SC - Byzantine murri naqi

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Unto all the denizens of this SCA Cooks list,

It has just occured to me, due to a response by Stefan li Rous, that I have
never properly introduced myself to the list (and JoAnn did such a nice
introduction).

I do have an excuse, though. I subscribed to the list about two months ago,
and had been lurking for about a week, just to get a taste of the thing
before I stuck my neck out. Then, just when I was all ready to write an
introduction and de-lurk, I made the mistake of assuming that Internet
Explorer 4 would be compatible with Internet Explorer 3, and upgraded my
browser. Two weeks later . . .  I finally got the &%#*@ thing to work, sort
of. (When Bill Gates finally cashes in, he will certainly have a lot to
answer for.)  Anyhow, by the time it was working, it just seemed like I'd
been here forever.

So, belatedly, I'll tell about myself.
I'm a late fourteenth-century Venetian spice trader (mundanely I am a
college professor of history). As well as being a spice trader persona, with
a partner I am also a spice trader in reality, as I got interested in
cooking early in my time in the SCA and started trying to ferret out the odd
spices no longer in common use in Western cookery. People kept asking for
sample of what I discovered, so eventually I decided to make it an actual
business. (And here is a question to the list: is it proper etiquette on
this list to mention that business? Would people like me to post when we add
new items to our catalogue? Is putting the URL of our web catalogue in my
signature block OK with people? I don't want to offend.)

I have done a fair amount of period cooking, and have run three or four
feasts (largest about a hundred people). My partner and I have organized the
cooks' guild here in the Shire of Appledore (known as the Confraternity of
St. Lawrence in Appledore). However, I don't consider myself a very
high-powered cook, and certainly not an instinctive one. (I can follow a
recipe carefully, and the dishes usually work--it's amazing how many people
*can't* follow a recipe.) My approach, not surprisingly considering my
mundane academic career, is pretty bookish, and it is research that I find
most interesting. I am working on a survey of the history of spices
pre-1600, trying to draw together from widely scattered areas all of the
available information to make a coherent and reasonably definitive account.

I'm working in bits and pieces on various sections, but am working most
concentratedly right now on cinnamon, which has a surprisingly convoluted
and contested history. Much of what is stated in popular works on spices is
either wrong or dubious. One thing that I can say fairly categorically,
though, is that the trade in and use of Ceylon cinnamon did not commence
until the late 13th century; before that time "cinnamon" mean simply a
higher grade of one of the cassias, either Indian or Chinese. (So I am sorry
to say, Lord Ras, that unless your era is post-1275, you really should be
using that harsher, coarser, reddish-brown stuff which Americans call
cinnamon, although the rest of the world calls it cassia and reserves the
name cinnamon for the sweet, mild, tan Ceylon variety.) Is anyone here
interested in hearing about such researches in greater detail? I could post
tidbits, samples, and summaries of what I'm doing if there is interest, and
would always be interested in comments or additional bits of information you
may have come across.

I am not too much of a chatter, so I probably will stick largely to passing
on bits of interesting information and answering questions people may bring
up about spices. I certainly do enjoy listening in on the overall
conversation, though.

Your humble and obedient servant,
Francesco Sirene

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