sca-cooks: no recipe = period? (long)
Donna J. White
skunkkiller at juno.com
Sun Apr 13 11:04:19 PDT 1997
On Sat, 12 Apr 1997 18:26:00 +1000 "Fiona P." <bilby at matra.com.au>
writes:
>At 11:14 AM -0400 11/4/97, Mark Schuldenfrei wrote:
>> 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? To me, period means a time and place that we
create.
>> You can create a period compatable dish, but not a period one that
way.
>
>Looks like we need a definition here, then. what is "period"? Is it a
>feel, a style, or something documentable? Hence my use of the term
>"perioid": "in the period style". No, it's not a typo ...
>
>> 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. On the other hand,
how would
>> you know if what you create was something a period person would say
"Yech" to?
>> Do you know, for example, which foods were hot and which were cold?
>
>If I make up a "modern" recipe, I do it on the basis of knowing what is
>best served hot, cold, spiced, etc. I expand my repertoire, and have
>managed to create dishes that taste "authentic" to people of a
particular
>culture (eg Chinese, Sri Lankan, Greek, just to name a few of my
friends)
>by reading books and sources. To me, mediaeval foods are simply another
>culture. Maybe a person in 1367 would find my dish a little odd, but
then
>she probably finds the cooking of her next-door Irish neighbour a little
>odd, too. I don't believe that she would look at me and reject ALL my
>dishes and say "you're not from around here, becuase you don't cook
>right". If we're going to put ourselves in our ancestor's shoes, then
REALLY
>put on those shoes. They are human, as we are, and they have a similar
set
>of reactions and abilities, regardless of the sociological tempering
that
>has been applied.
>
>France had its own cuisine. So did Italy. So did England, Scotland,
>Wales, Ireland, Germany, and ALL the other places and times we try to
>incorporate into ine big lump. If I read enough, and learn techniques to
>the point that they become automatic, then whatever I create using those
>techniques and foodstuffs, based on my knoweldge of the times, must be
>at least faintly recognisable to my great-great (etc) grandparents. No,
>we can never know flavours, and this, I think, may be a problem.
>
>> So yes, imho, 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 ...
>> Do you pepper your ice cream? Why not? You'd add cinnamon to ice
cream,
>> and it's nearly the same thing! Most period recipes for spices call
for both cinnamon and pepper....
>
>Yes, actually. I have eaten chocolate chilli icecream, and cheese
sorbet,
>and meat cooked with chocolate (in the mexican style), and they're all
>incredibly yummy, and commerically viable (they were bought from shops
in
>Melbourne ...). So I look at the context, and find that pepper and
>cinnamon are added to meat, but never to desserts. From this I
>conclude that pepper is not a common additive to a gooseberry fool, and
so
>create a cream-based fruity sweet served chilled that I have never seen
a
>recipe for, but know the technique. I can tell when a dish tastes
"english",
>"french", or "chinese", Why, after many years of eating mediaeval
foods,
>shouldn't I be able to tell when a dish tastes "mediaeval"? I'm talking
>about applying a little intelligence and research, and learning
techniques.
>I had to learn my 20th English-style (Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, and
>other women who based their styles on ancient recipes) techniques, and I
>can apply them and create meals for my appreciative friends.
>
>Let me demonstrate (while I'm up on this soapbox) some mediaeval
>techniques that survive in my modern cooking: meat and fruit (chistmas
mincemeat,
>coq au vin, pork and apple sauce). fruit and "savoury" spices: melon
salad
>with ginger and pepper, bread-and-butter pudding (salty bread and/or
>butter). The list goes on.
>
>>It's the same thing with period.
>
>Maybe I, as an Anglo-Saxon Australian, have an advantage in that my
English
>ancestry's not terribly far in my past (not if my mother has anything to
do
>with it!!) and so my instinctive cooking style is firmly based in the
>age-old English technique. I've read mediaeval cookbooks and recipes,
>and see nothing in them that runs counter to how I already cook.
>
>> Tibor (Adds a touch of tabasco to cream sauce: but not ice
>cream.)
>
>You should try it sometime. Adding salt to a fruit salad braing out
>the flavour of the fruit something increadible, too ...
>
>*steps meekly off soapbox that seems to have arisen*
>
>Fyrean ...
>never thought I was quite that passionate about food!
>
> @>-'--,-- --'--,-<@
>
>I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
>
> - Oscar Wilde
I agree wholeheartedly. However, I have been branded as a bit of a rebel
here.
Oh, well, why should it differ from my youth when I proudly wore the
brand and
showed everyone how telling it was.
Are you sure you aren't from the South? I thought we were the only ones
who
salted our fruit and veges. I rarely do now, due to changes in palatte,
but the
rest of the family pours it on.
Happy Cooking!!
PS: I love your quote. I think it suits me too.
Genevieve
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