Alys's Receipt Boke

These are my archived receipes from the kitchen page.

Meats & Fishes Staples Vegetables Sweet Dishes Beverages
Beef Breads Salades Cakes Alcoholic
Chicken Savories Side Dishes Cookies Other
Pork Sweetmeats
Turkey
Salmon
Tuna



MEATS and FISHES

Beef


Bulgogi
This is another not so period recipe but it is a great cooking onsite camping recipe. It's from a published subscription card collection entitled "My Great Recipes."  Once at an event we did not have time to cook it. It stayed in its marinade sauce for a day or two and it turned out to be the best ever time eating.
1 Pound Beef Sirloin or Flank Steak 1/4 Cup Chopped Green Onions & Tops
2 Tablespoons Sugar 2 Cloves Garlic, minced or pressed
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce 1/2 Teaspoon coarsely ground Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons Sesame or Salad Oil Green Pepper slices
2 Teaspoons Sesame Seeds

Slice beef against grain into 1/4-inch slices that are 2 to 3 inches long. In a bowl, stir together sugar, soy sauce, oil, sesame seeds, green onions, garlic and black pepper. Add the meat. Toss until all pieces are coated. Cover and marinate 1 to 2 hours at room temperature or 4 or more hours (up to 2 days) refrigerated. Place strips 1 inch apart on racks, then broil or barbecue 1 minute on each side. Serve immediately garnished with green pepper slices. (Tip: For easier slicing,place beef in freezer for 30 minutes. Be sure to cut across the grain so that meat will be tender when cooked.

Cornish Pasties
This particular recipe came from an really old issue of Gourmet magazine and is not a period one. But it's still a nice one anyway.  This recipe is a GREAT traveler.  I have made these as handheld turnovers and as whole pies.  Either way I froze them ahead of time.  Caution here - with the whole pies don't forget to take them out sometime during the trip to the event or during the day as they are slow to thaw.  They make a really nice quick something to eat after you set up camp.
The Pastie Part
4 Cups Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 3/4 Cups Shortening
1 Egg, beaten
1 Tablespoon Vinegar
1/2 Cup Cold Water		 The Filling Part
6 Medium Red Potatoes, diced
1 1/2 Cups Chopped Onions
1 Pound Sirloin, cut into 1/2'' cubes
2 Teaspoons Beef Bouillon Cubes, pulverized
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
2 Tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces

Mix flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and baking powder in large mixing bowl; cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix beaten egg, vinegar and cold water in small bowl; stir into flour mixture until moistened. Knead dough lightly; shape into a ball. Refrigerate wrapped in waxed paper for 1 hour. Divide dough into 4 parts. Roll 2 parts on a lightly floured surface into two 10'' circles, about 1/4'' thick. Place each circle on a greased baking sheet. Roll remaining dough into tow 12'' circles. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine potatoes, onions, sirloin, bouillon cubes, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper in a large bowl. Place half of the potato mixture on each 10'' circle; dot each with half of the butter and top with 12'' circles. Flute edges of pasties. Cut slits in top of pasties for steam. Bake 15 minutes; reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Makes 2 - 10'' pasties.   


Chicken

Chicken a la Apicius
This is a favorite on-site camp cooking recipe of mine until the day my freezer went out and I had to cook four chickens all at once. It comes from my very first period recipe cookbook in my still too limited collection.  The recipe in the book makes four chickens but I cut it down to one for you nice gentles. The name of this book is "How to Cook Forsoothly" by Mistress Katrine de Baillie du Chat, O.L. from Raymond's Quiet Press. You used to be able to order it from the SCA's Society Stock Clerk's price list once upon a time but alas it is no longer available. Raymond's Quiet Press does have an site on-line and books are listed on it but not this one. Sadly after contacting them the gentle in charge there informed me that this wonderful book was indeed out of print.  Oh, and for all you loving couples out there, substituting the whole chicken for two game hens makes for a nice romantic dinner for two onsite.

