Substitution VERY LONG WAS Re: SC - Alternate spicing

[Bethany Public Library]

Balthazar penned, in his uniquely direct style:

*Allright.  So, if I were cooking at a feast you were attending (obviously
off
*this llist), and had made a substitution to a "documented recipe" and you
*noticed it, would you still consider it "not a period dish"? Is there a
*difference between the definition of "period" on the sca-cooks list and at
*SCA events in general?  This, I think, is where the confusion lies, at
least
*for me.


I've been involved in training a lot of cooks for SCA purposes, though I
can't pretend to be the last-word authority on the subject. Different cooks
handle substitutions differently, so I thought I'd provide a sort of
reference for where substitution-handling falls, according to your level or
historicity. I'm going to talk only about historical cooking (as opposed to
kitchen management) in the following list. I hope you'll see how there is no
hard-and-fast rule aboout substitutions, but rather how a cook handles
substitution situations is more a reflection upon their level of
historical-cooking enlightenment. It might be fun to place yourself within
this list, but I hope no one is offended or worried. With experience comes
certain challenges, and we can all handle them according to our own
abilities and circumstances. Trust me, no one except yourself is measuring
you against this or any other ruler. Myself, I'm probably an 8.5 on the
list, and I happen to be a cooking laurel (a rather new one).  Here's the
skinny (As far as I am concerned, and as far as is usually practice in my
area--the Pocono/NE Pennsylvania region of Aelthelmearc):

We'll assume that every cook in the list below are responible and can cook
decent modern food for the masses. It is presented in reverse order of
historical reliability, and is not meant as a comment on any one individual:
10 types of SCA cooks:
#1 Safe food is mandatory. This cook will produce a meal that everyone can
eat. It is not necessarily historical and no claims are made to that effect.
It's good food, it's safe food. There's plenty of it.
#2 Tasty food is a requisite. The cook who routinely produces good, safe,
tasty food in adequate quantities has probably been doing luch-cook or
small-event-cook for a while and wants to expand into more historical
dishes.
#3 Atractive/recognisable (say, half the dishes should be main-ingredient
recognisable) food is highly desirable. This cook is trying his or her
historical wings, making an attempt at historical-like food. He or she
recognises that if people don't know what they are being served, they are
unlikely to partake of the dish. They throw a few period-like or actually
historical dishes into the mix of a feast. They get some well-deserved pats
on the back, are encouraged to try the next harder type feast.
- ----At this point we get into gradations that are sometimes grey areas.
Some folks exhibit skills belonging to another level, and some folks jump
over whole levels or portions thereof on the way up. Many folks figure it's
too much work and quit event cooking in favor of at home historical
cooking---------
#4 Periodoid sources for a recipe is preferable to no classical/historical
attempts. Cooks at this point probably publish the menu/ingredients list,
can talk about historical content but have a limited exposure to unfamiliar
or early period sources, and have several sources in their library. They are
still guessing about substitutions, but have not developed a nose for what
an historical cook might have used. People will still eat their feasts, and
be happy about it, 'cause we are all here to please the diners, and if we do
well, they'll let us cook another feast.
#5 Historical content from someone else's redactions rank slightly better
than "they had cows in period, so let's make roast beef, and let's find some
historical sauce recipes to go with it". At this point the cook is probably
publishing a menu/ingredients list with some recipes and sources.
Substitutions are rampant primarily due to ease of obtaining the
ingredients. Over the next few years this cook will begin to figure out how
to get the difficult stuff, and may even begin to realise how much better
the feast would be if he/she could include a few esoteric items. Fantasy,
gross misinformation and legend/misinformation is begining to leave this
cook's menus. We still gobble down these feasts 'cause good food is good
food and we're hungry.
#6Historical dishes from easily redacted primary/secondary sources, and
possibly the feast produced from a single source rank better than other's
redations you used. This cook typically has a booklet available with notes
(such as acceptable substitutions according to some historical cookbook
author, or  regional variants) in addition to the menus and ingredients
lists. This cook is probably highly respected within their local group and
has a satisfying career as an historical cook. This cook has more work than
they actually want. People have to be beaten away from the on-board wait
list.
#7 Next comes feasts involving Historical Dishes, culled from
Primary/secondary sources that are difficult to redact, and hard to adapt to
large-scale eating. The feast planning involves a little theological
research, sometimes out of the cookbook area and into archeology, sociology,
anthropology, manuscipt ananlysis and other areas or research. This cook
begins to regret not studying Italian/French/Latin/Spanish in Highschool.
This cook would use substitutions that were historically accepted (as
opposed to modernly acceptable). For instance this cook would make his/her
own green cheese rather than substitute a modern style cream cheese, not for
snobish reasons, but for educational reasons and the satifaction of
producing a dish that was "perfectly historical".  This cook's feasting
audience is begining to appreciate medieval dishes that might not appeal to
the modern public, through exposure and education.
- ---------------this is the heavy-burnout section, we frequently lose folks
in the cooking arena once they get this high on the list, as historical
cooking at these levels can be life-consuming--------------------
#8 Still higher on the list we find the cook who does all of the above but
attempts *sometimes* to do it in a manner that might be historically
accurate, rather than using convenient modern kitchens and appliances. This
cook would use the implements, cooking apaparatus and serving style that
would be appropriate for the feast in question, if possible. This cook is
slightly cooking-crazed and frequently posessed by impossible cooking goals,
but is pretty self-satisfied knowing that vital skills can be learned by
going through the process as the historical cook would have (as closely as
can be known). Substitutions happen solely in this kitchen along historical
lines. People who have habitually attended this cook's feast are educated
and happen to know when things are added that probably are not historical
*to a certain time or place*, so the cook is unlikely to make non-historical
substitutions. This cook's feast is the main topic of conversation at the
table. This cook has used the beauty of food and history to enlighten the
eating public. S/he has dug a shallow grave as far as future feasts are
concerned. There is no turning back, s/he is truly obsessed.
#9 This cook has entered the realm of primary source research with gusto.
There are occaisional feast s/he cooks, but s/he is primarily more
interested in getting sources that no one else has yet touched upon for
those feasts.   Disbursal of accurate historical information is primary. So
is teaching other cooks to jump over some of the above steps on the road to
headcook-dom. There are probably no substitutions in this cook's feasts.
His/her knowledge of historical cooking allows him/her to easily choose
another dish for the meal. His/her knowledge of many historical cooking eras
and cultures probably allows him/her to make period meals without quoting
sources in a pinch (but they can, of course, produce supporting
documentation if asked). This cook, if recipe booklets are produced, has
some considerable things to say about the meals/he is cooking, and the
autocrat groans at the printing bill, but agrees because they love to eat
this cook's feasts, and knows the advantage in money/attendance/prestige
this cook's name will draw in for the event in question.
#10 God/ess of Hisorical Haut Cuisine. This cook is only interested in
perfectly historical items on their menus, when camping, when realxing with
friends at home or even when they are simply feeding themselves. This cook
dreams of recipes and alternatives, is subsumed with a desire to make
eveyone's SCA life more food-historical, even outside of the feast hall.
This cook has read everything published on food. This cook dedicates his/her
life to historical food. People speak this cook's name in hushed tones. This
cook longs for the good old days when witnessing him/her messing around in
the kitchen didn't have deep historical meaning, when his/her every move and
utterance was not assumed to have deep historical meaning.

That will probably spark some debate on the ol' list, but it's the way I see
the issue ( and yes, I'm always this verbose---sorry!).

Aoife