July 18, 2009: Une Fête a la Campagne
Oak Ridge Conference Hotel
Photography by Sandra Cornelius and Diane Reardon
Host: Bailli Carl Blanz
General Manager, Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center
HONORING OUR ROOTS
La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs traces its roots back to a guild of goose roasters whose craft was honed, under the patronage of Louis IX, King of France, to a level fit for the King's table. This year, as he has done in the past, Bailli Carl Blanz chose to honor our heritage with a meal designed for an outdoor setting, and prepared over open fires, in a manner fit for members of the Chaîne. In short, Une Fête a la Campagne.
This year, however, there were no outdoor grills or fancy china as there had been for the Summer Dinner in 2005 (see: Dinner). This year the team cleared a new area in the middle of a prairie on the 130 acre Oak Ridge grounds, built four fire pits from scratch, and served food on bamboo plates with bamboo flatware, which were thrown into the fire at the conclusion of the meal. In addition, there was medieval music and hand-rolled cigars to enrich the illusion of a journey back in time.
Here (above) is the site early in the day as the fires were being prepared. The Chefs needed to burn the wood to embers to produce intense heat without open flames at the time of cooking. Pictured below is one of the four fire pits. There is a stand of blocks, painted red, which functions as a serving station. There is a stone perimeter surrounding the fire pit and within the perimeter one can see that cooking surfaces have been provided at varying levels so that cooking temperatures can be regulated by distance from the fire.
We'll return to this Prairie setting later in the evening. Our Festival in the Countryside begins in a more traditional setting, an outdoor patio situated on the other side of the Oak Ridge Conference Center.