SC - Re: sca-cooks Creativity

[ysabeau]

 I have just been watching an interesting British "game" show that 
would apply to this thread, sort of. What they do is bring two top 
chefs and give them a kitchen that is stocked with basics that 
you would find in the average kitchen. Then two audience members are 
given 20 pounds (about $35) to buy groceries. The chefs then have 20 
minutes to prepare a meal with the ingredients and the help the 
audience member. The chefs are using modern ingredients and modern techniques to 
prepare modern meals. They don't have time to look up recipes, go for 
extra ingredients, etc. They are working from their years of 
experience and knowledge.

It made me think of the medieval cook. She/He had to create meals 
with what was in the pantry, what was ripe in the garden and what the 
hunters brought in. Sure, she/he had recipes in her head, knew what 
seasonings complimented what vegetable or meat and the tastes of the 
family. The creativity of the cook was essential in this situation, 
just as it is in the television show. The meal a cook would prepare 
with venison would be very different from a meal with a rabbit or 
chicken. 

Just some thoughts on a rainy Sunday morning.

Ysabeau of  Prague
Veilburgen, Drachenwald
Baumholder, Germany