Cooking Demonstrations

Striding to the front of the room, Galos begins to set up her equipment on the demonstration table. She pulls a small, cast-iron pot from her pack on the ground, placing it on the stove and lighting the fire underneath. Smiling, she bows to the gathered audience.

Galos slowly adds the cheese to the pot, stirring all the while. After a few handfuls, she lifts the bottle of rum and pours a bit in, causing the pot to hiss and the cheese to bubble.

Galos says in a soft, serpentine voice, "You have to add liquid to it to break up the fat and give it a creamy texture. Now, you might be thinking, 'oh chef why didn't ya just use milk?' Well, because if you put milk in a hot pot like this, it's gunna clump up like cottage cheese - and not even good cottage cheese. Besides, rum is good. Anyhow stir and add the cheese until it's all melted."

Next, Galos reaches down and brings out a smaller clay pot with one hand, undoing its cloth cover and tipping out a fine red powder into the cheese while she keeps stirring with the other hand. After a few moments, she stops stirring and begins preparing platters with hearty chunks of meat and bread.

Galos says in a soft, serpentine voice, "You have to be quick in this next bit, because once you take that cheese off the fire you are on the clock - it will start firming up, and you don't want that. On these platters are some cuts of cooked meat and a variety of bread for dipping, as well as a little alcohol burner to keep the cheese warm so it doesn't harden."

Grabbing the pot, Galos begins dishing the melted cheese mixture into tiny bowls before setting them lightly on each plate and arranging them in neat rows on the table. She takes a step back and bows, signifiying the end of the demonstration.

DISH

   platter394315       a platter of bread and meat around a bowl of sauce

On a silver platter sits an arrangement of rye, sourdough and white bread cubes all piled on one
side of the platter while on the other is an arrangement of sausage, steak, and grilled chicken. In
the centre of the platter on a stand filled with flaming alcohol sits a black stone bowl filled with
a melted cheese that bubbles ever so gently.

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Working through the audience, Ruth steps up to the centre of the area, nodding at Galos as she begins to prepare her ingredients.

Taking up a damp cloth in one hand, Ruth runs it across the surface of her demonstration worktable, cleaning it thoroughly. Tossing the cloth aside, she retrieves a small bag from her belongings and in a practiced motion, casts a generous handful of flour across the table surface.

You say in a quiet, contemplative voice, "I'll be leading the second demonstration with dessert."

You say in a quiet, contemplative voice, "This confectionary is made entirely from sugar and nuts."

You say in a quiet, contemplative voice, "The process is what makes it unique."

Next, Ruth retrieves a medium sized disc wrapped in brown paper and a cup of chopped nuts from her belongings, setting both items on the table. Within the brown paper is a medium-sized disc of cooled sugar syrup, which she tosses onto the flour on the table.

You say in a quiet, contemplative voice, "The flour is used to ensure that the sugar disc doesn't
stick unto the table. If that happens, you're going to have a bit of a mess."

Ruth pours out a mound of flour over the syrup disc, using her hands to flip it until it is entirely covered in flour. Handling the disc with two hands now, she creates a depression in the middle of the disc, gradually exerting more pressure until a hole is finally created.

You say in a quiet, contemplative voice, "If you've ever eaten taffy, this is very similar to it."

Satisfied with her efforts thus far, Ruth begins to dip the modified syrup disc into the flour as she continues widening the hole in its middle until the shape of a ring is successfully molded from the disc.

You say in a quiet, contemplative voice, "The technique is to take this sugar ring you've made and start twisting and pulling it apart. You treat it like dough. Pull it firmly."

Taraus waits until your attention is fixed on your sugar-kneading before she sidles up to the workbench, filching a few shelled nuts with an innocent expression.

Ruth drops it back into the flour mound, covering the ring entirely before lifting it up into the air again. She slowly starts to twist and pull at the ring in a figure-of-eight pattern, dipping it back into the flour every so often before repeating the twist and pull motions again.

Slowly by slowly, thinner, flour-covered strands of sugar begin to form with each repeated set of motions. Ruth eventually pauses in her efforts and disperses the remaining mound of flour with her fingers, making sure that a thick layer of flour dusts the table surface. She lays her finely-pulled sugar strands upon the dusted flour and sprinkles an additional handful over its entire length.

Ruth tears off a rough few inches of the sugar strands from the main body and takes up the cup of chopped nuts. She pours out a spoonful of nuts unto this torn-off sugar section and carefully manages to roll it up upon itself. The end product is a candy that resembles a woven silver pillow.

You say in a quiet, contemplative voice, "I've pre-toasted the nuts beforehand. It brings out their aroma and flavour, which complements the sugary wrap well."

Ruth quickly finishes off the remaining length of sugar strands, turning it into several woven sugar pillows. She begins plating them, presenting them upon a clean plate before her audience.

DISH

a plate of silver, sugar-woven pillow candies

Pulled into fine, thin threads from round spheres of concentrated sugar, this square plate is filled
with numerous nuggets of what appears to be candy resembling silver strands of thread woven into
tiny pillow shapes or silver silk cocoons. A light dusting of flour has been sprinkled over each
nugget to prevent it from sticking to the plate and each other. A subtle scent of roasted nuts and
sugar arises from the confectionery. The edge of the plate is decorated with aster flowers drawn
with white chocolate.