The week before last my wife and I were at a private camping event with a bunch of our SCA friends.  Every year, one of our friends rents a forest service cabin up on the NE side of Mt. Ranier, out of Natches, WA for a week, and many people come to hang out.  This year Vikki (my wife) and I got to stay the whole week, which was very relaxing. 

One of the things we do every year is try out new and different cooking techniques, preferable things that would have been done “in period”, or as would have been done in the past, for you non-SCA wonks.  A couple of years ago we rendered lard for the first time over a fire, and this year I made beef tallow.  Vikki often makes cheese over the open fire, etc.

Many years ago one of our friends got the idea for what we’ve come to call the “Law Breakfast”.  In old Irish (brehon) law, there were laws about what different people were entitled to at meal time according to their status.  Since the woman who rents the cabin in nominally the clan chieftan, we make breakfast according to what would be entitled to a chief.  This includes things like milk, beer, butter, and “condiments”.

Our interpretation has become:

• Cold roast chicken (easy to prepare ahead and freese, and really good for breakfast)
• Smoked fish (also easy to prepare ahead, although this year we didn’t so there wasn’t any)
• barley cakes (barley flour, eggs and milk, cooked like crepes) with butter and honey.  We usually try for a whole honey comb, but this year just honey.
• Milk
• Beer (it’s what’s for breakfast)
• Sometimes oatmeal

It makes a great breakfast.  The barley cakes are particularly popular.