1 whole roasting or frying Chicken
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tablespoon Dill
1 Tablespoon Vinegar
½ Teaspoon Dry Mustard
½ Teaspoon Dried Mint
½ Cup Wine
Butter or oil sufficient for basting

Mix the ingredients, and baste the chicken with fresh sauce about every 15 minutes. Roast at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Stuff chicken with "Stuffing for ‘Chicken a la Apicius'", if desired before roasting. Three ingredients which are in the original have been left out of this version: asafoetida root, Jerico date, and honey. Any or all of these may be added according to your taste. If you prefer, a sweeter basting sauce may be gained by using a very sweet desert wine instead of honey, or in addition to it.
Stuffing for Chicken a la Apicius

Chopped cooked giblets of 1 Chicken
1/8 Pound Hot Sausage, fried
Sprinkle of Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Celery Salt
1 Stalk of Chopped Celery (or more)
 3/4 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tablespoons Chopped Walnuts1 Egg
Enough Stock or Chicken Broth to moisten
3 Cups Bread Cubes

Toss the bread cubes with the remaining ingredients and use as a stuffing. This makes a fairly bland stuffing, which may be spiced up by increasing the quantities of flavorings. The original calls for boiled spelt-grits, which I have replaced with bread and a pounded, cooked brain, which I replaced with giblets. It also calls for "a little oil" to be added if you wish, or you could add butter, but the grease from the sausage is usually enough. This quantity will stuff one chicken or more and should thus serve about 4 people.


Chicken Alys
This is my own original prize winning recipe inspired by doing a little research with my little collection of books.   It's a combination of two recipes and methods that I found whilst trying to come up with an original entry for the Shire of Ambergard's first "Lovers of the Stinky Rose Revel" in February of 2001.  I took the best of the best.  I mostly humbly thank the judges present at that event.
1- 2 pounds Chicken, cut up in pieces
1 Head of Garlic
2 Teaspoons Dried Mint Leaves 
12 Whole Peppercorns
½ Teaspoon Whole Cumin

Boil all ingredients until chicken and garlic are done. Drain. Reserve stock for thinning sauce, if needed. Reserve meat and such and set aside. Make Sauce Gauncely, below. Put chicken in sauce and mix. Serve forth warm. 

Sauce Gauncely

2 Tablespoons Butter
2-4 Tablespoons Flour
1 ½ to 2 Cups Milk

3 Minced Cloves
Pinch of Saffron


Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour to melted butter. Stir to smooth. Add the milk. Stir occasionally until thickened. Add the minced garlic and the saffron. Mix with chicken. Above is an original Recipe and Method created by me using period sources as guides and inspiration.


STAPLES

Breads
Soft Pretzels
Pretzels are period but this recipe came from a Longview Daily News issue quite a long time ago. It is an especially nice one as you can refrigerate the dough for up to 5 days before shaping and baking them and you get to skip the nasty "boiling soda water" step.  If you keep the dough in the fridge longer they take on a nice little sourdough type flavoring.  Yes, I know refrigerator rise doughs are not period but they are still delicious.  They freeze well and are excellent travelers.  They also taste much better than the traditional ones that I have had at Ren fairs and other such places.  I thank Mistress Liliana Feodorovna of River's Bend for introducing me to this recipe.

2 cups Warm Water
2 Envelopes Dry Yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
½ Cup Sugar
2 Teaspoons Salt
1/4 Cup Softened Butter 		1 Egg
6 ½ -7 Cups Flour
1 Egg Yolk
2 Tablespoons Water
Coarse Salt

Measure warm water into a large warm bowl. Sprinkle in yeast. Stir until dissolved. Add sugar, salt, butter, egg and 3 cups of the flour. Add more flour as needed to make a stiff dough. Cover tightly with foil. Refrigerate 2-24 hours. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Cut each half into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into pencil shaped ropes Shape each rope into pretzel on a lightly greased baking sheet. Blend egg yolk with 2 tablespoons water. Brush mixture onto each pretzel. Sprinkle on the salt. Let rise until double, about 25-30 minutes. Bake in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks. Eat. Good with mustard. Makes 32 pretzels.




VEGETABLES

Salats
Salat with Vinaigrette (my version)
My version - modeled after the recipe in "How to Cook Forsoothly".
 
