SC - Disgusting recipes

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Charissa wrote:

> For example, lets assume I have some recipies for beef pies from country
> X in time period Z, and I know that those people also kept pigs, but I
> can find no recipies for pork pies... Wouldn't asking if anyone had
> documentation for such a thing be appropriate?

Well, sure. But you would most likely explain why you are asking, and
the reasoning that leads up to the question, as you have just done here.

On the other hand, people do sometimes work on the theory of "Wouldn't
it be cool if such and such a thing were really period? I know! I'll see
if anyone I know can document it. Note that in such cases finding out
whether the thing existed in period is secondary to being able to cite
some authority on the subject. 

People do this for all kinds of reasons, and sometimes under duress or
pressure, as in the case of someone who recently posted on this list
regarding a monarch who asked for steak (or was it a hamburger?) and
French fries for some large kingdom event. The monarch apparently told
the cook something like, "You're the culinary historian, YOU document
it. Then cook it."

I also recall a situation mentioned on this list wherein somebody got a
really good deal on cuts of beef suitablke for braising, provided they
bought the stuff a week or more before the event. The cook was presented
with all this beef, and it occurred to him that he could make
sauerbraten out of it, thereby turning the time lag to his advantage.
Again, the cook then needed to document something that, IIRC, no one
could document. Plenty of stew recipes, anda couple for boiled beef, but
no sauerbraten. Ultimately I believe the gentle accepted somebody's word
that his grandmother's sauerbraten recipe was several hundred years old,
and that had to be good enough. Again, this situation really wasn't the
cook's fault. In a situation like that the cook's options are limited,
but I felt he should have simply pointed out the truth, which was that
market fluctuation had more to do with his choice of a meat dish than
with any attempt to pursue a period menu. Sometimes this is unavoidable,
and there's nothing wrong with simply explaining the modern constraints
that led you to make your choice as you did.

In general it displays evidence of a mentality that isn't so interested
in learning how things were (regardless of what they find out), as in
being able to prove, to at least somebody's satisfaction, if not
empirically, that what they believe (or in some cases pretend) to have
been period, actually was.

Please note that I know Sir Gunthar would never think that way (unless
it was part of a good joke or something; under the right circumstances
I've been known to do that myself)

Fried onions, anyone?

Adamantius  
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at spambegone.asan.com

Sentient beings should remove the "spambegone." portion of our address
before replying.
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