Post date: Jan 20, 2009 11:15:25 AM
Several members of the Brighthelm household were involved in the preparation and cooking of the feast at the Warbands event, held at Edzell Castle from 15-17 June, 2001. The feast was held in Inglis Hall in Edzell on the evening of Saturday 16 June. Around 86 people attended the feast.
The event was organised by the Shire of Harpelstane. In particular, Caitlin, Otto, Wolfgang and Lady Anne were heavily involved on the day with event in the castle and administration, meaning that the feast staff didn't have to worry about reservations and monies.
Andrew, Gytha and Claire were involved in menu planning. Gytha devised the vegetarian dishes, and cooked them and the fish. Claire persuaded her local butcher to make sausages to our special recipe, and did some of the preparatory cooking. Andrew did the costing, the shopping and the rest of the preparatory cooking.
Jenny helped Andrew to find a friendly local baker who could make trenchers to our specifications: Goodfellow & Stevens in Montrose. We ordered 50 speciality breads, each of which was sliced down the middle, so we had 100 trenchers. We also ordered 30 loaves and 80 scones from the same baker.
On the day itself, we gained access to the hall at 10am. Jenny collected the bread, and after some repacking, fitted it all in her car! Claire, Gytha and Andrew were cooking throughout the day, with help from Di and Valeria. Andrew was in charge of the kitchen. A pleasant discovery of the morning was that the feast hall had an industrial-grade automatic dish-washer.
The days events occured at Edzell Castle, about 2 miles away. At about 5pm, the Court of King Peregrine and Crown-Princess Signy Halfdansdottir was held. This was due to have occured at the Castle, but was held in the feasting hall due to the showery weather.
The feast began at around 7.30pm.
There were four removes, each corresponding to a season. After each remove, a subtlety was presented to High Table.
Winter
Frumenty
Porcellum Aenocotum & White Sausages (veg. Mushroom Pate)
Scotch Pudding
Spring
Malih Bi Khall Wa-Khardel (veg. Nimb Lise)
Fricassey Chicken in Aromatic Sauce (veg. Green Pease Soup)
Crudités with preserved Fruit and Nuts
Summer
Fruit Soup
Salade & Cheeses
Stewed Apple with an Oat Crust
Autumn
Onion Tart
Scones and Preserves
Gastris
Out of the 86 attendees, four were vegetarian, one required kosher food, one couldn't eat red meat and barley, one couldn't eat wheat and one couldn't eat cheese.
Vegetarian dishes are listed as above. For a kosher diet, the first remove was dairy, the second meat, and the final two dairy (the feast was treated as four distinct meals). No barley was used in the feast. Oat bread and oat pastry were provided for the wheat-free diet, and a lemon polenta cake replaced the scones (not period, but very nice!).
Remember cloven oranges! In a last-minute panic, we bought every orange in Edzell... and still had to drive to Brechin to get some cloves.
You can never have enough bin bags.