OT Re: SC - Sources, not sauces... slightly OT

[Philip & Susan Troy]

SigridPW at aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 5/12/99 5:32:49 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> Mordonna22 at aol.com writes:
> 
> << In a message dated 5/12/99 10:44:36 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
>  macdj at flash.net writes:
> 
>  << Therefore, since its not cooked in a period manner its should just be a
>   personal recipe as well since its not COMPLETELY period.
>    >>
> 
>  Hang on right there!
>  I use methods as near period as my research allows.
>  Some of us do, you know. >>
> 
> Really?  How do you manage to cook for large groups of people without
> mechanization?

True, I myself often resort to mechanical aids, such as arms, knives,
whisks, etc. Sometimes I even compound my reliance on such mechanical
aids by drafting large numbers of helpers.

>  No gas stove or electricity?

Fire, in whatever form it is available. The form isn't especially
relevant, as seeing to the fires appears mostly not to have been the job
of the head cook working on bulk food service. 

>  No refrigeration?

Buy fresh food, cook it, and then serve it. Alternately, use some form
of preserved food, which is what cooks in period did.

>  No mixers?

I use mixers. When I get tired I use the other one, then switch back. As
mentioned above, sometimes I even find someone else to do the mixing.

> I've done it (when camping), too, but not when there was a "modern" kitchen
> to be had!  :o)

I think an important point is being missed here. This entire
conversation really seems to distill into one basic concept: doing the
best you can, and being honest about that, is laudable. As with other
spectator sports, knowingly not doing the best you can is less laudable.
Not necessarily worthy of criticism, just less worthy of praise, in the
eyes of many. As a recreation/reconstruction/Living History/re-enactment
blah blah blah project, optimal performance/conditions are when the
person doing the project tries to learn as much as possible about the
process being done (rolling out pasta dough, making bread, or even
making hamburger stew) by performing the task in a manner as close as
possible to the way it was done in period. Once someone knowingly
deviates from that basic concept, they seem to be doing something other
than a recreation. Even if it _is_ creative, it is, effectively, no
longer an Anachronism, since something that never existed before can't
have shifted in time.

There is a commonly made argument to the effect that we can never be
perfectly medieval in our approach, that no matter how hard we try,
we'll miss something, and that there's pretty much no point in trying.
Common symptoms of this line of thinking are statements like, "Oh, and I
suppose you grew the oak tree from English stock, in English soil, then
made the barrel used to age the supposedly period English mead you made
in a cauldron made from hand-mined Cornish copper, from honey harvested
from English bees, who have fed on nectar from exclusively English
flowers that are documented as having existed in period???" Generally
this and similar lines come out of people's mouths when this type of
discussion comes up, and it generally means it's too much trouble to
make any more than a token attempt to locate a period recipe, let alone
follow one. The sad thing is that while it sometimes is a fair challenge
to locate and follow a period recipe (and there are one or two that are
pretty near incomprehensible), the people that do this regularly will
almost always tell you they do it because it's fun. Plain and simple.
Not because of social pressure, not in order to win competitions or
awards. Just because it's fun to learn how things were done in period.

Now, when we add a dash of Tobasco to that bukkenade of veal "because it
needs _something_", we can certainly say we're doing what good cooks
should do, and, with some qualification, it would be true. It would not,
however, be solving the problem the way a period cook would have solved
it, since Tobasco is not a tool a period cook would have had. While a
period cook might well have added something at the last minute to adjust
a flavor, we generally don't know what it would have been. Further, I've
never been in a position where I couldn't adjust a dish when it needed a
little kick in one direction or another, by simply adding, or changing
the proportions of, the specified ingredients, or, at the most, needed a
little more salt, or a pinch of sugar.

Often another argument commonly raised in defense of making capricious
changes to a period recipe is that the speaker (whoever it may be) has
"been there, done that", i.e. learned as much as can be learned by
examining and following period recipes, and are now ready to move on and
synthesize their own period recipes. Now, I've been at this for sixteen
years (give or take), been recognized a peer in my kingdom (one with a
reputation for, um, excessively demanding standards for the peerage) on
the strength of my cookery, research, and teaching, and have probably
been there and done that as much as 99% of cooks in the SCA. And I
wouldn't say I know enough to say what constitutes an appropriate period
substitution in a period recipe, or to create a dish of my own in a
period style, and call it a period dish.

I don't think anybody said, at any time, that a cook can never make
changes to a period recipe (although Ras, in his enthusiasm, _may_ have
come somewhat close ;  )   ). What has been said repeatedly was more
that since we don't know what changes a cook in period would have made,
it would be silly to call such a changed dish a period dish.
Period-inspired, peri-oid, period derivative, yes. Period, no. There's
no shame in doing your level best and still admitting the dish is not
really period. Happens to me all the time, and if I hadn't learned
something of value about period cookery in the process, I wouldn't be in
a position to make such a judgement. I wouldn't call the effort wasted. 
  

Adamantius, climbing down from a big pile of soap boxes...hey, did you
guys know there's lichen on top of that rock?
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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