SC - Allergies! Who is responsible?
MS MARTHA L WALLENHORST
Annejke at prodigy.com
Tue Apr 29 13:04:49 PDT 1997
>>Yes, it
>>means that I am not always 1000 percent authentic because I may
not
>>use lard or sugar in a dish, or I may drop the salt amount, etc.
>This assumes that you have period recipes which specify how much
salt they
>contain. Is this a real example?
Yes, I have some recipes for pickling and chutney that do specify the
amount. These are from a great grandmother's recipe book that was
written around 1610 and has been handed down in the family. She was
a MacKay, living in Holland and was trying to record her
grandmother's and Aunt's recipes before they were lost. She has a
great bread recipe and a fabulous shortbread recipe for "Snow breads".
If I get to Canada and borrow it to make a xerox of the original I
will bring it Pennsic for you to see. If not all I have is my
fathers copy which he made when he was a kid for his mother's
birthday.
>>When I can not substitute or I am trying to be 1000 percent
authentic
>>for some reason, I make sure that the heralds announce that with
the
>>crying of the dish so that people who have concerns will have
notice,
>Trying to cook a feast that everyone can eat is a fine idea,
although not
>always practical given the range of allergies etc. in the population.
What
>bothers me here is the assumption that doing so is inconsistent with
being
>authentic. Medieval people ate a lot more vegetarian meals than we
do
>(albeit with fish), given the Lenten/fast day restrictions, and we
have
>lots and lots of such recipes. They didn't use meat broth or meat
oils for
>their vegetarian meals either.
I have the heralds cry the dish as a courtesy so that people can come
and look at the ingredients and ask questions if they need to. That
way they can see if there is anything that might be a problem to them.
It's just my way of red flagging a dish for those who need to be
concerned.
>In this case as others, one virtue of a policy of trying to be
authentic is
>that it gives you an incentive to find out how they did things.
According to the reports on Mytton Manor and the dePeshal Manors of
Shorpshire, Salt Society, Shropshire,1930. This was a common
practice as the Adam dePeshal I, knt and Sheriff of Shropshire
(ancestor of mine) was guested by the Hearld of Edward I on his way
from a Marcher Lord back to his Grace, the King. The Herald did not
know that there was fish in a pie served him and when he became ill
Adam dePeshal I laughed at him. When the man was like to die Adam,
being in his cups, slew the man to make room at the table for someone
else. (Adam was not one of my brighter ancestors) He was killed by
Edward himself, being run through and pinned to the wall with the
kings great sword. His wife and children were then set to gleaning
in the fields until the oldest son grew up and was for given his
fathers trespasses (17 years). So every dish was cried the hall and
all of the ingredience as well from then on until the family (by then
Washburne) moved to the new world.
>Elizabeth (reading over my shoulder) points out that medieval feasts
had a
>small number of courses (typically two or three for the 13th-15th c.
>French/English feasts), each with lots of dishes. That pattern makes
it
>easier to provide alternatives than the pattern we frequently see in
SCA
>feasts of lots of courses each with a few dishes.
My normal feasts run 3 courses with dessert with 4 dishes per course.
It makes it much easier.
>>I feel that is a courtesy also. I also, ALWAYS, ... 2) fix a large
amount
>>of chicken legs,
>>cucumbers, apple slices and cheese for the children.
>Do you find that children are unwilling to eat period food? I
routinely
>bring period nibbles to events, and find that children (not just my
own)
>like them--especially medieval gingerbread. Not, I should add, that
any of
>the things you list is out of period as a food--I just don't have
any
>reason to think they were served that way at feasts.
>Which raises an interesting question--what do we know about the age
range
>for the guests at a period feast? Were children present, and if so
how were
>they dealt with?
I find that most children in this area will not eat the feast for one
reason or another and received complaints from parents for years
until I went to this. They get the gingerbread for dessert.
Some research that I have done on children do show that they
sometimes did attend but always with nurses and often had a small
portion of the meat and a milk sop and comfits and were sent out at
the end of the first course. Except of course on their birthdays
and I have several birthday parties I have documented through diaries
and tax records.
Annejke
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list