This is an update of Encampment Notes #3 (1998) and #5 (1999); Copyright Alistair Ramsden, Brisbane, Australia 2000; May be copied freely by members of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
In This Issue
· More Camp Site Organisation
· The Feast
· Persona Issues
Unto the Household of Saint Sebastian,
And indeed all good and gentlemen and ladies; from Lord Stefano, of the Shire of St Florian de la Riviére, of the Principality of Lochac, of the Kingdom of the West, sometime head of the Shire Cooks' Guild; Greetings and Salutations!
Hi, guys. This was originally a missive to all my NZ buddies telling them what I was doing at Rowany 1998, then an overview of how the St Sebastian Campsite was supposed to function at Rowany 1999. It is still what I hope we all ought to expect, both formally and informally, but I have specifically lengthened and codified the organisation of your day at work in the kitchen, being one of three people expected to cook and clean for a group of twenty or more. This somewhat daunting task I have tried to make easier to achieve for newcomers.
More Camp Site Organisation
Overview
Our household (The Company of St Sebastian), whilst in hard times financially (as always), will still be travelling to Rowany (even if it kills us). We are looking at having a campsite of about twenty-four people, those people being Constanzia, Gabriel, Stefano, Lilith, Elaine, Dietrich, Nathaniel, Andreas, Richenza, Dominic, Imogen, Lazarus, Lewellyn, plus a number of Southern Reachers from Caid, (Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, NZ) respectively Inigo, Matthew and Briar-Jane, Theresa, and Vincente, Ulf, Alys, Olaf and Hiordis.
This year we will have more period tents (despite the ones that succumbed to mildew - remember to dry your tents thoroughly before final storage) and a larger campsite and cooksite. This is your menu and chores roster; do not lose it. Everyone will get a copy, and be responsible that they keep to that roster. (So do, please. I don't like being the bogey man.) And since we are making more tents and are going to camp in the so-called period campsite area, I hope we will all be, and I mean on our honour, trying to keep both the campsite and our activities whilst there as period as possible.
Pre-Event Organisation
Apart from clothing, armour and weapons, tentage, alcohol and transport to and from site (which I'm not covering here), we each need to bring our own cutlery, as well as basic communal items like carpets, blankets, cushions, chairs, wall hangings, etc.
We will pack the truck Sunday, and travel Monday and Tuesday to unpack the tents Tuesday night, get a pub meal and get some kip. Wednesday will be set-up day. Early Wednesday morning e.g. about 4.00am we will be sending a car or two into Flemington Markets to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables, and also to scout Warragamba for it's butchery, bakery and (alas) convenience store to place orders for the rest of the week. Food should arrive back by noon, when the kitchen can be unpacked (eureka! - therefore put it in the truck almost first). Food will cost $10 per person per night from Thursday to Thursday. I have also brewing a moderate quantity of beer for our consumption.
Equipment List (P & O)
This is based on a list of equipment we drew up last year as what we needed as a group to go to Rowany. What we need to do now is to be able as a group to provide, hire or purchase all of these items.
Name Notes
Axe We have some
Broom We have some
Candelabra or lanterns Some owned, some gratis hire from the Shire
Carpets & rugs We have some
Chairs We have some
Cushions We have some
Cutting boards We have some
Dry goods containers - glass We have some
Dry goods containers - pottery We have some; need large corks or stoppers
Eating plates & bowls - glass We have a glass service for ten, and wooden
trenchers for twelve
Eating utensils Provide own
Eskies (chilly bins) We have a large one and several smaller ones
Esky covers - none required; the scullery will be non-period
Gas ring Hired
Glasses We have some
Cookingware We have two tripods, a crossbeam, plenty of chain and hooks, two
gridirons, two grillplates, sundry pots and pans, and a large copper pot
Jugs We have plenty
Kitchen knives & utensils We have enough
Hammers and other tools We have enough
Mixing and serving bowls We have some
Mundane cleaning goods Purchase with shopping - methlyated spirit, kerosene,
dishwashing liquid, insect repellant, washing powder, etcetera
Pick
Platters and serving trays Some owned, some gratis from the Shire
Shovel We have some
Spice containers We have some
Table curtains We have some
Tablecloths / napkins
Tables Hired
Tea towels / hand towels We have plenty
Wall hangings We have some
Water bottles Covers for plastic bottles being made
Wooden buckets We have a half dozen or so, need more
Wooden spoons We have some
¨ Where it says "we have" means "I'm pretty sure someone
is household has some".
¨ We will not be taking shower facilities; the camp facilities ought to
be sufficient.
During Event Organisation
First off, nothing here is fixed in stone. If you don't like what you read here, please suggest an alternative.
The work roster. (Frightening musical interlude.) The plan is that we roster each person to one day's chores so that everyone else doesn't have to worry about cooking and cleaning and can go out and enjoy themselves. This means on seven days out of eight you have no camp chores! This is much the same labour principle as in a tavern I ran in AS XXX which worked pretty successfully.
The roster system will cover Thursday to Thursday. Each day, three people get to play camp servant. Ham it up if you feel like it, I will be. At present, I estimate that each day's chores (cooking three meals for twenty people, plus tidying & cleaning up) will take about sixteen hours per day, or about five hours per person. The basic duties will be to:
¨ Make sure the campsite is tidy at all times. Call armour bombs and unsightly
messes to the attention of those responsible, or at last resort dump it in their
tent.
¨ Cut firewood & stoke the fire before meals.
¨ Cook or arrange the cooking of the meals.
¨ Do all the washing up.
¨ Leave the kitchen & communal areas clean and tidy for the next day.
A Typical Day In The Kitchen
More specifically, here is a further breakdown of a standard day of servitude:
¨ During the evening of the day before, inspect the kitchen and find out
where everything lives. Get some hot water and make easy porridge in a pot.
