How do I dress up and execute a medieval theme meal?!
How do I dress up and execute a medieval theme meal?
My employer is hosting a medieval theme meal and we are going to enter a contest with it. He wants to me look up music, decorations, costumes, and entertainment but I am having a hard time getting all this. We also have a small budget so if anyone has any ideas or previous experience, please help.
Answers:
This is a perfect time because Halloween costumes are out- even if you get cheap ones like at Kmart,Walmart or such. My daughter needs a similar costume for spring and I got her a small adult dress for 20.00. I've also seen knights costumes or you could make the easy over your head vest things they wore by cutting a hole in a large piece of fabric and using acrylics in the hobby/craft store-ask the gals there they will help. You could also make banners the same way or if your not the artsy type you could glue printed picts of griffins,dragons,swords etc onto a larger piece of poster board- so you have 4-8 pictures per board and hang them arpound like coats of arms. There are also swords out for halloween for a couple bucks each--- hazah!The food is easy as it was eaten mostly with your hand, bread, turkey legs or cornish game hens or chicken- even get the pre-roasted in the grocery stores- they are only 5.00 and quite good- maybe even some of the ribs. Also corn half pieces to chew on and mugs of drinks whether soda or "ale".Have fun!
How do you execute a medieval meal? With a guillotine, LOL! Sorry, couldn't resist!
You could play music from Phantom of the Opera. Everything from that time period was dark. Wear a dark purple or black dress. Lots of makeup and a fake mole (draw it with an eye pencil) on your face by your mouth or high on your cheekbone.
They played a lot of music and danced a lot. They also had story tellers if you could get someone to get up and tell a story--any kind.. A black tablecloth would work and big turkey legs to eat. Maybe you could get a couple of guys to stage a sword
fight. Make one out of a stick covered with aluminum foil unless you want to be classier. Classy is going to cost money, but you can think of things like that to make and do without purchasing much.
I don't know about dressing but here's a bunch of food ideas:
Hors d'Ouvres
Pandemayn and Butter - freshly baked white bread with bowls of whipped butter, presented on a cutting board for guests to serve themselves.
Sugared Almonds - this recipe is found HERE.
Cucumber Hearts - large cucumbers were peeled, then sliced into thin rounds. Each slice was cut into a heart-shape using a cookie cutter. A dab of creme fraische was placed in the center of each.
Honey-Mustard Eggs - hard-boiled eggs, cut in half, with the yolks removed. The yolks were blended with honey & French mustard and then were decoratively piped back into the hollow of the egg halves.
Puff Pastry Cheese Straws - puff pastry was blended with freshly grated Romano & Parmesan cheeses, then rolled out & cut into long strips. Each strip was twisted cork-screw fashion, then baked.
Scones and Spiced Jelly - a traditional recipe for scones was used, and were served with bowls of various spiced jellies.
Second Course
Chilled Fruit Soup - this recipe is found HERE.
Sallet - this recipe is found HERE.
Pickled Carrots and Pears - this recipe is found HERE.
Rys of Mousserounes - this was a simple dish of rice cooked in broth, along with sliced sautéed mushrooms, and colored a golden yellow with with Turmeric.
Egurduce (Sweet & Sour Chicken) - this recipe is found HERE, substituting chicken for rabbit.
Cherry Hearts - small, heart-shaped tarts, filled with cherry sauce. The top of the tarts had a small, heart-shaped opening in the center which revealed the red cherry sauce within.
Subtleties
Rolled Pizzelles - As soon as the pizzelles were removed from the iron, they were rolled around the handle of a wooden spoon to create a hollow tube, then were allowed to cool & harden in that position. Just before serving they were stuffed with whipped cream.
Fresh Fruits - strawberries, grapes, etc.
Chocolate Hearts - large heart-shaped cookies made with extra rich baker's cocoa.
Croquembouche - the traditional French dessert; small cream puffs filled with lemon cream were arranged into a tall cone-shape and then glazed with caramel. The final product was decorated with cherubs made of sugar paste.
