SC - Modern Myths-period

[Gretchen M Beck]

Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 1-Oct-97 Re: SC - Modern
Myths-period by Aine of Wyvernwood at gte.n 
> although I have no basis in fact, I would sort like to dispute
that...you seem t
> o
> forget that refrigeration was not in existance until this century.
> I have cookbooks from the last century... foods may have not been ''highly
> spiced'' - and that depends on one's definition of spiced - but spices
were used
> 
> frequently to hide the tast of food that was in the process of spoiling.
> 

Buzzzzzz.  Yet another favorite myth.  Now, spices (particularly smoke,
and salt, and sugar) may have been used to PRESERVE food, but, as many
people on this list have pointed out in the past, the evidnce from
period cookbooks is that our ancestors didn't eat rotten food, and
didn't use spices to cover the taste of rot.

Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 1-Oct-97 Re: SC - Modern
Myths-period by Aine of Wyvernwood at gte.n 
> now about that over spiced period feast....most of the time it iis....
> spices should add to the flavor not knock one down...
> and many poor feastcrats go into the pit thinking that cooking for 150 people
> [or more] is just going to be the most fun thing...there is a whole world of
> difference in making dinner for a family and making sure 200 pounds of
pork roas
> t
> comes out perfect gets served on time and still warm.
> I still remember the hockey pucks [er chicken breasts] that came out 20 mites
> ahead of the frozen angel hair pasta.........

Though we aren't blaming things on the cook, for most overspiced feasts,
I believe it is usually the cooks fault.  Yes, I have had overspiced
feasts--dishes where the taste of the spice completely overpowered
things (not complemented, not dominated--overpowered).  I can't imagine
why, unless the cook wasn't watching how much went in, or the cook just
followed as recipe blindly.

On the other hand, I do see the point about bland food.  It's certainly
not universal, but does apply to some parts of the country.  In my
little corner of the world, there are kids who come to the "big city"
(Pittsburgh), and have never had Chinese food, or who have never seen a
bagel.  There are others (thankfully few and far between) who won't eat
anything that wasn't in their mother's repetoire of dishes; such
repetoire usually includes meat, potatos, mac and cheese, green beans,
corn, and peanut-butter.

Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 1-Oct-97 Re: SC - Modern
Myths-period by Aine of Wyvernwood at gte.n 
> I think one of the most thankless tasks in the Society is that of Feastcrat.
> If the meal is not perfect than we gripe...but not realize that the
poor person 
> in
> teh kitchen may have never had the experience, to just get the darn
meal on the
> table is a feat unto itself....


True, but it can also be one of the most rewarding.

toodles, margaret 
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