Was It A Good Weekend?

Is what everyone keeps asking me.....and on reflection.....yes I think it was.

Saturday went really well and Sunday was really busy too, if a little hot and humid.....although we did have a slight problem with somebody altering the space time continuum!! Robin, Jorge, Marc H and I had been talking for Britain for what seemed like hours....the cookery was going O.K. but I was sure that we were getting to the stage when it wouldn't be worthwhile starting a new dish as we'd have to stop using the burners soon to give them a chance to cool down so that we could put them away......just had to check the time to confirm it then work out what to do for the hour or so that was left in the day............or so I thought! A check of the time found out that it was in fact only just coming up to 1.00 and there was still 5 working hours left....I can tell you that came as quite a shock to us all, but did mean plenty of time to carry on talking and cooking for the crowds of people to see.

What did we cook? Well Marc tried the second variant of the pynade that he'd done the day before.....without the chicken in it. I'd like to say it was a terrific success but I think he'd agree with me that it didn't turn out too well....a touch overcooked and somewhat sticky (it took 2 of them to pull it off of the pewter bowl it had cooled in) but you could certainly see the potential in it (it's certainly not a dish for those of us with dodgy dental work....crowns and fillings watch out!)
Strawberye, applade ryalle and cawdelle ferry also made it into bowls for the public to see, but not I'm afraid all you lovely people as I failed to take any pictures on Sunday at all.....and you've seen the only good ones from Saturday. Even though it was hot and humid the light for most of Sunday was appalling in the kitchens and I couldn't get any decent pictures....maybe next time eh? The strawberye and applade ryalle were really pretty good and as we hardly touched them they went into the freezer ready to make an appearance on the Saturday dinner of the Bank Holiday weekend towards the end of the month....the cawdelle wasn't bad either (but won't stand freezing) taking Harold McGee's advice in his book 'On Cooking' we tried to get an end result like a zabaglione.....not easy with no whisk and direct heat, but it was still much better than the curdled egg gloop we've had with past attempts at caudles.

That's all for the moment as there's a huge storm brewing and it's time to disconnect the PC from the mains....can't have it getting popped by a power surge. I'll be posting more pictures from July as the week goes on, so stay tuned for the next moderately interesting episode.

Two For The Price Of One.

Yes you lucky people....nothing for ages the 2 in one day!
Cooking today was nice and relaxed, lots of great people to talk to (as well as the camera crew) who were interested and kept popping back through the day to see how we got on.
Did we make a lot? No not really...Robin and Jorge made the chicken dish they tried last time, Marc H made the chicken and honey dish Pynade and I made...

¶Longe Fretoure.
¶Take Milke, an make fayre croddes þer-of, in þe maner of a chese al tendyr; þan take owt þe whey as clene as þou may, & putte it on a bolle; þan take olkys of Eyroun & Ale, & menge floure, & cast þer-to, a gode quantyte, & draw it þorw a straynoure in-to a fayre vesselle; þan take a panne with fayre grece, & hete it on þe fyre, but lat it nowt boyle, & þan ley þin creme a-brode; þan take a knyff, & kytte a quantyte þer-of fro þe borde in-to þe panne, & efte a-noþer, & let it frye; & whan it is brownne, take it vppe in-to a fayre dyssche, and caste Sugre y-now þer-on, & serue forth.

Just for a try I made 2 batches one with the curds and one with the whey, mostly because it looke slightly ambiguous as to wether you added the flour and egg to the curd or whey.....passing the recipe around for people to read it was almost 50:50 as to which people thought we should use so it seemed worth and experiment.
This is the final results with the whey variety on the left and the curd on the right

As it turned out the whey ones tasted much nicer....not that there was anything wrong with the curd ones, but the slighly acid/cheesy edge to them just seemed to jar with our tastebuds.
Marcs dish that he made..

¶Pynade.
¶Take Hony & gode pouder Gyngere, & Galyngale, & Canelle, Pouder pepir, & graynys of parys, & boyle y-fere; þan take kyrnelys of Pynotys & caste þer-to; & take chyconys y-soþe, & hew hem in grece, & caste þer-to, & lat seþe y-fere; & þen lat droppe þer-of on a knyf; & if it cleuyth & wexyth hard, it ys y-now; & þen putte it on a chargere tyl it be cold, & mace lechys, & serue with oþer metys; & if þou wolt make it in spycery, þen putte non chykonys þer-to.

turned out well and I'm off to go and try some now.......if they've left any in the bowl.

Episode 6: The Germans...

I wasn't looking forward to today....another film crew in with us....from Germany again (they seem to be like busses, nothing for ages then an article in Die Ziet and they're swarming like flies....to mix my metaphores!)
The signs weren't good.....messages on the phone that if they were written would probably look like....'hellothisisUlitheGermantelevisioniamlookingforwardtoseeingyouthisweekendandneedtotalk'
well you get the idea, so amidst much Fawlty Towers style humor we awaited the onslaught and tried to work out how we would get through the day. The last film crew were a little 'full on' and we were braced for the worst.

Imagine though the best crew in the world....ever! Keen to listen, learn and not get in the way.

