SC - Petits Propos Culinaires

[Michael F. Gunter]

>I have not accepted that Medieval cooking is nasty, but I must admit I've
>gotten very tired of "feasts" where one course/remove/etc. is undercooked
>chicken served in iits own semi-gelled grease, with no spices, or very few,
>because in one case (a lady who was studting to become a "professional"
>cook), "they didn't use many spices in period", than which, we all know
>better, I hope. 

Bad cooking is bad cooking, medieval or not.  Frankly, when I am eating
a feast, I want properly prepared food.  And I want it served correctly.
 Too many people fail to realize that the organization of the feast hall
and the instruction of the servers are integral to making a feast a
pleasing experience. 

>The other courses/removes all seemed to involve bread,
>cheese, and badly cooked rice, with sickeningly sweet desserts and soggy
>vegetables mixed in betwixt and between. 

Ah, cooked slops, I know it well.  I believe your objections, beyond bad
food, are directed at the lack of artistry in preparing and presenting
the menu.  I'm not much on fancy, but food has color, taste and texture
and a good meal should present harmonious contrasts of these.  BTW, I
try to avoid cheese, except for specific effect, it's a budget killer
for tight budgets.

>I KNOW people in "period" had to
>eat better than this, I've seen descriptions of period feasts and lovely
>things like hunter's stews, and since I got on the cook's list, I've found
>that people here actually know what good food is and work hard at preparing
>it, but you couldn't prove it by the first few feasts I was exposed to. The
>only reason I kept trying to eat that crap was convenience and being
>sociable. I still take a couple hard-boiled eggs with me to feasts just in
>case, although since then I've found more edible feasts (though the deadly
>chicken is still served)..
>
>phlip at morganco.net

Beyond the apparent lack of historical knowledge, another problem I see
is people seem to think a feast is a scaled up family meal rather than a
catered banquet.  They don't think like caterers and consequently fall
into error.  Of course, you can still have a problem with the chicken.

As a parting note, one of my fonder memories is the Baron waxing lyrical
about the thoroughly cooked, tender, tasty chicken I served a year or so
ago.
I was running behind and didn't have the facilities to broil the chicken
properly, so I browned the chicken in oil and dropped it into pots with
a little water spiced with tarragon and left it to steam while I got the
first course out the door.  I don't know if the technique is medieval,
but it was created in a medieval manner with the cook trying to come up
with a way to keep his head on his shoulders.  So chicken doesn't have
to be "deadly".

Bear  
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