SC - Modern-tasting Period

[Karen Farris]

> Speaking of barbecue sauce, I redacted a recipe for "Beef in
> Cryspes" a while ago.  It's roast beef surrounded by dried fruits
> and then a thin batter is poured over it during the cooking process.
>  The end result was the fruits melted down and wound up tasting just
> like commercial barbecue sauce.
> 
> I'm dying to do this recipe at a feast sometime just to hear the
> comments about "non-period" cooking.  :-{)}
> 
> Yers,
> 
> Gunthar

Oh, please, share the recipe and your redaction!

I'd also like to suggest holding *tasting dinners* for small 
gatherings in your local group, not just the cooks, at least once 
recipes are well down the road.  I find that if diners have the 
opportunity to sample and give feedback and learn what they are 
eating, they're *less* likely to gritch at "non-plain, non-edible 
food" at a feast.

I try to convey to friends who are not cooks in non-feast settings my 
fascination with the medieval kitchen and table, and the idea that 
while Wendy's or Marie Callendar's may be a nice break once in a 
while for a dinner jaunt, we're losing so much in terms of keeping 
the feel of the medieval setting by not taking part in the medieval 
feast hall.  Bear in mind that the 20th century concept of "dinner" 
aside from variances in the foods on the table, is the concept of the 
family or the individual--a very small number of people--sitting 
around the table for dinner.  The medieval feast hall generally had 
most of the residents of the demesne, if not sitting down all at 
once, coming in and out and lingering to converse or to hear 
entertainment or just sit and rest for a while.  I'm sure there were 
people who bolted their dinner and then ran off to resume a task, but 
in general the medieval feast hall, not the tourney field, was the 
crossroads of life.

I always have that attitude even now, and find it makes a big 
difference in that ambience is just as important to me as the 
food--fascinating and educational as this list is, and dearly as I 
love the new discoveries I constantly make about medieval foods.

Countess Berengaria de Montfort de Carcassonne, OP
Barony of Caerthe
Kingdom of the Outlands