Mock Swan - a swan was crafted out of an oval-shaped loaf of bread and a S-shaped loaf of bread; the oval shape had the top cut off and the inside was hollowed out. The S-shape was was cut, fitted, & positioned against the oval to be the long neck and head. The top part of the oval loaf was cut lengthwise to make wings. The body was filled with strawberries in a sugar sauce and the wings were placed on top so that it appeared that the swan had its wings open. A beak was made from a quartered-lemon peel and held in place on the "head" with large cloves. The entire bird was decorated with "feathers" made by piping on white icing in decorative patterns & swirls.
Chocolates and Sugar Paste - various romantic shapes, such as cherubs, hearts, flowers, etc., were made out of chocolate and sugar paste and were used liberally to decorate the tables.
Foods To Never Use List
Allspice - a New World food item, also called Jamaican Pepper.
Artichokes
Bananas - known about, but still a foreign fruit and considered exotic. Their short shelf-life prohibited easy transportation to Europe. Sir John Mandeville (14th c.) writes of them in his Travels and refers to them as "long apples" & "apples of paradise."
Broccoli - although a variety of broccoli was known by the Romans, it was not introduced into France until the 1500's and not into England until the 1720's, making it a rather unknown vegetable during medieval times.
Chili Peppers
Chocolate - New World.
Cocoa - New World.
Coffee - did not reach Europe until after the Middle Ages, but was common in Arabia by the medieval period.
Cranberries
Green Beans
Green Peppers
Iceberg Lettuce
Indian Corn -our modern corn, the large cobs with yellow, white, or brown kernels.
Kiwi
Margarine - an invention of the modern food-chemistry industry.
Peanuts
Pineapple
Potatoes - despite their association with Ireland, potatoes originally came from South America.
Red Peppers
Rhubarb - like the banana, possibly known about but never used.
Shortening - an invention of the modern food-chemistry industry.
Tea - did not reach Europe until after the Middle Ages.
Turkey - Turkey is a New World food that reached Asia Minor only after 1500 and did not come into general use in Europe until the mid 16th century. (Turkey is documented as being in London markets by the 1540's.) They are perfectly period for Tudor or Elizabethan feasts, but not for either the Middle Ages or most of the Renaissance. (The debate on when the Renaissance ended is still on going, but many historians agree that it was over in most of Europe by the early to mid 1500's.) Many medieval themed restaurants and Renaissance Fairs should be sternly admonished for serving turkey (and potatoes) as authentic food! The only instance in which turkey should be considered for a modern medieval dinner is as a replacement for peacock or swan, two large birds not readily available for the kitchen today and whose meat is not nearly as tender & moist as turkey.
There is also evidence to show that before 1540-50, the bird Europeans often called "turkey" was actually the West African Guinea Fowl; Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary says of the name turkey:
"confusion with the guinea fowl, supposed to be imported from Turkish territory (1555)"
One theory claims that Europeans took to the North American turkey faster than they did to other New World foods (such as the tomato) because of its resemblance, in both physical form and in its name, to the Guinea Fowl, frequently referred to as a "turkey."
Tomatoes - a member of the Nightshade family, it was considered inedible or poisonous.
Vanilla Bean
Yams - New World.
Yellow Peppers
this website has some great ideas: http://www.themepartiesnmore.bigstep.com...
Medieval Foodstuffs :
Instead of using Champagne for your event, use Mead instead. This Honey wine is believed to have been drunken by the newlyweds for one month after their wedding to assure them of a male heir within one year. Hence the word Honeymoon.
Roast and boiled meat, poultry, fish, pottages, frumenty, cheese and bread. Fruit and vegetables (no potatoes or corn) were eaten but many believed the Boke of Kervynge, "beware of grene sallettes & raw fruytes for they wyll make your soverayne seke". Other favorites were goose, capon, mutton, pigeon pies, tongue pie, sausages, and veal, but I would not recommend serving these things as your guests might have a problem with them.
Remember they didn't really use forks back then so if you're going in that direction make sure you get some wet-naps or wipes for your guests
I'm part of a Midieval recreation group, and have helped out with quite a few feasts. I recommend going to this link http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/... they have recipies, costume patterns, and research on almost anything midieval related.