SC - Recipe from an old Gourmet magazine

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> It is not the vanilla bean which would concern me with the periodness
> of this recipe, but rather the allspice. It was my understanding from
> earlier discussions here that allspice is a New World spice.

So is vanilla, though.
 
> Does anyone know when it was first used in Europe? I thought post 1600
> but can't remember for sure.

For practical purposes, allspice seems to "take off" in the eighteenth
century in Europe. One problem with clearly identifying its use is that
it goes by several different names, virtually all of which can also
refer to other things, such as pimiento, quatre-epice, etc.
 
> It does sound like a delicious recipe though.

Yup, sure does!

And, I think we might consider the points against it (such as they are)
for a second. There's no doubt, for most of us, I guess, that this is
good food. I guess this is really about what we all, respectively,
consider to be the primary goal of this mailing list. Is it about yummy
food, or about period food, or anything we cook in the SCA, period or
not? Many (but not all) on the sca-cooks' list feel that our primary
focus is, or ought to be, not so much about the overall set of yummy
foods, but about the intersecting subset of yummy foods that are also
documentable as having existed in period, or likely to have existed in period.

I'm bothering to say all this because while I feel Cariadoc is right to
point out that the dish, as recorded, could not be a period European
food, I also am glad to see a good modern recipe now and then, and
wouldn't want anyone who went to the trouble to type in a recipe to feel
they wasted their efforts. While the focus of the list is pretty clearly
(if broadly) defined, it seems to be open to some personal
interpretation as well. I think the issue here, or one of them, is not
whether the recipe contains any New World ingredients, which, if
excised, would produce a period dish, but rather, simply, what does this
dish teach us about Medieval or Renaissance European eating habits that
we don't learn a lot better from studying actual period source recipes? 
  

That said, though, it does look lovely, and I thank Ben for posting it!

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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