SC - Cooking by "hand"

[Philip & Susan Troy]

> Years later, trying to train dishwashers and busboys to be prep cooks,
> it occured to me to advise them that one cooks _food,_ not the recipe.
> They would get fixated on following the recipe to the letter, even if
> the food was too wet, or dry, or not emulsifying, or too much or little
> seasoned.

> Seumas

Funny you should mention this. We had our Barony of the Steppes
Artisan competition last weekend and several entrants asked me
to check out their food displays. I realized after a while that the
food on the table was the last thing I looked at. First thing I would
do is examine their documentation. I would look to see if they had
a period recipe recorded, then their translation of the recipe and
then the modern redaction. I would check to see if the redaction
included all of the steps and ingredients listed in the original and
in places where they didn't follow the original if they listed why.
I would critique the documentation and explain why the original
did some steps and not others or recommend modern substitutes
for period ingredients. Only after discussing the documentation
would I finally look at and taste the food on display. What I really
judge is if the entrant understands the food because just about
anybody can follow a recipe from a book.

It was afterwards that I realized I was using similar criteria as
a wine judge uses in some ways. Basically I would check the
color, the legs, swirl for dregs, smell and only after all of the
other examinations would I actually taste. The food itself seemed
secondary to the sholoarship involved. Does this mean I'm
becoming an authenticity snob? If it does then I'm happy to be
here.

The good thing is that all of the people I talked about this with
seemed happy for the information I could share.

Yers,

Gunthar


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