SC - sulte

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

Greetings, Heather!

A number of folks have covered your request for information on cooking
equipment, and I can't add much to what has been stated in that department.
It looks that fewer have discussed recipe sources for the budding cook, so
I'll talk (type?) about that a bit.

If you're a complete beginner to period recipes and cooking, I'll suggest a
method that I'm currently using here in the Shire of Isenfir to start up a
cooking group. The interested folk have various levels of cooking
experience, and also various levels of experience in dealing with source
materials for research. I decided to take a "training wheels" approach. 

Basically, I look for a few recipes that are previously redacted by
experienced cooks that also have the source available. The source that I use
for these is http://www.godecookery.com (Thanks for such an excellent site,
Master Huen!) I print a page containing *only* the source recipe, and one
containing the complete recipe with source and the redacted recipe.

I use the redacted recipes as a shopping guide for picking up the raw
materials for each recipe, and generally make certain that I have a bit more
of each item than the redacted recipe calls for in the event that a cook
decided to go heavier on an ingredient that the previous redactor did.

When the cooking session begins, I hand the cooks the period recipe print
outs, and let them decide which one they want to try.  The cooks then write
down a first pass on the redaction before coing to the stove. A few modern
cookbooks are also present to verify some cooking procedures, such as
cooking times and temperatures a 2 pound pork roast, etc.

We then procede to the kitchen and begin our work, recording the actual
quantities of ingredients, temperatures, times, etc on paper. During this
phase of the operation, if a cook gets really lost, we'll peek at the
previous redaction to see what they came up with. Cooking period is sort of
like algebra, IMHO, there may be more than one way to solve a specific
problem. :)

After all the cooking is done, we sit down and try the meal. Final
impressions and notes are recorded on the redaction work sheet that the
cooks have previously put their version of the recipes on. If a recipe is
deemed yummy, it is added to our cookbook for future use. If the cook is
less than pleased with their redaction of a dish, the notes and redaction
are retained for rework at a future session.

Hope this helps!

Hey, Cooks!  How do y'all run your redaction groups?

 



Yours in Service
Toby of Isenfir
Shire Castellan
Brewmaster and Bartender of the Red Mountain Inn
Occasional Head Cook