Medievel Banquet (Wedding)

caprilicious

Not to sure if this the correct forum to post in, so please feel free to move mods if its not!

My sister wants to do something a bit different for her wedding & is thinking along the lines of a semi - medievel style banquet
i.e, suckling pig, pheasant/quail (displayed like they do in Medievel/Tudor style cooked but with feathers still on - sorry not good at describing it so that may not make sense ).

My query is, has anyone here experience of event managing/arranging anythhing similar?
If so I would love feedback/suggestions etc
In particular how to schedule courses as it wouldn't be quite like the tradition starters/mains/dessert

She is a chef, hubby to be & most of the family are in catering so they really want to go all out & do something 'memorable'

As I've said, I'm not great at describing it so I'm probably making it sound very tacky, but they want to do this properly so it will be very classy. Function is for approx 80 - 90 pax.

Any info would be greatly appreciated :cool:

Edited to add: Just to clairfy, they're not going for a medievel re-enactment or costumes that kind of thing, its literally the very different type of food presentation/service that they're looking for
My sister also wants to do a pig on a spit - the wedding will most likely be in a marquee

6th

I'm going to moce this over to The Cooking Forum not because this is the wrong forum, I just think you'll get some really helpful advice over there.

Mods, feel free to move it back.

6th

unkel

Sounds savage

Great idea, I know I would love to be a guest at a wedding dinner like that - you'd never forget the experience!

Check this out: Pig Roast & Weddings for ideas / help

Sparks

Might be enormously different though - it won't even be the russian menu system we're used to (with starters and main courses and desserts and so on), but everything on the table at once.

Would be interesting though!

caprilicious

Thanks a mill for the link Unkel

I think my sister is more excited about planning the menu than picking her wedding dress :rolleyes:
Another one of the things she wants to do also is Lobster Men

I only ever found one example of it in a 1950's cook book, but my grandfather who was a chef in the merchant navy used to make them.
They're literally little men made out of lobsters. The lobster tail is the tails of of the mans jackets, not too sure what other bits make what but they look great all put together

Magic Monkey

I've no experience organising something like that, but I attended a similar banquet-style dinner in a castle in central europe once.
There were at least that same number of guests, and they did it russian style, 3 courses but with no choice offered, so you just took it or left it.

The starter was vegetable broth, the waiters came around to the tables and served it out of a large cauldron they were carrying. The mains were great, roast goose leg, home-made pork sausage, some kind of veg and something like cornbread. In any case, aside from the spoon for the soup, there was no cutlery for the mains, so you had to eat with your hands. With the porcelain caraffes of red wine and goblets on the table, it really added to the sense of occasion. The sweet was a small square of cherry cake, again eaten with the hands. Shots of the local fruit brandy were served at the end. I have pics somewhere which I'll post up once I can find them.

The point is that it is possible to serve over a few courses in that style instead of having everything on the table at once, when food can get cold, unless you have cold starters/sweets, etc.

caprilicious

Magic Monkey, that's brilliant thanks for the reply.
I think that definitely is the way to go, serving it still as courses. Because you're right & that was a concern, having everything on the table in one go will only lead to stuff going cold.

That sounds yum goose leg, I know she's looking at pheasant & Quail to serve to. She rears them so has a few to chose from!

Magic Monkey

Hi caprilicious,

Here's the photo of the table layout. It's simple but nice. There was water in the carafe and red wine in the ceramic jug, water and wine glasses, bread basket, cruet set and candle. The soup bowls were on top of the joint plate, which had a napkin on top. This allowed the waiters to serve the soup, then clear, then have the napkins/joint plate already set up. I think the sweet was served on separate plates (pre-plated), which made sense for that volume.

The veg was roast potato, which was great with the goose leg. So that's an idea for table layout anyway. Choose a cold sweet, and either a hot/cold starter to make things easier. We were given 1 goose leg, 2 sausages and 3 roasties per head. Oh, there was also a bowl of pickled cabbage/veg served too, forgot about that. Needed it with all the delicious grease from the goose and potatoes

With quail, she'd need a lot given it's size, but coupled with other roast meats it should be enough. But definitely, food you can eat (and lick off) your fingers, plus copious quanities of wine, is a good way to go.

2xj3hplqgsbkym

A cheese course with grapes etc. served on wooden boards would look great too.

caprilicious

Brill, thanks a mill for the pic MM, it looks great!
I agree with the Quail, more feather & bone than meat on them :rolleyes:
Aw yum, getting hungry just thinking of the grub now

Great suggestion rosebush

finty

http://www.wildsidecatering.ie/


Not sure if its what you are looking for but these guys catered a wedding I was at a few weeks ago. Had a pig roasting on a spit as the guests arrived.

they'll rent a spit if you need one too.

Food was great

unkel

finty wrote: »

http://www.wildsidecatering.ie/


Not sure if its what you are looking for but these guys catered a wedding I was at a few weeks ago. Had a pig roasting on a spit as the guests arrived.

they'll rent a spit if you need one too.

Food was great

That fella was at the taste of Kildare event at the K-club last Sunday. And indeed, with a roasting pig on a spit. The meat was delicious and the kids were amazed and wowed by it

caprilicious

Thanks a mill for all the replies!

Unfortunately the hotel where she is going wont allow the pig on spit idea (Boo!) so I think herself is going to go with the menu's they have.
Such a shame, I would have loved to see something like this in action, change from the norm!

mikemac

If you want to see these in action then Bunratty isn't far from Kilkenny

Head along and see what they do
http://www.shannonheritage.com/Entertainment/BunrattyCastleBanquet/