Medieval Feast

I am so embarrassed that I have never posted on this blog any info or pictures of our Medieval Party!  Since we’ve owned the house Will and I have been hosting the Medieval Party in various forms.  Usually the party is focused around a multi course feast lasting well into the night that includes tournaments of some kind beforehand and a costume contest.  This year we held an abridged version of the party with a much smaller invite list and just feasting – I didn’t feel up to hosting the full blown edition.

Tournaments and Activities

In the past we’ve held different “tournaments” where participants win “valuable” prizes (like honey, incense or tarot cards).  Here are some of the tournaments and activities we’ve held:

Tarot trick taking tournament/love letter tournament

Archery Contest

Nerf Sword Fighting

Costume Contest

We’ve seen some awesome costumes over the years…  Here are just a few…

Mead Tasting

We purchased several varieties of mead, fitted them with 1 oz pour spouts and provided tiny cups (with bees on them!).

Dining Atmosphere

We usually dine in our outdoor porch, or as we like to call it our Great Hall, with the exception of one year where it was far too cold.  We hang felt banners that I made with house from assorted real and fantasy heritages.  The tables are simply decorated with mead bottles serving as candle holders.

At the feast I cover the tables in cloths and provide guests with spoons, mugs and chalices.  I also scatter some shared knives around the table.  Guests are instructed that it is polite to wipe their hands on the table cloths and use their hands to eat.  Instead of plates I provide small trenchers (I find that ciabatta bread works perfectly as a trencher since it doesn’t leak much – though its not really authentic).  In the middle ages the trenchers would be given as alms to the poor after the meal, but my guests usually choose to eat them.

Feast Food

The feast menu varies slightly every year – but there are some staple dishes like pork pies, chicken legs and beef stew.  If I have any vegetarians attending I’ll make spinach pie as well.  While the menu is semi-authentic, semi-fantasy I try to keep the vegetables and meats authentic to the time period – so I try to avoid using potatoes or tomatoes or anything from the New World.

Appetizers (usually served during the tournaments):

Homemade pickles  – I use this recipe and omit the sugar

olives & hummus (store-bought)

Main Feast

Beef stew

Pork Pies  –  I use this recipe for pork pie, but I always use chopped up raspberries instead of currants (because I can never find currants).  This year I mashed the raspberries instead of chopping them and people declared it was the best version yet.  This is my go-to dough recipe for all my pies.

Chicken legs – I use this recipe but instead of turkey legs (which are from the New World) I use 20 chicken legs.

Lemon salat – this is literally just very thinly sliced lemons served with sugar in the raw for dipping.  It is a crowd favorite as it tastes like sour patch kids.

Root salat – Great because it can be made the morning of, chilled and served cold.

Cabbage Chowder (from The Medieval Cookbook)

Dessert

Shrewsbery cakes

Medieval Gingerbread

Cream Custard Tart (from The Medieval Cookbook)