SC - feast catapults

[Seton1355@aol.com]

 Balthazar of Blackmoor,

I am going to take my sharpest paring knife and chop your comments up so I 
can insert my 2 cents worth in between. 

Rayne  *
 
 Interesting and enlightening.  I am having a hard time placing myself on 
this 
 list.  

*  _ I _  have no trouble placing you on this list. You are the person that 
makes very intelligent comments, who enjoys cooking and "plays" in the SCA... 
And who I find myself frequently agreeing with (Boy, are YOU IN TROUBLE!)  :-)

On the one hand, I would love nothing more than to stoke the fires, 
 make the cheese, burp and scratch myself in the feast hall, but on the other 
 hand, I firmly believe that medieval cooks readily substituted what they 
 couldn't find with what they had on hand.  The idea of discarding an 
 otherwise delicious and appropriate recipe on the simple basis of not being 
 able to obtain one ingredient is, somehow, appalling to me.  I cannot, in my 
 wildest imaginings, believe that this was ever done in medieval times.

* And, although I can't "prove" how medieval cooks made substitutions, I 
agree with you.   I can't prove a lot of things I believe in, but I still 
believe in them.   

 Even more so, I cannot grasp the concept that, after having dedicated so 
much 
 time and energy into the (very impressive) research of medieval cooking, 
 certain cooks on this list are satisfied with stopping at the written word.  
 Extrapolation and deduction are the rewards of a lifetime of scholarly 
 research.  I do understand that certain people are, for the sake of absolute 
 (and admirable) authenticity, unwilling to make these assumptions for fear 
of 
 heading down the wrong path, or producing a recipe with a hint of cinnamon 
 which does not belong.  But the book and volume of human experience tells 
us, 
 with crystal clarity, that such assumptions were made.  Modern cooking 
styles 
 evolved from same.  

* Again - an agreement here. 

     I guess what my entire rant boils down to is this: Am I going to be 
 chided and guffawed if, during my A&S entry, It is noticed that I 
substituted 
 Mace for Nutmeg, or prepared a "classic" dish with pork instead of beef?  

*  Probably - Yes - you are. Because I have noticed that the justification 
for substituting items in cooking is not the same for some other 
classifications.  (Oh, you used cotton to do your embroidery on because you 
couldn't find or afford silk - WE understand) But in cooking there seems to 
be no justification for using mace for nutmeg (since you could obtain either 
fairly easily) and perhaps you should have picked another dish to make if you 
had to substitute ground up grasshoppers for the endangered potbellied 
rattlin' beetle (which you could not get).  So look for the reasons you would 
want to enter an A&S competition under those circumstances.  


Am I going to be denied my Laurel, my Pelican, my Albatross or what have you? 
 

* First let me say that I am not a Peer, but I feel that the elevation of 
Peerages can be subjective for a number of reasons.  I like the wording that 
Peers are not "made", but are publicly recognized by the members of that 
Peerage.  I have actually heard (over the last 25 years) Peers say (out-loud, 
when they do not notice the "little person" sitting near them) "THAT person 
will NEVER be a (pick peerage of your choice) BECAUSE "they do not dress like 
a Peer, flirted with my spouse, divorced my best-friend, were "unchivarlous" 
XX number of years ago, their children are  unruly, etc."

    If so, then this is unfair, because it is apparent that these kinds of 
substitutions are, indeed, "period". 

*  Like I tell my children and grandchildren:  Life, in all it's aspects, is 
NOT fair.  There is no such thing as "fair".  Live simply IS.  And through 
the course of life... most things balance out.  Yes, the girl may do more 
dishes today than her brother did yesterday because yesterday we had take-out 
pizza and today I made a seven course meal.  But balance it out at the end of 
your life - not the end of the week.  She may marry a rich man who presents 
her with a maid and may never do dishes again.  Her brother, on the other 
hand, will marry the love of his life who passes away at the age of 60 while 
he gets to live on 25 years more without her doing his dishes alone.  
Your efforts within the Society will be noticed (good and bad) and in most 
cases will "balance out". l

 There are too many definitions of the term for a fair and objective 
evaluation of my efforts.  And rest assured that mine will be a valiant 
effort, with freshly made cheeses, hand made breads, and so on.  

* Again... look to why you are placing your talents before others to be 
"judged".

Are my labors going to be wasted because one or more of my "judges" has a 
different definition of "period"?  

* Yes, possibly.

     In actuality, I care little for SCA awards, and have no real desire to 
attain one, but this does illustrate my point.

* Then just have FUN.  For this, above all, IS the name of the game.  It has 
been said:  "Man is that he might have joy."   I play for the enjoyment of it 
and for almost no other reason.  I cook because I enjoy it.  I cook for 
others because they enjoy it. 
I cook within the SCA*(and other groups) for the enjoyment I find in the 
kitchen and for the enjoyment my meals bring to others.  

* I do not agree with some of the viewpoints and comments made on this List, 
but I look at the whole.  I do not try to convince others that my way is the 
"right" way, but spend my time pulling knowledge from them.  And this List is 
comprised of some of the most knowledgeable people I have "met".   Just like 
I do went dining, I take what I want and leave the rest.  During one of the 
first meetings I ever had with the wonderful Lady that is now my Peer, I 
proceeded to remove from my mundane salad all the greens that were "funny" 
(meaning non-iceberg).  A bunch of us were doing the "after the weekly SCA 
meeting, let's go eat" thingy.  She looked at me and asked what I was doing.  
I told her that I had lived in Europe for four years eating "funny" greens 
and I was not going to keep on eating them if I had a choice.  She just shook 
her head.  


Balthazar of Blackmoor - who is curious to know where other cooks on this 
list would place him on  Aoife's top ten, based on his posting history...) 

*And here is the crux ... we all have a choice.  I may not rank at the top of 
Aoife's top ten, but (for now) I am content with my ranking.  :-)  As for 
where do you rank - it is more important if you are comfortable in the 
ranking you give yourself.

And in reference to another comment you made in another post:  "Yes, this IS 
a hard room to work. - People have trouble hearing the inflection in your 
voice"  BUT I usually get it. :-) 

Yours, 
Rayne