Test feast

[msmemory_archive]

Test feast went well. Everything was edible -- though we identified a few tweaks to make. No psychodrama either, yay. I don't think learnedax really meant to have let himself get drafted into a full kitchen afternoon, but it was great to have his help.

Spot feedback:
Preset -- garlic needs to be kept more moist. Bake covered, probably, and likely more olive oil.

First course -- change the herbs on the carrots. Thyme and tarragon were not quite it. Oregano perhaps.
Chicken worked excellently well.
Ember day tart had too much onion, not unusual. I would put more egg/cheese and less onion, but tpau is in charge of those and I'll defer to her opinion.
Cook the frumenty just a tad longer, another 5-10 mins.

Second course -- the lamb was unevenly cooked, perhaps because I had to buy a shank roast with bone, instead of boneless, for the test feast. The people who like rare were happy, the people who like well done thought there should have been more well-done bits. Everybody liked the garlic-rosemary crust.
Mushroom tarts were just fine.
Sauces -- it would be hard to make too much garlic sauce. Eliminate the apple sauce, it's dull and modern.
Pea soup worked for those who like pea soup. Of course it would be better with a nice chunk of bacon, but we're trying for vegetarian.

Watch the timing. Because we were at home, with just one table, we got sloppy about the flow between courses.

Comments

[rising-moon.livejournal.com]

Mm, saffron! I look forward to tasting the sauce with that addition.

Also, I forgot to add that the frumenty was a good base note. It went well in combination with the "live" dishes, those that had more zing. (Though I did have to ask my Lady what frumenty is. Sounds like it ought to be a compote, don't you think? At any rate it was quite nice.)

Frumenty

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

The original, in Curye on Inglysch, calls for cracked wheat, but I have seen it done with various grains. Sunday's was barley.

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

Actually, I did put saffron in the garlic sauce, but only a modest amount. It's really only there for color, since you'd have to put in quite a lot to be noticable past the garlic.