SC - FW: Fields of Gold information

[Philip & Susan Troy]

This was posted to the Universitas list -- I thought some of you would
be interested!
- --Harriet

- --- Jenne Heise <jenne at TULGEY.BROWSER.NET> wrote:
> Date:         Wed, 18 Aug 1999 15:18:02 -0400
> Reply-to:     SCA Forum for Research in Medieval and Renaissance
> Re-enactment
>               <SCA-UNIVERSITAS at LIST.UVM.EDU>
> From:         Jenne Heise <jenne at TULGEY.BROWSER.NET>
> Subject:      [SCA-U] Food and Drink in Medieval Poland [Long REVIEW]
> To:           SCA-UNIVERSITAS at LIST.UVM.EDU
> 
> The long-awaited book _Food and Drink in Medieval Poland:
> Rediscovering a
> Cuisine of the Past_, which is an adaptation by William Woys Weaver
> of a
> 1963 volume by Maria Dembinska, is finally available. I know, because
> our
> university bookstore just delivered my copy into my little hot hands
> today.
> 
> First, the bad news. It's an adaptation of a translation, so a lot of
> the
> extensive annotations that Weaver says were in the main text were
> omitted.
> It includes a section of recipes, but all of them are RECREATIONS,
> not
> redactions or original recipes. The first cookbook in Polish was not
> published until 1532, thus putting it outside the scope of the
> academic
> definition of medievalism. (But wouldn't I love to get my hands on a
> translation of that!) As a result, the author(s) derive their data
> from
> archaelogy/ethnography, economic history, household accounts, and
> period
> cookbooks that might/would have been available to the Polish
> nobility,
> among other sources.
> 
> That's the bad news. The good news: this is by far the most
> comprehensive
> book on the subject, and the most historical, I have come across in
> my
> reading. The original author was a recognized academic expert, and
> the
> adaptor is a food historian. Not only is the book excellently
> written, but
> it is jammed with not only food history, but food historiography,
> ethnography, archaelogy, and domestic and political history. The
> recipes
> are excellent, though some of them will require ingredients only
> available to the diligent gardener. The cook wishing to present a
> period
> table will find the comments on cooking and serving in the period
> manner
> invaluable. The illustrations-- drool, drool-- include not only a few
> of
> the usual woodcut reproductions and coats of arms, but 21 drawings of
> actual medieval cooking utensils, and illustrations of various
> vegetables.
> The author(s) in analysis are careful to note where assumptions are
> being
> made or theories advanced, and to point out holes in the
> documentation
> and/or history.
> 
> Chapter 1, "Toward a definition of Polish National Cookery", is
> actually a
> essay on cookbooks, food history, and general comments on 'Polish'
> cuisine
> as a style. In a way, it is also a review of the records available
> for
> researching Medieval Polish cooking.
> Chapter 2, "Poland in the Middle Ages" is meant to be a backdrop, a
> review
> of the history of Poland as it affects food and food history, for
> those
> not familiar with the history. But it is also about domestic history.
> Pages 42 and 43 show two excellent illustrations of medieval forks
> and
> information about the few records of forks outside the Byzantine
> empire in
> the middle ages. Of special interest is the section on the Cracow
> congress
> of 1364.
> Chapter 3, "The Dramatis Personae of the Old Polish Table", not only
> gives
> a exhaustive list of staff associated with the Royal court and
> associated
> with food -- with descriptions of their duties and their Latin and
> Polish
> titles-- but also describes the style of serving and approximate
> quantities. It also gives a descriptive list of the furnishings of
> the
> medieval Polish kitchen and units of measure.
> Chapter 4, "Food and Drink in Medieval Poland", covers drink (types
> of wine, beer, mead, and even a nod to vodka), meat (beef, pork
> [including
> sausages], organ meats and veal, poultry, game and fish), grains,
> breads
> and baked goods, kitchen produce, and fruits and nuts.
> 
> The second section of the book, "Medieval Recipes in the Polish
> style",
> includes recipes for:
> - Gruel of Mixed Grains
> - Courtier's Pottage
> - Compositium of Cabbage, Chard, Dill and Mushrooms
> - Stew of Parsnips, Leeks and Alexanders
> - Cheese Dumplings
> - Pears stewed with cucumbers and figs
> - Chicken Baked with Prunes
> - Green Mustard Sauce
> - Lentils and Skirrets with Bacon
> - Beer Soup with Cheese and Eggs
> - Millet Flour Soup
> - Oat Flour Soup
> - Polish Hydromel
> - Fermented Barley Soup
> - Fish Aspic
> - Prepared Fish stock
> - Lavender Vinegar
> - Game Stewed with Sauerkraut
> - Hashmeat in the Cypriot Style
> - Saffron Wafers
> - Pike in Polish Sauce
> - Fast Day Pancakes
> - Ham stewed with cucumbers
> - Wroclaw Trencher Bread
> - Thick Beer or Sourdough Starter
> - Turnip Kugel
> - Tripe in Sauerkraut
> - Polish Sauce for Fast days and Tripe
> - Court Dish of Baked Fruit
> - Skirrets Stewed with Fish
> - Stewed Pig Tails with Buckwheat Gruel
> - Pomeranian Trojniak
> - Hungarian Style Spit-Roasted Shoulder of Venison
> - Cubeb Vinegar
> - Turnip Gruel
> 
> Of special interest will be the comments on Trenchers, their creation
> and
> use in the Trencher Bread recipe, and the comments on spit-roasting
> in the
> venison recipe.
> 
> The book includes an extensive bibliography and a very nice index.
> (Just
> reading the notes is an education).
> 
> Full citation in case I've convinced you you need this book (You do,
> trust
> me, you do!):
> 
> Food and Drink in Medieval Poland : Rediscovering a Cuisine of the
> Past
> by Maria Dembinska, Magdalena Thomas (Translator), William Woys
> Weaver
> (Editor) (Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999); ISBN:
> 0812232240. List price is $29.95.
> 
> 
> Jadwiga Zajaczkowa (Shire of Eisental), mka Jennifer Heise
> jenne at tulgey.browser.net
> "in verbis et in herbis, et in lapidibus sunt virtutes"
> (In words, and in plants, and in stones, there is power.)
> 

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