SC - Fw: Forward from the Middle, Savory toasted cheese

[Louise Sugar]

I dislike A&S competitions in general, and seldom enter them.  When I do
display, it is just that--a display, where people can sample the goodies
and discuss period baking.  I have no interest in having my capabilities
judged by people who believe that cooking is slavishly following the
instructions in a recipe, which is too often the case in A&S
competitions.  Many of the people who have stopped by my displays are
cooks, and their criticisms and comments are of greater value than any
judging sheet. 

>Murkial raised a good question about judging criteria (extra material 
>snipped for brevity):
>
>>>My cooking was judged on a standard sheet used by all
>of the judging.  One of the categories was for creativeness and by its
>description, I would have done better to make it "peroid" then "period".  Is
>this a standard practice?  The definition was (this is off the top of my 
>head
>folks) if you made something non-period 0 pts, somewhat period 1 pt.,
>Somewhat period with documentation 2 pts, an exact copy of period materials
>and work 3 pts. (this was my score on each of my dishes), used period
>materials, but made your own item 4 pts, use of period materials, but with 
>an
>artist interpretation of how they should be used, extra consideration for
>designs special tailored to an event, or device etc... 5 pts.

An individual's view of creativity is subjective.  Is creating a new
work in a certain style with period techniques as creative as
interpreting a period recipe?   
Most judges would probably score the former higher.  Judges who followed
the Cuskynole discussion on this list might check the recipe to see how
complicated and cryptic it was, before making a judgement.  A third set
of judges might throw out the whole thing as trying to compare apples
and oranges.
>
>>>To me this should not apply to cooking in a competition, just because of 
>the
>way we try to get people to cook actual period items, not just "they used it
>in period so I can make it any way I want to because they could have done it
>that way.  Am I correct in my thinking?  Is this done this way throughout 
>the
>Known World?  How are items judged elsewhere, if not?

The question is not how the criterion is applied in the Known World.  It
is how the criterion is to be applied to each type of entry in a
particular contest and the knowledge that the judges have a clear idea
of how to apply the criterion.
>
>I think you are correct that this criterion may be difficult to apply 
>correctly, and maybe harder to apply correctly to cooking than to certain 
>other re-creational arts.

Creativity can be judged in any field.  The judgement must be based on
the standards for creativity defined in that field.  Applying the
standards of one field to a different area of endeavor is an error.

>Maybe the problem with cooking is that judges don't understand the 
>interpretive aspects of cooking from medieval recipes?  Or that we are still 
>in the stage of learning to do exact copies, whatever that means?
>
>=Caitlin

I think that is a little too narrow.  Try, "most judges don't
understand."  One of the chief problems of our competitions is that
judges are called upon to evaluate areas of expertise in absolute
ignorance.  Worse, many of them do not know they are ignorant, and
compund the flaw by making asinine evaluations.  

In terms of fairness and ambiance, entrants in a competition should be
judged by people knowledgeable in their area of expertise.  A medieval
craftsman's skill was judged only by the members of their guild.  It's
not reality, but one can dream.

As to copying, since we don't have any examples of the actually dishes,
we are interpreting the notes about creating those dishes and trying to
produce a reasonable copy.  This is how you learn the basics of a new
dish.  A dish is mastered by repetition.  The cook's mastery is show
when the dish is successfully altered or enhanced.  Cooking is not
painting, each repetition of a dish has the opportunity to be a
masterpiece, and with skill and luck, each will be a masterpiece to
those who taste it.

Bear


  
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