Which is the report of the Captain's Dinner!
The Guests Culprits
Originally uploaded by parelle.
Killik: parelle (who is taking the picture)
the Reverend Nathaniel Martin: elwe, or Ryan (shortened to Ry, as in the bread, when I am feeling lazy), for... well, ha.
Stephen Maturin: Grace, now jgracie, for ability in carving chickens
Midshipman Reade, and her faithful Ringle: xallanthia pr Popoli, in driving to and fro
Jack Aubrey: thais or Mariah, for keeping us moving in the actual work (and the messy work as well)
The short form: All pictures of cooking and dinner
1. To enjoy toasted cheese, something should be done about the hard tack.
2. I should not drink Grog. EVER. thais, on the other hand...
3. Spotted Dog is absolutely fantastic, and much easier than expected.
3. There is never enough stuffing.
4. Peas need a furious amount of spice
5. Start on the bread when you first walk in the door
6. Gooseberry fool is fantastic, particularly when made with Blackberries. But pay attention to sieves.
Saturday began early enough for some of us - and earlier, for poor Popoli, who was up at 7:08 to head here at 11. I didn't have too much to do before everyone got here, save to figure out how much I wanted to have set up. I settled for having the some of the dishes and table settings ready, though not quite enough, in retrospect. I did manage to have the bread crumbs for the stuffing set beforehand.
Ryan and Popoli were the first to arrive, by train and car respectively; we caught up assorted book nonsense (particularly since only the three of us, of the guests, had read the Aubrey/Maturin books). The timing was quite good in fact; while they went out to get Mariah from the train station and to fetch our last ingredient (dried peas) as I set up for lunch: Toasted Cheese.
Toasted Cheese:
Hard Tack (flour, pinch of salt, water), Cheese: Parmesan, Gruyere [Thanks Ryan!]
I certainly did make at least one mistake: the hard tack really should be sliced, to save our teeth. The cheese itself was quite delicious, and we ended up eating almost all of it, particularly since only a small bit was used grated on the tack. I also guess that if I had tried my first method again (softer hard tack, fried in butter with cheese) perhaps the results would have been better. Overall, though, not too bad. This was served with Lindonberry Sparkler, from the fine cellers of Ikea.
At this point, we began the actual cooking. Mariah had the doubtful pleasure of the grating the suet; for all of the doom and gloom predicted by the authors of our cookbook. she certainly did not seem to have that much difficulty. Messy, oh to be sure. But hard? Not really, or so it seemed. I began gathering the necessary ingredients for the pudding, while Ryan did the same for the bread and the chicken. The success of both dishes can easily be laid at his door. At this point, Grace joined us, having driven up (or down? I never know) from New Jersey for the occasion. In fact, I put her straight to the nasty work of mixing the Spotted Dog... with her hands. Fun!
Mariah, now done with the suet, set to work on the peas.
Dried Peas Beaten into a Paste with a Marline-Spike Coffee Grinder and Flavoured with Turmeric:Peas (dried), Water, Turmeric, Salt
I was slightly preoccupied at this point, but I believe the process began with a food processor of some sort. This was not quite so successful, and was switched to that most useful of instruments, a coffee grinder. The best thing I can say about this dish is that it cost about 49 cents. The worse thing I can say is that it tasted that way as well.
We may in fact malign this dish unfairly: we neither minded how long it stewed upon the stove, let the bottom burn, and, worse yet, served it cold. However, this still didn't earn too many fans.
Popoli, meanwhile, was concerned with a most important part -
Grog!: Barcardi Rum (1 part to 3 parts water, this being proper grog, rather than x-water grog), Lemon Juice, Sugar
Now, this I fully admit that I cannot hold alcohol in any quantity beyond a thimble. But let me assure you that this started... alright, and that others with much higher tolerances had a much more enjoyable time. Freshly stirred grog has the taste of a light lemonade, with a tinge of alcohol. Grog left it sit for awhile...has the tendency of having an extra layer of rum sinking to the bottom.
...on ward to part II.