SC - Medieval Ribs? Or Barbecue Beef?

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/13/98 6:20:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time, stefan at texas.net
writes:

<< I fear we may be getting caught up in making this look like modern
 barbeque because that's what we want it to be.
 
 More comments?
 
 Stefan li Rous >>

Actually there are 2 styles of BBQ'd meat that are prepared very similarly.
One you parcook the ribs bobe-in and then pour the sauce over and finish
cooking, serving them with the bone in place. The second way is to cook the
ribs, strip the meat from the bones and return it to the sauce (the modern
euivalent would be barbequed prok or barbequed beef such as you spoon over
splits rolls. 

In the case of Aiofe's recipe, it clearly indicates that the meat is sauced.
This would be similar to the barbequed pork or beef that we put on rolls. I
don't feel that we a wishing for a modern recipe to be period but rather have
place a link in the chain that ended with the modern type.

I have heard this argument against working backwards before and although in
certain instances it is definitely  not a good thing, in many instances it is
a good thing. I am the opinion that much modern food is directly descended
from historical dishes. We are NOT unique in histroy and the ways of preparing
foods are not unique for the most part.

Spicing and combinations come and go but the tried and true always hang around
in one form or another. For instance, roasting beef on a spit comes to mind.
Fire does not change, spits are for the most part the same, we turn them the
same way. Or, boiling cabbage, add liquid boil until done. Ancient cookery and
Betty Crocker does it the same way. 

The place we should be careful most often are those areas that we clearly do
not have any modern examples of technique to fall back on and we must control
our urge to change and substitute in period recipes to the point where they
become modern (e.g. substituting for saffron outside the very specific time
frame where it was common) or adapting a fire roasted tidbit to the oven and
claiming the specific recipe used is 'period'.

Such changes are the real danger in redacting. Using a modern recipe as a
template is not (e.g. How much salt do I add? 1 tsp/pound of meat is the
modern method and can be used to guess salt amounts in period recipes.
Tastebuds haven't changed.

I am sure that I have glossed over points that need further explanation and I
will try to answer them specificly if questions come up regarding this post.
:-)

Ras
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