SC - My birthday present

[Shari Burnham]

At 10:01 PM 2/16/99 EST, Ras wrote:

>In a message dated 2/16/99 8:47:47 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>maryann.olson at csun.edu writes:
>
><<  I am wondering what herbs and spices would have been used by different
> personas in a meat pie for instance, that would tell others that they were
> English, or German, or Italian, or whatever.  Being a German persona, I want
> to be able to make something that is truly "German."  However, if I were to
> choose to do "Italian," I would want to be true to that culture.
>  >>
>
>Are you talking peasant or nobleman here? If peasant there is little to no
>information available simply because it was never written down but ,
>logically, peasant cookery would be more regional and more distinctive.

Agreed, we don't have records on what peasants did.  I was speaking of the
nobility. 

>Only a quick glance at period cookery manuscripts will reveal little
>difference between noble cuisine in the different countries of Europe. This
>was possibly because they were for the most part 'family'. Elizabeth's
>reference to Mary, Queen of Scots as 'cousin' was not so far from the mark.
>Mary also served briefly as Queen of France. 
>
>Another queen of France was from Italy., ad infinitum.

Agreed.  The Germans were also intermarrying with everyone else, and women
often brought cooks from home with them.  In my mind, this indicates the
possibility that there were differences in style.

Also, in periods when trade was interrupted or less well established,
therefore, dependable, one would have used what was available locally.
Also, not all nobles had the wealth of kings and prince-bishops.

Since my persona is from a specific area of Germany,  a country in which
cooking varies tremendously from region to region and often reflects their
French, Italian, or Danish neighbors more than their German cousins, it
seems likely there were differences within Germany.

Also, my persona is early period.  Likenesses may not have been as well
developed earlier.  

I imagine the basic recipe for a meat pie was virtually the same -- except
for the way it was flavored.  In many recipes, it simply says to add
spices/herbs without specifying.  Just as this may have varied in different
households where one person liked this and didn't like that, I suspect it
may have varied from region to region.

Gertraud

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

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".

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