SC - Period Dining Atmosphere (Was RE: Saffron)

[Elaine Koogler]

Hear!  Hear!  Now, can we get on with the really productive stuff?

Kiri

Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

> > Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 19:12:32 EDT
> > From: CBlackwill at aol.com
> > Subject: Re: SC - Period Dining Atmosphere (Was RE: Saffron)
> >
> > LrdRas at aol.com writes:
> >
> > >
> > >  Agreed. But IMO, it does make it a period-like dish using a period recipe
> > >  as the source of inspiration. Unless, of course, it can be documented that
> > >  safflower was used as a substitute in that particular dish when saffron was
> > >  not available.
> > >
> > >  Acceptable for feasts? Sure. Period-like? Yes, Period? Not IMO unless
> > >  documented evidence shows such a substitution was made in that particular
> > >  dish.
> >
> > It's all a matter of nomenclature, I suppose.  I think you folks are getting
> > pretty tired of hearing my point over and over and over again.  But, whatever
> > happened to the "educated guess"?
>
> The educated guess is alive and well, and appears frequently at SCA
> feasts, and is usually quite welcome. We call them educated guesses,
> hypotheses, speculation, etc. What we don't call them, or most don't,
> anyway, is "period dishes".
>
> I don't understand why this debate has gone on so long, unless of course
> it's because it's on SCA-Cooks ;  ). Nobody really thinks you can't
> leave out the saffron, or whatever ingredient you wish to substitute
> for. It's just that if you do, what you've created is something other
> than a period dish. That's all. Not bad, not necessarily good. Just
> different. When I cook a feast, I cook from period recipes. Sometimes I
> produce food from them that isn't period. Occasonally I will deviate
> from the period recipe, or even synthesize a recipe based on something
> I've learned in my research,  and then I'll explain why I've done so.
> None of this is a problem for the people eating what I've cooked,
> because I will clearly identify which dishes are really faithful (or
> reasonable attempts at) reconstructions of period dishes, and people
> will learn what they learn about period food accordingly, along with
> some speculative exercise and food for thought. I provide extensive
> documentation for those dishes I can properly document. I don't worry
> too much about proving that, say, the dish of toasted cheese I tacked
> together from descriptions in "Food and Drink In Britain", which diners
> ended up calling Welsh Pizza, is "a period dish".
>
> I think a lot of people are grasping your point just fine, a lot of them
> just don't agree with it. Why is this a problem? Substitutions are just
> fine, as long as you make it clear that the dish is based on "what they
> might have done" rather than "what they did". No need to be defensive
> about it.
>
> I really hate the term "period"...
>
> Adamantius
> --
> Phil & Susan Troy
>
> troy at asan.com
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