Feast of Fire & Frost ~ A Kievan Rus Table

 What a challenge. As I sit here, two days after the event, recooperating with a cup of hot tea and a  weighted blanket, and recap some of the moments of the event. I realize the amount of work that I put into my planning was immense and I definately could have used more time, but there are only so many hours in the day.

When I was asked to cook for QRC - I said yes without much thought. At that moment, I had no idea what I was going to make. I almost always have some sort of theme. It's just who I am. I knew I wanted to do something that is not done a lot, as I wanted to give the populace something to remember. After, much thought and several conversations with my laurel, I decided to model my sideboard after Her Majesties personal persona. 

Researching this culture, specifically food - was more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Previously, most of my recipes could be traced back to a documented source with either a redacted or non-redacted recipe. This was not the case for the Kievan Rus.  There was no documented recipes or manuscripts (or at least nothing I could find given the time I had before the event).  This meant I had to start from ground zero. I even recruited help for the research from individuals who are much more well versed in research than I am their response was "Digging into historic Kievan documentation, however...that's a challenge." At that point I knew I may have bitten off more than I could chew. 

In the research, I went down a rabbit hole and found that early in the Kievan Rus' culture it was mostly a pagan religion. Upon reading more, I decided to bring this aspect into my sideboard. I incorporated it into the sideboard pamphlet. (I'll talk about that more in a bit).

The first thing I did was to get a visual of the area. Meaning, I needed a map, I needed a visual representation of where the borders were. I'm not great in geography, so having that visual helps me focus in a specific region or area. Kievan Rus' was a medieval East Slavic state the existed from the late 9th century to the mid 13th century. It laid the foundation for the modern nations of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Since I couldn't find recipes or manuscripts that held that information, I switched gears and started looking at the culture. Kiev seemed to be the hub and was a "melting pot" for the area. Winters were harsh and long, and only the most hearty of crops were able to thrive in the environment, which meant most vegetables were of the root variety. Vegetables such as turnips, parsnips, onions and radishes. A couple of above ground vegetables that were popular are cucumbers, mushrooms and cabbage.  The most hearty grain is rye, and buckwheat and it was long before sugar was a known sweetner, so honey was used not only to sweeten items, but also used for medicinal and as a preservative. In order to survive the long hard winters the most common preservation method was fermenting.

In order to create the menu, I looked to different books, blogs, websites and modern-ish cookbooks (I will post a list of my resources in a separate post.) I needed to know what was easily accessible. There was a wide variety of fresh water fish available including sturgeon, pike, perch, carp and several others. While the Black sea varieties was made available through the Byzantium trade routes, and the Baltic, varieties were brought through the Northern trade routes. I really wanted to use sturgeon, but that was really pricey and would have taken up most of my budget, so I opted for pike, which was much more affordable.

I also looked at what kind of foilage was available, including spices, berries, what kind of animals they raised. This helped me get an idea of what I could possibly make. Seeing that I found no recipes to redact, I had to "create" a recipe that I thought would be something they would have done. Flavors would have been simple, non-complex. Any spices would have been easily accessible not some that had to be imported. 

As my research deepened my menu started to form.

Sourdough Rye bread served with salt and honey

Pickled Eggs

Hard boiled Eggs

Fermented Garden Veggies

Kasha with carmelized onions and mushrooms

Roasted Pork with Juniper Berries and horseradish

Smoked Pike wrapped in Birch Leaves

Soft cheese with honey and dill served with sour cream and rye chips

Honey cakes with berry preserves

Baked Apples stuffed with dried fruits and rye crumbs

Now, while fermenting was the preferred preservation method, because they did not have access to vinegar in the early centuries. However, it is completely plausible vinegar made it's way into the Kievan Rus' culture by the 11th century through the Byzantine trade and the Christian influence. 

If you have never worked in a kitchen, a lot happens behind scenes in the kitchen while the event is happening. Laughter, panic, crying and when your not looking you find yourself teaching. I am not one to stand in front of a class and talk. I have taught in the kitchen while cooking. I've demonstrated how to easily peel an onion, how to plate dishes, how to get the royals preferences for your specific lunch and how to plate for that, just to name a few. What is being taught is dependant on each individual person, some want technical skill others, want the "how do I" moments. For me, teaching is easier when I am in the kitchen. It is easier to talk and demonstrate than to teach in a traditional format. 

When I am cooking and royals are expected, I create lunch order cards so they can pick and choose what they would like.

I also create a lunch pamphlet's to go with the sideboard this is something relatively new I've started doing. No matter what the theme is, each pamphlet has each dish listed with the ingredients. That way the royals have the ingredients, and the order form and can easily select what they want without worrying about allergens or dislikes. This was very well received by The East Kingdom Heirs. Her Highness took pictures of the lunch order card, and the brochure to show people.  It's something that she is hoping other feastocrats will start doing in the East Kingdom.

The sideboard pamphlet for this was different from the first one I did.  I used the sideboard pamphlet not only to to inform the populace and royals of each dish and ingredients, but to give them a brief history of how I came up with the menu and a little history of the culture of where the food came from. I ended the pamphlet with a story and written thank you's. I guess you could say,  I educated, informed, and entertained them. All in one pamphlet.

I wish I could say this went on without a hitch, but on more than one occasion I really felt as if the fates were working against me. Bread and I have a love/hate relationship, and boy did it hate me. First my starter failed.  I tried again, it did do it's thing. However, when I added the rest of the flour & honey, it turned into this slimy, clay like blob.  I tried a third time. This time I got it to the oven, but what came out was nothing but a hard brick.  I gave up. I did not have the time to try again. Wegman's was on the way so I made the decision to accept my defeat. I would not be the first person to buy bread instead of making it.

Birch leaves - Due to where I live, and the time of year - the only choice I had was to buy dried leaves, now the company I used advertised them as whole leaves, that is not what I got. I got a bag full of crumbled birch leaves in many, many multiple pieces and my order was shorted. Even though I ordered the leaves 4 weeks prior to the event, I got them the week of. So, no way to order more. Last minute - change ok what do I have available - Honey - I have lots of honey.  Honey - lemon glaze over half of the smoked pike.  Not exactly period but it works.

Pork loin - I ordered pork loin and the vendor said it would not be a problem. The day I was to pick up the pork loins, I received a message that it was inadvertently cut from the order, and they did not have it. At this point - we are 2 days before the event. I wish I could say I was taking it in stride. Thanks to many household members who dove head first into making phone calls, we were able to secure 25 lbs of pork loin at a cheaper price than what was I planning on buying from the initial vendor.

I placed an order at the local grocery store for my fresh and last minute items that I knew was going to be regularly stocked items. We stopped and picked it up along the way. They shorted my order, there was a whole list of items I did not get. That surprise wasn't discovered fully until Saturday morning, event day. According to the receipt I paid for them, just didn't get the bag. At that point there wasn't much I could do other than make last minute changes or omit items and hope it wouldn't be highly noticeable.  

In the end, everything came out perfectly as it should have. The meal was well recieved and unless you had been in the kitchen, you wouldn't have noticed there was a problem. 

The day ended in court. Her Majesty, Queen Kallista awarded me Queen's Inspiration for the day based on my sideboard. I wish I could remember everything she said, but I was too busy crying to hear.

If you've made it this far. Thank you for reading. If you are looking for recipes or resources those are in a separate post. They may not be posted yet, but check back soon for regular updates!

Have a blessed day!

Deirdre