SC - Cooking by "hand"

[Philip & Susan Troy]

- --- "Michael F. Gunter"
<michael.gunter at fnc.fujitsu.com> wrote:
> 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

I wouldn't call you a snob.  I agree with almost
everything that you have written here, with the
exception of saying that for a contest the food should
come secondary to the documentation.   Since you are
talking about an artisan level contest, I feel that
both the food _and_ the documentation should be equal.
But then I have very high standards for what I
consider artisan level work.  To me, the entry has to
taste good, look good, have a pleasing presentation
and have
good documentation to be a worthy artisan level entry.
These are all things an artisan should know and be
able to do.

Now for a journeyman level or apprentice level, I have
lower standards, because they are still in the
learning stages and are still trying to perfect their
art.  For them, I would give them extra brownie points
if their documentation was better than their cooking.

Now that I am reflecting again upon what you have
said,
i.e. "just about anybody can follow a recipe from a
book".  I know several highly intelligent people who
could write very thorough, knowledgable theses about
period food, but can't even boil water, even if you
gave them precise and exact instructions.  If one of
these people entered a contest you judged, from what
you have said, you would probably think more highly of
their entry then someone who's food looked good,
tasted good, but whose documentation was less then
perfect because that person had problems with
communicating his/her ideas?

Huette



_____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================