SC - ginger

[Daniel Phelps]

Cindy Renfrow wrote:
> 
>>  "Sallats for show only.  Now for sallats for show only, and the adorning
> and setting out of a table with numbers of dishes, they be those which are
> made of carrot roots of sundry colours well boiled, and cut out into many
> shapes and proportions, as some into knots, some in the manner of
> scutcheons and arms, some like birds, and some like wild beasts, according
> to the art and cunning of the workman; and these for the most part are
> seasoned with vinegar, oil, and a little pepper."
> 
> This recipe seems contradictory in that it's called "for show only", & yet
> it is seasoned with vinegar, oil, & pepper. Why bother seasoning it if
> you're not intending to eat it?   Do you think the oil & vinegar & pepper
> would help preserve the sallat (like lemon juice on cut apples), so that it
> could sit on the table looking nice longer?  To me, "for show only"
> reflects the time & trouble involved in carving the carrots into sundry
> shapes.  You'd have to hire a special workman to do the carving, so
> naturally you'd want the sallat to last as long as possible.

Hmmm. In the case of greens like spinach or lettuce, not to mention
other stuff like purslane, etc., vinegar is the death knell, more or
less. I'm also curious as to why the carrots have to be so well boiled,
and what exactly the term means. I can see the possibility of setting
the color against enzymatic action by cooking, but a brief blanching
should take care of that.

We might also need to rethink the meaning of "for show only". One
possibility might be that they are placed in a separate dish as a
centerpiece in the middle of a larger platter of salad, less ornate, and
that such garnishes are only used on state occasions. This might be akin
to an exceptionally ornate or decorative wedding cake that is designed
as it is for the look of it, but is still considered edible.

You're probably right about the special workman; the brief evidence I've
seen suggests the truly ornate garnishes and platter designs don't seem
to occur until the mid-to-late eighteenth century. Careme, for example,
was originally apprenticed to an architect, and had an "in" in the
library where blueprints were stored. When he became first a pastrycook
and later a chef de cuisine, he could stroll into the library when he
wanted to look for new ideas.
 
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.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".

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