sca-cooks Transport of Foodstuffs

[Fiona Porteous]

> gypsy1 wrote:
> > No potatoes? Crikey! Foil'd again!(8-}
> > What do I use in my beef stew instead? Turnips maybe?(:-}
> Turnips, parsnips, carrots - all the yummy root veggies!
> Or grain - barley, etc.
> Cabbage.  Lentils.  Your possibilities are varied!

So, I create a nice stew made up of meat and appropriate veggies, and use
the presumeably age-old technique of "bung it in a pot and let cook until
meat is soft" kinda thing.  Have I created a period dish or, because I 
haven't actually followed or recontructed a mediaeval recipe, a merely
"perioid" style dish?

I personally think that a period dish can be created by knowing foods, 
flavours, and styles, and applying them appropriately without reference
to a recipe.  After all, we can't possibly except that every known dish
was documented, can we?  And we can also safely assume that mediaeval cooks
were inventive, serendipitous and prone to using whatever ingredients were 
on hand, whilst applying well-worn techniques.

So yes, imvho, a modern cook can "create" a period recipe.  Sometimes I 
think it's possible to get TOO enamoured of documentation and forget about
intent and feel ... 

Fyrean ...