St. George's Day and Shakespeare's Bday

[Peter the eater]

As it turns out, Saint George The Patron Saint of England and William Shakespeare are celebrated on the same Sunday of April this year. I'd love some help in the way of food ideas for such an event -- I'll be catering for friends in a casual way:

The date: Noon on Sunday, April 26th, 2009

The venue: A quaint farmstead in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

The theme: St. George's Day and Shakespeare's Birthday

The budget: $25 CAD per head, between 20 and 25 heads expected

The profit margin: The things we do for Queen and country . . .

Edited March 5, 2009 by Peter the eater (log)

[maggiethecat]

The profit margin: The things we do for Queen and country . . .

←

Maybe you'll get an honorary knighthood, as Edward Kennedy did today.

So, are you looking to history and lit for recipe ideas? "There's rue for you" kinda thing? Or is it Rule Britannia?

Edited March 5, 2009 by maggiethecat (log)

[Peter the eater]

The profit margin: The things we do for Queen and country . . .

←

Maybe you'll get an honorary knighthood, as Edward Kennedy did today.

So, are you looking to history and lit for recipe ideas? "There's rue for you" kinda thing? Or is it Rule Britannia?

←

I saw that on CNN at the gym -- good for Ted!

To answer your question, I'm looking for something that fits the bill and will be fun to make and fun to eat. PoMo, techno-emotional, fusion ribald, roadhouse retro . . . Alright, I made up those last two, anything with dragons and a Globe Theatre would be helpful.

[maggiethecat]

Fusion ribald and Roadhouse retro are two of my fave ways to eat.

Lancashire Hot Pot with Bakewell Tart for pudding? Delia's awesome Sausage Rolls? Veg=sprouts.

[Amy D.]

traditional English sunday lunch?? shouts roast beef (a big hunk of rib) and yorkshire puddings, a more garish/retro spin would be to serve the roast inside giant yorkshire puddings.

other ideas include toad-in-the hole, or pie and mash.

instead of bakewell tarts, how about the more scrumptious (and supposedly traditional) bakewell pudding? Other hot puds could include Treacle tart, Bread and butter pudding, Sticky toffee pudding, all served with creamy custard and/or cream and/or ice cream. Or for cold options how about a trifle or summer pudding?

or for a more refined option perhaps traditional cream teas; savories to include a selection of neatly trimmed sandwiches, cucumber a must, maybe some mini pasties, pork pies and scotch eggs. Sweets to include a large selection of cakes (we brits do tend to have a sweet tooth!) perhaps victoria sandwich, eccles cakes as well as the obligatory scones serves with jam and clotted cream!

[nakji]

How about a feast? A big table, groaning with tiered fruit platters, moulded puddings, flagons of mead and hippocras, a swan stuffed with a peacock (fusion ribald, right?), a leg of something, definitely a pie or two, one preferably with a bird's head sticking out; one with fruit. A whole salmon, laid out with olives for eyes. A cheese plate; a nut plate; a sweetmeats plate. Potatoes for smoking, a la the Black Adder Elizabethan series.

Anyway, a feast table would get you out of plating for twenty-five, since everyone could serve themselves. But there must be some sort of piece montee at the end, like a giant pastry dragon carried in, aloft, by two people, which the host stabs majestically with a serving "sword". It should then gush something. Raspberry jam?

To honour Shakespeare, all guests should give toasts, in iambic pentameter, of course.

[Peter the eater]

Amy D., thanks for the great suggestions. It makes me think about just how different a Victorian high tea is from the Elizabethan equivalent. What a difference two centuries make.

nakji, I like the sound of a groaning board from Ye Olde Country. I've always wanted to make a pie with four and twenty blackbirds. A bleeding dragon piece-montee may be beyond my skill set -- in my mind I can see it all going wrong like a blooper on a FoodTV Croquembouche Challenge. How about a jello dragon with a swizzle stick through it's heart?

[Adam Balic]

If you would like any suggestions for 16th century food, then let me know. It will sort of resemble extant Middle-East and food then "Tradional English" (largely 19th century).

A shame you can't get Calocybe gambosa in your neck of the woods.