SC - Recipes x3

[LrdRas]

In a message dated 3/16/98 1:53:48 AM Eastern Standard Time,
korrin.daardain at juno.com writes:

<< After rechecking the article in the paper I found that they state that
 the recipes were updated to modern cooking styles. >>

This is one of the main porblems I have found with most commercial cookbooks
that say they are rendering period recipes into a format which would be more
familiar to modern cooks. Oftentimes it asppers as if the author has reworked
the recipe to the point where it becomes unrecognizable as a period recipe. 

Although it is a relatively uncommon occurence on this list with redactions
that are shared here, it is an easy trap to fall into. I think the tendency is
to read a technique and then justify a procedure, such as roasting for
spitting, entirely on the basis of convenience.

IMO, the best renditions of period recipes are created by simply following the
directions and using the foodstuffs indicated in the original.In cases where a
particular cook may not have the necessary equipment or access to the
ingredients needed, it is simply a case of choosing a recipe from those
available that you do have equipment/ingredients available for. That being a
far better course than altering a recipe beyongd recognition to acommodate for
the lack of proper tools. Certainly, viewing a gas burner or a electric
heating element or oven as heat sources is valid but substituting corn starch
for rice flour, IMHO, would not be valid.

The point is that if the redacted recipe bears little or no resemblance to the
original, then most likely the fault lies with the redaction and not in the
original recipe.

Ras
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