SC - Re: saffron

[Jeff Gedney]

Hello, 

> Wrong.  So long as the substitutions are period and appropriate, it then 
> becomes a "period adaptation", not necessarily a modern one.  Substitution of 
> ingredients, as you have just described, IS a period practice.  As I have 
> said, it may not be a "blind re-creation" of the recipe, but that does not 
> take it "out of period".  Medieval cooks had tastebuds just like we do today. 
>  It is logical to assume that they changed and "adulterated" recipes.

Or rather an "adaption of a period recipe". You cannot then claim it to be a 
"period recipe as was served in period" because it now differs from the 
recipe that you CAN prove was served in period.  In other words, the recipe 
is no longer one you got from a period context, but one that is your _personal_ 
creation. 
There is nothing wrong with that, or with serving it at feasts. Do it. 
As long as the feasters are happy, and you learn a little something, well...  that 
is what it is all about, isn't it?
BUT, YOU are not a _period_ source, You are a modern one. Recipes that are 
your personal adaption, regardless of the original recipe, are by definition ones 
which derive from a modern source (you), not a period source.
Say that the meal is an ADAPTION of a Period recipe.
Therefore you cant correctly say it is a Period recipe, because the new recipe 
you created by making the substitutions is no longer the original recipe form the 
period source.
This is the whole and entire crux of the issue, I believe.

You may make whatever substitutions you wish. 
Have fun. Cook well. Please the feasters.
Making well informed substitutions will create foods that are actually NEW 
recipes that are in a PERIOD FASHION. 
Making poorly informed substitutions will create foods that are actually NEW recipes 
that are in a MODERN FASHION. 
Making NO substitutions at all, but following the recipe from the period source
will create a foods that are actually redacted (Edited, analysed, and 
reconstructed) Period Recipes. 

The difference, as you pointed out, may lay in terminology
What you are calling Period we are calling "Period Fashion", or "Periodoid"
What do you call what we call Period? "Documentably Period?"

Labels are just that, Labels, but until we have an idea what your labels mean, 
we naturally will assume that you are using the same labels for the same things.

I suspect that it is well cooked, whatever you serve, as you seem to strongly 
care for your cooking, and feasters. that is what makes a good cook, IMHO.

Go for it. 
(As long as you make plain that you are making substitutions, and 
why, or make it plain that this is your adaptation, there is no danger of 
someone eating your Leche Lumbardys, and thinking that the _original_ 
PERIOD recipe was made with Mace instead of the Cinnamon called for 
in the original.)

Another thing...
You posit that a Medieval cook would have made substitutions to please 
his palate. I am not sure that that can be stated with confidence... A Cook 
was a valued household servant, but still a servant. He would have to please 
his Bosses' palates, not his own.

Brandu