It was a refreshing change to watch an interviewer talk to one of the guys, genuinely listen to the answer then use that information to pose questions to the public watching us in the kitchen.......my apologies for ever doubting them and come back soon guys, you were a pleasure to work with.

....And Where Have You Been????

What started as a delay due to major technical upheaval and software updates, turned into a delay due to family things, then work stuff, then a huge case of malaise to be capped off yesterday with the crappy news that our friend John has finally lost his battle with cancer.......I'm sure that we'll be toasting his memory this weekend and he will be sorely missed....a great bloke and a great craftsman to boot.....I'm sure I speak for the whole team when I say that our thoughts are with those he has left behind.

Thanks to those who have stayed with the blog over the recent lack of postings, it's much appreciated....and Helen, it was good to hear you had some joy with the chicken.....pictures of our efforts are now over at Flickr for you to peruse and we shall be doing it again this weekend, only this time we'll actually finish the dish!

¶Capons stewed.
¶Take percelly Isope sage Rosemary And tyme breke hit betwene thy hands and stoppe thy capons ther with and color them with saferon And put them yn A erthyn pot or els in brasse for erth is better. And lay splentys underneth and all a boute the sydes so that the capons tuche not the sydes nother the bottom and cast of the same herbys in to þe pot A mong the capons And put a quart or A pynte of the best wyne that thow cansye gette and no other licour And set A lydde ther A pon that wyll ly with yn the brym. And make batur of white of eggys & floure And put betwene the brym A paper lefe or els lyncloth that the batur may stop hit sowrely þat no eyre com owte loke þat hit be thyke of bature And set thy pot on A charecole fyre to the myd syde & se þat the lydde ryse not with the hette and let hit stew esely and long and whan þow supposyth hit is enowgh take hit fro the fyre yf hit be A pot of erth set hit upon a wyspe of ftraw that hit toche not the cold grownde And when the hete is well drawn and over past take of the lydde And take owte thy capons with a stycke And ley them in A noþer vessell and make A syrryp of Wyne And mynct datys and Cannell drawn with the same wyne do ther to rasyns of corance sugur safferon And salt boyle hit A litill And cast yn powder of gynger with a litell of the same wyne do the sew to the syrryppe a bove upon the capons And serue hem furth with A rybbe of beffe ever more a capon on a dysche.

We stopped short and didn't make the sauce to pour over the bird, but to be honest we were more interested in how much the herbs had flavoured the chicken.
This weekends variation will be to cook the recipe twice....once ommitting the herbs inside the carcass just to see how much they add to the flavour.
If you're tempted to try it yourselves I can thouroughly recccomend it as it adds a very subtle herb flavour to the flesh....just like you'd expect from sage and onion stuffing but rarely get....It would be ideal for summer sandwiches or a salad.

I'm not sure how much the saffron affected the final results

but it certainly looked impressive....erzatz corn fed poutry! As did the pot when the head of steam built up enough to blow off some of the luting....

Shame I was round the corner when she popped, but Robin had repaired it all by the time I got back.
As for the rest of the pictures.....pop over to the Flickr site to have a look....the link is in the right hand column.

This weekend sees more of the same, so I should be able to fill in the gaps image wise from last time........I'll be posting the rest of the last weekends pictures next week, followed by anything we get from the next few days.

The biggest news from the Palace of late is that the Base Court re-surfacing project has now begun and by Easter 2009 the grass that we are all used to seeing in the first courtyard will have been replaced with a cobbled surface more like the original would have been in Henrys day......fingers crossed I'll be able to get some pictures of the progress for you to see.

More posting as the weekend unfolds.......scouts honour ;-)

TTFN

Ooo Look It's David Bailey!

At last I've broken the run of weekends with no pictures.....just over 300 taken today alone! Admittedly there are a lot of repeats and duffers in there, but you'll all have plenty to look at as soon as I can sort them all out.

It was an odd day today, what started off before opening as a truly lousy day turned out to be one of the best we've had for a long time.
Barry and Barry.....along with Edmund our sometime standby man...were talking about weights and measures as well as maths with a counting board....what a success. We've had surveyors and maths teachers all day treating their visit like a bus mans holiday, as well as kids learning to do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division all with the counting tables....all with glee......and on the weekend.....without any coercion needed!!

Robert spent the day recording temperatures and the like for a piece of beef that was roasted.......this time he reckons we have 7 hours of data to work with....hooray.

The middle kitchen had Marc H working on the malmenye furne recipe again, which he thinks he's cracked (more about that in another post).....whilst Robin spent the day 'teaching' Jorge to cook. They worked through tartus of ffless and capon stwed to great success.......all of which you will hopefully see and appreciate when I post the pictures early next week. Until then here's this one of Robin explaining how he wants the meat cut up to a very attentive Jorge.

Robin's now cutting out the cloth for a new set of hose now, so I'm off to watch and help.....for a price of course!

TTFN

No Sleep Til Bedtime!

Well we're back from our jolly jaunt, but I've not had time to sort out the pictures yet, so you'll get them with all the images from this weekends work.

