SC - Re: Period Feasts

[Decker, Terry D.]

> I have noticed that when I attend truly
> "period" feasts, where the cook has researched and lists as period the
> dishes served, that there are a lot of dishes that many people don't
> find enjoyable!  I was looking for a way of taking the best tasting (to
> our modern palates) dishes and incorporating them all into a truly great
> tasting, while being mostly period, feast.   Is this possible?--
> Seannach
> 
Personal experience suggests that the pleasure of the food is more in the
quality of the cooking than in the recipes.  Bad cooking is bad cooking and
blaming "period" recipes does not change the fact.

This weekend, I cooked chickpea soup and swiss chard.  I followed the
original recipes with my own errors and oversights after reviewing the
redactions.  I cooked the dishes by taste and I tested them on 24 vic.., er,
generous souls.  

Should I prepare these for a feast, I am certain the chickpea soup will be a
delight for about 95% of the attendees and the chard will delight the people
who like greens and be shunned by those who don't.  Knowing this, I would
enlarge the portions of the soup and serve it with bread (with a cost
estimate of $.35 per person for the course).  I would produce enough swiss
chard to serve about 1/2 the people at the feast and it would be served with
a meat dish and another vegetable dish having a different taste and texture,
so that it could be tried or ignored a leisure.

I don't particularly care for greens, but fresh or frozen greens prepared
according to the medieval recipes usually taste much better than the
equivalent found in todays restaurants, and I would sample them just to make
sure I am not missing something marvelous.

If you wish to cook feasts, let me say you need to taste and test and try.
You need to test the recipes.  You need to taste them as the cook to see how
the flavors blend.  And you need to try the recipes out on some associates
to see how they are received, how they will play in a feast, and what
changes you need to make to fine tune them.  I usually throw a dinner party
for 12 to 16 when I'm testing out a feast menu and I do not lack for
volunteers. 

Bear
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