You can also just come and enjoy the fellowship!

Regional Reach

Stripping woad leaves in preparation for making woad balls.

Stripping woad leaves in preparation for making woad balls.

The Kingdom is having great success with the regional martial musters, with rattan fighters and rapier fighters coming out in droves to fight and learn.

As our Region 4 A&S Minister, I’d like to encourage the same thing on the A&S side in Western New York. Carpool with a people from your group and join us for a relaxing day. These A&S days also serve as perfect newcomer gatherings, so they can meet people before jumping into garbed events.

Hosting Your Own Regional?
What do you need to host your own regional A&S gather? Not much – just someone willing to act as host in their home, an announcement in whatever media will reach the most people in your area, and participants ready to have a fun day of learning, chatting and being with friends. Go for it!

For address and directions for the Hael Storm, email Tiercelin at tiercelin@endlesshills.net.

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