Was it a good trip? Yes, I think so......nice to see how other sites work, both their strengths and weaknesses and how they work all these to their advantage to come up with some interesting education sessions. Thanks especially to the staff at Gainsborough Old Hall for letting us shadow their session.....something I know is not easy as it really makes you feel under pressure.

This weekend should be good to go so to speak, not a lot to say at the moment as I'm trying to sort out 4 things at once before I can leave tomorrow, so you'll just have to tune in over the next couple of days to see how things are going.

TTFN

5 Go Mad In Lincolnshire

Hmm, not quite the smooth day we were anticipating I must admit.
First off, the site we were supposed to be visiting today contacted the education officer on Friday to politely point out that they were shut on Mondays! So a swift change of plans and we were off to Burghley house, home in the sixteenth century to the Cecil family......or not as it turned out!?!

The car hire company that was supposed to be delivering a vehicle to the Palace for us turned out not to be doing that.....'before 1.00 p.m. No, you must be mistaken.'!?!?!? So a swift phone round to local rental dealers and a Volkswagen Passat was obtained....if only Robin and I could find where abouts in Kingston the company was...so after 4 or 5 trips around the one way system I threw him out at the rental company and drove back to the the office to await his return and the journey North!

Not a bad trip it turned out and a pretty successful afternoon looking around the site and working out how we would do education sessions there... All in all a really good learning experience that was fully discussed over a nice cup of tea.....then a pint and dinner in Lincoln.

Tomorrow we are off to a coupple more sites....Gainsborough Old Hall and the Collection at Lincoln museum before we travel back. Becky, the education officer has a full day of work planed for us so it's off to bed now to get ready for the full day that awaits us...

Road Trip!

I suppose it's not directly related to the kitchens, but for the next couple of days those of us that also work for the education department with children's sessions and adult learners will be on a road trip with the education department going to look at other sites education sessions and how they deal with kitchens, children and object handling sessions.

The idea is to 'pep' up our sessions and see if we can learn from how other people run their sites....in theory I'll post some pictures afterwards as well as some prose and that should help to fill in the time between now and next weekends cookery.

Silence Is Golden?

No, actually as far as you are all concerned.....silence is boring.......sorry!
Those of you that know me will appreciate that I don't do small talk and to be honest over the last week or so I've not had much to say work wise.

I'm currently up to my ears in research (No Mr H, that doesn't mean photocopying!) looking into the names of the staff 'below stairs' so to speak during Henry's reign as well as looking at some very interesting price lists of food stuffs from the period. I can't say that it's going to be stunningly ground breaking work, but I do believe that it will fundamentally alter how we look at the work that was done in the kitchens 500 years ago and will in turn alter how we interpret them in the future. Fingers crossed I'll be able to see how people move through the ranks, if at all and how long they serve for at their jobs....it also should help with the work that we're doing on trying to tighten up finding out the numbers that the kitchens catered for a little more than 'between 600 and 100 twice a day!'
It also means loads of trips to the British library and the Public Records Office will be on the cards in the future.....I just have to learn not to get too sidetracked with other less relevant but just as interesting documents and lists!

This next weekends cookery has now been sorted out (I think.....just a couple of chats to have with the guys to confirm a couple of points then it'll all be ready to go).....the aim, as well as some data recording for roasting meat, is to run through a few recipes step by step and get some good photographic records of the techniques used so that we can illustrate some recipes extremely well.....the aim being to expand the number of recipes that we can use in lectures and talks etc.....the by product being that you all get to see some more images....something that I'm all to aware that there has been a dearth of recently.

If You Hadn't Noticed.....

I've actually put pictures from last weekends cookery up on the Flickr site.....not many I admit, but at least they are there!
This one of the new and improved astronomical clock and gateway

Is a very rough and ready cobbling together of 2 pictures, but it does give you the idea of how good the brickwork looks after the restoration work.

All in all the weekend went well I think. It was a nice surprise to see how the public took to the cleaning and writing aspects of the weekend......as you can see here

Jorge was rarely left to his own devices with both him and Robert spending their weekend explaining how writing and accounts are at the heart of the kitchen, both then and now.....explaining the science behind ink, letting people try their hand at writing, talking about administrating a large kitchen and the like.

Carter and Pick were also kept busy showing that in the past people weren't left wanting when it came to cleaning methods that could be used in the kitchen.....admittedly the older methods were a little more abrasive and needed a little more effort, but generally speaking people were more impressed with the 'old school' cleaning than they were with the results of the modern product.....suffice to say I can't see many multinational manufacturers beating a path to our door with offers of sponsorship based on the results of the last weekend.
The lye that I made on Saturday added to Pick and Carters repertoire on Sunday, leading to some very clean table tops and chopping boards.....I also spent the day on Sunday playing at making some rough and ready soap to add to their armoury.

O.K. so it wasn't perfect, but it was pH neutral.........if your skin is naturally pH 13!! (bring on the Nivea again) It did work though with test grease spots removed and a slight lather achieved, the main problem was in not having an alkali that was dense enough.....something to work on in the future I think.