This past weekend I managed to get to Stirring the Pot an Unofficial Cooks Guild Colloquium!
I came across this little event courtesy Facebook and was instantly intrigued. By the time I found the event the class listing was up and with Medieval Snacks being the first listing I was sold. My husband agreed to keep kiddo amused so I was free until afternoon (Prior D&D commitments.)
I was happy to have the hour difference as it let me take a few more classes. I am looking forward to the recording of the later sessions as there was a Cheese class I was very interested in.
My schedule
- 7 Am Medieval Snacks
- 8 Am Preserved food (2 hours)
- 10 AM The Archaeology of the Roman Diet
- 11 AM Is Chocolate Period?
- Noon Discussion of Cooking for Special Diets in the SCA
A fairly robust mix of interests! I honestly had to flip a coin as the classes these ran against were equally interesting. Side note if you attended another session, or the same session drop me a line! I would love to talk about it.
My Thoughts
Medieval Snacks- The original teacher was unfortunately ill so this became a round table discussion. There were MANY wonderful ideas tossed out for ways to bring things to eat. I liked the suggestion of Falafel and the powdered hummus. I would love to camp cooler-less(Or reduced cooler) and these gave me a whole new rabbit hole to hop down. The suggestion of Pizzel and cheese made my day and I wonder if I can adapt my family recipe to savory. Someone proceeded to announce CANNOLI ARE PERIOD?!? I love cannoli, they are probably in the top five favorite sweets so this is big!
There was also talk of lunch in a jar, before dissolving into a discussion on meatballs. Of course, hedgehogs came up, once again not the spiky little critters but meatballs. The recipe here if you are inclined to try it out.
At that point we had hit the hour mark and it was time to move on to the next class.
Preserved food-Mistress Philomena Wensley of Trimaris
This class was a cooking demo covering Lemons, sauerkraut, and Compost. From there it was a live cooking show, fun informative and easy to follow along. Having all the things on hand I believe I will try out the salted lemons. You will want to check out the handouts for this class as preserved food is loads of fun.
The Archaeology of the Roman Diet- Honorable Lady Fina MacGrioghair of An Tir
This class was packed with information. I really have to direct you to Fina’s blog as she has the full research paper this class was based off there. It is well worth the read as it takes in to account recent archeology that helps provide a far better picture of Roman food, not just the Grapes Grain and Olive view that was held prior. The end of class also took a tangent into Asafoetida and I plan to do more research into this spice.
Is Chocolate Period?- Dona Amathullah Luciano of Atlantia
This was probably the only class I was disappointed in. The content as far as Chocolate in period is a quick summery of nope unless you are with the Spanish, and even then it is not the milk chocolate we know today. Unfortunately the presenter didn’t delve as deep as I feel they could have. I really hope they expand this class next time as there was the start of a very interesting topic but just felt like it fell short.
Discussion of Cooking for Special Diets in the SCA – Lady Agnes von Heidelberg of Calontir
This class was another one packed with information. Cooking for people with special diets is something that challenges me as I really strive to not do in friends with my cooking. I also want them to be able to eat what I make. I did learn a number of really useful things. First, the rest of the world is way ahead of dealing with allergies. Second, the SCA in the US really has some catching up todo. The link was given Baron Drake Morgan’s blog on the subject and I can fully say I plan to make this a part of any additional feasts I get to prepare.
Overall
I had a good time, it was nice to be able to sit and socialize and learn more about cooking. Hopefully we will see more little events like this as this as it is looking like in-person events are still along way off.
If you want to check out any of these classes or handouts here is the web site.
