SC - Cooking by "hand"

[UnruhBays, Melanie A]

I have always tried to make the documentation better than the product. I
think it shows that no matter my skill level with the product, I have shown
a thorough understanding of the issues surrounding the item. Not that skill
*doesn't* count, but as a person born in the 1960s, I don't have first-hand
knowledge of what the food really tasted like. My crustade of tame creatures
may taste awful to me, but be right on as to what would taste right to
someone living in the 15th cent. The cooking we're doing today is inherently
tailored to modern tastes, whether we think we're doing it or not. 
The important part of the entry is that the recipe I've used is from a
reliable primary source, that I know how to produce an edible product from
the recipe, that I know and understand the humors of the ingredients, that
period eggs were likely smaller than modern eggs, and that they probably
used pigeon in the thing, but I didn't.
It seems that I've gotten a lot of funny looks when I say that the
documentation should be better than the product. Thank you. It's nice to
know that I'm not *totally* off my rocker. Well, not about this, anyway...

Maredudd

<snip>
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> ==============================================================
> ==============
> 
> 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".
> 
> ==============================================================
> ==============
> 
============================================================================

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".

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