Lettuce - Romaine and Butter
Spinach Leaves, well washed and dried
Selection of Herbs - mint leaves, dill, parsley, basil, tarragon
Vinaigrette, below

Combine the ingredients for the vinaigrette, making to the way you like a day or two before you plan to use it (it will be better this way). Wash and dry lettuce, spinach, and herbs. Tear into bite sized pieces and toss with the vinaigrette. 
Vinaigrette
3 Parts Olive Oil 2 Cloves Garlic
1 Part Vinegar Sage
2 Splashes of Lemon Juice Mint
Salt Dill
Pepper, fresh ground (not canned, preground pepper!)
Rosemary



DESSERTS & SWEETS


Cakes
Honey Almond Cheesecake
Here is another from "How to Cook Forsoothly".  This recipe is better if you make a day or two ahead of time before camping to let the cheese 'age' a little. It is a really good traveler dessert. I have also won a dessert contest using this recipe.  There was also one time when I took it to an event and never even got a piece.  All of it went to the high table.
1 Cup Sugar
1/4 Pound Butter
1 Pound Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup Sifted Flour
1/4 Cup Honey 		5 Eggs, separated, whites beaten stiff but not dry
1/2 Cup Half-and-Half
1 Teaspoon Almond Extract
1/2 Cup Ground Almonds
Fruit or other topping
Cream the butter and sugar together until well blended, add the cheese, and cream until mixture is fluffy. Blend in flour and honey, then the egg yolks. Beat well. Add cream and extract, then lightly fold in the egg whites. Fold in the almonds with a few strokes. Pour into a well-buttered nine-inch spring-form pan, set on a low rack in a preheated 325 degree oven and bake one hour. Turn off heat and allow to cool in the oven with the door closed for one hour. Remove from pan and chill. Add topping of your choice. The most common topping is, of course, a fruit in a glaze, or preserves, but for a special feast, a good effect can be obtained by setting a circle of small marzipan fruits around the edge of the cheesecake and filling the center with a thick bright-colored preserve or jam. Note: I've used strawberries and mint leaves for a really nice decoration in the summer. Garnishing the cheesecake with apple slices, currants and walnut halves makes for an elegant autumn presentation.

Cookies

Welsh Fair Cookies
This recipe is not really period either being that it's a couple of hundred years out of period. At least according to the earliest documentation that Deborah Krasner could find on it. It is a nice shortbread. You can tinker with the flavoring a bit by the choice of specialty microbrew one uses in the recipe.  My favorite specialty beers are ones derived with nuts or fruits.  This recipe is from a book on my shelves called "From Celtic Hearths, Baked Goods from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales" by Deborah Krasner from Viking Studio Books. It makes a nice breakfast cookie with hot chocolate, cider, or coffee and is perfect with tea anytime.
1/2 Pound Unsalted Butter
3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar, plus more for dredging
3 Tablespoons Dark Beer, Ale, or Stout
 1 ½ Cups Self Rising Flour
½ Cup Currants
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender, then add the sugar and the currants. Slowly add enough beer to make a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured board and roll to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut into 2 inch rounds with a glass or cookie cutter and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until edges start to brown and the aroma fills the kitchen. Cool on wire racks and dust with powdered sugar. Makes approximately 20 cookies.
 



BEVERAGES

Alcoholic

Other

Sekanjabin
This one was discussed on an email list I was on a few years ago. I made a couple of batches then my lord husband took over.  It keeps very well and needs no refrigeration, even in house without air conditioning and summer temperatures went to over 100 degrees. It is an excellent drink, hot or cold. A great one for camping, especially in hot weather. It would be a great one for experimenting with different sweeteners, herbs, and vinegars.  It is good mixed in hot or iced tea and some white wines.
2 1/2 cups Water
4 cups Sugar 		1 cup Wine Vinegar
Sprigs of Fresh Mint or 6 bags of Mint Tea
Combine water with sugar in a saucepan, bring to boil while stirring to dissolve sugar. Add vinegar, lower heat and let cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and add fresh sprigs mint or several tablespoons dried mint (Not Mint Flakes!) let cool, strain then bottle the syrup.

To Dilute with cold water: Mix 1 part syrup to 12 parts water or to suit your taste.  Some people prefer 10:1.  Personally I like 15:1. 

If you can't find fresh mint a good substitution is 6 bags of Celestial Seasonings Mint Tea (my fave is their Peppermint) or Bostons Mint Tea.  I have made this with fresh peppermint and fresh spearmint.  Both are good. 

Don't wash the bottles with soap, just use very hot water. You can boil them like a canning jar just take the hardware off first. Soap leaves a nasty after taste no matter how many times you rinse.
This page and all other pages found herein on this site were designed by the Lady Alys de Trois Rivieres herself.
As such they are maintained and updated by her as time allows.  Her hand last touched this page on November 17, 2006.