SC - "personal recipies"

[Allison Hewett]

>  Once the recipe has changed from the original even a single iota it is
>  no longer able to be called 'period'. It is a personal recipe. And, I can
>  think of no excuse which is valid for doing so other than laziness on the
>  part of the Kitchen Steward,.

Um.  Inexperiece on the part of the Kitchen Steward's helper (that would be me)?    Limited budget?
    And, I have to say, I think severe allergies *are* a reasonable excuse.  Our seneshal is SO allergic to roses that she could not join us to help in a kitchen in which rosewater is being
used.  Should we try to chose strictly from those recipies in which rosewater is not used--which limits a great deal?

To take the examples of the two dishes I'm currently working on;
One is "hen's eggs in nestys"; jellied almond "eggs" on a bed of lettuce.  (I just came up with the egg idea; our Cook came up with the presentation.)  I've retrieved a period recipe for
"Eggs in Lent,"  eyed a number of other recipes for jellied things, and looked at some other illusion foods.  The way I'm actually making them (please, heaven, it works...today is my first
batch.  For Saturday.  Yes, I knw, but there were complications,)  is not, in fact, perfectly period (weren't we just arguing about seaweed used to gel things?) but it is vegitarian and will,
I believe, work.  Which, at this point, is more important.

The other dish is cheesecake, taken from the recipie in the Miscellany, in which I am leaving out the mace.  I simply can't afford it; the only reason the cloves are making it in is becaue my
room-mate is donating them (otherwise, I'd have used cinnimon, which I can find cheaply.)   Then, however, I will be covering then with strawberries and decorating with an escarbuncle in
whipped cream--which is completely, as far as I can tell, undocumented and undocumentable, but tastes divine (quote from the test-batch, version 2 (of 3) -- "I'll eat anything with
strawberries on it.")  and should look good.  I'd been trying to think of some way other then whipped cream to do the escarbuncle, but come up with nothing practical.

So is this completely useless and should be thrown out?  I don't claim they're completely period, but I don't think I've perpatrated any atrocities (well, perhaps the whipped cream, but....)
For my first attempt at preparing and cooking (as opposed to wandering in and saying "can I help?")  I think it's comeing out fairly well.  Given a few more years of experience, and a larger
assortment of recipies that I've tried out and can trust, I'd prefer to stick a little more strictly period, but I came up with these when I was scrambling and thinking I was going to have to
be Kitchen Steward myself (..!), and of the several ideas I offered to the cook, these are the two she chose.

Hmm...which is a rather long-winded way of saying that I think that might be a bit harsh.  Not an invalid arguement, just...excessive....

Yours,
Alethea
who is thinking of finding this rock that's supposed to be around here somewhere...



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