SC - Re: Substitution- long

[Alderton, Philippa]

Thank you Huette, and Gaylin, for your elaborations for Balthazar's benefit-
I had been trying to be brief, but I think I'll add a bit more here.

Balthazar, you're asking a good question, but unfortunately, the foibles of
living human beings are not open to strict logic. We are trying to recreate
the cuisine of a number of different peoples who were not homogeneous
throughout European history. These were living breathing human beings, who
would consider it sensible and important, for example, to argue about how
many angels could dance on the head of a pin, who would consider unborn
rabbits which hadn't suckled to be fish (or at least non-meat) for fast
days. Would they consider a calf or a piglet which hadn't suckled in the
same category? We don't know until we find an example. Even then, we might
be wrong, because due to the life of Saint Drusilla, it might be considered
that way on her feast day, but on no others, or might be considered that way
only on Saint Drusilla's feast day in Northern Germany, but no where else.

Let's look at modern times. There are a large number of people who won't eat
pork because it is "unclean"- Jews and Moslems agree on this, while the
Irish call the pig, "the gentleman who pays the rent" because of its
fecundity and abilty to live on scraps and what we would call non-foods.
Indians will starve before they'd eat cattle, and there are modern Americans
who won't eat lamb, because it's "The Lamb of God".

Back to Medieval times, there are various classifications of various meats.
You used substituting pork for beef, or chicken for duck. This, right there,
is modern thinking! A medieval person might easily substitute fish for duck,
or chicken for pork. They just didn't classify things the same way we do.

Looking at another example, from modern times, let's talk about Pennsic.
We're developing a tradition of celebrating my birthday at Pennsic with a
roast duck meal. Hurts my feelings terribly- duck is my favorite poultry,
and lamb my favorite red meat ;-) The next night, I'm making duck
enchiladas, using what little I know about period meso-American foods. I'll
be making the tortillas, although not grinding the mesa harina on a
grindstone (mesa harina, as a lye-processed corn flour, is reasonably
period) frying them without fat on an iron skillet (We know they ate very
little fat. The iron skillet is because I don't yet have a proper cooking
stone, so I'm substituting), using duck and whatever as a filling (they ate
very little meat, primarily fish or other sea/lake products, like duck,
which is why I'm using it), with a sauce composed of tomatoes and chiles (no
mole sauce, that's a traceable modern invention), perhaps a dab of honey
(they did have it, as I have recently discovered, but it was made by ants
and wasps, rather than the European honey bee) and served with a side of
beans (Anasazi, if I can find them).

Is this a period meso-American dish? No. I haven't found exact documentation
for an enchilada type dish yet. I have, however, found documentation for the
fact that they made tortillas in a similar manner to what I'm doing- the
mesa harina, flattened and wrapped around a filling, usually containing
beans. I have also found docs on chile/tomato sauces, and slight usage of
honey. I'm using the Anasazi beans, if I can find them, because they are as
close to an heirloom bean as I have been able to find so far. I also got
taught by some Mexican mestizos how to make the tortillas- they use a modern
tortilla press, and do as I'm doing with cooking them- their tortillas are
good enough to eat alone, unlike the commercial tortillas, which are basic
corn chips, needing a dip. I'm also making the sauce, based on the
instructions from another mestizo, from a traditional family recipe.

This is not period food, but it is at least perioid, and will continue to
improve as I learn more about the subject. But I'm doing this, based on very
slim available evidence (at least, so far). And I'm doing it because about
half-past Pennsic (I stay for the full two weeks) I get the hungries for
some of the American foods I miss.

There is no excuse for doing this sort of thing with Medieval European and
Arabic foods- we just have too many recipes available for what they did eat-
we don't have to speculate, as I do with my meso-American dinner.

My suggestion to you, is to learn what you can about Real Period Foods, and
the cultures they were eaten in, then, before you start experimenting, look
at some of the late-period and transitional books, such as Martha
Washington's Cookbook, and The Virginia House-Wife, which are very
interesting in that they start adding native American foods into traditional
recipes.

Maybe then, you'll either have enough knowledge to change and "fix" what
ain't broke, or more likely, you'll understand why some of us are so into
doing it as precisely as possible in the manner described in our docs.


Phlip

Nolo disputare, volo somniare et contendere, et iterum somniare.

phlip at morganco.net

Philippa Farrour
Caer Frig
Southeastern Ohio

"All things are poisons.  It is simply the dose that distinguishes between a
poison and a remedy." -Paracelsus

"Oats -- a grain which in England sustains the horses, and in
Scotland, the men." -- Johnson

"It was pleasant to me to find that 'oats,' the 'food of horses,' were
so much used as the food of the people in Johnson's own town." --
Boswell

"And where will you find such horses, and such men?" -- Anonymous