Like mistletoe and festive lights, the arrival each year of the Madrigal Feast is a warm and welcoming start to the holidays. With its 19th season just wrapped up, the annual holiday dinner brings a taste of medieval England to nearly 1,600 guests at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum over five evenings.

Although already known for its exceptional menu, the Athenaeum staff outdoes itself in this elaborate undertaking, and courses are paraded before diners with royal flourish. Corn chowder, salmon, salad, venison, and whiskey pudding anchored this year's cuisine, which chefs began preparing the last week of November. Athenaeum manager Dave Edwards has worked on Madrigal for 16 years, and has mastered its checklist of preparations; among them: The September order of glass mugs for the traditional wassail, and phoning in requests for more than 200 pounds of cheese and upwards of 50 cases of cider.

While much of the menu remains traditional, a few changes have been made to accommodate differing tastes and eating habits. Every year, Edwards and Athenaeum chef David Skinner plan what meat to serve in addition to the salmon. "We used to serve three meats," Edwards says, "but in 1987 I cut it down to two. It was just too much food. We also used to serve oxtail soup, which was a big hit, but with the increase in the number of vegetarians, we switched to a vegetable chowder."

When the dinners commence, courses are brought out for tasting by the feast 'king,' and are then paraded out of the kitchen on large platters for guests. During dinner, patrons are transported to the renaissance period with music from The Chamber Choir, whose members include students from CMC, Scripps, CGU and Harvey Mudd. Chorale director Dr. Anna DeMichelle, assistant professor of music at Scripps, says the 25-person choir (which also functions as the evening's royal court) performs traditional madrigal carols, referred to as "food carols," as well as a new repertoire of songs and short choral compositions known as motets.

Madrigal is a time for feasting with friends. Be sure to check out related recipes.