Elliot MacFarlane brings the carrot soup to his 1700 vintage dinner party. (Photo: Aaron Carpenter/Sentinel-Tribune)

It was the hottest ticket in town and only eight lucky people were invited.
Bowling Green's Elliot MacFarlane and his wife Karen Wood hosted fellow 18th century Scottish reenactors from around the U.S. and even Canada at their home for several days last week.
The highlight of the gathering was a six-course dinner for 10, authentic to the period, even down to the setting.
The reason just 10 people were present was because "that's about the most I can fit into my 18th century-style dining room. We remodeled it as such last year in our 1940s Cape Cod," said MacFarlane of the historically accurate blue and white room in their Clough Street dwelling.
He mused for days about what to serve and finally decided to start with a smoked pork, apple and dried cherry turnover "that had a honey mustard and stone-ground bacon dressing on it, served on fresh greens." The smoked pork filling was baked in a puff pastry.
Second course was a delectable carrot-orange ginger soup, which is today's featured Cook's Corner recipe. See the sidebar story for more about this rich, guest-pampering soup.
Third course was smoked salmon pressed with fresh cracked dried pepper, "laid onto little potato pancakes," made of mashed potatoes, butter and soft white cheese. "Never, ever peel your potatoes, so it's gonna be chunky," MacFarlane said of this dish. "You cook it on a medium griddle on both sides, then layer on some salmon.

Fourth course was the visual highlight, a fish pie. "It's a baked fish dish. You cut out pie crust to look like a fish and that's on top. It looks really nice." He got fresh cod, poached it in cream and mixed it with tiny cooked shrimp and crab claw meat. "Turn it out into a baking dish. It should be a little soupy, and put a pie crust over the whole thing. It's got a golden brown crust and it comes out all bubbly. They ate that right down to the porcelain!"
That was followed up by a beef dish in peanut oil, baked completely crusted with salt. He let it rest for 20 or 30 minutes before slicing so the juices wouldn't run out, and made an herbed mushroom butter to go with it.
"I served fresh croissants from Baker's Street and dessert was from a different bakery - Mozart's in Columbus. They serve reproduction 18th century desserts." This one was made of marzipan, shaped and painted to look like individual peaches.
Among the BG couple's guests were a couple from New Hampshire and another from Ontario. "We've known them for years. These are great living history people, and people I work with at other events."
All were in costume from the prescribed era. "We kind of do a period from 1740 to 1780. I left it up to those people what costume they were gonna wear. One guy has like 24 costumes" so MacFarlane knew the exact look of the ensemble would end up being a surprise.
He and Wood decided to have their dinner double as a fundraiser for the Susan B. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer.
Through a nationwide program called Cook For the Cure "they're trying to have 1,000 dinners around the U.S. in a four-day period," and the breast cancer charity listed the Bowling Green dinner on their website as one of the 1,000 sites.
Over $300 was raised at the BG dinner, with more coming in.
This coming weekend the local couple are involved in another fundraiser, this one for the National Trust for Scotland, to raise money for the Detroit Highland Games.
"It's something we've been doing for the past 15 years, since just before we started going to Scotland" to make historical presentations at heritage sites under the care of the National Trust.
He's also the founder of McFarlanes' Company, a living history troupe whose historical and clothing presentations are augmented by demonstrations, games, and other activities.  The Company is involved in historic preservation, museum and historical site consultation, teaching at schools and universities, and the collection and preservation of rare or out-of-print books and newspapers. In addition to Scottish living history, members of the Company teach at historical conferences, present "Robert Burns and Friends," portray French and Indian War and War of 1812 units, make presentations about early American history, and work at Scottish Games and Celtic events like the one coming up in Livonia, Mich.
Elliot MacFarlane is his name in the living history community; he keeps it separate from his legal name.
"I just retired Friday," from the Ohio Department of Transportation, which means he will have a lot more time for charitable fundraising in the near future. He's already hosted an event for Habitat For Humanity, but the Komen Scottish dinner was "the first in my house."

Follow MacFarlane's tips for the perfect carrot-orange soup
Of the many elaborate dishes Elliot MacFarlane served at his period dinner the other weekend, he says the fish pie was the most challenging to make.
But "the carrot-orange ginger soup, that's probably the second hardest. It's a little more complicated than it sounds, to get it to come out."
It's surely worth the effort, though, both from an accuracy and a flavor standpoint.
"It's a very old soup," MacFarlane noted. "It dates to when people tried to get vitamin C in the winter," long before refrigeration, and were looking for ways to use up the last of their stored carrots when they were getting older, plus oranges only available around Christmas time.
The soup recipe as written on this page "is close (to what he served) as I probably never have it exactly the same twice."
He's been making one version or another "for a very long time. When I was at the Culinary Institute we had a cold version" that was also good.
"I've made it with butternut squash and carrots; I've made it with pumpkin.
"The thing about carrots and squash is - they store. It's supposed to be a historical dinner and you can store these vegetables in your larder for a long time." That's also true of other items in the menu, including the dried apple and cried cherries. "Obviously the beef and fish pie are things you're gonna serve when they're fresh, so it's kind of a four-season menu."
A couple of tips for those who opt to make the carrot soup:
MacFarlane uses a good commercial food blender and warned, "if you get any on you, it's like Napalm! 'Cause you've gotta do it hot. It's boiling carrots and broth, at that point."
"In the old days you'd have to cook the carrots until they're almost falling apart, and you use a food mill. And even then, you press it through cheesecloth." By using the food blender instead, "I'm cutting about a half hour out of the process."
When it comes to the chicken stock in this soup MacFarlane advises, "Make your own or buy the best like Kitchen Basics."
Also, start with a light hand as you add the seasoning.
"You want to start with only half the seasoning and see how it is, then add. Because you can go overboard with it and it'll ruin the taste. You'll get a nice spicy fall cinnamon-nutmegy flavor. But you (also) want to be able to taste the carrots, definitely, and the ginger.
"I like to use fresh ginger so you've got to process it well, or use a food mill. I like ginger and it holds up well with carrots."

Carrot-orange ginger soup
Makes for 4-6 people.
Use organic for best results.

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. carrots (a little butternut squash is nice too, say 1/2 lb., and cut carrots to 1 lb.)
6 cloves garlic
1 onion
2-3 inch piece of fresh ginger
5 tablespoons no-salt butter
1 cup orange juice
4-5 cups chicken stock - no salt (Kitchen Basics brand)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch of good curry powder
Kosher salt
1 cup extra heavy whole cream

Scrape (do not peel) the carrots.  Peel squash if using. Peel ginger.  Thin slice carrots, small piece squash, fine dice ginger. Crush, peel and chop garlic. Peel and chop onion.
In a heavy sauce pan melt butter.  Add onion, garlic and ginger.  Cook until onion starts to turn.  Add carrots (and squash if used) and cook on lower temp about 10 minutes.
Move mixture, butter and all, to heavy stock pot and add chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, reduce, cover, and cook 20 to 30 minutes.  Everything should be very soft.
In a commercial blender or similar, blend hot stock and vegetables in batches until very smooth.  Be very careful when you do this - it is hot!  Return all to pot and slowly bring back heat.  In blender mix half the juice and half the cream and half the spice.  Blend well and stir into pot.  Salt sparingly.  Cook 5 minutes and taste.  Adjust spice and juice - you want to taste all of them ( I usually end up putting in all of each ).
When ready to serve, stir in the remaining cream just enough to create a large swirl through the soup.