The Adventures of Goldilocks and Her Bears

Yay!! I can do an in depth brain dump with you if you'd like, but here's the cliff notes. Ppl eat less than you'd hope. Most of them have already had dinner, and will just nibble. Finger foods rule. I'll check my cookbooks for anything interesting. Any particular country/area? You can borrow my Italian stuff if you'd like.
Water, cyser, beer, wine, hypocras for drinks. If its cold ill see if I can find a hot drink recipe

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trystbat.livejournal.com

Hey,

sarahbellem & I will eat all the foods! Best part of going to vigils, imo.

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kiria-dk.livejournal.com

Were they still doing caudell in the 16th century?

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Ja sure, you becha! People were still drinking caudles and almond milk, but the written recipies get weirder and more complex, as almonds and sugar were more avaliable.
There's a buttered beer recipe in John Partridge (1594) that's pretty good if you like beer.
Wine thickened with eggs or beer thickened with oatmeal, see Dawson's Good Housewife's Jewel (1596)
There's a late recipe for ale-based Almond caudle in A book of Fruits and Flowers (1653)

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I made buttered beer, it was awesome. Super calorie bomb, though

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I was thinking nibbles were the way to go. Bonus: if folks contribute just a bit of this or that, the spread will change throughout the evening.

Elena is English, so leaning that way. She is widely traveled, so who knows what recipes her cooks have learnt in far off places?

I would love to borrow your Italian stuff, please.

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Yes and no. It was evolving into syllabubs and punches by now. It's a possibility if Johanna wants a version.

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I'd like to keep beverages simple. My experience says that little of the period nonalcoholic drink gets consumed. Save water, of course. I will check with Elena to see what she prefers.

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I love shellbread, they are like modern madelines. Here's a recipe: http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec159.html There's a good redaction in Lowin's _Dining with William Shakespear_.

If you are willing to buy rather than make things, I recommend Trader Joe's cinnamon coated almonds, the wafers in the yellow boxes, and the little square fruit jellies. Put these with some bright colored fruit and you are 1/2 way to a Tudor Banquette. If you have some tiny cookie cutters, you can also cut fruit leather in shapes, which has a lot of visual appeal.

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Awesome! Fast and easy has great appeal.

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other late period sources - Scappi (for Italian), Digby - home of the savory toasted cheese, which would be great - you could borrow my little butane stove for this, or use a candle powered fondue pot. Crystal already mentioned Dawson, Markham. And then there's the French. :)

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And Elanor Fettiplace, who has several recipes for little snacky sugar bombs. Her Spanish Marmelade is great....I use the version in Spurling's book. I'll dig it up and send it along.
Sir Hugh Platt's _Delights for Ladies_ has a bunch of banquetting stuffs as well, candied flower petals and the like.

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I love Sir Hugh Platt's recipes.

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The title intrigues me!

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dakini-bones.livejournal.com

Maybe more fruit and veg things? Can that be period?
I don't know, I'm just thinking diet-y, ya know?

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Definitely on the list! Fruit, nuts, etc. I like the no-cook stuff.

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For both English and Italian banquets there's plenty of documentation for fruits, and a little for exotic veggies like artichokes. Pickles might be an option, I'll check...nope. Looks like Markham does not mention them*, but I'll look for other sources.

*Markham’s Banquets
Page 121/section 190
Ordering of banquets
Thus having showed you how to preserve, conserve, candy, and make pastes of all kinds, in which four heads consists the whole art of banqueting dishes, I will now proceed to the ordering or setting forth of a banquet; wherein you shall observe that the marchpanes have the first place, the middle place, and the last place; your preserved fruits shall be dished up first, your pastes next, your wet suckets after them, then your dried suckets, then your marmalades and goodinyakes, then your comfits of all kinds; next, your pears, apples, wardens baked raw or roasted, and your oranges and lemons sliced; and lastly your wafer cakes. Thus you shall order the in the closet; but when they go to the table, you shall first send forth a dish made for show only, as beast, bird, fish, or fowl, according to invention: then your marchpane, then preserved fruit, then a paste then a wet sucket, then a dry sucket, marmalade, comfits, apples, pears, wardens, oranges, lemons sliced; and then wafers, and another dish of preserved fruits, and so consequently all the rest before; no two dishes of one kind going or standing together, and then will not only appear delicate to the eye, but invite the appetite with the much variety thereof.

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hey, you'll need lots of lighting. you can use battery tealights or regular tealights with these. and if you don't want to buy, I think the pattern would be pretty simple to make some.

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I'm not seeing your link.

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