Mix one cup of rolled oats with two cups of hot water for every three people,
add some salt, stir and cover. Add some currants or other dried fruit and nuts
if you desire. Make sure there is enough cut kindling for the next morning
¨ In the morning, wake up with the sun. Stoke or restart the fire under
the cauldron, make sure the water heats up. Rake coals under the grills with
a fire prong or a stick, and heat up the porridge and pans or pots over the
coals, as required to cook breakfast. Cook breakfast. The only complex thing
here is pancakes, which is made by mixing two cups of flour with three eggs
and as much milk or water as required to make a batter with the desired consistency;
thin for crepes, thick like runny honey for thick pancakes. Fry them in oil
or butter under a relatively high heat.
¨ Wash dishes with hot water from the cauldron in the scullery, but remember
to replenish the cauldron when you take water from it. The big copper ladle
is approximately one half litre. The cauldron holds twenty five litres. Wipe
down the food preparation benches, first to clean the scraps off, then with
alcohol, thence with clean hot water.
¨ Make sure some of the daily snacks go into the dining hall, on the table,
under a cloth.
¨ Take a break, spend a couple of hours relaxing or carousing, but make
sure at least one person is on site at all times.
¨ Follow the same procedure for lunch; stoke the fire, prepare the food,
cook the food, serve the food, wash up and clean up, take a break. Lunch can
be left under cloth if everyone is too busy for it. Remember to make sure plenty
of water and cordials are available. If we run out two simple recipes are: mix
one half litre of vinegar or lemon juice with and an equal amount of sugar or
honey. Boil, and cool, throw in mint or some other sweet herb if desired, and
mix with water as desired. Also remember that lunch is almost twice as much
food as breakfast. The time spent preparing lunch will be longer than either
breakfast or dinner.
¨ For dinner, follow the same method, but make sure to wash up as you go,
as this will mean less washing after it gets dark. After that, you should have
some wag from the next day's cooking making porridge…
Before breakfast of the first Thursday and after lunchtime on the second Thursday, we will be setting up or packing up, during which I hope everyone will pitch in to the communal stuff as needed. I have made some further notes below about how to make sure everything runs smoothly:
Further Notes On Kitchen Harmony
¨ The two "camp servants" can share the work however they like,
but I think if they work together rather than separately then they will complete
their work more easily. Misery loves company. Also, choose your partners in
servitude wisely; match your strengths to their weaknesses and vice versa.
¨ Try to get all the cooking and most of the washing up done before dusk,
as doing it in the dark is a pig.
¨ Because the cooks on any one day also clean up completely at the end,
there is added impetus to keep things clean during the day, and to be as minimalist
in your preparations as possible.
¨ Do cook things you are skilled at cooking.
¨ Do cook things that will not require well controlled heat levels.
¨ Do keep your eyes on the food constantly.
¨ Do transfer unburnt food from a partially burnt dish into another piece
of cookware before the burnt flavour spoils the dish.
¨ Do cook chicken and pork thoroughly.
¨ Do be conscious of hygiene.
¨ Remember that, mainly, open fire cooking just takes a bit longer. Double
the estimated cooking time to take account of the time required to stoke the
fire. Yes, I would like us to cook primarily over an open fire! This is not
as difficult as it sounds, however I know a few of you hate it with a passion.
That's OK, I hate sewing with a passion, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
If you really, really hate it you can chicken out and use the gas burner.
¨ Assuming all the washing up is being done regularly, people can prepare
food in advance. Cook extra eggs, bacon & sausages at breakfast time as
part of lunch. Marinade meat at lunch time for dinner. Remember to stir hot
water into oats in the evening for the next morning's porridge, or cold water
into dried pulses and legumes for use the next evening.
Cuisine
We are trying to re-enact a late 15th century (c. 1475-1525) household living in the Western Mediterranean, so we will be eating that sort of food. The food fund will not be buying New World or otherwise ahistorical foods (except possibly tea and coffee, those essential caffenating constituents of our wonderful culture), so if you need to have coca cola (as I do, alas), chocolate, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, etcetera, then BYO. I would like to reenact fish days on Friday and Sunday, so if you want to cook vegetarian and fish dishes, choose one of those as your day of servitude.
Now this may seem on the face of it to be dietarily constrictive. Au contraire! Possible foodstuffs include: bacon, beef, beer, biscuits, bread, butter, carrots, cheeses (parmesan, edam, gouda, ricotta, brie, camembert, etc.), chicken, chickpeas, cordials, cream, cucumbers, dried fruits (apricots, currants, dates, figs, prunes & raisins), eggs, fish, flour, fruit (apples, grapes, lemons, melons, oranges, etc.), garlic, gourds, ham, herbs (basil, coriander, oregano, parsley, thyme, etc.), honey, jam, lamb, leafy green vegetables (cos lettuce, celery, spring onions, etc.), milk, mushrooms, nuts & seeds (almonds, almond meal, hazelnuts, pine nuts, walnuts, sesame seeds, etc.), olive oil, olives, onions, pasta, pastry, pickles, pork, porridge, radishes, red wine, rice, salami, sausages, spices (cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, fennel, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, saffron, salt, etc.), sugar, veal, vinegar, yogurt, zucche.
Bold items are staples which we ought to be using in almost every meal.
We will split the cold bin(s) into meat and dairy.. We could possibly go with no refrigeration at all, however (i) it will limit our diet further, and (ii) I don't see the point since on the heating up side of things, we are taking a gas burner anyway. We will be going shopping on the Wednesday before Festival, and on the morning of the Saturday and the Wednesday during Festival.
Bibite bene! - Alistair Ramsden aka Father Stephen AKA Stefano d'Urbino