SC - Period Potatoes

[Ron and Laurene Wells]

>potatos aren't period.
>  margali
>
>I know this was said in gest.... but someone on the Meridiean list made me
>aware of an exception.....   Let me find it.
>
>Mistress Falada had written"
>    Just an FYI - Dame Fiona has a period (yes, period) recipe for potatoes.
>    And before anyone jumps me: I know that the white potatoes we have
>    today are not the black, oily period variety.  However, I have yet
>    to see the period type any place that I could purchase them.  Therefore,
>    substitutions should be acceptable.
>
>    Anyway, Dame Fiona's documentation was good enough to be accepted at her
>    Grand Chef qualification feast.  If anyone is interested, I am sure she
>    would be glad to share the information.
>
>And later, Dame Fiona herself said:
>    Second, as far as the potatoes are concerned, the recipe was
>    published in a German cookbook in 1598.  To describe the dish I
>    would simply have to say "hashbrowns".  Is this the same recipe you
>    are referring to Tibor? Variations of the recipe are available in
>    many modern cookbooks, but I got it from an English translation of
>    the original recipe.  It is called "Rosti".
>
>	Tibor

   I had seen that comment before that "Potatoes aren't period" but I don't
see how this is possible.  There were Irish people living during Medival
times, and  potatoes in Ireland are a STAPLE food!  In fact, I saw on TLC
once, where hundreds of thousands of Irish men women and children starved to
death at one point (sorry, it was a few months ago, and I dont' remember the
date cited) because of a blight brought in from England that destroyed ALL
the potato crops on the Island.  It left the poor with nothing (as the show
stated it , "not very little to eat but NOTHING to eat") to eat for many
months, and the population was devastated.  I'm far from an expert in
Medival cooking, but I do not see how potatoes could be anything but period!

- -Laurene

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