A Pirate's Life For Me.............

My friend Brigid over at her blog, "Home on the Range" a while back made mention of a firearms combat course to be shot with weapons of the golden age of piracy. I'm talking flintlocks, cutlasses and such. I love the idea, since I have all the toys that would be needed. Expanding on the idea just a bit, and because today is Talk Like a Pirate Day (And also because I can't eat like I could before my hospital trip) I thought that it might be fun to have a period correct meal after the shoot.

Thanks to the book " The Sea Rover's Practice" by Benerson Little here is a menu you might be interested in.

Buccaneer Pork.

The term Buccaneer comes from the Haitian word boucan. This is a wooden frame that meat was smoked on. Wild pigs were very common in the islands so were a major source of food. The Buccaneer would cook whole pigs on the boucans taking the skin and bones of the butchered pigs and tossing into the fire for more smoke. They also used a baste of lime and lemon juice, salt and pepper, mixed with crushed Jamaican allspice for flavor and to keep the meat moist. The Buccaneer would sometimes fill the body cavity of the pig with this mixture and add small game birds before cooking.

Since a whole pig might be a little difficult for most people to deal with, you can take a pork roast or pork loin and cook it on the grill basting it frequently with the above mixture. You can also make up extra so that it can be placed on the table as a dipping mixture for your guest.

Salmagundi

When you think of Salmagundi, think of a chef salad with attitude. This was a wildly popular salad in the 17th and 18th century. It is said that the pirate Bartholomew Roberts was enjoying a breakfast of this salad just before being killed in battle by the Royal Navy. Use your imagination on making this up. Make a bed of any green leafy veggie, such as lettuce, spinach, or anything else that you might like. Then take chopped onions, cheeses, olives, (black and green) capers, hard boiled eggs, anchovies, smoked ham, roast beef, chicken, or anything else that strikes your fancy. Dress with olive oil and vinegar, garlic or lemon or line juice. Again, let your imagination run wild, there were as many recipes for Samagundi as there was people who enjoyed it so nothing you put in it would be wrong.

Bread

Round loaves of a very crusty bread are recommended, let each guest tear off what they desire.

Drink

Bomboo or Rum punch

A punch of Rum, dark muscovado sugar, lemon or lime juice and water. The finishing touch is to dust the top of the punch with freshly ground nutmeg. Now to be absolutely accurate, you should make this with the cheapest rum you can find and with the juice of key limes, but I say that you can fudge a wee bit for better taste.

English Lemonade

Mix Cannary Sack, sugar, lemon or lime juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove to taste.

Beveridge

(For those who do not care for alcohol) Spring water, sugar and orange juice

Dining suggestions

This food and drink should be served communally, since your average pirate or buccaneer didn't have fork, plate or much else. A knife and fingers were the only eating utensils available. Individual mugs were available but not always.

Have fun with this menu!